Earlier this year I joined the artists at the Sedona Arts Center in Sedona, Arizona. Several of my tintype photographs are on display there year-round. Periodically the Arts Center chooses a couple of artists to be Featured Artists for two months, and I was honored to be chosen for the months of November and December.
Featured artists are given an entire wall of the gallery to showcase more of their work, as well as increased exposure on the Arts Center’s various online presences such as their website and Instagram feed.
There are also various events going on in Sedona throughout the year. As part of a Celebrate Sedona weekend event, which coincided with the Arts Center’s opening of a new exhibit, I set up my darkroom and demonstrated the tintype process to guests.
I had a great time sharing tintypes with visitors, as well as the fun challenge of trying to make some interesting photographs with the constraint of basically being limited to a parking lot.
One of my ideas was to make portraits of visitors, so I scouted out potential locations with interesting backgrounds. I found a wall covered in ivy that looked cool, however it was in a very dark shaded space. I didn’t get out my remote control, so my first test tintype involved me opening the shutter, running in front of the lens, counting to “12 hippopotamuses”, then running back to close the shutter. The way the slightly brighter leaves registered more than the black apron I was wearing was a cool happy accident.
