Using a traditional process from the 1850’s, each individual tintype plate is handcrafted from scratch, producing a single, unique portrait rendered in pure, real silver.

Not only is each individual tintype plate an original, a one off, as unique as an oil painting but they are also of heirloom quality, they will last for hundreds of years…

The rendering, sharpness and ethereal quality of the images is truly mesmeric, there is nothing else quite like this.

The tintype plates are prepared, shot and developed within minutes here in Guy’s photographic studio in Bristol.

Each plate is coated by hand, sensitised in a bath of silver nitrate before being loaded into the camera.  The tintype process requires the plate to still be wet when it is shot for it to be able to capture an image, so a plate has to be prepared each time.  After the shot is taken, it’s developed in the darkroom resulting in a negative image.  Then, in daylight, the plate is put into the fixer bath whereupon it flips from negative to positive in a matter of seconds, revealing the final image.  It’s a mercurial and fascinating process.

Having a tintype portrait made is a special experience, and the resultant one-off image is a precious portrait preserved in silver that will live on for generations…

Guy is one of a handful of people practicing this fascinating and rare photographic process, watch the accompanying video to find out more.