Publications, Press & Video

Rare Renderings
by Beth Young
Hilltop Times staff

In his work at Hill as a 75th Communications Squadron base photographer, Quinn Jacobson, spends his days taking official portraits and photos of government functions using all the latest digital equipment.

When he leaves the base, he doesn't leave photography behind. He steps into another world and what he calls his passion.

For the past three years Mr. Jacobson has been making photographic images using the wet plate collodion process. The process, which is 150 years old, is the second type of photography ever invented.

"I walk in different worlds – I have a foot in the 19th century and one in the 21st century," Mr. Jacobson said.

To create a wet plate image, collodion, the chemical syrupy salted base is poured on to a piece of glass. Silver nitrate is added to this "wet plate," changing it to silver oxide and giving it the light sensitivity needed to make an image on the glass.

"This process and what I do at Hill are so different; it's interesting they are both called the same thing – photography," said Mr. Jacobson.

Becoming involved in wet plate photography revived Mr. Jacobson's relationship with the craft. A photographer for almost 20 years, Mr. Jacobson began to find himself uninspired by his work.

"I had been shooting digital for a few years, and although I loved it, I felt that I was really removed from the process," he said "Digital took away the hands-on aspect for me."

After seeing some wet plate photos that he says really resonated with him, Mr. Jacobson traveled to New York and spent a week training in the process.

"It's definitely the antithesis of digital," he said.

The wet plate process is a complicated one, even described in jest as "masochistic" by Mr. Jacobson. Only natural light can be used and between setting up the shot and all the equipment, it can take almost an hour to produce just one image.

"The great part is that, while it's slow, it's so incredibly sharp," Mr. Jacobson said. "Wet plate has this incredible ability to show this eye-splitting sharpness unlike what you get with film or digital. That is the pay-off."

The main subject of his photos are people, who must hold completely still for the 15-30 second exposure time.

"That is why you can't hold an expression like a smile," Mr. Jacobson said. "You can't put your mask on, as I call it – it's a very revealing process."

The people Mr. Jacobson chooses to sit for his work are those who he describes as living on the fringes of society -- people with mental issues, deformed bodies or those who have chosen to decorate their bodies with permanent art.

For Mr. Jacobson there is a correlation between his subjects and the process that captures their image.

"It's the perfect syntax for my work. I use it as a metaphor as it relates to abandonment," he said. "The process was abandoned and, in a lot of ways, I feel the people that I photograph are abandoned (by society) as well."

Not only is the process different from digital but also the way Mr. Jacobson engages with those who sit for the photos is also different.

"When they see themselves come up on the plate, I oftentimes hear that it's the most true, accurate or revealing image they have ever had made," he said. "I want to go beyond the image – capture the essence of who they are."

Oddly it was today's technology that has gotten Mr. Jacobson's decades' old process noticed. Those in the art world discovered his web site, which in turn is garnering a major exhibition of his work in France in October 2006.

For more information about his work visit Mr. Jacobson's website: www.wetplate.com