Scott Longden, Preserving Light (PEOPLE 2026)

Web:

https://www.tintypeman.com.au

In an age where photographs are created and forgotten in an instant, this image was made by slowing time. Created using the 19th-century wet plate collodion process, every element of this photograph was made by hand. The chemicals were prepared from raw ingredients, the glass plate was cut and polished before being coated with collodion, sensitised, exposed while still wet, and developed immediately. Every step carries the possibility of failure; every mark and imperfection is part of the photograph's history rather than a flaw to be removed. The portrait itself was made with a lens first sold by John Joseph Rouse in 1895. Thirteen years later, Rouse established Kodak in Australia, helping usher photography into the modern era. Using one of his earliest lenses to create an image with a process already fading from history creates a dialogue between photography's past and present. This work is more than a portrait. It is an act of preservation. My practice is dedicated to keeping the wet plate collodion process alive, not as a historical curiosity, but as a living photographic art where craftsmanship, patience, and chemistry remain inseparable from the image itself. Every plate is unique. There is no negative, no duplicate, and no second chance. The object you see is the original photograph.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.