If you’re a regular reader of Bike-urious (or just a motorcycle fan in general), you’re probably familiar with Paul D’Orleans, also known as The Vintagent. In collaboration with Susan McLaughlin, he’s got a side project called MotoTintype that focuses on a very interesting photography method called wet plate or collodion photography.
If, like me, you have no idea what that means, here’s a video from the Getty Museum that explains it- I’d love to see this in person:
As noted in the video, this method fell out of favor in the late 1800s, but Paul and Susan are bringing it back, traveling around the US and using a Sprinter van as a mobile darkroom. Cool!
As you’d probably expect, a lot of the photos are of motorcyclists and motorcycles – here’s a couple of my favorites:
The real Easy Rider, from http://mototintype.com/the-chopper#/i/0
Paul looking majestic on a ’59 Sportster, from http://mototintype.com/inspiration–la#/i/15
MotoTintype prints will be on display April 10-12 at the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas and at the BikeShed event on April 11-12 in Paris, if you’re lucky enough to be in either location.
Check out the MotoTintype site for more…
(cover photo from http://mototintype.com/bonneville#/i/0, Paul doing the Rollie Free pose on the Bonneville Salt Flats)