About

Joni Sternbach is renowned for her use of the wet plate collodion process, an early photographic technique dating back to the 19th century, in which a metal plate is coated with a silver salt solution, exposed in a large-format camera, and developed in a portable darkroom on the spot to produce an instant positive photograph, like the 1850’s version of a Polaroid. Sternbach is a master of this complex process, and the incredible clarity and size of her tintypes demonstrate her skill.

Sternbach's use of the tintype process works on many levels; it fosters the collaboration between her and …