Step back in time and experience 19th-century photography during Photography Day! Join us for a presentation and live demonstration of wet plate collodion photography by Sam Reed, the artist behind Vacant Chair Photography Studio. Discover how this fascinating historic process works from start to finish!
Following the demonstration, take a guided tour of the Museum's exhibition, Photography in Tennessee: Early Studios and the Medium's First Century, which showcases a rich visual history of the state through captivating photographs from our collection. From early daguerreotypes to tintypes and ambrotypes, the featured photos include some of the earliest surviving images from Tennessee, offering a compelling look at the stories of the men and women behind and in front of the camera.
About Sam Reed
Sam Reed is a self-taught wet plate photographer who has been immersed in this 19th-century process since 2009. From start to finish, Sam remains faithful in each step in the collodion wet plate process by mixing each photo solution from scratch, using the formulas from the 1850s. Sam's love of science, history, and art, coupled with his 25 years with Tennessee State Parks as an interpreter, has led him to share this process through workshops, group presentations, and interpretive programs at various historic sites throughout the southeast. His passion for collodion wet plate photography and woodworking has led him to build faithful replicas of 19th-century wet plate cameras for clients across the U.S. and Europe, including the Henry Fox Talbot Museum in the UK.
