Get to Know... Jen Jansen

Chicago photographer Jen Jansen creates wet plate collodion tintypes of everyday modern objects and people using an antique photography process.

One of a Kind:  Describe your work.

Jen:  Wet plate collodion tintype photography involves exposing a layer of silver halide to light.  Invented in the 1850s, this continued to be the main way photographs were made until the 1880s.  The process requires the photographer to not only deal with the chemistry but also to act as a darkroom technician, coating and developing plates on the spot with a portable darkroom or dark box for processing.  The tintypes made are one of a kind.  The light that hits the subject is the same light that is captured on the plate, truly freezing a moment in time.

One of a Kind:  How did you get started?

Jen:  I have been restoring old photographs for the better part of 15 years.  It is an honor to get to archive someone's family photographs--and also a lesson in historical photographic processes.  Through my restoration work, I began getting old tintypes with the request to fix or remake them and I became driven to figure out the wet plate process. 

One of a Kind:  What will you be bringing to the Spring show?

Jen:  A variety of tintype artwork--from modern toys to floral landscapes--mounted to steel or wooden frames.  All of my pieces are 100% made by hand from photograph to finished frame. 

One of a Kind:  If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Jen:  I'd like to be a chef or maybe try to train wushu full time.  In another life, I played bass guitar and sang in a rock band.

One of a Kind:  What makes you happy?

Jen:  I enjoy knitting, going on adventures and good old fashioned rock and roll.

One of a Kind:  What makes you mad?

Jen:  Anything with mayo!

Jen in her "former life" playing bass guitar and singing in a rock band.