News and Information from
Camp Tintype

Contents

2008 Workshop Information

Notice...
By popular and overflowing demand, we have decided to fit in yet another set of dates for the beginner/intermediate workshop. Don't delay in sending in your deposit check and/or inquiries as it's gonna fill fast!
 

Featuring three solid days of hands-on training in the making of:   AMBROTYPES, FERROTYPES (Tintypes), GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES, ALBUMEN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS. 2008 Workshop Dates: (FULL) May 15, 16, 17 (FULL) (FULL) May 30, 31, June 1 (FULL) (FULL) June 12, 13, 14 (FULL) (FULL) June 26, 27, 28 (FULL) July 10, 11, 12 (Additional workshop!) (FULL) July 24, 25, 26 (FULL)   Tuition: Still only $625.00 Per Student...No lab fees! A $250.00 deposit is required to secure enrollment. Includes a comprehensive manual with instructional DVD set. All materials and equipment provided. FREE CAMPING! Each student will receive "The Doers Guide", a complete, 165 page, fully illustrated workshop manual covering the entire wet-plate process, including the making of albumen photographs. Manuals can be purchased separately for $75.00 ppd. USA, refundable toward workshop tuition, and includes DVDs (4 hours total). The DVD set is available separately for $45.00 ppd. Contact John Coffer by regular mail for details. Don't delay - class size is limited to only 4 students For details and registration, write: JOHN A. COFFER 1236 DOMBROSKI RD. DUNDEE, NY 14837-9443 NOTE: Private tutoring is also available for $500 per day as to your schedule and individual needs. I have more than 25 years experience as a professional wet-plate collodion portrait photographer and am well prepared to teach you the correct time honored methods that work consistently and the best.    -JC EXTRA! EXTRA! Free Play Day! For those taking the above beginner/intermediate wet-plate collodion in-the-field workshops, you are invited to stay over at no extra charge an extra day! You may shoot wet-plates with our gear and supplies to your heart's content. We have found over the years that after the third day of the workshop, all the students have the routine down pat and are chomping at the bit to keep right on shooting fun images around the farm. You may even shoot plates as large as 8x10 (limited in number) if you like. Also, be aware that students are welcome to check in the day before the workshop officially begins to settle in if they are camping, but also to look over the wet-plate gear we will be using, or have us look over any potential wet-plate gear they care to bring along for evaluation or would like to try to shoot with. Further, be it known that workshop days are very full at Camp Tintype. When the sun shines we make wet-plate hay, and after supper we usually varnish plates and mix some chemistry into the night. In short, if you are seeking as much wet-plate bang for your buck as you can get, look no further than Camp Tintype!

Back to top

Camp Tintype Wet-Plate Retreat

If you are an experienced and up-and-running wet-plate photographer, and you'd like an in-the-field setting to "get away from it all", come join us at Camp Tintype, sack out in one of the teepees, and shoot wet-plate to your heart's content in the unique old-time farm surroundings we are so well known for. Tap us for a little trouble-shooting as needed and talk more wet-plate as we visit around the evening campfire. Always new ideas and visions to share!

All this for only $175.00 per day, which is about what the local better bed-and-breakfast charges for just a room and a pile of pancakes. You, of course, must provide your own wet-plate gear and supplies, food and drink, and be in charge of your day. This is not at all a private tutorial, which is far more an in-depth teaching/learning situation at a good deal higher price.

Write to make your reservations mid-May to early October:

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Special Wet-Plate Collodion Negative & Albumen Workshop

   To be offered on August 14, 15, and 16, 2008. Class size is limited to only four students.

All students must be fairly proficient at wet-plate already to be able to take this class. We will be making nothing but wet-plate negatives by various means and in various sizes up to 8x10. Likewise, many options for making your own Albumen paper and print-making, using your negs made in the class, will be done as well.

   This is an advanced class and should be quite productive and exciting! Also, be aware that master wet-plate negative and albumen print maker, Tom DeLooza, will be co-teaching this workshop.

   Tuition is $675.00 per student. A $250 deposit is required to hold a spot while they last!

To sign up for this unique class, write to:

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Mammoth Wet-Plate Workshop

   To be held on August 21, 22, and 23, 2008. Class size is limited to only two students.

This class is truly only for the most advanced wet-plate photographer who has at least done 8x10 plates successfully on their own. We will be making true 20"x24" mammoths and also 11"x14" wet-plates. Each student will make at least one fine 20"x24" ferrotype tintype and one 20"x24" glass wet-plate negative. Students will also make P.O.P. prints from their negatives.

Seek and you will not find a more exciting wet-plate experience for the advanced collodion artist who is thinking BIG!

   Look at the Mammoth Plate Camera at work:

   

   Tuition is $950.00. No lab fee. A $250 deposit is required.

To sign up for this unique class, write to:

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Case Making Class

   To be held on September 11, 12, and 13, 2008. Class size is limited to only two students.

If you have ever wondered how master 1860's period style case maker John Coffer makes his exquisite and unrivaled cases, then this is the class for you. All his techniques and sources of supply will be revealed. Each student will have a hand in making their own quarter plate size case under the old master's careful guidance.

This class is taught only every other year so don't fail to sign up for it in '08!

Sample case:

   Tuition is $885.00. No lab fee. A $250 deposit is required.

To sign up for this unique class, write to:

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Manuals and DVDs Now Available

   Chemical Mixing, Managing, and Maintaining DVD
The Chemical Mixing, Managing, and Maintaining DVD is out and available for $18.00 ppd.

   The Complete Wet-Plate Instructional DVD Set
The Complete Wet-Plate Instructional DVD Set (4 hours), which now includes the above chemical mixing, etc. section, is now available for $45.00 ppd.

   The Doers Guide to Wet-Plate Collodion Photography
The Doers Guide to Wet-Plate Collodion Photography manual, with the complete DVD set, is now available for $75.00 ppd.

To order any of the above material, write to:

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Your Wet-Plate Collodion Follow-Up Starter Kit

   It's new for 2008!
Finally, a reliable kit for the beginning wet-plate workshop student to be able to take home for an uninterrupted flow of wet-plate fun!

   For only $225.00, this kit includes the following:

> 500 mls of ready to pour Ol' Workhorse Collodion.
> One liters worth of Potassium Cyanide Fixing solution.
> One liter of Ferrous Sulfate Developer ready to use.
> 500 mls of Silver Nitrate Bath Solution all ready to sensitize your plates.
> 200 mls of Gum Sandarac Varnish.
> Two sheets of 12"x24" "peel & pour" plates ready to cut down to whatever sizes of positives you want to make.
> 100 mls of Calcium Carbonate glass cleaner.

   This kit is only available to workshop & tutorial students at "Camp Tintype"
No other workshop or tutorial anywhere offers this extra service. Yet another reason why "Camp Tintype" workshops are the Best!

Back to top

---

Jamboree 2008

   Update 1/5/08....

Photo of the "Unknown Tintypist":

   Announcing the Eighth Annual Wet-Plate "Jamboree" - August 1, 2, and 3, 2008.

America's first and best wet-plate collodion artists Jamboree will again be hosted here at Camp Tintype for its eighth year. This year's 19th century wet-plate photographer patron saint will be the "Unknown Tintypist" and there sure were a lot of them back then. Their time has come to be honored!

This will be a by-application-only event. If you are a practicing wet-plate photographer and aren't one of the regular Jamboree attendees or have been invited by John Coffer personally, you must write and get written approval to attend. As usual, there is no set fee charged for this event, just a hat passed for porta-potti and other incidental expenses. For sale will be Jamboree '08 T-shirts with the "Unknown Tintypist" featured on the front.

Be aware that the '08 Jamboree will be a wholesome event good enough for any family to attend. Absolutely no pot or any other illegal drugs will be permitted anywhere on the grounds. No nude or even topless modeling will be allowed on the grounds, as well. Finally, excessive drinking will not be tolerated. In the past the Jamboree has been a bonanza of wet-plate fun and information and we aim to keep it that way for the good of all.

Hope to see the Faithful there!

For more information and authorization to attend, please write:

John A. Coffer
"Camp Tintype"
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Contact Information

E-mail address

Click here to email John
 
Please note that since John does not have Internet access at Camp Tintype, all email sent here will be printed and mailed to John once every couple of weeks. To receive a reply from John as soon as possible, please include your mailing address in the email. It will be faster to write him a letter at…

Mailing address

John A. Coffer
1236 Dombroski Rd.
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Biographical & Camp Tintype Information

"Camp Tintype" is the best known and longest running learning center for wet-plate collodion photography in the world. It is the creation of its founder, John Coffer. Its humble beginnings started in 1978, when John hitched a bay workhorse named "Brownie" up to a 19th century style darkroom wagon dubbed the "Photographic Van" and criss-crossed the continent for seven years, plying his trade as an old time traveling portrait photographer. This was an experience as unique as the many tintypes and prints from glassplate negatives he made and sold along the way.

Having started out using commercially available, at the time, dry plate tintypes and glass negatives to make his living, he eventually was able to glean enough information from historic archives and gather up the necessary chemicals from different sources, that by 1982, he was able to do the much more desirable wet-plate collodion process. That spring, he immediately began making wet-plate collodion Tintypes (the real Ferrotype kind), ambrotypes, and glass plate negatives for his patrons, as he camped on field and farm and small town back lots along his way.

In 1985, after more than 11,000 wagon miles and having passed through 36 different states, John and his horse "Brownie" settled down on their own 50 acre farm in the heart of the beautiful "Finger Lakes" country of up-state New York.

Tintype of John Coffer by Tom DeLooza, 2005

He began offering his, now famous, three day wet-plate collodion photography in the field workshops in the summer of 1996. Since then, to keep up with the demand, he has had to schedule steadily more workshops each year and is, also, increasingly busy with private one-an-one tutorials.

"Brownie" went on to graze in the big pasture in the sky at the ripe old age of 33.

Here are ten reasons why "Camp Tintype" workshops are the best wet-plate collodion experience to be had anywhere:

1.    Highest student teacher ratio.
The class is limited to only four students and will be taught regardless as to any fewer than that should arrive.

2.    Students make a lot of Pictures.
Typically, a workshop student goes home with eight to a dozen. Each student will be making Tintypes, ambrotypes, glass negative, and albumen prints.

3.    Ideal span of Time.
Three days has proven to be just right for this immersion experience.

4.    The Price is Right.
Shop around and you'll see that "Camp Tintype" workshop and tutorial prices are very competitive and more so, considering you get a bigger bang for your buck!

5.    Free Camping!
Save a bundle on lodging and campout! There are on-site Teepees or bring your own tent. For the less adventerous, there are a number of B&B's and motels in the area. Also, plenty of restaurants and grocery stores.

6.    Close to photography mecha, Rochester, NY.
Camp Tintype is about 90 miles south of Rochester. Call ahead to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and make an appointment to see their behind the scenes collection of rare old wet-plate images and equipment, if you like. Cost is only the standard price of admission to the museum.

7.   The workshops are specifically taught, as is necessary to do the wet-plate process in the field.
Most see themselves going outside or on the road to shoot wet-plate, at some point in time. This requires a certain know-how and set of gear unlike the generally less challenging modern walk-in darkroom and studio situation other wet-plate workshops and tutorials tend to be taught in. After learning to do the process in the field and becoming comfortable with that, it is an easy transition to doing it in a studio. Not so, the other way around!

8.   Camp Tintype is laid back.
The rooster starts sounding off at about 5:30AM, but class doesn't start till about 9:00AM. All take a short lunch break at about noon (bring your own snacks and beverage) and then resumes till about 5:30PM or whenever. The class is often still talking wet-plate on into the night while roasting hot dogs and smores over the big evening campfire.

9.   Totally experienced Teacher.
John Coffer has been doing wet-plate collodion photography professionally for more than 24 years and been teaching workshops and tutorials for over eleven years. He has also had many apprentices over that time. His personal work is well known in the art photography world, having had numerous shows of his Tintypes in some of the most prestigious galleries in New York City and the country. He has been favorably reviewed and featured in top publications such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, Village Voice, People, Wired, Aperture, and Forbes, to name a few.

You can expect plenty of patient help from John at the workshop or by correspondence afterwards.

10.   The world's best wet-plate Manual and Instructional DVD.
At a whopping 165 pages, no other contemporary manual compares! And, it comes with a 4 hour DVD set, that features the process in detail, the many equipment options, black japanning Ferrotype plates (for making authentic Tintypes on) and many other must see to appreciate vital aspects of wet-plate collodion photography. And, if that isn't enough, you receive your copy as soon as you sign up for a workshop or tutorial. It's mailed right out to you. Many get a big head start that way. No other wet-plate workshop dares to provide so much!

---

Note: There are no phones or E-mail at "Camp Tintype".
Correspondence is, by preference, done by mail. Write:

John A. Coffer
"Camp Tintype"
1236 Dombroski Road
Dundee, NY 14837

Back to top

---

Website updated on: 5/9/2008

For comments and suggestions regarding this website,
please send email to the Webmaster.