Antonie Robertson, who is a staff photographer with us at The National, recently had a wonderful exhibition of photography at Gulf Photo Plus, a gallery in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue.
It is the result of an ongoing project called The Emirates Tin Type Project where he uses an old photography technique called tintype.
The tintype process is the photographic creation of a positive image on a metal plate. Black anodised aluminum is coated with collodion; it is then sensitised in a bath of silver before being exposed in camera. The metal plate is then immediately hand processed to create the final image.
We really love the project, so we caught up with him for a Q&A session about his project.
Q: Why did you start The Emirates Tin Type Project?
A: My mother was a librarian so we always grew up with books; the Encyclopaedia Britannica was really well thumbed in our house. We always took the most interesting books from the library and we got exposed to a lot of world knowledge. I knew about this process for a long time and was interested in the process of the camera.
Q: What gave you the final push to start the project?
A: It wasn’t until I studied commercial photography that I got to know more about this process specifically but I never thought it was practical thing to do. Then I discovered a documentary about a photographer called Sally Mann and that was the first time I realised you can create a body of work like this over an extended amount of time, over years.
Q: How long have you been working on it?
A: I started collecting about four years ago and I’ve been shooting it for about two years. But I will keep shooting this on an ongoing basis.
Q: Are you inspired by the community here in the UAE?
A: I meet a lot of people though photography for the newspaper but I always have a feeling I never get the chance to actually take a picture of these people. This project forces me to slow down and do that. It is a more of a spiritual process, where I can connect with people and create portraits of them. I make a lot of time for it; it is an endeavour of love.
Q: How does the process work?
A: I take an aluminium plate that is painted with black enamel on one side. Then in the dark room, I take collodion and other chemicals and pour it on top of the plate to create an emulsion and then put it in a sensitising tank to make it sensitive to light. Then it is ready to take the photograph, which I develop immediately afterwards.
Q: Is it the same as the original technique?
A: Within every possible realm it is classical as it can be. I take a modern production studio camera, which is different in terms of physically what it is made of, but it is not different in the way it is made or works.
Q: How did you feel about the show and what plans do you have for the future of this project?
A: I was really happy to finally have my own show because it was a very personal journey for me, coming into something that I have always visualised. I think the future will be shooting in a larger format and using bigger plates.
* For more information about Antonie and his work visit his website antonierobertson.com
