On Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing Rochester's well-known photographer, Gerry Szymanski. I got to know Gerry when he took a tintype workshop with me at the Community Darkroom. I have photographed him before and knew he would arrive dressed in 19th century style. In fact, he brought two vintage top hats of different heights and we used them both.
Exposure times in the studio have been 20 seconds this winter (as opposed to 10 in the summer) and after getting a plate with some movement we decided to use the head rest to stabilize him. It worked great! We were both really happy with the results.
Gerry has a large collection of photographs, with a focus on tintypes. After the shoot we went to Starry Nights and looked at the ones he acquired in 2014. It was a delight! Gerry did a TedxFlourCity talk about his collection and you can watch it here.