Retro photography, recreating the old techniques, clothes, decorations has been my passion for years. Or, should I say, our passion, because the images created in my attelier are a result not only of my work but also of Małgosia‘s, who is responsible for most of the clothes. I recreated the photographic techniques, she recreates the clothes.
So far we have managed to recreate most of the leading 19th century techniques’ wetplate collodion, saltprint, albumen print, platinum print, Vandyke brownprint, PUP paper, collodion paper, gum bichromate, carbon transfer and the oilprint as well as the rarest of the all; silver gelatin dryplate or my own photographic emulsions.
Thanks to my prior training as an English philologist, I can use not only the sources and workshops available in Poland but also those available abroad, especially the richest, American ones. The library I have amassed containes close to 300 hundred volumes of which some remember the earliest days of photography and others were published in the last decade.
When I work in the lab, Małgosia recreates the 19th century just as I do it, only focussing on clothes, decorations as well as behaviours. She hunts clothes and decorations, has the largest wardrobe I have ever seen thanks to which our pictures are believable, true not only in the technical aspect but also in the clothes models wear.
When required, we also collaborate with cultural institutions using their resources and premises as was the case with the shared projects done with the Museum – Teodora and Izydor Gulgowski Ethnographic park in Wdzydze Kiszewskie. A little documentary showing the creation of our shared project is available here: https://vimeo.com/149867990
Oilprint 26x39cm. © Radosław Brzozowski