On the road in Austin, Texas, you may come across what looks like a small house attached to the back of a pickup truck. A banner affixed to the side of it will tell you that what exists inside is a tintype photobooth that goes by “Lumiere.” Tintype is a mid 19th-century photographic process by which an image is exposed on a sheet of metal dipped in collodion and a nitrate solution. There’s more chemistry to it than I’m letting on, but it is an old process that Adrian Whipp and Loren Doyen use to create portraits in Austin. We had a chance to speak with Adrian about this vintage endeavor.
All images are courtesy of Adrian Whipp and Loren Doyen.
Phoblographer: How did you get your start in photography?
Whipp: I took a photography course at a young age and was soon hooked on making 35mm photographs. I ended up with a degree in Visual Communication. I feel I was lucky to be one of the last graduates to be trained only in analog photographic processes. However, coming out into a digital world with analog training was a difficult adjustment. I shot plenty of digital but never found myself connecting to it in the same way that I had with analog photography.
Phoblographer: When did you discover the tintype process?
Phoblographer: How long did it take to create Lumiere?
Phoblographer: How was business in the beginning and how did it grow?
Phoblographer: Do you photograph outside of Lumiere, and if you do, what do you use?
Phoblographer: Any projects in the pipeline?

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