Wet-Plate Collodion: Yosemite
Instructor: Willie Osterman
2025 Dates: Apr 30 - May 3
Focus: Field and Darkroom
Medium: Film Plate
Learn the basic principles and practices of wet-plate collodion printing, including historical research, contemporary applications and safety issues. Presentations, demonstrations and hands-on experience are included as part of this workshop.
Overview
Have you ever been curious about learning the Wet-Plate Collodion process? This workshop is for you. Wet-Plate Collodion is a hand-applied method where an emulsion is poured onto a plate of glass (ambrotype) or blackened aluminum (tintype or ferrotype), sensitized, exposed, developed, rinsed, and fixed before the emulsion dries, then varnished.
This workshop will introduce the basic principles and practice including historical research, contemporary applications and safety issues. Presentations, demonstrations and hands-on experience are all part of this workshop. Basic view camera knowledge is desirable but not required. If you have a view camera, please bring it with you, as 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 plate holders will be available to use. Willie Osterman will also have some brownie cameras that can be utilized.
SPRING 2025 – April 30 - May 3
Workshop Details
| Wet-Plate Collodion: Yosemite | |
|---|---|
| INSTRUCTOR | Willie Osterman |
| FOCUS | Field and Darkroom |
| MEDIUM | Film Plate |
| LEVEL | Beginner to Advanced |
| ATTENDEES | 6 |
| TUITION | $1700 (includes materials) |
About the Instructor
Willie Osterman earned his BFA and MFA in both photography and visual design and is an Emeritus professor and former director of Fine Art Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. He received a Fulbright Scholars Award to develop a master’s degree program (first photo grad degree in the country) and teach at the Academy of the Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Among his notable achievements, Willie was a printing assistant in the production of the Ansel Adams Special Edition Prints assisting Ansel Adams and Alan Ross. He was also an assistant at Mr. Adams’ workshops in Yosemite Park. Willie has worked as a contract photographer for the Eastman Kodak Company during summers in Yosemite and Arcadia National Parks. His first sabbatical was in Yosemite National Park for a year of documenting the workers, visitors, and the land. His publication 'Déjà View: A Cultural Re-Photographic Survey of Bologna, Italy was published in a second edition.
Osterman has presented over 80 exhibitions in the US, Italy, Turkey, Austria, China and Croatia. His work is included, among others, in the collections of the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, the Alinari Photographic Archive, Florence, Italy and Muzej Grada Zagreba (City Art Museum of Zagreb), Croatia.
Willie’s representative website is https://wtopph.cad.rit.edu/
Workshop FAQ
Find answers to your questions about our Photography Workshops in our FAQ. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you need additional help. You can reach us by email at photoed@anseladams.com or by phone (650) 692-3495.
Clothing / Dressing for the Elements
Physical Limitations
Cancellation Policy
The Ansel Adams Gallery Multiple Day Workshop Cancellation Policy: We rely on your confirmed attendance to make important arrangements for the workshop. If you need to cancel, please inform a gallery representative in writing no fewer than 60 days prior to the first day of your scheduled workshop for a partial refund of your tuition that reflects the 10% non-refundable administration charge. Refunds cannot be made for cancellations initiated within 60 days of the first day of the scheduled workshop, or for no-shows, for any reason.
If you are concerned with the possibility of cancellation, please consider purchasing travel insurance.
Workshop registration is NOT transferable.
In the extremely rare event that The Ansel Adams Gallery needs to cancel a workshop, the gallery will refund your full tuition. However, The Ansel Adams Gallery will not be responsible for non-refundable airline tickets, car rentals charges, lodging reservations, or any other expense outside of the workshop tuition.
Lodging reservations made through Yosemite Hospitality - Aramark are fully refundable 14 days in advance of the scheduled first day of check in.
It is recommended not to purchase airline tickets or make non-refundable deposits on lodging that cannot be canceled 14 days prior to the initiation of the workshop event.
The Ansel Adams Gallery highly recommends travel insurance to help with an unfortunate travel event.
This pre-workshop information may be emailed to the education coordinator at photoed@anseladams.com.
