Spirit Photography

The mid-19th Century Spiritualism movement contributed greatly to the popularity of spirit photography. The significance of death in the Victorian period created a desire for evidence of the afterlife, and those who partook in spirit photography oftentimes hoped to receive images that depicted the likeness of a deceased relative or loved one. Spirit photographers set up salons in major cities. Many were debunked as the understanding of the technology became understood but some including Arthur Conan Doyle maintained photography's ability to capture the supernatural... Wet plate collodion process is an early photographic technique invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer, which requires coating, sensitizing, exposing, and developing a glass or metal plate before the emulsion dries. It uses a portable darkroom to produce detailed negatives or positives (tintypes/ambrotypes) with a low ISO, allowing for sharper images than previous methods. The images created are remarkable and unique - often described as…