While sorting through my mother-in-law's estate in 2017, I came across an album of tinotypes, depicting ancestors on her mother's side and their lives in the late 1800's.

What struck me most about these images was the authenticity and casualness of the subjects' expressions while they were posed in very formal staged settings. While many of the people depicted, probably didn't have experience posing or seeing themselves in tinotypes, there is a truth and unmasked quality in their faces—the mark of a skilled photographer.

2018

tinotype, brass, sterling silver, pyrite in slate stone                            

25.5 X 25.5 X 4.5 cm, shadow box