Photography Day

Name: Photography Day
Start: 2025-09-20T10:30:00-05:00
Location: 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37208

Schedule

Sat, 20 Sep, 2025 at 10:30 am

UTC-05:00

Location

1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37208 | Nashville, TN

Step back in time and experience 19th-century photography during Photography Day! Join us for a presentation and live demonstration of wet plate collodion photography by Sam Reed, the artist behind Vacant Chair Photography Studio.
“Capturing the light” is a centuries-old pursuit that came into being during the turn of the 19th century. Though not the first photographic process of the 1800s, wet-plate collodion would dominate the photography world for more than thirty years mid-century. This presentation will discuss how wet plate came into being and the process of making ambrotypes and tintypes, followed by a demonstration of making a wet plate collodion image using period-appropriate camera, equipment, and chemistry. Discover how this fascinating historic process works from start to finish!
Following the demonstration, take a guided tour of the Museum’s exhibition, Photography in Tennessee: Early Studios and the Medium's First Century, which showcases a rich visual history of the state through captivating photographs from our collection. From early daguerreotypes to tintypes and ambrotypes, the featured photos include some of the earliest surviving images from Tennessee, offering a compelling look at the stories of the men and women behind and in front of the camera.