Victorian Photography Studio/Union Tintype and Hellcat Darkroom return to Lyndhurst mansion ready to take your portrait using 19th-century photographic technology, resulting in a one-of-a-kind tintype portrait. Bring home a special memento of your trip to Lyndhurst during the most exciting time of the year.

Collodion, or wet-plate photography as we have come to know it today, was invented in 1851 by Fredrick S. Archer. This process was invented to allow images to be made on glass — multiple copies then could be made from the same plate. In 1856, the tin-type process was added, allowing collodion images to be made on thin sheets of metal.

The unique thing about this process is that the plate must remain wet before being sensitized and exposed. If the plate dries out before the photographer has time to develop the image, it will no longer be light-sensitive and will be completely useless. Hence the name “wet plate” process.