Hi! I’m Amber Ascher, a Milwaukee-based wetplate collodion photographer. Using 19th-century techniques, antique cameras, hand-mixed chemistry, and my portable dark box, I handcraft tintype photos that are made to last for generations.

Each image created with this incredible process captures a sliver of time with light: rays of the sun are reflected from your face, etched onto a layer of silver & immortalized through the alchemy of chemical reaction. Tintypes must be developed within minutes of being made, turning every portrait session into a moment of wonder. I love sharing this experience with people & it’s usually an emotional moment when the final image appears! This is a slower process, requiring patience, stillness, and presence to get it right - but then we are rewarded with instant results, and the magic of the moment is never forgotten.

Immersed in the historic roots of modern-day wetplate photography, I studied traditional techniques under John Coffer in the summer of 2023 on his farm in Dundee, NY and have been sharing my love for the process since then in Milwaukee and around the Midwest.  

Photo of Amber with her Eastman Kodak camera, by Emily Dalske ‘25