As a photographer for commercial use, Ian Ruhter never had time to take pictures of McGee Creek. After he quit the job to create Tintypes on his own He returned in 2013.

In a day and age where images are created quickly only to be disappear, and everybody has a camera and thousands of gigabytes worth of photos inside their purses, it’s not surprising that the most intriguing photographers of today are slowing down. It’s a long way down.

Tintype, a type of wet-plate technique in which chemicals are sprayed onto metal before an image is directly exposed and created in situ It is gaining popularity. It is being used by the Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco The Eastman Museum located in Rochester along with the Penumbra Foundation in New York are just a handful of institutions across the U.S. where photographers are enrolling to learn how their forefathers did it.

Three artists we spoke to who have established careers using the medium that is distinctly old-fashioned, what attracted them to it, and why the art of artisanal photography could not have come in a more appropriate moment.

Ruhter named the 27×35 inches Monument Valley tintype (above)after the actor, as it was believed to be his most favorite spot in the valley.

Ian Ruhter

Ian Ruhter had a good 10 years as photographer in Los Angeles commercial photographer, however, his job demanded that he switch to digital. The thought of manipulating photos in postproduction was a source of concern for the photographer. “I believed that it was wrong and I didn’t wish to be forever remembered as a result of it,”” Ruhter recalls.

The other thing that was happening was making use of a camera take street photos was equally troubling. The camera caused a lot of confrontation with his subjects whom he believes to be feeling abused. Then he began going out using an older Polaroid Land Camera and giving his Polaroid prints to people he took pictures of. Instead of just taking pictures it was more about connecting.

In the following years, Polaroid film was stopped. In the belief that even if every other company which produced film was shut down Ruhter could still create the film himself, Ruhter was inspired to try wet plate photography. He looked for William Dunniway, a wet-plate photographer and educator, and started working with him around the year 2009.

Shooting on a ranch owned by collectors located outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ruhter made this 24×36-inch Tintype.

Ruhter identified with the people who created wet-plate images during the 19th century whom he claims “were at the cutting edge of science, art research, and discovery.” He had discovered the medium he’d searched for.

Within a couple of months of making his first tintypes Ruhter left commercial photography. He was determined to not only do tintype full-time, but also expand the medium to the limit. “I wanted to look at a wet plate in a way I’ve previously never seen,” he says. His goal: 4×5-foot tintypes.

This required the construction of a massive camera. So Ruhter bought a truck discovered an lens on eBay and started. One of the most difficult tasks was to figure out how to pack everything into the truck and create an operation mechanism for the camera. He finally realized that he had to be a part of the camera, rather than making use of machines for moving the plates to unlock the lens focus and other things like that. “That day was a pivotal moment,” Ruhter recalls. “I have confidence in myself. I am able to perform all the steps and movements and be able to alter things on the spot. I was watching it through the lens of the camera at this point, and this altered everything.”