From KWBU:
Matthew Nixson first fell in love with tintype after receiving one from a friend in Austin. The experience inspired him to open his own photography business in Waco, called Holliday Tintype
“That just sort of started spiking my interest in doing tintype, but I only until recently have started actually getting into like other forms of photography,” Nixson said. “I’ve always been a painter, jewelry maker, that kind of thing, so it just seemed like another creative output.”
If you’ve ever seen an old western movie, many of the rustic photos you see in them are tintype photographs.
Despite only being the size of a backpack, Matthew Nixson’s 1920 Kodak camera packs a mighty punch when fully assembled.
The camera, at first glance, looks like a large square binder. It’s only after he fully extends it that it takes the classic tintype camera look, with the accordion base and the large circular bronze camera frame in the center.
Unlike most plastic or metal cameras of the modern era this one is almost entirely made out of natural dark wood.
Nixson found his tintype camera through Craigslist, and soon fell in love with the rustic style of tintype photography.
Holliday Tintype owner Matthew Nixson displays his 1920 Kodak camera after his interview on November 20, 2024.
Cole Gee / KWBU
“I have a lot of interests and then they become obsessions and then they become jobs,” he said.
But tintype isn’t a very common photography choice since film and electric cameras exist. However Nixson said that there is a very passionate group in town who love the painstaking process.
“A big part of doing this is knowing other people that do it. So I’ve traveled around and met other people,” he said.
Many film and television networks who produce historical content like to use tintype for their marketing and promotional material. Nixon was lucky enough to have some of his own tintype photography used in a collaboration for the popular Paramount show Bass Reeves.
“I did a shoot with Paramount Plus where there were five of us on set shooting as kind of a team. So there’s a few of us out there,” he said.
The process of tintype photography is long, but for Nixson, the results are very satisfying.
You take a blank aluminum sheet then cover it in chemicals. Then in a dark room place the sheet in a silver nitrate solution.
As the chemicals mix, the sheet becomes photosensitive, kind of like a piece of film.
In a dark box, Nixson adds the sheet into a plate holder before placing it in the camera.
When he takes the photo it’s exposed to light, which burns the image onto the plate. He then develops the sheet, like you would a film photograph.
Afterword he places the tin inside a toaster oven which creates a varnish.
And voila, now you have a tintype photograph.
“I can place my lights a certain way, place the person a certain way, and shoot it, but I never am 100% sure what’s going to happen,” Nixson said. “So it’s always going to be unique for me, which is, I think, what kind of keeps me doing it.”
For those interested in Nixson’s work you can check out his photos @Holliday_tintype on Instagram.
