River City Tintype

About

River City Tintype is the studio of Rudy Salgado, a Louisville-based photographer and educator who creates heirloom wet plate collodion tintype portraits using methods developed in the 1850s. Working from a studio in a house built in 1885 near downtown Louisville — complete with a period-inspired darkroom and portrait parlor — Rudy handcrafts photographs in the same tradition as the traveling tintypists of the 19th century, using many of the same materials and chemistry they did.

The process is part alchemy, part careful craft: a metal plate is coated with light-sensitive chemistry, exposed for one to three seconds, and developed on the spot. Each finished plate is singular, carrying a metallic surface and level of detail that digital processes cannot replicate. Rudy also pursues collaborative documentary projects, including a Kentucky-wide survey of historic post office sites captured in tintype.

An active educator, Rudy has taught at Kentucky's Governor's School for the Arts, Louisville Visual Art Academy, and St. Francis School. Portrait sessions and event pop-ups are available through rivercitytintype.com.

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