For enthusiasts of early banjo

Interesting Photo

Man and his banjo, and friend, supposedly circa 1860s

Pretty cool! Never saw this one before.

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Permalink Reply by Phil on August 7, 2012 at 5:41pm

The tintype can be seen as a modification of the earlier ambrotype, replacing the glass plate with a thin sheet of japanned iron (hence ferro). The new materials reduced costs considerably; and the collodion image has proven to be very durable. Like that of the ambrotype, the tintype's image can be thought of as a negative; but, because of the black background, it appears as a positive. Since the tintype is a camera-original positive, most tintype images appear reversed (left to right) from reality. Some cameras were fitted with mirrors or a 45-degree prism to laterally reverse the image.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Mickletz on August 7, 2012 at 7:20pm

Took the words outta my mouth Phil! Thanks for reversing it! Good stuff. I'm a big tintype and early photo process guy...or was before I had a kid and got into this banjo stuff ;) The banjo player is intentionally holding his banjo the wrong way (maybe even instructed by the photographer to do so) so that it will look correct in the final image. It would account for the awkward nature he's holding it in as well, not at all like he would when playing it. That is, unless we found the Jimmy Hendrix of banjoists? :P Many a Civil War soldier image shows the same thing with weapons being held on opposite sides in an attempt to look correct.

It would account also for, as Strumelia was pointing out, the idea that the 5th string is covered by his hand and his buttons on his coat being backwards. Fun fun! This discussion really took off since I last visited.