It's pretty easy to take a photo these days. Most of us use our phones, clicking off multiple shots stored in the Cloud.
It was a lot harder in the 1800s. Having your photo taken was a rare privilege that might happen just once in a lifetime.
"It was quite amazing. You didn't have many ways to see yourself," photographer Matthieu Cotteret said.
"There were a few odd mirrors, but they were quite expensive. Maybe you had the reflection in the water but to get an object to remember someone by was quite amazing."
The Frenchman, who's been looking at life through a lens for the past 20 years, now calls New Plymouth home.
"There's the sea, the mountain, the rivers. What more do you want?"
He's found plenty in New Zealand to train his camera on — he's about to exhibit some landscape photographs. Most recently, however, Cotteret has focused on capturing people using special vintage equipment.
"That lens is from 1912, a French manufacturer — it used to be a portrait lens," he said. "It's an amazing lens. It's pretty cool to think it's taken many, many portraits."
Cotteret's using that lens to take new ones, employing a method from 170 years ago.
“It's called wet plate collodion, a technique that was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. It's all analogue, a manual way to do photographs. It’s pretty fantastic," he said.
"It's amazingly sharp, and there are no pixels, no grain like you have on film. It competes with the latest digital you can find, and if you do a scan of it you can zoom in and zoom in and it's still super sharp, nothing will interfere with the image. It's stunning."
On the day of Seven Sharp's visit, Cotteret was taking Talia Sutherland's portrait.
"Close your eyes," he instructed, testing the flash.
"I'd like your face toward me," he told her, adjusting his lights.
"Back in the day, it was very special to have a portrait done," he told us. "There were not many photographers, only maybe a few travelling the country, so when they came to your town, you needed to take the opportunity to get a portrait done."
And it was a patient process.
"People used to sit down for 3-8 seconds to get the right exposure, so that's why they were generally quite stiff — it was easier not to smile. Plus, people were influenced by Victorian portraits where people were very serious."
Cotteret believes a solemn expression makes a perfect portrait, revealing a juxtaposition of old and new, producing an image that feels like you've time-travelled to get it.
"Perfect, don't move," he told Sutherland as he prepared to take the shot.
"[We’re] going on three... 1, 2, 3."
"I hope I didn't blink!" Sutherland laughed.
Without delay, Cotteret removed the plate from the camera and made the short walk to his garden shed, which he has converted into a darkroom.
The image must be processed within 15 minutes. In the darkroom, Cotteret becomes part magician and part chemist, combining science with a kind of sorcery.
"I love the process," he admitted.
"Collodion is nitro-cellulose mixed with ether and alcohol. I put some bromide and iodide in it, and the collodion will carry those chemicals. Once I put in the silver nitrate, it's like magic happening. The plate will become sensitive to light.
"I put it in the back of the camera. The light goes through and shines on a plate, capturing the image. And boom, you're done."
And speaking of "boom", it's not lost on him how many dangerous chemicals are involved.
“You hear about stories, it's pure alcohol, drinking too much, the ether explosion. I've got ventilation. They didn't know you could get ether poisoning. I'm being very, very careful.
"Back in the day, they used cyanide," he added.
Unlike wet plate pioneers, Cotteret follows a proven recipe.
"I'm always amazed by the people who invented it because they started from scratch.
"They didn't know it could work; they would stick to it and stick to it until it happened, you know? Wow, those people were incredible."
As he fixed the photo in a bath of sodium thiosulphate, Sutherland's likeness appeared.
"We have an image," he said.
"It is magic; for me, it's magic every time. Every time I see it, I'm amazed.
"It doesn't see the same spectrum we see; we can see all of your freckles," he told Sutherland. "It's super sharp."
"I really like it," Sutherland said. "Absolutely happy. I'm stunned with the result."
And if you don't usually like photos of yourself, you might warm to this method, which reverses the image.
"When you see your portrait on the plate, it's how you see yourself in the mirror. Generally, people like how they look because it's how they see themselves each morning."
Cotteret hopes to find more vintage photography gear.
"I'd love to find more, but in New Zealand, it's quite hard. I always go on Marketplace to try to find people who may have found an old camera in their attic," he said.
"I'd be really keen to find an 8 x 10 wooden camera like they used to have. If you have an old brass lens or wooden camera that you don't know what it is, contact me. I'd be super keen."
He believes printed portraits like his have a unique quality.
"They are tangible objects. Not many people print photos anymore. That's the beauty of this. It's an heirloom.
"It's quite cool to create that for people."
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