how can I learn the collodion process

Question

After having quite success/fun with bromoil, I am thinking of trying collodion. Unfortuantely ressources about this process are extremely rare. Do you know of any, except the ones that google finds right away?

Answer 1

Alternative Photography, which is on Google's first page, is still one of the best resources I know of for alt-process photography, so I'll recommend it anyway: http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/wetplate/the-wetplate-collodion-process

The forums at f295.org are low-traffic, but generally helpful and knowledeable, and don't show up for the obivous searches. They have a dedicated collodion section: http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl?b-collodion/

Unblinking Eye has a decent article on the process, with some photos of the portable darkbox used: http://www.unblinkingeye.com/Articles/WPC/wpc.html

http://APUG.org doesn't have a dedicated section for collodion, but there's a fair amount of information scattered around their forums; site-specific search with Google is a good place to start with APUG: http://www.google.com/search?q=site:apug.org+collodion

But the best place by far isn't on the internet at all. If there are any people working with the process locally, they may offer workshops from time to time; it takes about a day to get oriented and produce your first images (often using the instructor's gear, which is convenient). To find those, get in touch with any local photography clubs, darkroom spaces, or decent camera stores – those are usually the venues where you'll see such things advertised.