Revealing Character:
Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes
Available in the Witte Museum Store
After completing twelve stories for National Geographic in the past decade and the extensive travel that goes with it, photographer Robb Kendrick began work on a project much closer to home. The Texas Hill Country resident spent the past year traveling to 25 of the state’s working ranches to document a rare way of life – the modern-day working cowboy – using the 19 th Century tintype technique. America’s first major contribution to the art of photography that dates back to the heyday of the cattle drives (1850-1880), tintypes went on to become the country’s favorite portrait format. A tedious and unforgiving method of photography that necessitates patience and commitment from both the subject and the photographer, posing for a tintype requires more time than modern point-and-shoot photography and instructions must be followed carefully or the photograph will be ruined. “It’s a dance like no other that I have experienced in 21 years as a photographer,” says Kendrick. |
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He started working in the medium about five years ago. It took him six months to amass all the necessary equipment, which includes 150-year-old lenses he was able to find online. Kendrick is the only Texas-based photographer who works in this historic photographic process and one of the few worldwide.
The tintypes – 85 in all – are showcased in Kendrick’s latest book REVEALING CHARACTER: Texas Tintypes (October 2005/$34.95/Bright Sky Press) and are accompanied by field notes that provide a look at each individual and his/her dedication to the cowboy way of life. The cowboys of the 19 th Century gave Texas its character and have become an internationally recognized icon. Kendrick’s portraits tie the past to the present and reveal that those qualities – determination, integrity, a strong work ethic and humility – are very much alive today.
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