Rodeo Tintype

Home
United States
Dallas, TX
Rodeo Tintype

Wet Plate Collodion Photography

05/07/2026

July 31st, 2021 - Last day, practically last minute, of the 20th Jamboree.

📸🎥

04/18/2026

This ad from the December 1875 issue of Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin I believe represents the “last gasp” of arguably the greatest American lens maker of all time. This is the E & HT Anthony Company, the largest photographic supplier in the country, attempting to sell the last of their remaining stock of CC Harrison lenses.

CC Harrison died in 1864. It is likely that manufacture of his lenses continued to 1866 but production certainly ceased around this time. CC Harrison had been the primary supplier of lenses for E & HT Anthony & Company (they still held considerable CC Harrison stock which they would continue to sell for years to come). In 1866, the CC Harrison Company was sold to the American Optical Company (along with the John Stock Camera Company which supplied wood camera boxes to Anthony). American Optical was subsequently sold just a year later to the Scovill Manufacturing Company. Alarmed by the sale of his lens supplier and camera builder to his competitor, Edward Anthony made new plans. It was at this time that Anthony became the sole agent for Dallmeyer lenses in the United States and the rest, as they say, is history.

03/01/2026

New York City Hall... completed 1812 and still in use,
Chicago City Hall... completed 1911 and still in use,
Los Angeles City Hall... completed 1928 and still in use,
Dallas City Hall... completed 1978 and demolished for a basketball court?

Welcome to “Big D”, the only major city in the country where the seat of government, in the minds of some, legitimately stands in the way of a sports arena. Many in Dallas couldn’t care less about their own city hall, I recognize that, but there will be a worldwide outcry if this building is actually torn down that will reflect poorly on the city of Dallas for generations.

01/05/2026

Just your typical north-facing poured concrete inverted slope on a bright sunny day. This would have been a breeze with a digital camera and HDR but not so simple with wet collodion and an uncoated 19th century lens.

BTW… this is Dallas City Hall which was designed by I.M. Pei and efforts are underway to try and demolish it for a basketball arena. Hopefully I’ll make a decent photo of it before they do.

On a serious note, this building is majestic, and awe-inspiring, and most everything new construction in Dallas will probably never be again. However, what should be the pride of Dallas (if not this, then what?) has been neglected in almost every way possible.

I was assisted by Zachary Fox ( )

11/04/2025

Is your Dallmeyer 3B Patent Portrait lens engraved with serial number 15728? If so, your lens was once owned by Mathew Brady. I have no idea if this lens is in a museum, a private collection, or if it is mounted to your camera. What I do know is that it was on an inventory of Brady’s Washington D.C. studio equipment when he declared bankruptcy in 1873. Dallmeyer records show that the manufacture of this lens began on January 16, 1869 and it left the factory on February 19, 1869. It was then sold to E. & H.T. Anthony & Co. on February 15, 1870(?). Presumably it was sold to Brady later in 1870 and then to persons unknown in 1873. Although the bankruptcy sale of Brady’s equipment from his New York and Washington D.C. studios didn’t raise as much money as hoped, Brady was able to emerge from bankruptcy in 1874 and reopen his Washington D.C. studio in 1875.

The CC Harrison whole plate lens on the bankruptcy inventory (serial number 1195 manufactured in about 1851) was sold with one of Brady’s cameras in 2011 (possibly the camera on the inventory but that is unclear).

1875 portrait of Mathew Brady from the Library of Congress. Bankruptcy Inventory imaged by Heritage Auctions. JH Dallmeyer records are from the Brent Archive.

08/09/2025

“Blue-tinted skylights” in a Daguerreotype studio was a new one for me (and I want to know more!) but for anyone interested in a very readable journey through the history of 19th and early 20th century photography and it’s cavalcade of characters (if you’ve never heard of Nadar then this book is worthy for that introduction alone) you won’t be able to put this one down. Although I might quibble with some of the wording in the descriptions of the processes (e.g., “a solution of egg whites, beaten with salt” will read like table salt to most in a book like this), has done an admirable job of making an arguably niche subject very entertaining. And the next time I shoot a portrait, “prunes” it is!

07/07/2025

Happy Birthday John Coffer.

This photo was taken six years ago and many things have changed since then but you can probably guess what hasn’t…

🎂
📸 me

04/08/2025

It was one year ago today that the moon blocked out the sun for 4 minutes and 8 seconds and we did our best to shoot wet collodion in the dark while in a state of awe-inspired astonishment. I wish I had known what this day would be like so I could’ve more looked forward to it but between losing sleep over camera stuff and worrying about the weather my brain was preoccupied to say the least. Still… what a day!

In the photo L to R: , , , , , ,

📸

The video is Joseph’s but I like it so much I’m posting it anyway.

, , ,

02/24/2025

As an addendum to my last post, years before he would accumulate all of that “modern” equipment, here’s proof that William Langley was decades ahead of his time while flirting with the not-too-distant past. In 1940, Langley shot tintype portraits at The Calyx Club Costume Party in Dallas. This could possibly have been the last tintype event of its kind prior to John Coffer shooting his first Civil War reenactment. This particular shot is of my grandfather (also a professional photographer at the time) who was likely assisting (the mustache is fake). I don’t believe this is wet collodion but instead it appears to be some sort of dry plate. The metal substrate itself is very thin. The cardboard folio is similar to what sells today if you like the look.

02/23/2025

I made a post about my great uncle William Langley awhile back but my cousin sent me this photo a few days ago and I thought I would post it for all of the gearheads out there. Me and some others I know can probably match him for the sheer number of cameras and lenses but the lighting is a different matter. This photo was taken probably late 50’s, maybe early 60’s. The only camera him and I have in common is the Deardorff he is leaning on.

Address

Dallas, TX
75229

Website

https://www.rodeotintype.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rodeo Tintype posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Rodeo Tintype:

Name:

Email:

Message:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Photography Service in Dallas?