The promised Land

These are not portraits but rather depictions of spiritual manifestations, if you will. I am not so much interested in the qualities that define a portrait as such but rather in a deeper spiritual essence that all sentient beings share. I wanted the flesh to become transparent and read not as a protective layer of skin but as the erotic malleable and impermanent surface that it is. This flesh is an entrance into the spirit realm: a journey to the promised land. The photos are made with an early 19th century 8 x 10 wooden studio camera with an even older brass Petzval lens. Using the wet-plate collodion technique I made ambrotypes then scanned the plates and made prints.