Artist Interview: Joni Sternbach

by Alison Nguyen

Joni Sternbach’s featured images are from SurfLand, a collection of contemporary tintype portraits of surfers created with the wet-plate collodion process. The photographs in the series were shot on the beaches of both coasts in the United States. Part landscape, part environmental portraits, Sternbach uses elements intrinsic to this historic medium to her advantage. The wet collodion process must be prepared and developed on location, which enables her subjects to see their image soon after it was shot. This is a key element to her methodology, intensifying her interaction with her sitters while also drawing in new subjects.

Before the SurfLand series your work had previously centered on natural landscapes. How and why did your subject shift to people?
Prior to my SurfLand series, my photographs with film were water-focused landscapes. My images of the ocean had been beautiful, abstract, and empty. They didn’t attempt to be concrete; they were purposefully vague.

I often revisit places I’m drawn to. In 2006 I went to the bluffs of Ditch Plains in Montauk to photograph the ocean again, but this time with wet-plate. While there I happened upon a person, a photographer actually and we got talking. I asked him to pose for a photograph. He agreed and went down to the shore with his surfboard and placed himself in the water. There was a lot of uncertainty in the making of this image. From the bluff to shore distance, our only communication was my hand signals.

When I developed that photograph I realized it had the potential to become something much greater. It turned out to be the first photograph in the surfer series, titled Lone Surfer.

From 2006-2009 you photographed dozens of surfers–yet you yourself do not surf. How did you go about finding your subjects?
At first just by showing up, hanging out, and waiting on the beach, like a surfer.
I started the series in August of 2006. By the end of the season in November, I was really into it. I made plans to go to California to photograph surfers the following winter. My assistant Christine knew a surfer who told us about a few spots in Malibu. Another artist/surfer I met through a gallery I was working with in California. He took me around a bit and showed me some local breaks. Looking back it was really word of mouth and the kindness of surfers that made it happen.

Can you talk about your wet-plate shooting process? What it’s like being with the subject and keeping him or her engaged as you compose the photo, coat the plate, expose it, and develop it?
Photographing people, to me, is about making the connection to someone; creating a private space in a public environment. The shooting process though can be complex. The tintype is composed of a person and all the elements of the landscape and location: the movement of the water, the way the subject holds their board, the position of their feet on the sand or submerged under water or on a rock. All of these different elements come together to make the photograph work.

When I’m composing the image I sometimes can’t believe how beautiful the picture is in the ground glass. There have been times when waiting the 5 minutes to sensitize the plate before taking the photograph is torture. That tension can be both frustrating and incredibly exciting.

Sometimes disconnecting from the subject to coat the plate in the dark box can agitate me because I’m really keyed up about the picture. The dark box can also be a way to get a breath from the subject and to clear my head before taking the shot. When I come back to the camera after coating the plate, my own preference is not to refocus the camera again. My assistant usually waits with the subject to make sure they haven’t totally changed their position. I don’t like last minute changes–there are too many other elements at work.

With wet plate you process the plate on site right after you shoot. Do you share the image with your subject?
I do.

I suppose in some ways the tintype is the 19th century equivalent to the Polaroid. It’s instantaneous. What reactions have people had to your work when they see it?
Everybody pretty much flips–people love them. There’s been a lot of stupefaction and excitement around the tintypes.

Would you say there’s a performative element in wet-plate photography?
For SurfLand, the entire wet-plate process takes place in the public eye. People watch me, deciding if they want to be near me, if they want to observe, and if they want to engage. Working with people all around.
Now I have a bit of a following. A lot of people like what I’ve done and the way I’ve documented the surf scene in Montauk. I think they feel that the body of work is about them, not about me–which is what I hope.

How does the environment you shoot in affect the tintype?
Each location has a whole different kind of texture. Ditch Plains at low tide looks like a lunar landscape. Around Rincon beach in California it’s scruffier; there are lots of woods and gnarly trees, mountains in the background. The direction I shoot is based on the position of the sun. This, of course, can really change the photograph.

Also, weather has a huge effect on wet plate chemistry. The more humid and hot it is, the worse it is for wet plate processing. Developer works better in cooler temperatures. Sometimes the developing process of the plate creates variations and artifacts. There are all kinds of surprises like that.

What are some of the most memorable subjects you’ve shot?
People I’ve met spontaneously, just by being in the same place at the same time. The camera has allowed to me to come into contact with people that I never would have spoken to if I were just hanging out on the beach sunbathing. There’s something really incredible about the encounter of meeting people, conversing with them and making pictures with them on the beach.

Do you plan on expanding the series?
I would like to but I’m not sure how I want to proceed at the moment. In the last four years I’ve been working on SurfLand I’ve come to realize that these photographs are really about America. When I first started to photograph people I didn’t realize I was saying so much about American culture in my images. I’d like to explore that theme more–how, I’m not certain of at the moment.

Joni Sternbach lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. You can check out more of her work at www.jonisternbach.com You can order her book SurfLand online here.