Raoul Slater

Local Contemporary Art Prize 2025 – Finalist

Image courtesy of the artist

Raoul Slater | To the Max | 2024 | wet-plate collodion tintype on aluminium | 60 x 45cm (framed)

I work from a small studio in Pomona where I’ve collected all the arcane paraphernalia required for wet-plate collodion photography. This is an 1860’s form of image capture based around silver salts, ether and gun cotton - all very explosive, poisonous and aromatic. I love it. The long shutter times (counted down in “Kurt Cobains”) and fickle chemistry produce results far beyond my control. I feel more like a spiritual medium than a maestro.

I need subjects to feed my portrait obsession. It is surprisingly difficult to persuade anyone so I must BEG people to sit for the 10” x 8” Intrepid camera. My workmates in the Sunshine Coast Hospitals Allied Health Service are sick of all the lunch table pleading. Max finally cracked and gave over 16 seconds of his life to this pair of plates. He refused to smile or to tousle his immaculate hair. Just as well – it’s the subtle difference in his expressions that make the whole.