Joni Sternbach: Surf Site Tin Type - Hardcover

Rexer, Lyle; Watson, April; Malloy, Chris; Abegg, Johnny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8862083807 ISBN 13: 9788862083805

Publisher: Damiani, 2015

Synopsis

Surf Site Tin Type is an homage to a sport, a way of life, and a tribute to the people who practice it. Over the past decade Brooklyn-based photographer Joni Sternbach has traveled around the world, creating tintype portraits of contemporary surfers using the nineteenth-century wet-plate collodion process. Stunning in their detail, these one-of-a-kind images evoke the romance and adventure of surfing, and the bold individualism of the men and women who live to ride the waves. Working with a large-format camera and using hand-poured plates that are prepared and developed on location, Sternbach has profiled a fascinating range of surfers, both well known and unknown, on prized surfing beaches. Locations include Montauk and Malibu in the United States, Byron Bay in Australia and Cornwall in England. Typical surfing photographs are action shots, riding the mighty wave and in vivid color, whereas Sternbach turns to a historic technique to capture something essential and even primordial in the portraits and settings, recalling a tradition of nineteenth-century anthropological photography. Surf Site Tin Type features texts by noted photo critic and historian Lyle Rexer, curator April M. Watson, and Chris Malloy and Johnny Abegg, both well-known surfers and filmmakers.

About this title

Review

Like surfing, Sternbach’s work is unique and performative. Her studio is the beach; her exposed tintype plates processed in a chemical “fixer” bath in daylight for all to see. Like individual wave rides, each of her images is enhanced by varying and unpredictable conditions. (Yahoo News)

nostalgic and clear-eyed, romantic and dispassionate. (Diane Cardwell The New York Times, Lens)

In the wrong hands the length of the exposure and development process the relationship with the subject can turn tense, but here she maintains a graceful balance of trust that leads to gripping images. For this project the wet-plate process truly shines, conceptually as well as aesthetically. (Evan L. Onwardphoto.org)

With its oversized dimensions, Surf Site Tin Type is probably better suited for a place of pride on your coffee table versus a day on the sand, but this book is a must for any and all beach lovers. It’s a beautiful ode to the surf life from photographer Joni Sternbach, who spent the past decade capturing portraits of contemporary surfers around the world. What makes this such a stunner is Sternbach’s use of tintypes ― a 19th-century wet-plate, on-site form of photography ― whose resulting patina adds a romance and artistry to her images; it’s a refreshing and welcome move in today’s digital quick-snapshot terrain. (The Editors Tory Daily)

Edition details

• Publisher: Damiani
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 8862083807
• ISBN 13: 9788862083805
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192