Stunning 1860’s-Style Portraits of the Stars at Sundance

Esquire photographer Victoria Will set up a tintype camera and developing production to capture these incredible 1860-70s-era portraits of the actors in attendance there. 

I – like the rest of the internet, I’m sure – am stunned but what a difference this medium makes. Some of the stars simply look like themselves with a filter, but with some, the textural changes render them nearly unrecognizable. (See: Elizabeth Banks)

Esquire reports, “

In the past, Will has created straightforward (and stunning) photographs of celebrities in attendance, but this year, she decided to try something new—and also incredibly challenging:

“A year ago I had my tin type portrait made at the Photoville festival in Brooklyn by the Penumbra Foundation,” says Will, “and since that moment I have been intrigued by wet plate work, you might even say obsessed. I am fascinated by the slow process, the finicky nature of the chemistry, and the beauty in each unpredictable result. There is something really special in each wet plate being one of a kind. It’s incredibly honest.”

Esquire.com asked Victoria (with darkroom help from fellow photographer Josh Wool) to share her photographs from this year with us. Take a look at this exclusive, incredible (sometimes haunting!) collection of images of some of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces.

What’s most interesting here is not that the subjects are celebrities. It’s that you’re able to see how this medium interacts with a person you already recognize, shedding all kinds of new light (heh) on the experience of seeing vintage photographs of strangers.

See the full collection at Esquire.com: 31 Stunning 1860s-Style Portraits of the Stars at Sundance