Thursday, February 3rd, 2022
Inspired Series – Hans Gerlach – Christian Jungwirth – Wolfgang Mlakar
Finally the inspired series goes on. Check the project page and register for news about the book here: inspired.mhaustria.com .
I met Hans by accident when I bought a part for my tripod on Ebay. After some calls we decided to do a project together. Check the outcome of it here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/2021/09/a-170-year-old-process-and-high-end-food-photography/ When I worked with Hans Gerlach this project, his passion about cooking and setting up a scene on a plate inspired me. Every tiny little thing was placed carefully and at the end of every session I got to eat the most wonderful food you can imagine. In the first portrait he hold a pair of tweezers, a tool he used a lot during our work together.


Christian Jungwirth @atelierjungwieth
I met Christian the first time during a Menschenbilder exhibition. He invited us to visit his atelier in Graz. It was a great experience to get a private tour through all these famous artworks of well known photographers. He organises lots of other exhibitions, one of them was the amazing Steve McCurry in Graz. Backlit portraits in an enormous size. Steve McCurry inspired me a lot and standing in front of these huge portraits made my eyes wet. You can find more about this exhibition here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/2021/08/news-amazing-steve-mccurry-exhibition-and-a-waterhouse-stop-database/
Christian is also an internationally popular commercial and magazine photographer. His work is stunning. Lots of people here in Austria know his famous chocolate covered portrait of Mr. Zotter of Zotter Chocolate

Wolfgang Mlakar
This Storie starts a little bit different. I met Wolfgang during a wet plate portrait session in Graz. He came up to me ans asked if I could do a portrait of him in his lighthouse keeper outfit. Austria is not famous for lighthouses, so I was interested what is behind all of this. He die a lot in his life, he was a forma photographer, he has a Diploma in Education for people with special needs, he worked as a photographer for the army and much more. He then had a rough time and needed to step back. He still needs help with some tasks, but at some point he decided for himself, that this can not be everything and started to help people who are in the need of help. With that he brings light into their lives.
It was a busy shooting day, but I figured If I let him sit down by the window with his little lighthouse, it makes the most of sense.

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021
Never give up – a 300mm Zeiss Tessar project with lots of fails
In todays video I documented my fails (wood working and 3d printing with sidewinder x1 – also building plate change of the sidewinder x1) while I tried to mount my new lens on my camera. I got this lens, because I do more and more wet plate family portraits and for that I wanted a sharp affordable lens. Normally I would show you guys how I did a family wet plate portrait(its online now, scroll down for the second part). But I couldn’t do it, because of our lockdowns. So I worked on a self portrait. To make this easier, I turned my studio into a darkroom, so I can move without getting a ghosty image on the plate. Because I put metal sheets into the ceiling during my studio renovation, I could mount the red light easily with magnets. To see the whole story, watch the video 🙂
First Part
Second Part
To find all the tools I used, check list.mhaustria.com
Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
Visiting Leica and Silvergrain Classics in Germany + Portra 400 c-41 developing included
In todays video I travel to Germany to prepare my Silvergrain Academy MasterClass wet plate workshop (click here for the workshop). I did also an Interview for the Silvergrain Classics, visited the Leica Headquarters and documented development of my Portra 400 film in the Silvergrain Classics lab.
Tuesday, October 26th, 2021
Wet Plate Talk and on location shooting at Fomo Graz
Fomo Graz stands for Fotomonat Graz and translates to month of photography in Graz. The Fomo team invited me to do a talk and also shoot collodion wet plate portraits on location there. Thanks a lot for the invite it was such a great event and also thanks a lot to https://www.atelierjungwirth.com for letting me use your location to work on my portraits there. We had a blast, so many interested people during my talk. I really enjoyed explaining my favourite process to you guys. Also the wet plate portrait shoot was great, so many people wanted their portrait done. I think I shot 22 portraits on that day. Check out the video underneath for more impressions from this event. You an enjoy the video on a 4K screen with HDR support!
Check out these instagram pages from the people in the video: Fomo Graz , Ana, Luke, Julia
Thursday, September 30th, 2021
Wet Plate Portraits at the Salzburger Freilichtmuseum
In todays video I show you some impressions of my on location wet plate shooting in Salzburg at the Salburher Freilichtmuseum. We had so much fun – it was great!
Thanks for the photos to: https://instagram.com/arturmughrabi https://instagram.com/bilder_schmiede https://instagram.com/drea.koch https://www.facebook.com/dachsteindesign
Tuesday, July 21st, 2020
My Wet Plate Portrait of Paul at the Menschenbilder 2020 exhibition
click or scroll down for the English version
Ich bin wieder sehr stolz, dass ich es auch dieses Jahr mit einem Porträt auf Kollodium-Nassplatte zu den Menschenbildern geschafft habe. Ein so ehrlich lachendes Porträt auf Kollodium-Nassplatte zu erstellen ist eine Herausforderung, dennoch ist es mir gelungen. Deshalb ist die Freude um so größer, dass es das Porträt von Paul zu den Menschenbildern geschafft hat. An dieser Stelle möchte ich mich sehr herzlich bei der Innung der Niederösterreichischen Berufsfotografen für Organisation der Menschenbilder bedanken.

Termine der Menschenbilderausstellung:
17. Juli 2020 – St. Pölten
16. September 2020 – Neunkirchen
16. April 2021 – Stockerau
4. Juni 2021 – Armschlag
In der Gallery findet ihr mehr Bilder von der tollen Ausstellung
Nächste Nassplattenworkshops: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/workshops/
Fine Art Shop: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/front_store/
Unterstützt mich: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria
Wollt ihr immer auf Letztstand sein, benutzt einfach meinen Newsletter ein Newsletter: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/Newsletter/
English version
I am very proud that my collodion wet plate portrait of Paul made it again to the Menschenbilder exhibition (pictures of humans exhibition)
As many of you may know, it is very tough to do a collodion wet plate with this hones happy expression. This makes it double sweet to see it in that large size. This is only possible because of our professional photography association – Thanks a lot for organizing such great contests/exhibitions!

upcoming dates and locations for the exhibition:
17. Juli 2020 – St. Pölten
16. September 2020 – Neunkirchen
16. April 2021 – Stockerau
4. Juni 2021 – Armschlag
In der Gallery findet ihr mehr Bilder von der tollen Ausstellung
For private wetplate workshops contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/
Or book other ones here http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/workshops/
Fine Art Shop http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/front_store/
become a Patreon and support me: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria
If you guys want to experience yourself how a tintype is made and own a one of a kind wet plate, please contact me via my website http://wetplate.art
Don’t forget to subscribe to my Newsletter: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/Newsletter/
Thursday, February 25th, 2016
Nassplattenakt Eclipse
Scroll down for English Version
Wir hatten das große Glück für ein Shooting kurzfristig das Model Vanessa zu bekommen (Von www.model-kartei.de ). Vielen Dank für die Ausdauer und Geduld um ein weiteres Nassplattenshooting fertigzustellen.
Dieses Nassplattenunikat entstand mit Leidenschaft, Silber und Licht auf einer über 100 Jahre alten Kamera. Wollt Ihr selber so ein Kunstwerk? Informiert euch unter http://zeitreise.jetzt
Titel: eclipse
Model: Vanessa
Plattengröße: 30x40cm
Arbeitszeit: ca 4 Stunden (Inklusive Vorbereitungen)
Kamera: Unbekannter Tischler um 1900
Objektiv: Voigtlaender Heliar 480 mm F4.5 @ F9
Blitze: Hensel Expert Pro 2800 Watt/Sekunde
All diese Platten sind handgemacht (Beschichtung, montieren usw)
Um so ein Ergebnis zu erzielen, benötigt man viel Geduld und viel Übung.
Registriert euch für meinen Newsletter um immer die aktuellen Neuigkeiten zu bekommen: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter/
English Version:
Luckily we were able to have the model Vanessa (from www.model-kartei.de) for another wet plate shooting. Thanks a lot for your patience and stamina to make this piece of art happen.
This one of a kind tin type was made out of passion, silver and light with an over 100 year old camera.
Have a look at http://zeitreise.jetzt if you want to have done a tin tintype of you.
Title: eclipse
Model: Vanessa
Plate size: 30x40cm
Working time: about 4 hours (inclusive preparations)
Camera: Unknown carpenter from 1900
Lens: Voigtlaender Heliar 480 mm F4.5 @ F9
Strobes: Hensel Expert Pro 2800 Watt/Second
This plates are all handmade (pouring, coating, mounting and so on)
It needs a lot of practice and patience to make a photograph like that with that old technique.
Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to get the latest infos: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter/