An old photographic technique from the 19th century is making a comeback. Artists prefer its unique look for gallery showings and personal work. Ding Sinyue explains.

Wet plate process also known as collodion process is the main photographic technique in the 19th century that used glass or metal as the plate. Over a hundred years later, some photographers are still interested in the method. Di Jinjun is the first practitioner who used wet plate in China, and has won a lot of awards both in China and abroad.

DI JINJUN PHOTOGRAPHER "Film and digital photography are all industrialized process. You know what result you can get. But for wet plate process, each step you take will all have impact on the image. So every image you get is different from others. This kind of uncertainty is what attracts me."

Unlike modern photography, there are many preparations need to be done before clicking on shutter.

DING SIYUE BEIJING "So what we are going to do now is spread the solvent across this piece of glass. It is mostly made up of collodion. Next, we soak the glass in another solvent. Inside it is silver nitrate. Let's put it in slowly. Now we have to wait 4 minutes before the plate is ready for the camera."

Apparently my skill is far from creating a good picture, so let's leave the rest process to professional. Di said this camera is the largest of this kind in China. The time of exposure lasts for six seconds. There's a even special shelf to help people stay still. Next step takes place in the dark room. The plate need to be soaked in developing solution for several minutes until the silhouette appears. It then goes in for a fixing bath where we can witness a miraculous change from negative image to positive.

DING SIYUE BEIJING "So glad to have such a special photo of myself. The entire process, from coating to developing, must be done before the plate dries. This gives the photographer no more than fifteen minutes to complete everything."

The last step is polishing, where the photographer spreads polish agent on the film and put it on a heating pad to accelerate the process. Voila! A piece done by wet plate processing. The method is rather complicated especially for use in the field, as a portable darkroom is needed. But despite the disadvantages, it was used by Di for many works including portraiture, landscape work and art photography. Di Jinjun has opened his own wet plate process workshop and is holding classes every month.

DI JINJUN PHOTOGRAPHER "There are many people who don't know about the early techniques in photography. I want to do something on popularizing this method. So I'm holding some open classes and workshop activities to let more people learn more about other possibilities in photography."

LIU QIANYAO AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER "I first learnt about this technique on a magazine. There were pictures from a wet plate photography exhibition. The potraits felt very different from today's photos. There's a special feeling in it. That's when I fell in love with this method."

Even though confined to strict timing, limited space and complicating techniques, the process is seen by art lovers as a touch nearer to the essence of photography. DSY, CGTN, BJ.