about me

The photographs of Maximilian Zeitler are one of a kind and they need time to evolve. Not with a digital camera or filters, but with the process called Collodion Wetplate, that was invented in 1851, the 32 years old artist living in Berlin creates aesthetics one knows from books or museums.
Exposure times can extend up to one minute or more and the plates have to be developed in a darkroom within minutes. The latter is a must and demands, that the artist of light needs to carry the complete darkroom along when shooting outdoors.

Die WELT KOMPAKT, 5.11.2018

„My passion for photography began in childhood, when my Grandmother gave me an Olympus mju film camera. Since then, I enjoyed discovering the universe of photography through digital and analog mediums and I found myself wound up in the process called „collodion wet plate“ about seven years ago. Getting into the details of the process, I learned the joy and frustration that come along with this technique. While constantly repeating the steps of mixing chemicals, pouring collodion and sensitizing plates, the photographs got bigger and my focus and curiosity moved from portrait to macro photography.

Whereas my work was mainly based on my studio until 2019, I am now carrying along my equipment out in the natural light. Printing processes from wet plate negatives such as salt and albumen prints are a central element of my current projects in land- and cityscape photography.„