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Shane Balkowitsch is a self-taught large format photographer. As one of the fewer than 1,000 wet-plate collodion artists practicing around the world, Balkowitsch carries on the tradition of the Victorian photographic method, dating back to the 19th century. Based in Bismarck, North Dakota, Balkowitsch established the first natural light wet-plate studio constructed in the entire country in over 100 years, the Nostalgic Glass Wet-plate Studio. His works are held in prestigious institutions, including the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Smithsonian and Library of Congress. North Dakotan Shane Balkowitsch's first personal camera was not an Instamatic Kodak or a point-and-shoot Nikon, but rather a large format wet-plate camera. As a self-taught ""image-maker"" and one of the fewer than 1,000 wet-plate collodion artists practicing around the world, Balkowitsch has fully devoted himself to mastering the obsolete photographic technology since 2012. Approaching the historically embedded technique from a contemporary perspective, Balkowitsch's process transforms the limitations of the mediumits labor and time-sensitive natureinto opportunities for creative explorations. He lives in Bismarck, North Dakota.
"""Each image invites a prolonged consideration of the character of the person in the portrait. The presentation in the book, with the image on one side of an open spread and the person’s name both native and common, tribal affiliation and date of the portrait on the other side, gives each image and each portrait a sense of gravitas and weight. The wet plate collodion method provides for a very shallow depth of field, so focus is a large part of the method’s appeal. And these images are monochrome, so there is the sense of timelessness and dignity. This book, along with its predecessor, are important documents, especially for anyone residing on the northern plains, like I do, as well as for anyone in North America, or anyone interested in indigenous cultures anywhere."" W. Scott Olsen ""The work that Shane does for its artistic merit as well as for its collaborative nature is genuine and enthusiastic, on a human level. For the folks of many different Indian tribes, who sit for his portraits, and who often become his life-long friends, Shane builds real rapport. Beyond the making of art photographs, it is this rapport, and the importance of honest collaboration between people of different cultures, that is so important for our country and is at the center of the moving forward of our country."" Debra Haaland “Shane’s purpose is not to photograph Native Americans as if the 19th and 20th centuries had never happened—the mission of the great Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952)—but to record individuals as they wish to be seen, to give Native Americans the opportunity to explore their self- image, perhaps at times a fantasy image, in a safe space where who they are and how they see themselves are certain to be respected and admired.”--Clay Straus Jenkinson, Director, The Dakota Institute"
