About

My name is Aldis Strazdins. I was born in Wisconsin and studied film at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Over the years, my artistic work has ranged from film and photography to graphic design and animation. I’ve always been interested in historic photography, and I started Blackbird to produce tintypes using the 19th century wet plate collodion process. In an age of digital image making, it’s refreshing  to explore the timeless quality of this historic, completely analog process.

Mixing my own chemistry and developing aluminum and glass plates by hand, every image produced is entirely unique and unpredictable. The result is an heirloom that you can pass on for generations to come!