# Lindsey Ross

Lindsey Ross (born 1981) is an American fine-art photographer based in Santa Barbara, California, known for creating artwork using the time-intensive wet-plate collodion photographic process. Ross is known for creating ultra large format 32-by-24-inch images on metal (tintypes) and glass (ambrotypes) using one of three Chamonix view cameras that size in existence, keeping alive the collodion method invented in the 1850s.

## Life

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Ross was interested in photography from an early age, dressing up as a camera for Halloween at age eight and receiving her own Nikon FM as a gift from her father when she was ten. Ross attended Denison University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion in 2003. After Denison, Ross worked on a cattle ranch in the Chilcotin of British Columbia before moving to Wyoming where she produced photos for a local news outlet. After five years, Ross attended the Brooks Institute where she completed a Master of Fine Arts in Photography.

## Work

After completing her MFA, Ross spent a year assisting for historical process expert Luther Gerlach before opening a photography studio and since then has been traveling the country with her large-format equipment, creating works using older processes. The collodion process Ross employs necessitates the use of a field darkroom when shooting on location and the gear that leaves her studio sometimes includes a 250 lb. camera, 25 lbs. of glass, a 50 lb. film holder, and a 90 lb. cart to move everything. Among the cameras she uses is a Levy process camera from the 1920s originally intended for high-fidelity graphic enlargement and reproduction work.
Ross' subject matter has included yucca plants in Joshua Tree, root vegetables, and snow-covered abandoned mines. Her work has been described as "emotive" and "ethereal"; her landscapes featuring multiple models have been described as "extravagant" and reminiscent of neoclassical paintings.
Ross has sometimes been commissioned to produce work and hold workshops for corporate clients, including Levi's, Red Bull, Universal, and Red Wing. A 2013 short film about her premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and a follow-up film was selected for the 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival. In 2019 Ross presented her lecture on The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Robert Capa's native Budapest.

## Exhibitions

Gallery exhibitions :
| Year | Title | Gallery | Location |
| 2022 | Mushroom People | Telluride Arts Gallery | Telluride, CO |
| 2022 | Wet Plate: Reimagining Likeness and Landscape | Penumbra Foundation | Manhattan, NY |
| 2019 | Gilded By Shadows | Brody Studios | Budapest, Hungary |
| 2019 | Uncultivated | Budapest Art Factory | Budapest, Hungary |
| 2018 | Juxtapose | The Arts Fund | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2017 | Fissure | La Chambre Photographique | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2017 | Ingress, egress, regress | Telluride Arts Gallery | Telluride, CO |
| 2016 | Slow Hands Exhibition | SBCAST | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2016 | The Heroine’s Journey | Stronghouse Studios & Gallery | Telluride, CO |
| 2014 | Faces of Summit County | Kimball Arts Center | Park City, UT |
| 2014 | commence, connect, collaborate | Brooks Institute | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2013 | Tonalism Now | Sullivan Goss Gallery | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2013 | Valhalla | Valhalla Film Tour | Denver, CO |
| 2013 | The Zone 2-D | The Arts Fund | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2012 | Elsewhere | Acero Gallery | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2012 | Fe | Acero Gallery | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2011 | MFA 7 | Gallery 27 | Santa Barbara, CA |
| 2011 | The Factory Show | Tool Room Gallery | Ventura, CA |
| 2011 | Art in the Age of Dialogue | Rastay | Islamabad, Pakistan |

## Filmography

* Schoneberger, Andrew (2017). Lindsey Ross: A Less Convenient Path. Lindsey Ross at Mountainfilm.
* Schoneberger, Andrew (2013). The Alchemistress.