Obscura
An amazing portrait
While working with wet plate collodion Ruhter came up with an idea to show the world the beauty of these objects in a size that was deemed impossible. This led him and the Silver & Light Team to a forgotten town on the edge of the Salton Sea called Bombay Beach, located in California’s Imperial Valley. The idea was to create a camera out of an abandoned house. The structure would serve as the framework for the camera. Instead of focusing on the decay from the outside, this house camera allowed a view from the inside into someone’s dream. Once the giant lens was placed on the front of the house, images of Ted, a 100 year old resident who recently found himself homeless, were projected in, breathing new life into this abandoned structure and once again making it a home. During this brief moment in time when Ted’s photograph was captured, he was present in both places. In reality, he was homeless in the outside world.
Top Cast

Gary Oldman
as Special guest
Special guest
Ian Ruhter
as Wet Plate Artist
Wet Plate Artist
Will Eichelberger
as Wet Plate Technician
Wet Plate Technician
More Like This

Scars
2018 • Movie

Where Have All the Lesbians Gone?
2022 • Movie

Memories of Origin: Hiroshi Sugimoto
2012 • Movie

Martha: A Picture Story
2019 • Movie

Julius Shulman: Desert Modern
2008 • Movie

The Body of Emmett Till
2016 • Movie

Sabine Weiss, One Century of Photography
2023 • Movie
The Perfect Selfie
2017 • Movie

From Where They Stood
2023 • Movie

32 Pills: My Sister's Suicide
2017 • Movie

Standard Operating Procedure
2008 • Movie

John Baumhackl: Chemical Memories
2014 • Movie

Last Stop Coney Island: The Life and Photography of Harold Feinstein
2019 • Movie

Bettina Rheims
2025 • Movie

Daidō Moriyama: Stray Dog of Tokyo
2001 • Movie
