Anniversary Tintype Portraits

For couples marking an anniversary, a tintype is more than a photograph. It's an object. A physical plate, made by hand the day you sit for it, that will outlast almost everything else you own. The image is fixed in silver on an aluminum plate. There's no negative and no second one. Just the one piece you walk out with, plus a high-resolution scan for sharing and prints.

People come in for anniversaries of every year. Some plan around the date. Some come a few weeks before or after. Some give it as a birthday present, a Christmas gift, or just because they finally got around to it. The session is the same either way.

The 10th Anniversary

The traditional 10th wedding anniversary gift is tin. The modern equivalent is aluminum. A tintype is both.

Historically, tintypes were never actually made on tin. The name stuck, but the plates were thin iron sheets coated in black lacquer. Today the same craft uses aluminum plates with a black enamel coat. So a tintype portrait, made by hand on aluminum, is exactly what the traditional and modern 10th anniversary gift lists have been pointing at all along. One object. Both traditions. No shopping for two gifts that neither of you wants.

If you searched "tin anniversary gift" and ended up here, this is what you were looking for. A piece of art on metal, of the two of you, made by hand in a process from the 1800s that still works the same way it always has.

Any Anniversary Works

While the 10th lines up most cleanly, tintype portraits make sense for any year.

1st anniversary is traditionally paper. The keepsake angle still fits. You're a year in and you want something to mark it that isn't a Polaroid.

5th anniversary is wood. A framed tintype on a wood mantel fits well here.

25th anniversary is silver. The tintype process uses silver nitrate, and the image you see on the plate is literally made of silver. That connection is real.

And for every other year, milestone or not, the principle is the same. It doesn't have to be a number that ends in five or zero to be worth marking. You're commemorating a year that matters to the two of you, and the tintype becomes the piece on the wall that holds it.

What the Session Is Like

Sessions run about an hour and a half at my studio in Franklin, Tennessee, about thirty minutes south of downtown Nashville, by appointment only. If you've been looking for an anniversary photoshoot in Nashville that feels nothing like a standard session, this is it.

You'll come in, we'll talk for a few minutes about what you want, and then you'll watch me make the plate. The process is open. You'll see the chemistry happen, watch the plate get coated and sensitized, sit for the exposure, and then the image arrives in two acts: first in the developer tray under the safelight, and then in the fixer, where a milky ghost of the two of you clears into the finished portrait while you watch. Most people tell me afterward that this was the part they didn't expect to love.

I provide sparkling wine and small bites for anniversary sessions. It's an experience, not just a photo shoot.

For poses, I work with you. Some couples come in with ideas. Some want me to guide them. I'll offer a few options and we'll figure out together what feels right. Anniversary sessions tend to be relaxed. You're not auditioning. You're just showing up as yourselves. If you're wondering what to wear, there's a full guide here.

Just for the Two of You

A couples tintype is its own thing. It's not a wedding photo. It's not a family portrait. It's an image of the two of you, made in a year that matters, in a process slow enough to feel like an occasion.

There's a stillness to it that most couples don't expect. Focusing happens manually with you in the chair, so I'll ask you both to settle and hold while I get the lens right. But it's the whole of it that stays with people: an unhurried hour and a half that's about the two of you and nothing else, ending with an object you watched come into being. Less like getting your picture taken, more like marking the year. I've written about why moments like that matter so much: mono no aware, the Japanese idea that moments are precious because they don't last. An anniversary might be the purest case of it.

The plate's job is simpler. It was there. A witness to the date, and to the two of you on it, still around long after the day itself has gone soft in memory. Plates from the 1850s are still here. Yours will outlast both of you, and that's rather the point.

Wedding Day Tintypes

Many couples have come to the studio in their wedding clothes, before the wedding, after it, or even the day of. Those plates are some of my favorites. And some couples come in before there's a wedding at all: an engagement plate. These sessions are the same as any other studio session, just timed around the wedding or engagement.

A note on logistics: These are currently studio sessions only. The wet plate process needs a darkroom within a few steps of the camera, so I'm not set up to photograph weddings on location right now. That may change down the road. For now, the studio version has its own charm: the plate gets made while everything still feels brand new.

Common Questions

How far in advance should we book?

Early. I release dates about a month at a time, and recent releases have filled within a day. New dates are announced to my email list before they're posted anywhere else, so if you have an anniversary date in mind, join the list and watch for the announcement a month or two ahead of your date. Anniversary planning has natural lead time, and that works in your favor here.

Can we give a session as a gift?

I don't sell gift certificates at the moment, but gifting a session works fine the manual way: email me, we'll arrange the details, and the recipient books their date when they're ready.

What should we wear?

There's a full guide with examples, but the short version: solid colors and texture beat logos and busy patterns, reds and yellows go dark, and modern glasses can read like sunglasses (frames without lenses solve it). Match the formality to what you'd want to remember wearing. If your anniversary feels like a sparkling-wine kind of moment, dress for that.

How big is the plate?

Three sizes: 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14. Details and current pricing are on the pricing page. Your session includes the full experience and your first plate, and most sessions have time for three or four.

Can we frame it ourselves?

Yes, and it's not hard, with one rule: the plate can never touch the frame's glass. There needs to be a small air gap, or the emulsion can adhere to the glass over time. I'm happy to show you options during your session.

Why is the tin and aluminum thing connected to anniversaries?

Traditional 10th anniversary gifts are tin. Modern lists say aluminum. Historic tintypes carried the tin name but were made on iron; modern tintypes are made on aluminum. So whichever list you follow, a tintype lands on it.

Can we watch the process?

Yes. That's most of the point. You'll see the plate coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed, and you'll watch the image appear. Couples tend to remember that part more than the posing.

Book Your Anniversary Session

Dates are released about a month at a time and go to my email list first. Current dates and pricing are here. If nothing shows as available, the current release is full: join the list and you'll hear the moment the next dates open, in plenty of time to plan around your anniversary.