Tom Cavness-

A “Wet Plate Collodion” photographer living in beautiful Georgetown Texas, north of Austin.

“In photography, the 19th century process of wet plate collodion is the equivalent of a high-wire act.”

Born in San Angelo Texas in 1960, Tom was brought up in an artistic and adventurous family along with two talented older brothers. Their father was a local dentist who loved outdoor adventures.  Their mother, a successful West Texas oil and watercolor artist.

Inspired by his grandmother who introduced him to books on Native Americans and the Civil War photography of Matthew Brady, Tom gained an early appreciation for the unique appearance of historic photographs, as well as early Texas history.

His first exposure to photographic processing was in the late 1960’s when he watched his brother develop some black and white film down in their backyard bomb-shelter, a leftover from the Cuban missile crisis which also made for a perfect darkroom.  He began shooting his first film on a small Kodak “Instamatic” camera at summer camp in the Texas hill country.  His father was also a camera enthusiast and enjoyed photographing the numerous backpacking trips the family made, many across the “Big Bend” area of Texas.

In the late 1970’s, he began working as a carpenter.  It was here that he first gained a reverence for wood. A connection that has continued to be a part of his life to this day. “I just don't feel quite right unless I have a splinter stuck in me somewhere.” he says.  During this era, he was also drawn to the rock music of the 70’s. After being given a cheap “hardware store” guitar by a friend, he began teaching himself how to play. And as 1980 was getting started, he had begun playing in a band with other San Angelo musicians.

In 1984 he moved to Austin and continued doing all the things that he loved; woodwork in new homes, renovating old homes, and playing music in a band.  During this time, his dad gave him the gift of a new camera, and with it, he not only began documenting his daily life and friends of the ‘80’s decade, but also enjoyed training his eyes towards more artistic compositions.

In 1990, he shifted gears once again and began working for an entertainment lighting manufacturer. This company made some of the same fixtures that had been lighting their band.  Here he found a new direction in helping design and manufacture professional stage and studio lighting and control systems. These fixtures colorfully illuminated large concerts and events all over the world, many of which were the same bands and musicians that had originally influenced his love for music, and why he had moved to Austin in the first place.  

In 1997 (and with a splinter still in him somewhere), he sought to fulfill another dream. To renovate an old home of his own. Locating a mid-1890’s house near the square in Georgetown, he went to work on it.  Three years later, he married and became the father of a wonderful son.

By 2016, and after many years in a career based upon projecting light away from him, he became interested in catching and collecting light again by getting back into photography.  Because he loves working with his hands, he was drawn to the historic process of “wet plate collodion” which allows him to create one-of-a-kind images in pure metallic silver, similar to those 19th century photographs that he had admired as a young boy.  

Today, Tom enjoys getting outside all over Texas with his large format cameras and old lenses.  His studio is the outdoors, and the equipment used to process the silver images on-site rides along in the bed of his truck. And while his greatest satisfaction comes from the creative process of making the exposures themselves, he also enjoys making a tangible connection to the prints made from the images. He does this by incorporating a part of the composition itself, whether it be wood, sticks, leaves or other organic matter to make a pigment, or a component, to be used in creating the final piece of artwork.