Amber Ascher is a photographer working with 19th-century processes to create one-of-a-kind pieces that exist outside of time. Her work centers on wet plate collodion: a slow, hands-on method that invites stillness, presence, imperfection, and magic.

Each image created with the wet plate process captures a sliver of time with light: rays of the sun reflected from your face are etched onto a layer of silver and immortalized through the alchemy of chemical reaction. This transformation is witnessed firsthand, as the image must be developed within minutes of being made, turning the act of photography itself into a shared moment of wonder.

Ascher is drawn to this medium not only for its aesthetic richness but because it mirrors the way she moves through the world: sensitive and intentional - attuned to what lies beneath the surface. As an adult-diagnosed neurodivergent woman, Amber approaches her art and work as a form of unmasking, consciously reconnecting with the truest expression of her self, and creating space for others to do the same. She believes every portrait is a quiet collaboration built on trust; her sessions are shaped by care and curiosity, and respect for authenticity.

Immersed in the historic roots of wetplate photography, Ascher studied traditional techniques under John Coffer in the summer of 2023 on his farm in Dundee, NY. Amber has been practicing and sharing her love for shooting wet plate since then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and around the Midwest.  

Photo of Amber with her Eastman Kodak 5x7 camera by Milwaukee-based photographer Marie Christine Herian.