Amber Ascher is a photographer working with 19th-century processes to create one-of-a-kind portraits that exist outside of time. Her work centers on wetplate collodion: a slow, hands-on method that invites stillness and imperfection and demands attention. She’s drawn to this medium not only for its aesthetic richness but for how it mirrors the way she moves through the world—sensitive, intentional, and attuned to what lies beneath the surface.

As a late-diagnosed autistic woman, Amber approaches her art and business operation as a form of unmasking—a way of reconnecting with her true self, and creating space for others to do the same. She believes every portrait is a quiet collaboration built on trust, and her sessions are shaped by care, curiosity, and a deep respect for authenticity.

Immersed in the historic roots of wetplate photography, Amber studied traditional techniques directly from one of the foremost living practitioners of the medium, John E. Coffer, in the summer of 2023 on his farm in Dundee, New York. She has been practicing and sharing her love for shooting wetplate since then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and around the Midwest.