In ages long past, before the dawn of the smartphone and the instant image, a different kind of magic unfolded. Photographers embarked on quests with cumbersome contraptions of brass and glass. They wrestled with this strange alchemy, capturing the fleeting moments of a world yet unfrozen.

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

We didn't quite make it to that place with collodion, but we came close. In this episode, we talk to another pioneer - a Godfather of sorts - who continued this quest and joined a small fellowship of others seeking out the ways of wetplate.

That's enough reference to the Tolkien classic, for now, but Brian Scadden of Carterton, New Zealand, has a lot to talk about when it comes to collodion and how being isolated from the rest of the wetplate world didn't stop him becoming a dedicated practitioner and teacher of the process.

So grab your pipe, settle in by the campfire, and prepare to hear how the search for the wisdom of collodion turned into an obsession rivaling that of Gollum.