Carla Rodriguez | Tintypes

I haven’t updated my prices since 2020, and a lot has changed since then! I’ve agonized about this for some time now, but can’t delay any longer and want to honor my nearly 12 years of experience, my skill set, as well as increasing material costs. Moving forward in 2026, I will be adopting a sliding-scale structure for appointments, and then increasing pop-up pricing to fall in line with the midpoint of that scale to reflect how much time is involved with both options. I truly value all the different types of people I work with, and do not want to put my work out of reach for my community, which is why I’m trying the sliding scale. When you go to book you will just be asked to pay a small deposit, and then from there indicate what you can pay for the session with minimum and full price costs outlined. You will pay the rest at the time of your session. I will not ask you to prove whether you qualify to pay less or not, I trust that my clients will be honest about what they can afford when working with me. As for gift certificates, any purchased from now until the end of the year will be honored for the size intended for the next year, and all others will also be honored for the size intended for up to a year of purchase date. After that the original purchase value will be applied to full session costs. Prices will be outlined on my booking page come January! It’s truly such an honor to being doing this work, it is so so connecting. The support and enthusiasm is unmatched and I’m so so grateful.

I’ve never done an introduction post, but I’ve gotten an influx of new people (Hello 👋🏽🥰) and thought now is a great time for one! My name is Carla Alexandra Rodriguez, Im first generation American-Venezuelan (Spanish+Indigenous), born and raised in Houston, Tx. I came to Minnesota in 2007 all by myself to go to college at @mcadedu and got my BFA in photography there in 2011. I had always thought of myself as a drawing/painting artist in high school (shoutout @hspvaart )but I was TERRIBLE, and though I resisted it, was much better at photography. I found my passion when I was introduced to large format photography while in school (thank you @kturczan and @david_goldes ) as it made me feel like I was making something with my hands which is what I missed about drawing/painting. Literally the harder the process was the more interested I became, I loved the restrictions of large format photography and how it slowed me down and made me more intentional with the images I made. Then I was introduced to wetplate in an alternative process class (again, thanks Katherine!) and I felt like all the different things I was after in film photography both conceptually and asthetically aligned. I wasn’t able to pursue it fully until a few years after I graduated, as you can imagine there is ALOT OF STUFF you need to collect in order to even be able to attempt to try, let alone learning the chemical process itself. @lumiere_tintype was a massive influence to me starting my portrait practice, and @zoeymelf helped me learn the ropes of the tintype process itself. I started making my first tintypes in 2013-2014 and it took at least a year to feel like I was getting consistent results. Even almost 8 years later I’m still learning things, which is what I love so much about this process. There is never one right way to do it and there are thousands of different things to try, and to also fuck up 🥲 (Continued in comments)

Hello Indianapolis, IN! Coming to you for the first time this weekend, April 25th & 26th for the @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo . 10-5pm both day, first come, first served! (I’m also looking for a local assistant for both days, paid! No photo experience needed just personable and organized 👀) Other upcoming Pop-ups: ✨Chicago, IL: April 28th & 29th (by appointment only, hosted by @aura_iris_aura_iris ) ✨St Louis, MO: May 16th & 17th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Minneapolis, MN: May 23rd & 24th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Chicago, IL: June 6th & 7th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Minneapolis, MN: Juneteenth (Free portraits for Black Folks, hosted by @soulofthesouthside ) ✨Detroit, MI: July 11th & 12th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Omaha, NE: July 25th & 26th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Ely, MN: August 7th & 8th (by appointment only, hosted by @elyfolkschool ) ✨Salt Lake City, UT: September 12th & 13th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Las Vegas, NV: September 19th & 20th @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ✨Los Angeles, CA: September 25th-27th (Location TBD) ✨Minneapolis, MN: Indigenous Peoples Day October 12th (Free portraits for Indigenous Folks, location TBD) ✨Madison, WI: Teslacon November 12th-15th @teslacon And I have various weekends open for appointments in my Saint Paul, MN studio! Check my booking calendar to those 💞

Failures are information, and hopefully steps to the intended (or pleasantly unintended) outcome. I’ve been trying really hard to make time for capital A art. It’s been a struggle to connect to my creativity and to make things that feel like they are in alignment, mostly to whatever parts of myself I feel blocked from right now. @maurakellydoyle was such a good sport and A+ assistant tooling around Joshua Tree national park for two days and helping me lug my gear and camera around as I attempted to touch the (creative) void. Scouted for the perfect rock and made a couple of attempts as the light waned, I thought I finally got at what I wanted and the glass I was using had a different idea. So this is a “failure”, but at least a sketch of what I hope to come back to later. #blkkhand #tintype #wetplate #selfportrait

Coming to two new (to me!) cities for the @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo ! First up, Columbus, Ohio! April 18th and 19th 10-5pm Then the following weekend, Indianapolis, Indiana! April 25th and 26th 10-5pm First come, first served!

So grateful for my session with the incredibly talented @blkkhand ✨ Carla captured me in a vintage style tintype headshot, and a portrait with a few of my favorite things— plant roots, watering can, shovel and workboots. There’s something so special about the way she sees the world through her tintype lens — timeless, intimate, and full of soul. If you’re looking for a photographer who brings something truly unique to every frame, she’s your person. 🌿🖤 #tintype #portraitphotography #filmphotography #analogphotography #plantroots gratitude

Hello Houston!! Coming back to my hometown for the @odditiesandcuriositiesexpo this weekend, March 14 & 15, 10-5pm. Portraits will be first come first served, so come sign up as soon as you can, tends to get busier as the day goes on. I’m also organizing a second, by appointment only pop-up the following weekend the 21 & 22, appointments aren’t live yet but I’ll announce when they are. See you soon! #blkkhand #tintype #wetplate #odditiesandcuriositiesexpo #mnartist

✨I’m 37 today✨ Holding all my years in my heart as teachers, each version of myself deserving of love and care. One foot in front of the other 💃🏻

Some informational updates before I get into personal thoughts: ➰My books are open for appointments through June. You’ll find under each size option what the sliding scale pricing is, from full price to minimum. You’ll be asked to pay a $50 deposit and then select in the intake form where you want to be on the scale, and I’ll take the remainder of the session cost at the time of our appointment. ➰ I am taking appointments, both boudoir and normal, Valentines Day weekend. The 12-15th. These will be full priced sessions only, and I will be donating half of the session costs to mutual aid efforts for my neighborhood and wherever the need is greatest at the time. Booking for these appointments is in the link in my bio, not on my direct booking calendar on my website. ➰I am working through a massive backlog of post-processing all the way to the beginning of December. I have not had a lot of mental or emotional space for “work” during these times and I’m doing my best. If you are waiting on portraits, or anything really, from me please continue to be patient. I’m not sure where to begin, or even what to say. Everything feels so close to home, literally and figuratively. Ive tried several times to record a video taking about my experiences and feelings being home in Minneapolis during the ICE occupation, and just haven’t been able to. My heart breaks for my city, for my neighbors, for my friends and my family. I’m also so proud of us as we move through this. I am doing my best, hour by hour, day by day. Pictured here is Alondra and her daughter, wearing a bandanna depicting “Negro Matapacos”, a Chilean resistance symbol. Thank you for sharing the story of that symbol with me, and for the the opportunity to make this image that holds so much for me in so many ways. We will take care of us ❤️‍🩹

Words by my sister @angelinearodriguez : Yesterday would have been your 60th birthday. We would have had had key lime pie and told you not to botox your wrinkles, that they made you more handsome and cinematic, actually, like Benicio Del Toro. Earlier this month, it was the ten year anniversary of your suicide. For a lot of reasons, I’ve been thinking about that year, about how some part of me was jealous you didn’t have to see how bad things got, resentful you had escaped it while we were left behind. I couldn’t imagine ten months into the future, much less ten years, but I thought, at the very least, it can’t get any worse than this. I imagine you coming back to Earth and having to catch you up on everything you’ve missed. At first I’m relieved you and mami both don’t have to be here to see the invasion of your native country by your chosen one, the degeneration of each, people packed on to planes, the photo ops, the memes, the babies taken out of arms, the killing, over and over, killing people fast and killing people slow. I think about all the times you were stopped in the airport and on the road and I’m relieved I don’t have to worry about getting a call that you’ve been arrested or shot, because I know no matter how much we begged you not to, if you were here there would be nothing that could keep you from taking to the streets, putting your life on the line to do the right thing. You were never happier than when we were driving around Houston giving out sandwiches to day laborers, when taking off your own jacket to put around the shoulders of a stranger. You believed so much in the inherent goodness of people and showing up for them. I see people like you murdered for defending the innocent. I feel like a coward for not being more like you, for rationalizing away all my courage with self-preservation, for wanting too much to live even when living is so painful. (Continued in Comments)

✨Faces of 2025✨ I’ve been loving seeing all my peers favorite portraits of the year, and wanted to look back through mine. These are just a few of my favorites. What a year! I’m grateful for every day I get to do this work, for every face, story, tear, and tender moment. It’s my greatest joy to be apart of your lives in the big and small moments. #blkkhand #tintype #wetplate #mnartist #minnesotamade

Excited to welcome our friend @blkkhand back to Palm Springs for #ParadiseRoadShow year 10! Carla will be shooting tintype outside along side the bikes all weekend, so bring yourself, friends, family, or fury baby by for the best keepsake! Link in bio to get your tickets now !