Ready for your Victorian close-up? Photographer turns his back on digital pictures and Instagram to create stunning portraits which each take 20 minutes to develop with 150-year-old technology 

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These captivating black and white portraits may appear centuries old but a closer inspection will reveal rather modern-looking models.

The images have been taken using a Victorian photography technique and are part of a project to resurrect the earliest form of the art.

Instead of the instant results of Instagram and other digital apps, each picture takes 20 minutes to develop and requires a number of chemicals.

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Turning back the clocks: Andy Martin uses a Victorian camera and a method called tintype photography to create these stunning portraits

The pictures are the work of Andy Martin, who has turned his back on 21st century cameras to practise tintype photography.

The method was invented in 1850 and, although initially used for formal studio portraits, it became enormously popular and photographers started offering casual portraiture at events such as fairs and amusement parks.

The process works by coating a metal with a chemical called collodion before placing it into a silver nitrate solution, which makes it light sensitive.

The plate is then loaded into the camera and the picture is taken. The exposure time can be anything from a second to a couple of minutes, depending on the light conditions.

The plate then has to be developed in a solution of iron sulphate and finished with a fixer, which makes the image fully appear.

In Victorian times this would have been the deadly poison potassium cyanide, but Mr Martin opts for a less risky sodium thiosulphate.

 Modern models: Among his 500 portraits is a photo of musician Gruff Rhys (left) from Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals

Resurrecting early art-form: He is currently working on a project using the technique and hopes it will encourage others to have a go

The whole process has to be done in a dark room under a red light.

Mr Martin's project started when he was given a worse-for-wear Victorian camera by a friend. It had been sat abandoned in an attic for at least 70 years - the stand had been destroyed by woodworm and the bellows were in tatters.

After repairing it he spent a day with Sean Mackenna, a tintype expert who had honed his skills at Civil War re-enactments, learning the technique.

He has now taken pictures of about 500 people, using about 1,000 plates and hopes to exhibition them and possibly even make a book.

Among the photos featured is Gruff Rhys from Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals and Second World War hero Charles Eagles, who took part in the D-Day landings and was injured by an exploding mine on July 22 1944.

Mr Martin, from Sunderland, said: 'It all started about five years ago when I got this camera from a friend whose uncle was having a clear out of his lock-up.

'I got in touch with this guy in London who was one of the first to resurrect the process in the UK back in the 1990s and asked if he would mind showing me the process.

'I went down to London and spent the day talking about how it works, shot a few plates and he sent me on my way with a lot of 1850s reading material.

Mr Martin's project started when he was given a worse-for-wear Victorian camera which had been rotting in an attic for at least 70 years

Also among the photographer's models was Second World War hero Charles Eagles (left), who took part in the D-Day landings

'It's sort of trial and error though, I would say I'm still learning now.

'People think old fashioned photography you have to wait ages for your pictures to be developed and sent back but actually this was quite instant.

'You could create an image in 15 to 20 minutes, it was the first instant photography really.

'Like a shot of film, it's all got to be done in a dark room under red light. If it wasn't it would just ruin the plate.

'It would also be ruined if the collodion dried before you got a chance to develop it. It's a short window of about 20 minutes.

'My grandfather made a toolbox during the Second World War and I've inherited it.

'It's basically a suitcase but it folds out and it's got this hood that covers the top half of your body and you have all your chemicals inside the box and I can work from that box inside the van anywhere.

'Although it's a bit tricky from Tunstall Hill, the highest point in the city. It was probably the windiest day I've experienced and I had to get my friend to hold down the dark room while I worked.

'I think we're a bit overwhelmed with digital images and camera phones now and this technique involves people going out of their way to do something a little bit more interesting.

'Anyone can take a photo and whack an Instagram filter on it, and I do it too. But with this you have to really think about composition and exposure.' 

Technical: The tintype method, demonstrated by this picture of toy robots, has to be done in a dark room under a red light

Andy Martin, of Sunderland, stands next to the Victorian bellows camera which he restored to working order to produce stunning images

The photographer, pictures in his studio, said: 'I think we're a bit overwhelmed with digital images and camera phones now'

Pictured, the Beamish Museum's Colliery Railway, which forms part of Andy Martin's Victorian album

The camera had been lying in an attic for at least 70 years - the stand had been destroyed by woodworm and the bellows were in tatters

The photographer has created a portable dark room in the back of his van, pictured above on the banks on the River Wear