A lifelong passion of photography and interest in the chemistry of the darkroom, both color, and black and white, Hotchkiss shared his passion and knowledge of the art of photography with undergraduate students He taught photography for 7 years formally and also undertook international photography educational tours winning a coveted International Photography Competition Award for Merit.
An accomplished large format photographer, Hotchkiss has created one of the few color darkrooms on the east coast that has the capabilities of developing and exposing large format color film and prints - La Muse Argentée is a traditional historic process darkroom located in the Art Museum neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Hotchkiss also specializes in Collodion Silver Plate (Wet Plate) Photography. The Wet Plate Collodion process of photography was developed by F. Scott Archer in 1851 and was valued due to its level of detail and clarity it produced compared to its contemporary methods. A wet plate collodion applied to a thin plate of tin or aluminum is called a tintype.
In his intimate photographic exposé on the facets of mental illness, in March 2020 Hotchkiss uses his experience and years of experimentation in the darkroom to produce rich soulful prints. He lovingly hand developing film and creating toned Silver Gelatin prints reflects the contrast of emotions at a single moment in time of this crippling illness.
