PHOTOS: Getting crafty at Glens Falls folklife fest

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - On Tuesday, Craig Murphy got behind a replica camera with a vintage lens to do one of his favorite things. The artisan has been practicing tintype photography for a bit more than a decade, after taking a four-day class in the Seneca Lake region.

On Tuesday, Murphy got to show how far the skill has brought him, as one of around 30 artisans giving demonstrations as part of the Crandall Public Library Folklife Center's 30th anniversary festival at City Park. After taking a photo of retired New York State Senator Betty Little and family, he showed the resulting tin rectangle with a negative image cast on it, and talked a small audience through the steps, soaking it in different chemicals before ending up with a finished photograph cast on metal.

"The main thing about the process is that the end product is an object - it's something you can have, not floating around the digital world," Murphy said. "It's nostalgic. They also last for a long time. There are tintypes sitting in antique stores that are 160 years old."

Tuesday's festival featured woodcarving, blacksmiths, weavers, and more. The celebration was coordinated by the Folklife Center, New York Folklore of Schenectady, and Traditional Arts in Upstate New York of Canton.