The Hanover County Historical Society's Annual Christmas Dinner Meeting took place on Tuesday, December 6 at Covenant Woods. 39 people attended this event, the speaker for which was Robert Szabo, Wet Plate Collodion Photographer.

Wet plate collodion photography was introduced in 1851, and was the process by which the Civil War was photographically recorded. Though a great deal more difficult to successfully execute than modern photography, the incredible photos produced with the wet plate process have a distinctively 19th-century appearance, which is appealing to those with an interest in history.

Mr. Szabo's photographs have been on the cover of National Geographic and Parade magazines and in the History Channel's Ten Days that Changed America series. He has been working recently with Fox News on their Legends and Lies series.

Mr. Szabo displayed a collection of his photographs and photographic equipment, including a camera from the 1880's and a series of photos he had taken at historic sites around Hanover County. He explained the difference between some of the other popular 19th century forms of photography (such as Daguerrotypes and Ambrotypes), and walked the event's attendees through the steps of taking and developing a photo with the wet plate process.