Timeline starts almost 200 years ago, with daguerreotypes; genesis of both photography as practice and of the desire to posses an accurate image of yourself or family member; the root of family albums. Technique and demand for this practice spread around the world as fast as it was possible at the time and managed to peek and last for as long as twenty years. It was popular for people to own a daguerreotype of their loved ones; cherish the memory of them and as Alison Nordstrom says, ‘for the first time you would know what your grandparents looked like even if they died before you were born.’
Daguerreotypes, was a technique developed and introduced in 1839 by French artist and photographer Louis Daguerre. This technique uses a polished sheet of silver-plated copper* treated with fumes which make the surface light-sensitive; exposed*, than later infused with mercury vapour to allow the image to appear. Further chemical treatment allowed the image to stop being light sensitive and be viewed in natural light. Images where rinsed; dried and professionally framed in cassettes like cases, presented behind a glass in order to protect the image from damaging. (air would have changed the image) Display varied from very basic; wooden containers to very superior lined with expensive fabric.
*Due to the copper being covered with silver and then polished, the surface which the image was/ is printed on was/is highly reflective; almost like a mirror. Even so that the viewer can sometimes see themselves in the frame.
*The exposures of daguerreotypes varied from few seconds to a lot longer. The exposure of the plate admittedly took a lot longer in comparison to current technology, which is now a fraction of the time. The exposure time was the main issue when producing daguerreotypes, the focus and crispiness of the image was tough to achieve, as the models were most likely to move (even a slight movement would show in the final image). Exposures were as long as 20 seconds, making the process very uncomfortable.
Post-mortem photography worked hand in hand with daguerreotypes as people wanted to posses a visual remembrance their family; children especially. This practice was also called a memorial portraiture. In the nineteenth century home death was very common and ‘ordinary part of life’. Daguerreotypes were a quicker and more affordable way of possessing that image, in comparison to a painting, which meant it was also available for middle-class population.
Daguerreotypes, apart from being highly reflective and kept in cases for self keeping and displaying due to the technique they are both positive and negative in one, which can be seen when looked at an angle. The daguerreotype that is in its individual case, is the original and only copy of that image, which was there when the person was sat in front of it to have their photograph taken, this is the reason for its’ remarkableness.
References:
YouTube – George Eastman Museum. 2014. The Daguerreotype – Photographic Processes Series – Chapter 2 of 12. [ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/d932Q6jYRg8. [Accessed 09 March 16]
YouTube – Getty Museum. 2012. Early Photography: Making Daguerreotypes. [ONLINE] Available at:https://youtu.be/N0Ambe4FwQk. [Accessed 09 March 16].
Wikipedia – Last modified March 2016. Post-mortem photography. [ONLINE]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_photography. [Accessed 09 March 16]
Images sourced from Google images:
Girl with the patterned dress – http://www.tvhistory.tv/1860s_Child.JPG
Girl with a doll – http://philipstown.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Standing-Girl-With-Doll-Daguerreotype.jpg
Smiling woman – http://www.daguerreotypearchive.org/dags/D0000004_ROOT_SMILING-WOMAN.jpg
Bearded man – http://www.be-hold.com/wp-content/uploads/35_1.jpg
Young man – https://dcphotoartist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/anon6thyoungman.jpg
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