Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – View from the Window at Le Gras, 1826

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – View from the Window at Le Gras, 1826

Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temple, Paris 1839

Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temple, Paris 1839

Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temple, Paris 1839 This man is the first human being to be photographed. A man stopped to have his shoes shined, and because he didn’t move, he has been preserved for ever. Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temple, Paris 1839

Louis Daguerre 1787-1851 Inventor of the Daguerreotype, the first successful photographic process, announced in 1839. Daguerreotype of Louis Daguerre

Daguerreotype locket from about 1845 Millions of Daguerreotypes were made during the 1840s. 90,000 were made in the colony of New South Wales.

William Henry Fox Talbot 1800-1877 Inventor of the Calotype, the negative - positive process which modern analogue photography is based on.

On holiday at Lake Como in Italy, Talbot was trying to sketch the views with the aid a Camera Lucida, … fairy pictures, creations of a moment, and destined as rapidly to fade away. Talbot’s 1833 drawing, made with a Camera Lucida, at the Villa Melzi.

It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably, and remain fixed upon the paper!” Talbot’s 1833 drawing, made with a Camera Lucida, at the Villa Melzi.

It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably, and remain fixed upon the paper!” Lake Como from Villa Melzi, From Google Earth (photo by Narcissa Milano)

Just past that third lion statue Fox Talbot sat and made his drawing which led him to invent photography! Villa Melzi from Google Earth, photo W. Buerskens

Fox Talbot, latticed window negative 1835

Fox Talbot, latticed window positive image

Fox Talbot, Photogram of lace, c1840

Fox Talbot, Photogram of fern, 1839

Fox Talbot, The Open Door, Lacock Abbey, 1844 “A painter’s eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable … http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2005.100.498

Fox Talbot, Haystack at Laycock Abbey, 1840s “… a casual gleam of sunshine … may awaken a train of thoughts and feelings, and picturesque imaginings.” Fox Talbot, Haystack at Laycock Abbey, 1840s

Hill & Adamson In 1843, a painter and a chemist teamed up to form a photographic partnership, specializing in portraiture. They used Fox Talbot’s Calotype process. Hill & Adamson, Newhaven Pilot c1845

Hill & Adamson, Mrs Elizabeth Johnstone, c1845 Hill & Adamson, Newhaven Pilot, c1845

Hypolyte Bayard’s Direct Positive Process, 1840 There was a third inventor of photography at the same time as Daguerre and Talbot. Hypolyte Bayard was a Paris office worker who had been working independently. Hypolyte Bayard self portrait, 1840

“The corpse which you see here is that of M “The corpse which you see here is that of M. Bayard, inventor of the process that has just been shown to you … Hypolyte Bayard self portrait, 1840

… The Government, which has been only too generous to Monsieur Daguerre, has said it can do nothing for Monsieur Bayard, and the poor wretch has drowned himself. Hypolyte Bayard self portrait, 1840

Julia Margaret Cameron The beginnings of ‘art photography’ Julia Margaret Cameron was a wealthy Victorian lady who took up photography as an amateur in 1863. "From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour, and it has become to me as a living thing, with voice and memory and creative vigour." Henry Herschel Hay Cameron, portrait of Julia Margaret Cameron, 1870

Julia Margaret Cameron The beginnings of ‘art photography’ Julia Margaret Cameron was a wealthy Victorian lady who took up photography as an amateur in 1863. "From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour, and it has become to me as a living thing, with voice and memory and creative vigour." Julia Margaret Cameron, The Echo 1868

Cameron was one of the first to develop fictional photography, the staging of narrative for the camera. Julia Margaret Cameron, The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, 1874

Julia Margaret Cameron, The Kiss of Peace 1869 Julia Margaret Cameron, The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, 1874

Cameron’s portraits are among the finest in the history of photography Cameron’s portraits are among the finest in the history of photography. She wanted to capture "the greatness of the inner as well as the features of the outer man.” Julia Margaret Cameron, Sir John Herschel, 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward John Eyre, 1867, Australian explorer Sir John Herschel, 1867

COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS In 1850, a new technique replaced the Daguerreotype and the Calotype. Called Collodion Wet Plate, it made it possible to have glass negatives, therefore sharper and larger images. It was a complicated procedure. The glass had to be coated with the emulsion by hand, just before taking the photograph.

COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS Preparing the plate 1 COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS Preparing the plate 1 Prepare the glass plate by polishing and cleaning it 2 Mix collodion, iodide, Bromide ether and alcohol and leave for one week 3 Pour the solution evenly onto the glass 4 In the darkroom, immerse the glass into a bath of silver nitrate 5 Load glass plate into the film holder 6 Take the photo

COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS Developing the plate 6 COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS Developing the plate 6 Develop the image by pouring developer evenly over the glass 7 Pour water over the glass to rinse it 8 Put the glass in fixer 9 Rinse the glass 10 Dry the glass over a lamp 11 Seal the image by pouring warm varnish over the heated glass 1850s Wet Plate field darkroom

ALBUMEN PRINTING The albumen print,was invented in 1850 and was the first commercial method of producing a photographic print. It used egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper. It was the dominant form of photographic prints from 1855 to about 1900. Albumen prints have warm reddish brown colour.

Samuel Bourne, The Burning Ghat, Benares, India 1870

Timothy O’Sullivan, Vermillion Creek, 1870

Timothy O’Sullivan, Incidents of the War: A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg 1863

Carte-de-Visite was a new portrait process invented in 1860 Carte-de-Visite was a new portrait process invented in 1860. Small portraits were taken on a special camera that took several poses on the one plate. It enabled cheap portraits to be made so that poor people could have a photograph of themself, and portraits of celebrities could be collected. Camille Silvy, Carte-de-Visite, Princess Leiningen, 1860

Le Jeune, Napoleon III, 1860s Camille Silvy, Carte-de-Visite, Princess Leiningen, 1860

Adolphe Disderi, Carte-de-Visite, 1860s

Edward Muybridge, Animal Locomotion In 1872, the photographer Edward Muybridge was hired by Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner to settle a bet. This was whether all four of a horse's feet leave the ground at any one time during a gallop. The movement is too fast for the human eye.

Muybridge developed a scheme for instantaneous capture of the galloping horses. This involved an array of cameras, an electrical trigger and special chemical formulas for film processing. The experimental track used during the production of The Horse in Motion (1881)

Before Muybridge’s photographs were published, artists incorrectly painted galloping horses. This Impressionist shows shows the false “flying gallop.” Edgar Degas, 1871

Edgar Degas, 1871 Edward Muybridge, Animal Locomotion 1878 The photographs clearly showed that a horse really does become airborne during a gallop, but not in the way artists thought.

Edgar Degas, 1871 Edward Muybridge, Animal Locomotion 1878 The photographs clearly showed that a horse really does become airborne during a gallop, but not in the way artists thought.

Wet plate photographer Rob Gibson Getty Museum: The Wet Collodion Proces http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/video/399915/photography:-the-wet-collodion-process/ Wet plate photographer Rob Gibson http://petapixel.com/2013/07/16/shooting-portraits-of-civil-war-reenactors-using-the-age-old-wet-collodion-process/

Lacock Abbey Lacock Abbey in autumn

http://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au/

BBC podcast : Melvyn Bragg, In Our Time, The Invention of Photography