cMay 23, 2009 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

This man is the first human being to be photographed. Because of the long exposure times the busy street in Paris appears empty. A single individual 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 Inventor of the Daguerreotype, the first successful photographic process, announced in Daguerreotype of Louis Dageurre

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

The Calotype process William Henry Fox Talbot inventor of the Calotype process, 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.

Lake Como from Villa Melzi, From Google Earth (photo by Narcissa Milano)

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

Fox Talbot, latticed window negative 1835

Fox Talbot, latticed window positive image

“A painter’s eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable … Fox Talbot, The Open Door,

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

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 without knowing anything about the other two. Hypolyte Bayard self portrait, 1840

“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 "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

Cameron was one of the first to develop fictional photography, the staging of narrative for the camera. From Tennyson's poem … "O Lancelot, if thou love me get thee hence,” And then they were agreed upon a night to meet And part forever, Stammering and staring; it was their last hour, A madness of farewells.” 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. 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 Julia Margaret Cameron, Sir John Herschel, 1867,

COLLODION WET PLATE PROCESS A new photographic process invented in It required the photographic materials to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed within the span of about fifteen minutes. On location, this required a portable darkroom to be set up close to the camera

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

Developing the plate 6Develop the image by pouring developer evenly over the glass 7Pour water over the glass to rinse it 8Put the glass in fixer 9Rinse the glass 10 Dry the glass over a lamp 11Seal 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 Albumen prints have warm reddish brown colour

Samuel Bourne, The Burning Ghat, Benares, India 1870

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

Camille Silvy, Carte-de-Visite of Princess Leiningen,1860

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.

The experimental track used during the production of The Horse in Motion (1881) 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.

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

Edward Muybridge, Animal Locomotion 1878 Edgar Degas, 1871 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

Muybridgizer iPhone app Edward Muybridge, Animal Locomotion

Contemporary artists working with vintage techniques

John Coffer, Tin-Type of Civil War re-enactment, 1999

J erry Spagnoli, daguerreotype of Twin Towers attack, 9/1 1

Matthew Brandt, La Brea, 2013.

Matthew Brandt Heliographs The La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles is a natural lake of tar. Prehistoric bones were found preserved in it and are mounted in a nearby museum. Mathew Brandt photographed these displays of prehistoric bones and made very large transparencies. Then he collected tar from the tar pits, coated large sheets of aluminium, laid the transparencies over them and left them in the L.A. sun. After washing them to remove the soft tar, only the sun- hardened parts remain, “leaving an image of the fossil created from its ancient remains”.

Getty Museum: The Wet Collodion Proces Wet plate photographer Rob Gibson

San Francisco Tintype studio