It is difficult to imagine the modern world without a photograph. Cameras from luxury and professional tools have become commonplace, and modern gadgets even from a child can make a professional photographer. And although modern methods of obtaining photographs are incredibly far from the earliest, daguerreotype, that is, the early photographic process, laid the foundation for this type of art.
What is a daguerreotype
This is not quite a photograph in the usual sense, it is more like a reflection of reality. Due to the presence of a silver amalgam, the daguerreotype was called a mirror with memory. The image on this mirror is visible at a certain angle, and at different angles you can see both negative and positive. Thanks to this, a unique effect of a lively realistic image is created, which completely does not convey reproductions of ancient daguerreotypes.
By the way, the latter property gives scope for all kinds of fraud. Among them, Pushkin's daguerreotype is a monochrome portrait of the poet, supposedly real and his only lifetime shot. However, a simple logical comparison of dates suggests that this is a fake snapshot or, as they say now, a fake. Pushkin died in a duel in February 1837, and the first daguerreotype picture was obtained in France only a few months earlier, and technology became available to Russia and the whole world only in 1839.
History of creation
The first pictures were tried to be taken already in the 18th century, but, not knowing how to fix the image, photographers lost the meaning of their work. Only in 1837, the chemist and inventor Louis Daguerre, after several years of searching, discovered the ability of mercury vapor to display an image made by a pinhole camera. He called the first photograph with his own name and the first daguerreotype (more precisely, the first with the image of people) he made in Paris in the spring of 1838, capturing the Boulevard du Temple from his window.
Inspired by the success, Daguerr decided to sell the opportunity to receive pictures by subscription, but its price was so high that there weren’t anyone who wanted it. Then Dagger sold his invention to the French authorities. Those, in turn, having granted Daguerre a life-long pension, transferred the technology to the general public and interested people from different countries began to come to France to learn the craft and art of daguerreotype.
Daguerreotype Technology
To get a picture, both the master and the posing had to work hard. Initially, a daguerreotype is a silver-plated plate that had to be polished. We did this carefully right before starting photographing with pieces of fur or velvet. Then, in perfect darkness, the plates were treated with bromine or iodine vapors. Under special yellow lighting, it was seen how the plate gradually changes color and by the time it is ready it turns light purple.
Next, the plate was inserted into the camera and with the help of its cover an exposure was carried out, which could take up to 15 minutes. If people were photographed, then all this time they stood and sat motionless, which was very difficult, especially when shooting outdoors under the bright sun. If you shot streets or buildings, then on the daguerreotype only those objects that did not move and move too much were reflected. That is, houses, trees, shoe cleaners on the corner of the street were imprinted, but passers-by and passing carriages were not.
At the end of the exposure, a latent, yet invisible image appeared on the plate, but later it appeared under the mercury vapor. Where mercury came into contact with silver, an amalgam was obtained, and the longer the exposure, the greater its layer. At the last stage, silver, which remained photosensitive, was removed by chemical compositions, and the daguerreotype was coated with gold chloride. Without the last stage, the picture was extremely short-lived - the obtained amalgam layer was fragile and could be destroyed even by touch.
Daguerreotype in Russia - the history of the first photography in Russia
The innovation spread very quickly, in the same month as Daguerre and the French government talked about technology, the Russian chemist Joseph Gamel introduced a novelty in the Russian Empire. The first Russian daguerreotype is an image of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Soon after, the technology began to be applied everywhere.
The daguerreotype studio of St. Petersburg held by the Zwerner brothers was equipped with the latest technology - a glass roof made it possible to obtain the necessary lighting and endurance, but protected the posing from the blinding sun, several pinhole cameras worked at once, there were different backgrounds for furniture, trinkets and even metal coasters for the head to pose for ten minutes was not so exhausting.
Modern Daguerreotypes
Only daguerreotype existed for twenty years, soon it was replaced by more advanced technologies, however, even today, after almost two centuries, enthusiasts and lovers of retro photography are returning to this art.
However, it’s not easy to recreate technology today in the 21st century. From the secrets and subtleties of craftsmanship that died with photographers, to chemical laws known only to scientists. Plus, the daguerreotype is dangerous and expensive. Fans in Russia also note difficulties with finding materials, for example, it is simply impossible to buy compositions for fixing images in our country. Therefore, in Russia at various exhibitions and expositions they also pass off other technologies that appeared much later as daguerreotypes. But there are such masters abroad, for example, Jerry Spagnoli, Chuck Close, Barbara Galasso and others.