My daguerreotype

prints

Daguerreotype response

The daguerreotype workshop at Project Basho was amazing. I have learned about daguerreotypes in history of photo, but I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to actually make one of my own. The process to make one was so precise, yet so tedious. When most of us learned that we polished our plates wrong, it was a sad discovery. But it was so excited to see the image develop after such a long day of prepping, polishing, and waiting. It was such an awarding experience. I hope I can do it again in the fall when he returns.

Still life with tree and two small, stuffed mammals, between 1840 and 1860

From: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress)

Lauren's daguerreotype paper

Well handling the daguerreotype you have to wear a facemask and gloves so that you are not harming the plate.  The surface of the plate is very sensitive if u touch it you can smudge it or scratch the surface of the plate. First you have to buffer the plate with a soft leather covered paddle, which is dusted with pigment.  Some of the chemicals involved in the process can be harmful to people.  You only have one chance to get a good exposure. If the image shows up on the mirror like surface it has a positive and negative quality. In the light the image looks like a negative and in the dark you can see the image clearly.  

Daguerrotype Response

I was really excited when I found out we had the opportunity to make Daguerreotypes because I've always admired their detail and unique image quality. When the day came, the amount of steps involved was very surprising. I tried to do everything exactly how we were told so I could create a successful image, I even consulted with Takashi about my polishing before moving on to the next step. After the plate was prepared, if we wanted to be in the image, we had to stay as still as possible for 2-3 minutes, which is harder than it sounds. Of course I was disappointed after very little showed up on my plate after we developed them, but it made my appreciation grow for the process and photographers who used it, especially those from the beginning of Photography's history. This is a great process that can have beautiful results and I will never forget this experience. Hopefully someday I can try again.

I found some daguerreotype landscapes

Marie-Charles-Isidore Choiselat (French, 1815–1858); Stanislas Ratel (French, 1824–1904) Daguerreotype

John Plumbe, United States Capital,  daguerreotype, c. 1846. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

What is thought to be the world's oldestcamera is to be sold by auction in Vienna on May 26. Dating back to 1839, the Daguerreotype, encased in a sliding wooden box frame, was made by Susse Freres of Paris.

The camera belongs to a US-based scholar and was inherited from his father, a technical photography professor at Munich University. The starting bid is $132,000, but the final price for the 168-year-old gadget is expected to be way past a million euros ($1,329,000).

Sarah's Dag. paper

Prior to my experience at project basho, I had several opportunities to both see and work with existing 19th century photos. I was always amazed at the quality and beauty of the images, but didn't give much thought to the process of creating them. My afternoon at project basho really opened my eyes to the patience and skill it must have taken to produce a good daguerreotype. Although I think all the students participating that afternoon left with a greater appreciation of the process, I think my prior work with old photos gave me a unique insight. It was exciting to be making the photograph, instead of just looking at them. I felt a real connection to the photos I had worked so closely with, and a greater understanding of the stress and uncertainty that came with creating a daguerreotype. It took quite a while to prepare the plate and expose my image, and the development had us working closely with dangerous chemicals and flame. After all this, my image didn't come out, which was the most important lesson of all. Although I had done all the steps right, my exposure time was off and my image was ruined. If anything gave me a greater appreciation of the old processes it was that.

From Photojojo

http://photojojo.com/content/guides/pinhole-camera-photography-day/
I always love the stuff I get from them, just some more to get you going for Pinhole Camera day!!!
-Gigi

World Pinhole day

So what about it?
http://www.pinholeday.org/

What is Pinhole Day?

Anyone, anywhere in the world, who makes a pinhole photograph on the last Sunday in April, can scan it and upload it to this website where it will become part of the annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day celebration's online gallery.

The last Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day was celebrated around the planet on April 27, 2008. Visit the gallery to view the pinhole photographs taken on that day from participants around the world!

The next pinhole day is

April 26, 2009

I'm repeating what poizon found... Who are you?

Anyway, Sunday April 26th... should we hold an event?

Pinhole Diversion

I found this website about how to make a matchbox pinhole camera that uses 35mm negatives.

http://alspix.blog.co.uk/2005/12/31/matchbox_pinhole~428481/

Looks pretty crazy.

Karen's Dag workshop response

For me the matter of polishing the plates really stood out. Our task was to polish the silver plated copper plates to a high shine. The plates were so delicate that we could only handle them by the edges with gloves on, and we used paper masks to avoid breathing on the surface. I probably polished the longest, I just couldn't get the hang of what I was supposed to do. It was very odd to be doing a critical task that I had no way of knowing how to do correctly, nor any way to judge the results. We were to remove any tarnish, easy, you can see that. But then we were to remove a certain milky colored cast on the plate, but I really couldn't see what this was. I was supposed to apply a certain amount of buffing pressure, not so much as to scratch the plate, but enough to remove the milkiness that I couldn't see. I felt that I was scratching more than polishing. In any case, I guess I managed ok, because although my Dag. was underexposed, it did come out.

During the very long day it took us to complete all the steps of the process, I kept thinking about how it would have been to run a commercial Dag. studio. Apparently you could have charged the equivalent of $100 - $500 per Dag. depending on the size of the plate. How many would you need to do in a day to be profitable? How many could you do in a day? Plates may have required up to 4 hours to polish properly. Who did this work? I suspect low wage workers, perhaps female relatives.

Dag. field trip

Have a look at these links and let me know if you want to spend time visiting either place (or both?) I would be happy to make the arrangements, so let me know your preferences.

Chester County Historical Society

The Library Company

I would ask for a private appointment where we would have either institution pull their most interesting Dags for us to look at.

Meg's response to workshop

At first, I thought that this process was going to be easy. Boy, was I wrong! I didn't realize how many steps were involved in the process. It amazes me even more that people use to do this process while traveling. They use to have photography wagons for this process. There are some crazy steps like polishing the silver plate for 40  minutes, putting on the toxic chemicals, then taking the actual photo, and then developing with mercury. After all of that, I realize that my Daguerreotype only showed one good brick. I guess I didn't polish it right. I will just stick to digital. It was just very educational. I don't think outside of our class can say they actually made a daguerreotype. 

Steph's Dag Response

Going to Basho was a very full filling experience (especially the filling part when Dana and I got Cheese steaks for lunch). Experiencing something like the daguerreotype process is something to really be appreciated. You normally don't appreciate older photography to its full extent until you go through a process like the daguerreotype. I was very nervous about the whole process, mostly the mercury vapors, but after seeing how its done I feel much better. Its definitely not as dangerous as when they first worked on it I bet! Most people don't even know about the process so its very interesting to see reactions when I tell someone about it. I am very happy that we were able to do this workshop, even though the polishing of the plates was very tiring, and that it was really cold.
Totally worth it and I want to do it again!!!!

Daguerreotype Workshop

The daguerreotype workshop at Project Basho, with guest artist Takashi Arai, was such a great experience for me. I think it made me appreciate the patience of photographers of the past and how much they developed the processes of photography to make it less time consuming and less toxic for us today.

The actual experience of making the daguerreotype was quite frustrating for me because I am such an impatient person. Polishing the silver for 20 minutes was probably the hardest thing for me to do and Takashi said that I probably didn't polish it well enough and that's why no image came out the first time I did it. It was very disappointing that nothing came out on my first try but I went back 2 days later to try again. Takashi had a plate there that he had already polished for me to use, which was awesome! It was not sunny at all and it was looking like rain so I sat still for 13 minutes to get a good exposure. It was so exciting when it came out!

Here's how it came out!!

Dana's Daguerreotype Response

We began the day shivering through a presentation about our instructor's search for historic daguerreotypes around Philadelphia. Though I was freezing, the presentation inspired me to want to go out and search these collections myself. The daguerreotype is beautiful and I wanted to see more of them. Even my underexposed little image was beautiful and special to me.

I will always remember the crazy contraptions that Takashi had built - the iodine box, the mercury box, and even the ventilation box built just for this process. Also, I will remember Takashi's patience and sense of humor throughout the long, sometimes frustrating process. Sitting still for so long was the hardest part!

In the end, though my image was less than perfect, my first (and perhaps only) daguerreotype is a special object that for me holds within it the magic of the process, the weight of its history, and the memory of this once in a lifetime experience.

My Response to the Daguerreotype Workshop

The daguerreotype workshop left me with an appreciation for photography, because I am accustomed to the quick and easy fix of digital photography. Not only that, but the process of preparing and developing a daguerreotype is more labor intensive than traditional 35mm/darkroom photography. I will now think twice when complaining about how long something takes, in regards to photogenic processes. I just wish we would continue to do daguerreotypes because the imagery is so beautiful and raw. It is almost like projecting our ideas into a fantasy world of the past.

Pinhole Photography Day!!

I was roaming around like always and I found this
http://www.pinholeday.org/
Figure I post it here for you guys to see.

Diana H Bloomfield

Gina wanted me to post this for her. I believe it's the woman who the Diana camera is named after. Maybe not, but I don't know. She does a whole bunch of alt photo work:


http://www.dianahbloomfield.com/

Cool Daguerreotype Page

Contemporary Daguerrotypists.

http://www.seanculver.com/fineart/daguerreotypes/index.html

Daguerreotype Workshop Friday

You can read up on the guest artist,
Takashi Arai
and his web site:

We have the van! So be at school on time (8:30) and we will load up the cameras and head right over.
You still need $30 for materials, but we don't need to take septa. Pack a lunch, we will be gone all day.

Don't forget to bring any props/objects you need for your photo.

If you want to go separately and meet us there, please e-mail me so that we don't wait for you.

1305 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Don Kamp Lecture

Tues. March 3, at 1pm
UArts, CBS Auditorium.

We saw some of his work upstairs at Gallery 339

WE ARE GOING!!!!!

Great News, we got all the funding we need, so it is official, we are going to Project Basho for a Daguerreotype workshop on Fri. March 13. You will need $30 for materials, an idea about how you want to shoot your plate, and Septa fare, 2 ways. (2 tokens or $2 each way.)

Alt Proces show postponed

Hi all, due to bad weather somewhere up north, the opening of:
Selections: Original Works from The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes
has been postponed until next week.

The Christopher James talk will be rescheduled for Thurs. Feb. 26th at 1pm in CBS auditorium. (UArts)

Alt Process show

Sarah Van Keuren (wrote our manual, my teacher) has curated an interesting Alt Process show which we will go to when we get a nice day for walking.

Selections: Original Works from The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes

But she has invited students to a special session to meet Christopher James, the author of the book. If you can make it, put it on your calendar: Thurs. Feb. 19th at 1pm in CBS auditorium. (UArts)

You can hear him speak, have him critique your work (probably more applicable to advanced students) and have refreshments.

Dreaming of Pinhole Cameras

This isn't exactly the most useful post for our class blog, but I had this crazy dream about Alternative Process and I just had to share.

In the dream, I had made a pinhole camera out of those cardboard folders one gets when one buys paper from Utrecht. (In reality, this pinhole camera would not work very well being as there was no space between the negative and the pinhole, but, it was dream, so...). Anyhow, I had loaded a large piece of lith film into the camera and had it sealed so I could expose it later. My boyfriend came along and, not knowing what the thing was, opened it up and exposed the film. I was furious.

That was it. Thanks for humoring me.

Lith Film

Class boxes are a few shelves under where the pinhole kit is. Ask the monitor for it when you want to use it, no need to check it out. Just remember that everyone needs it.

Alt Process fundraiser

We have decided to try to make some money towards the Daguerreotype Workshop; we are looking for funding from several sources since the cost came in very high.

Our idea was to sell small cyanotypes, bookmarks and cards here at Moore. We need to create an event, make some and figure this whole thing out. (I also need to clear it with student services, so we won't start just yet.)

But look over your small negatives and see if you have things you think would work (or draw something.) We can use spare moments in class to crank out stuff. Also look for spare paper.

Any good ideas? Share them!

Making Digital Negatives...easy!!

I pulled info. from a few different sources, so heres how I did it:

1) open your image in photoshop, change the image size to match the size of your desired print. (ex- 8x10)

2) Next, change your image to a negative. The easiest way is to just hit the apple key and the letter "i" at the same time.

3) Next you must adjust the curves. The curves will be different for every process, and they can be downloaded here

4) scroll down the page and select your process. Control click on the appropriate curves and select "download linked file".

5) back in photoshop, select curves. Once the box pops up click on the small box to the left of the "ok" button. select "load preset." find your downloaded curve and select okay. the curve should set itself.

6) Now you have to set the color. double click on the foreground color in the toolbox. Set the CMYK as: C=0, M=50, Y=50, K=0
the color should now be an orange color.

7) The next step is to go to Edit/Fill, another window will open, in the Mode box choose Color and OK and the image will change to an orange color.

DONE! Now all you have to do is print. I did a lot of research, and found that pictorico premium OHP transparency film works best. You can get it here.

just put it through the printer, with the paper setting for glossy.