Daguerreotype, the first truly successful and,
in the eyes of many through history, the most beautiful photographic technique,
was introduced to the world in summer of 1839, so this year marks 180th
anniversary of Photography.
Congratulations.
After two major technical improvements were
added to the original process as announced by Daguerre, improvements aimed at
reducing exposure times and strengthening the adherence of image to plate, the following
basic procedure of making each image was set henceforth. A plate of copper
coated with pure silver is buffed to an absolute mirror surface, sensitized
with fumes of elemental iodine and bromine, exposed in camera, developed in
fumes of mercury, fixed with hypo, and then coated with gold by gilding. The elegant simplicity of chemistry involved
should not however be mistaken for ease of overall procedure, pitfalls are a
plenty and too much can depend on the smallest seemingly unimportant and thus
overlooked stop. Some of the chemistry
is also highly toxic, and should be treated with extreme respect and caution. However, it’s all worth it, as when properly
made and examined, a truly fine daguerreotype plate has never failed to bring a
sense of awe to viewers of today as in early middle of 19th century.
I have been working with Daguerreotype medium
for about 4 years now. After having
worked with other analog photographic methods for about quarter of a century
prior, I fell in love with this technique for its incredible physical presence
and appearance, and the possibilities I saw in taking that further. In the fall of last year that I spent some
length of time in the darkroom making 4-10 images per day. Erasing, buffing, fuming, developing,
erasing, repeating… A few ideas were
tested and tested again, a few new ones emerged, merged with others, opened
possibilities. As things got more and
more complex, I decided to slow down a bit, and to produce a few small bodies
of work, which would be built upon single variations of Daguerreotype process I’m
planning to combine and utilize as part of my work with in the future.
Below is the first such illustrative body of
work, completed in early April. First an
introductory ‘straight’ plate, made with all traditional methods as have been
practiced since 1840s, and appearing as representational as any semi-abstract
daguerreotype can be. The other 5 are variations of same subject, which explore
possibilities of color within this traditionally monochromatic medium. The aim was to control placement of cool and warm
tones and keep them interspersed within the same plate, and to be able to switch
around their placement like in Variants #2 and #3. In
addition to color, I wanted to explore the possibility of creatively using the
inherently reflective quality of the daguerreotype plates in areas void of
image particles.
There’s no way to accurately and fully convey
via a screen how these 4x5 plates appear when one is holding them, letting the
light reflect from different angles, paying attention to the color and pattern
changes. Daguerreotype colors shift
their hue and saturation with angle of view and lighting. There can also be observed a pattern of double
mirror effect between plate and bottom of cover glass, which moves around
behind the image like a holograph.
Viewers are asked to rely on their experience with handling and viewing
daguerreotypes live.
Variant 1 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Variant 2 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Variant 3 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Variant 4 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Variant 5 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Variant 6 - 4x5in daguerreotype
Anton