Daguerreotype is a mirror with memory, a reflection of history and a forgotten art.

It is difficult to imagine the modern world without photos. Cameras made of luxury and professional tools turned into everyday life, and modern gadgets even from a child can make a professional photographer. And although modern ways of obtaining a photograph are incredibly far from the earliest, the daguerreotype, that is, the early photographic process, marked the beginning of this art form.

What is a daguerreotype

This is not quite a picture in the usual sense, it's more like a reflection of reality. Daguerreotype because of the presence of silver amalgam called a mirror with memory. The image on this mirror is visible at a certain angle, and at different angles you can see both the negative and the positive. Thanks to this, a unique effect of a living realistic image is created, which completely does not transmit reproductions of ancient daguerreotypes.

By the way, the latter property provides scope for all kinds of falsifications. Among them, Pushkin's daguerreotype is a monochrome portrait of the poet, supposedly real and his only lifetime image. However, a simple logical comparison of dates indicates that this is a snapshot of a fake or, as they say, fake. Pushkin died in a duel in February 1837, and the first daguerreotype shot was obtained in France only a few months earlier, and to Russia and the whole world the technology became available only in 1839.

History of creation

The first pictures were attempted already in the 18th century, but without knowing the ways 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 exhibit the image made by the camera obscura. He called the first photo by 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, using the Boulevard du Temple as his window.

Inspired by success, Dagger decided to sell the possibility of receiving pictures by subscription, but the price was so high that no one could be found. Then Daguer sold his invention to the French authorities. Those, in turn, appointing Daguerre a lifetime pension, transferred technology to the general public and those interested from different countries began to come to France to learn the craft and the art of daguerreotypy.

Daguerreotype production technology

To get a picture and the master, and posing had a lot of work. Initially, the daguerreotype is a silvered plate that needs to be polished. Did it carefully right before the beginning of photographing pieces of fur or velvet. Further in perfect darkness, the plates were treated with bromine or iodine vapor. With special yellow lighting it was visible how the plate gradually changes its color and by the time it becomes ready it becomes light violet.

Then the plate was inserted into the camera and with the help of its cover an exposure was held, which could take up to 15 minutes. If people were photographed, all this time they stood and sat motionless, which was very difficult, especially when shooting outdoors under the bright sun. If you shoot streets or buildings, then the daguerreotype reflects only those objects that do not move too much and move. That is, houses, trees, shoe cleaners on the corner of the street were imprinted, and passers-by and carriages passing by did not.

At the end of the exposure, a hidden, unseen image appeared on the plate, but later it appeared under mercury vapor. Where mercury was in contact with silver, an amalgam was produced and the more aging, the more its layer. At the last stage, the chemical compositions removed silver, which remained photosensitive, and covered with a daguerreotype with gold chloride. Without the last step the picture was extremely short-lived - the resulting layer of amalgam was fragile and could collapse even from 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 told about the technology, the Russian chemist Joseph Hamel introduced a novelty in the Russian Empire. The first Russian daguerreotype is the image of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Soon after, the technology began to be used everywhere.

Daguerreotype studio of St. Petersburg, which was held by the brothers Zwerner was equipped with the latest technology - the glass roof allowed to get the right lighting and endurance, but protected the posing from the blinding sun, several cameras worked at once, for the entourage there were different backgrounds, furniture and trinkets and even metal Stand for the head to pose for a dozen minutes was not so debilitating.

Modern daguerreotypes

Only twenty years there was a daguerreotype, soon it was replaced by more advanced technologies, but today, almost two centuries later, enthusiasts and fans of retro photography return to this art.

However, to recreate today in the 21st century technology is not easy. Starting with the secrets and subtleties of skill, died with photographers, to chemical laws known only to scientists. Plus, the daguerreotype is dangerous and expensive. Lovers in Russia note and the difficulty in finding materials, for example, it is simply impossible to buy compositions for fixing the image in our country. Therefore, in Russia, at various exhibitions and expositions, other technologies are also presented for daguerreotypes, which appeared much later. But there are such masters abroad, for example, Jerry Spagnoli, Chuck Close, Barbara Galasso and others.