Cooper_post_3_daguerreotype

The daguerreotype was the first practical way to create a permanent camera image, presented in 1839 in Paris. The creator, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre based the daguerreotype off the unfinished work of scientist Joseph Nicephore Niepce, whom he also collaborated with. They worked with copper plates and silver iodide. Eventually Daguerre discovered warmed mercury vapor could develope images a lot more quickly than previous methods. They then used a sodium solution to fix the image.
The daguerreotype quickly spread to be used in Europe and in the United States. It became extremely popular in New York, which acquired more daguerreotype portrait studios than all of England. One notable photographer who used this method at the time is Mathew Brady. Brady’s studio was upscale and appealed to the upper class in New York. He often moved around the location of his studio to follow the trendy neighborhoods, and utilized newspapers for advertising.

Mathew Brady photographed many celebrities at the time including Abraham Lincoln and vocalist Jenny Lind. His studio has a large and extravagant parlor upon entry in which a gallery of all the celebrity photographs were hung for visitors to observe before getting their portrait taken. Taking these photographs were difficult because it required the person getting their portrait done to sit still for long periods of time to get the proper exposure. Brady’s studio was on the top floor of the building with a glass ceiling to get as much light into the room as possible.

Once the subject was seated in front of the camera, the lense would be removed from the camera to let light inwards. Depending on the size of the copper plate the lense would be removed from as little as 10 seconds to at most 30 minutes. After the image is captured it must be developed using warmed mercury and fixed with a sodium solution. Brady would complete this process within an hour to be able to return the portrait to the customer.




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