THE MIRACULOUS INVENTION

In 18^th century, a man’s strong desire to recreate an exact image of person or things he value most, or freeze the event he wanted to hold on forever, was believed to be a work of an evil. That is because they believed that it is only God, the Creator who can do this. True enough, many scientists or even some mediocre scientists, possessed by this strong desire, invented and developed a system that will capture the exact image he wanted to preserve. And not only this desire moved these great thinkers but also a need to find ways how to effectively express themselves that they created an art and science of expression through visual image, now known to us, as photography. Photography proved to be an effective vehicle of communication.

Louise Daguerre, the pioneer of modern photography, was at first believed to be “possessed by an evil spirit.” Mrs. Daguerre admitted in 1824 to Jean Dumas, an outstanding chemist of the period, that her husband was “possessed”. She was afraid that Daguerre, the painter and photographer was out of his mind* (Life Library of Photography, page 48, 1977) and needs a spiritual cleansing. But Dumas replied: “but I cannot say it will always remain impossible, not set the man down as mad who seeks to do it.”

Daguerre’s desire to capture a man’s soul in a piece of material was a social taboo then and a product of an existing belief that outwitting God is a Satan’s work. If there were people who cursed, raised their eyebrows to his work, many were also enthusiastic and stood by him when he made his public announcement about his new invention – a new photographic process that will copy the exact image. He discovered that a chemical, now known as sodiumthiosulfate (photographer’s hypo), dissolved light-sensitive silver compounds before they have been transformed into a visible image but not afterward. Thus he could make an exposure and before any other light struck the picture bathe it in hypo to halt the further action by light.

Indeed, Daguerre’s invention represents a major technological triumph in the field of photography called “Daguerreotype” where results of its product produced a sharp image and with a great breadth of shading reproduced. From then on, black and white photography was born full bloom.

But though Daguerre’s invention was so tedious and delicate because it used vapor mercury, and critics made negative observation, saying that his process was offensive to the eyes, still, the French Academy of Science accepted it and he was awarded.

And with man’s desire for development, Joseph Nicephore Niepce began his experiments to advance his business field. Niepce, a gentleman inventor and lithographer from central France began his experiment by adding asphalt (bitumen of Judea). He dissolved this asphalt in lavender oil, a solvent used in varnishes and then coated with a sheet of pewter with the mixture. Niepce called his new process heliography.

Another invention was made by a man who belonged to the upper-class family from England who also served a short in term in the Parliament. Talbot’s first experiment was silhouette, produced by placing object on light sensitive paper and exposing them to the sun. He sensitized a fine grade of writing paper by dipping it into a weak mixture of salt and water. This process is called the calotype, a process also called Talbotype, after its inventor William Henry Fox Talbot. This is considered as the first photograph that could be printed from negative, had its own distinctive look: soft, rich warmth deriving partly from the fibers of the paper on which the negative was made.*(http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.htm)

There were many other scientists and photographers who developed their own process of fixing an image on a sensitive paper but only the three mentioned above were known and accepted scholarly.

And even if daguerreotype and calotype still exists nowadays or any other complicated process of sticking and fixing the image on a sensitive paper, which is tedious and laborious, I think, I will still thread and take this road less traveled. I also have this strong desire of imprinting and capturing moments that I want to hold permanently and be shown to my siblings and to others and give them the glimpse of time I have passed by. Actually, I started taking pictures of events with social importance using only instamatic camera (SLR). Like any other pioneers of photography, processing of photograph needs passion and a thorough practice. Daguerre, Niepce and Talbot’s inventions underwent trials and social challenges. And just like them, I am also willing to take all the social bouts, come what may, just to get a chance of learning the old and tedious way of processing photographs and help develop and advance it. I think I will use Talbot’s calotype process. Though it looks a bit clumsy but the effect is soft and beautiful. The style of Talbot is more of the same as to how I learned the process of developing and printing a black and white pictures. Besides, it doesn’t use mercury vapor which is hazardous.