Louis Daguerre: Pioneer Of Photography And His Contribution To The Field

Daguerreotype: A Breakthrough in the Field of Photography

Write about an Essay on Louis Daguerre.

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre was a photographer and an artist who was born in the French region of Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d’Oise. He was born on November 18, in the year 1787. At the tender age of sixteen, he started working with the creator of stage settings in Paris Opera, I.E.M Degotti. He then continued his apprenticeship with Pierre Prevost, who was a specialist of panoramas. He became proficient at his skill of theatrical illusion. Daguerre later invented the diorama, which became hugely popular. Robinson (2016), in his paper says that after the death of Nicéphore Niépce, with whom he had collaborated, he continued to experiment with a camera, which resulted in the invention of the process that later came to be known as ‘daguerreotype’. Pinson (2012) says that Daguerreotype was the process of photography in which a permanent photograph was obtained by using mercury vapor and an iodine-sensitized silvered plate. This type of photograph had a special characteristic: the viewer, who is observing the photograph, seems to observe that the photograph is floating on the metal surface rather than being flat. The illusion of reality is the uniqueness of the process. The image sits on a silver surface which is mirror-like. It is kept under glass and appears either positive or negative, depending upon the angle from which it is seen. The darkest area of the image appears to be bare silver and the lighter areas have a texture, which is light scattering. The surface of this type of photograph is very delicate and can be easily damaged by the lightest of touch. This essay discusses the immensely popular and significant photographer Louis Daguerre, his work and contribution to the world of photography. It speaks about the social, cultural, technical and aesthetic context of his work before moving on to discussing two of his works.

Arnason (2013) opined that Louis Daguerre fathered the type of photography that later went on to become one of the widely used and popular form of photography – daguerreotype. This type of image was first used in the year 1839, in the month of January. The process involved polishing a sheet of copper that was silver-plated to a mirror like finish and then treating it with fumes, which made the surface sensitive to light with the help of a liquid chemical treatment. A photograph that was developed using the daguerreotype process was different. When viewing this type of photograph, it gave the illusion of realism. It seemed that the image is floating in space. Louis Daguerre, in the year 1821, collaborated with Charles Bouton with the aim of creating a diorama theatre. Having expertise in scenic effects and lighting, Daguerre earned a name in set designing soon after. The first diorama theatre was built in Paris. According to Pinson (2012), Daguerre aimed to create a realistic illusion for the audience of the theatre. He wanted that the audiences should not just be entertained but also mesmerized. The theatres were glorious in size. The set had large transparent canvas that was painted on both the sides. These paintings were detailed and vibrant and were lit from different angles. With the change of lights, the scene would also change. Because of the change of lights, the audiences were able to see the painting on the other side of the canvas. This effect left the audience enraptured. The diorama was later used for a very long time for the set of theatres. The image type that he invented, the daguerreotype was also to later become the most widely form of photography process to be used.

Collaboration with Charles Bouton to Create a Diorama Theatre

Nunberg (2015) commented that neither Daguerre’s microscopic nor his telescopic daguerreotypes survive, as on March 8, 1839, the Diorama—and with it Daguerre’s laboratory—burned to the ground, destroying the inventor’s written records and the bulk of his early experimental works. In fact, fewer than twenty-five securely attributed photographs by Daguerre survive—a mere handful of still life, Parisian views, and portraits from the dawn of photography.

The contribution of Louis Daguerre without a sliver of a doubt is immense in the field of photography and theatre. The process of photography, known as daguerreotype, was used almost everywhere in the world. There was a frequent use of this type of photography in newspapers. His invention was widely acclaimed and sought after. Sekula (2014) emphasized that the daguerreotype spread all throughout the world after its invention and presentation by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. Originating in Europe, the daguerreotype gained massive popularity in the United States especially in New York City. Exposed in a camera obscura and developed with mercury vapors, the photographs were immensely popular. The technology of the process of daguerreotype became hugely popular with the editors of the newspapers of that era. A private demonstration of the process made by Daguerre himself to some newspaper editors was reported. He also gave public demonstrations of his process. Although immensely popular, the process had three negative aspects. They are 1. Extended exposures, precluding the use of the new art for practical portraiture, 2. The image was fragile after it was ready and 3. Although the image was not colored, there appeared a shade of tones. The development of daguerreotype photography is supported by a variety of success and failure stories like any other invention.

In their paper Gendler and GaBany (2015) say that the technical detail of this process of photography is very interesting. The method that was followed to obtain the photograph is as follows: a copper plate was first polished very well, then fumed with silver iodide. After that it was put into a camera obscura and then exposed. Then it was taken out and the put into a box with mercury vapors in it that came after heating mercury. Then it was placed in to a solution and before placing into a special box so that no air comes in. Louis Daguerre and his contribution to the world of photography is unequivocal. The aesthetic value of this type of photography is indeed very high. The look of this type of photography has an unique feel to the viewer. To the viewer it seemed that the photograph is floating rather than being flat. This type of photography undoubtedly is one of the earliest and most widely used form of photography. Although many refined type of photography style developed later, this remained the most commonly used and popular for a long period of time.

Contribution of Daguerreotype in Photography

Boulevard du Temple by Louis Daguerre

Source: (Khan Academy, 2017)

The above given photograph is one of the earliest photographs that was taken – Boulevard du Temple. This was taken by the famous pioneer of photography, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre in the year 1838 or 1839. The photograph captured the image of two persons – a customer getting his shoe polished by a shoe polisher. The image portrays an apparently empty street in Paris. The image was recorded on a copper sheet that was coated with silver and later developed with mercury fumes. This photograph captured the image of one of the busiest avenues of Paris. According to Bellis (2013), the exposure used for this photograph was of 10 to 15 minutes. Therefore, the other individuals who were not stationary did not get captured in this photo. The length of exposure was such that anything lesser than few minutes would not get registered in the frame. These two individuals are aesthetically placed, close to the classical compositional thirds position. According to Sekula (2014), this image was an improvement from Niepce’s photograph, ‘View from the Window at Gras’, which was indistinct and grainy as it required about eight hours of exposure to capture the image. This photograph was taken by Daguerre from his Diorama Building where it intersected with the Rue des Marais. One of the earliest daguerreotypes, this image is the earliest surviving photograph showing a person.

The Artist’s Studio by Louis Daguerre

Source: (Khan Academy, 2017)

This photograph, titled ‘The Artist’s Studio’ or ‘Still life in studio’ is one of the earliest photographs taken by the eminent photographer, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. This photograph dates back to the year 1837. It is a set up that was well arranged with deliberate artistic intent. The image includes a relief after Jean Goujon. The function was to hone the focusing technology of the daguerreotype. In this photograph, the most interesting subjects are not centred but slightly tilted. The diagonals in the picture attract the eyes of the viewer to the centre of the photograph with the edges being fuzzy. This is one of the most acclaimed works of Louis Daguerre. The dark areas of the image indicate the absence of light whereas the lighter areas denote the areas where there is an interplay between light and darkness. According to Arnason (2013), the contrast between light and darkness presents an interesting texture of the photograph. The relief created by shadows is indeed extremely interesting to observe. This image too was obtained using the technique of daguerreotype. The image was taken on a copper sheet that was enveloped with a thin plate of silver. It was then polished and cleaned thoroughly. The plate was later suspended over iodine which led to a formation of silver iodide on the surface which was sensitive to light. This was then exposed to light in a camera which was lens-equipped for about anywhere etween thirty minutes to less than a second. The plate was then hung again over a heated dish of mercury. After this stage, the image magically appeared on the surface of the plate with a range of tones visible.

The contribution of Louis Daguerre in the world of photography is unequivocal. His gift to the world of photography is without a doubt, immense. This invention of this pioneer personality paved the  path to modern day photography. Nowadays, we cannot even imagine a world that is without photographs and images. He took one of the earliest photographs. Photography has come a long way since the days of plate polishing to the modern day digital camera. However, without his invention, we could not have enjoyed the development in the world of photography that we enjoy today.

References:

Arnason, H.H. and Mansfield, E., 2013. History of modern art: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography. Pearson. 

Bellis, M., 2013. History of photography—Pinhole cameras to the daguerreotype. About. com.

Bhattacharjee, G., Painting with Light.

Gendler, R. and GaBany, R.J., 2015. A Series of Firsts, from Daguerreotypes to Dry Plates. In Breakthrough! (pp. 15-30). Springer International Publishing.

Harbord, J., 2014. Gesture, Time, Movement: David Claerbout Meets Giorgio Agamben on the Boulevard du Temple.

Khan Academy. (2017). Khan Academy. [online] Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/early-photography/a/daguerre-paris-boulevard [Accessed 13 Jan. 2017].

Nunberg, G., 2013. The Impact of Photography. Agenda, 3, p.13.

Pinson, S.C., 2012. Speculating Daguerre: art and enterprise in the work of LJM Daguerre.

Robinson, A., 2016. Candid camera. Science, 352(6291), pp.1284-1284.

Sekula, A., 2014. An eternal esthetics of laborious gestures. Grey Room, (55), pp.16-27. 

Khan Academy. (2017). Khan Academy. [online] Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/early-photography/a/early-photography-nipce-talbot-and-muybridge [Accessed 13 Jan. 2017].