In 1826, Joseph Niepce, a Frenchman, produced the earliest surviving photograph made by a camera obscura. The camera obscura, used to observe solar eclipses by means of a pinhole, merely produced shadows. Niepce used a process called heliography to produce an image on a polished pewter plate. Eventually he went into partnership with Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre.
It was Daguerre who perfected the first practical method of producing a permanent image. His images were formed by a compound of mercury acting upon a sensitized silver-coated copper plate. In effect, light tarnished the silver in varying degrees as reflected by the subject. This kind of photograph was called a 'daguerreotype' in honor of its inventor. On January 7, 1839 Daguerre's invention was announced to the French Academy of Sciences. By September the first printed account of the process reached America. People who saw these images for the first time were astonished: in 1839, Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor of The Knickerbocker, described daguerreotypes as being 'the most remarkable objects of curiosity and admiration, in the arts, that we ever beheld. Their exquisite perfection almost transcends the bounds of sober belief.''
The science of photography spread rapidly. There were many experiments in new techniques to produce the best possible images in the shortest amount of time. People rushed to have their portraits made by this new and fascinating invention. In time, the American public also became Interested in photographs of scenes that they could not directly experience. Views from foreign countries were in demand, as were images of Indians:
Curiosity was fueled by frontier stories and newspaper reports.
However, there were drawbacks to daguerreotypes and other later forms such as ambrotypes and tintypes. Ambrotypes were negatives produced on glass and then backed with black paint or paper to reverse the image to positive. Tintypes were images produced on a lightweight metal base. The major disadvantage of these techniques was that only one image was produced directly upon the base material. To obtain multiple copies or prints required either several repeated exposures of the same scene, or the use of multiple-exposure cameras. Both systems were expensive and did not produce any great volume to answer public demand.
In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented a method of photographic processing by coating a glass plate with a sticky chemical called a collodion, which had been mixed with the sensitized silver. As it had to be exposed and developed while the collodion was still moist, this became known as the wet-plate process. It was extremely time-consuming, and like daguerre-otypy, was generally practiced only by professionals. Unlike daguerre-otypy, however, the new process produced negatives from which an unlimited number of positives could be made.
The 1850s also saw the popularization of stereographs. These were produced by taking two separate images of a scene, the second image being slightly to one side of the first — in other words, two views produced as two separate eyes would see them. (Plate 5.13; only one image of each stereograph has been reproduced in this book.) These images were then mounted together, and viewed through a stereoscope, a device that made the eyes combine the separate scenes into one three-dimensional image. The effect was astounding. Instantly the viewer became part of a scene — one moment looking down from a high cliff, the next standing at the very edge of Niagara Falls, then peeking into an Indian encampment. With stereographs, the viewer could travel around the world without leaving the security of home.
There was a great demand for photographs at this time, before the invention of techniques for the mass-production of images in newspapers or books: it was not until 1880 that the first photographic halftone was produced in a newspaper. People's curiosity about the Indians created a strong enough market to inspire adventurous professional photographers to leave their familes and combat the dangers of the frontier. For these pioneers wet-plate photography had drawbacks other than simply being cumbersome. The emulsions were too 'slow' to stop action. Dances could be recorded only if posed. For one individual to keep still for what seemed like an interminable time was difficult enough even with a head vice, but for a group poised in unsteady positions it was almost impossible. Equally impossible were candid photographs. With two hundred pounds of equipment, a darkroom tent, and a huge camera with its attendant black cloth and tripod, one could scarcely hope to photograph someone unaware - especially if the subject was an Indian, alert to movements in his territory.
1.1 The Rev. Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby), the son of a Welshman and a Mississauga Indian. The earliest photograph of an American Indian, taken by Hill and Adamson during a visit to Great Britain between October 1844 and April 1845.
Eventually easier photographic techniques evolved. In the 1870s, dry plates were introduced. These plates, still made of glass, could be purchased from a manufacturer all ready to be used. With each new photographic dev'elopment, more and more people became involved in the craft. In the late 1880s, the Kodak camera with its easy-to-use roll film, placed photography firmly in the hands of amateurs. New developments allowed professional photographers to explore more artistic and intricate ways of recording their subjects.
World History
