Re: Daguerreotypes and Tintypes

Ehud,

I think that I'm the gentleman in question.

I can't speak for making tintypes but I'll give you my experience with
learning the Daguerreotype process for what it's worth.

I decided that I wanted to make Daguerreotypes so I set about
researching the process. There are some books out there about making
Daguerreotypes but none of them taught me the detail necessary to make
one from scratch. I started to write down the process as I understood
it based on the various books I was reading.

At this point, a year had gone by since my decision to make
Daguerreotypes and I was anxious to have my questions answered. I asked
some questions on this list and got some responses but mostly
second-hand information. I tracked down Jerry Spagnoli in New York
after reading about him in "Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde" by
Lyle Rexer, sent him a polite e-mail with some questions, and he told me
that he was teaching a week-long workshop in North Carolina in the next
few months.

I saved and scraped up the money, went to the workshop, asked tons of
questions, made five Daguerreotypes in a week and I was hooked!

There aren't very many of us Daguerreotypists out there these days. My
suggestions for someone wanting to learn the process (and work in the
process) are:

1. Find out all you can about Daguerreotype making from books and the
Internet (see the links on my website as a start)
2. Talk to working Daguerreotypists as much as you can! I'd be happy
to answer questions off-list but Jerry is in Paris for the next few
months and is hard to reach.
3. Read your high school chemistry book again (I skipped this step and
I regret it)
4. Attend a workshop on the safer Becquerel method and take tons of
notes (digital photos help too)
5. Save up some money
6. Save up some more.

Jerry teaches workshops every couple of years and hands out a nice
manual that I refer to occasionally. Sometimes the workshops are at
Penland School in North Carolina and sometimes they're at the
Photographer's Formulary. I highly suggest you attend a workshop or
otherwise learn from someone who has been making images for a few years.

The only books that I've found on the process are from the mid-1800's
and they should *NOT* be used as a practical guide for today's working
Daguerreotypist. Many of the chemicals mentioned go by their old names
(at best this will embarrass you at Fischer Scientific like it did for
me!) and many of the dangers are not mentioned because they were
unknown. Plus, you won't get the benefit of modern insight on the
process such as how to use a bench buffing machine and blowtorch.

I hope this helps! Drop me a line (anybody) if you have more specific
questions.
http://photographs.danforthsource.com

-Jonathan

Ehud Yaniv wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I lost the message from the gentleman who is doing Daguerreotypes but it got
> me thinking.
>
> I will preface my request by stating that I understand that the process is
> difficult and can be dangerous and that it should not be attempted without
> instruction by a practitioner. That said, however, are there any
> contemporary and easy to find books that detail the process with enough
> details that one could do the process? The same question goes regarding
> Tintypes.
>
> I am asking this now as the topic came up (which it rarely does).
>
> Thanks in advance and back to lurking.
>
> Ehud
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Tue Apr 18 06:56:06 2006