Introduction

The art of photography is intriguing, it allows another to view an experience that they would not have seen if not for the photographer.

The camera come from a optical phenomena referred to as a camera obscura, where as light travels through a pin hole and projects the opposing scene, upside down and inverted on a wall or canvas. However, there was no way of binding the image to the canvas with out sketching it on to it. 1839 is a key date in the world of photography, it was this year that lead to the invention of the calotype and the daguerreotype. According to John Szarkowski’s thesis these images could be seen as windows and mirrors. The calotype was invented by henry fox-Talbot. It is a process in which piece of paper, soaked in silver chloride, was exposed to light through a camera obscura. Over the course of a few hours, the image would appear in the paper, a memento of the world. Following Szarkowski’s theory, a calotype would be viewed as a window due to the fact that it looks out on the world. It is a very tableau in style image that captures a moment in time. The only issue being that because it takes several hours, a busy street would appear empty so o get an image of a person they would have to stand there for an extended period of time. Despite this they remained popular into the 1850s in the united kingdom and Europe.

The daguerreotype was a similar process to the calotype. However, the image was affixed to a polished metal plate instead of paper, with the edges being torched to secure the image to said plate. Per Szarkowski’s premise, a daguerreotype is a mirror due to the fact that it were staged in a studio. They were deeply intermit, often being of loved ones. The daguerreotypes where immensely popular, they remained popular till the late 1850s when the ambrotype became available.

“is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?.”

John Szarkowski