Text

ethan d. aines

photographic entanglement

In 1839, Talbot and Daguerre nearly

simultaneously announced independent success making what would later be called

photographs.

Talbot’s process, the calotype, later evolved to

become modern negative-positive photography.

The confluence of these events and technologies is dependent upon extremely complex, interconnected networks of things and

people.

calotype elements of a negative to

positive photo process.

lens

tripod

camera

film holder/ focusing screen

body

chemicals

pyrogallol fixer

acetic acid succinic acid

acids

gallic acid citric acid

developer

ammonium iodide

potassium bromide potassium iodide

sodium chloride salts

ammonia

assorted others

distilled water

gold chloride potassium ferrocyanide

contrast and color control

arrow root

sensitizer silver nitrate

negative paper vellum

lens setting

lens elements

apertures

lens cap

lab/ darkroom

measuring

weight

time

volume

storage and

pouring

safety

application

printing

practitioner

light

watch or clock

scale balance

graduated cylinder beaker

flask

measuring system

brown glass

bottles stoppers

funnels

glass baths

eye protection

ventilation

droppers

gloves

glass coating

rod

printing frame

lens

tripod

camera

film holder/ focusing screen

body

lens setting

lens elements

apertures

lens cap

chemicals

pyrogallol fixer

acetic acid succinic acid

acids

gallic acid citric acid

developer

ammonium iodide

potassium bromide potassium iodide

sodium chloride salts

ammonia

assorted others

distilled water

gold chloride potassium ferrocyanide

contrast and color control

arrow root

sensitizer silver nitrate

lab/ darkroom

measuring

weight

time

volume

storage and

pouring

safety

application

printing

watch or clock

scale balance

graduated cylinder beaker

flask

brown glass

bottles stoppers

funnels

glass baths

eye protection

ventilation

droppers

gloves

glass coating

rod

printing frame

Factors in the gathering and evolution of photographic

technologies:

1) inception of the camera obscura and diminution towards greater haptic

affordance

Large portable camera obscura, 1646. Athansius Kircher.

Assorted camera obscura, including S’gravesande’s sedanchair camera obscura, 1711.

Table camera obscura,1769. Georg Brander.

Tent camera obscura, 1825.

Talbot’s lab, 1849. Sliding box cameras.

William Henry Fox Talbot w/ portable camera, 1864.

2) (re)combination of lens elements towards greater mimesis of human visual

perception

A small hole.

two examples of camera obscura; contemporary photographic paper

notable incongruity with human visual perception

Wollaston Landscape Lens, 1812.

spherical aberration

French Landscape Lens, 1845.

Grubb Aplanat Lens, 1857.

Dallmeyer Patent Portrait Lens, 1866.

Dallmeyer’s Rapid Landscape Lens, 1880.

Dallmeyer’s Rectilinear Landscape Lens, 1888.

Hopkins and Feder f/1 Objective, 1948.

3) refinement of metallurgy to alchemy to

photochemistry

Albertus Magnus, died 1280.

Silver nitrate

silver

nitric acid

potassium nitrate

sulfuric acid

silver ore

sulfur dioxide

water

iron pyrite ore

air

saltpeter

4) fusion of chemical and optical technologies

Humphrey Davy Thomas Wedgwood1794

Chemicals needed to make a calotype

Chemicals*Necessary*for*a*Calotype:*

3 *sensi5zer:*silver*nitrate*

3 *salts*(in*order*of*contrast*sensi5vity):*sodium*chloride*potassium*iodide*ammonia*iodide*potassium*bromide*

3 acids*:*ace5c*acid*succinic*acid*

3 developers:*gallic*acid*citric*Acid*

3 fixer:*pyrogallol*

3 contrast*and*tone*control:*arrow*root*gold*chloride*potassium*ferrocyanide*

3 assorted*others:*dis5lled*water*ammonia*

chemicals

acetic acid gallic acid succinic acid

ammonia

ammonium iodide

potassium bromide potassium iodide gold chloride

sodium chloride

pyrogallol

potassium ferrocyanide

citric acid

fixer

acids

contrast and color control

developer

salts

assorted others

sensitizer distilled water

arrow root

silver nitrate

John Herschel, 1867.

5) description and communication of process

6) shift in habitus and attitudes toward memory

and remembering

Window at Lacock Abbey, 1835.

Calotype, 1842.

Portrait, 1845.

Arago, François, and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac. Annales De Chimie Et De Physique. Paris: Crochard, 1818. Print.

Arnold, H. J. P. William Henry Fox Talbot: Pioneer of Photography and Man of Science. London: Hutchinson, 1977. Print.

Batchen, Geoffrey. Burning with Desire: The Conception of Photography. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997. Print.

Darrigol, Olivier. A History of Optics: From Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2012.

Print.

Fouque, Victor. The Truth Concerning the Invention of Photography: Nicéphore Niépce, His Life, Letters, and Works. Arno

Press, 1973. Print.

Gernsheim, Helmut. The History of Photography: From the Camera Obscura to the Beginning of the Modern Era. 2d ed. ed.

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969. Print.

Herschel, J. F. W. "On the Hypersulfurous Acid and Its Compounds." The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal (1819). Print.

James, André. William H. Fox Talbot, Inventor of the Negative-Positive Process. New York: Macmillan, 1973. Print.

James, Christopher. The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. 2nd ed. ed. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning,

2009. Print.

Kingslake, Rudolf. A History of the Photographic Lens. Boston: Academic Press, 1989. Print.

Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar. 1786. Print.

Works Cited

Lindberg, David C. Studies in the History of Medieval Optics. London: Variorum Reprints, 1983. Print.

Niépce, Nicéphore. Nicéphore Niépce:Lettres Et Documents Choisis Par Paul Jay. Paris: Centre national de la photographie, 1983.

Print.

Schaaf, Larry J. Records of the Dawn of Photography: Talbot's P&Q Notebooks. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Print.

Snelling, Henry Hunt. The History and Practice of the Art of Photography, or, the Production of Pictures through the Agency of Light:

Containing All the Instructions Necessary for the Complete Practice of the Daguerrean and Photogenic Art, Both on Metalic

Plates and on Paper. G.P. Putnam, 1849. Print.

Szabadvary, Ferenc. History of Analytical Chemistry. Taylor & Francis, 1966. Print.

Talbot, William Henry Fox. The Pencil of Nature. Chicago: KWS Publishers in association with National Media Museum, 2011. Print.

Ward, John. Printed Light: The Scientific Art of William Henry Fox Talbot and David Octavius Hill with Robert Adamson. Edinburgh:

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1986. Print.

Wilford, John Noble. "Transforming the Alchemists." The New York Times 2006 08 01 2006, sec. Science. Print.

"Nitric Acid (Chemical Compound) — Britannica Online Encyclopedia."

"Saltpetre (Chemical Compound) — Britannica Online Encyclopedia."

"Silver Nitrate (Chemical Compound) — Britannica Online Encyclopedia."

"Silver Nitrate." prezi.com.

"Sulfur Dioxide (Chemical Compound) — Britannica Online Encyclopedia."

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