Louis Jaques Mande Daguerre

Home  Back to Photos  Back to Material Culture

    Louis Daguerre is perhaps the most important individual in the creation of photography.  Having partnered with Niepce and  putting their collective minds together, they had laid the ground work for the technology.  The death of Niepce in 1833 slowed the process, but by 1835, Daguerre had developed a method whereby life (sans color) could be exactly represented in a metal plate.  In 1837, he was looking to sell his invention, dubbed the Daguerreotype, which the French government bought.  In 1839, France released this process to the world and photographers popped up everywhere. 

    In the Summer of 1839, the daguerreotype was brought to America by Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of such things as the telegraph and Morse Code.  He had visited Paris that year and had met with Daguerre in order to learn the process.  The second American daguerreotypist was D. W. Seager who also had gone to Paris and likely met with Daguerre.  In September of 1839, he built his own camera and plates and set up shop.  These two, however, where not the first to take photographs in America.  That distinction goes to a professor of chemistry at the Medical College of Ohio.  John Locke first produced paper photographs in May of 1839, using Englishman William Talbot's method developed a few years before.  The daguerreotype would be produced in massive quantities until the mid 1850s when cheaper alternatives were invented.

    Daguerre's invention consisted of the following.  He took a copper plate, plated with silver on one side, and coated the silver side with a light sensitive emulsion and sensitized it with iodine vapor.  The plate was then put into a camera and the lens cap removed for anywhere from five to 15 seconds, then replaced.  During that time, the subject could not move, or the resulting image would be a blur.  After the requisite time for exposure, the plate was covered and taken to a dark room where the photographer would "fix" the image by neutralizing the light sensitive emulsion with other chemicals.  This would prevent the photograph from developing further.  Niepce's original problem was solved.  The final image was a crystal clear copy of the subject.  The only draw back is that a daguerreotype must be view from only one angle as it has a very high gloss due to the silver and will appear as a mirror if viewed at an off angle.  Below is an image of Daguerre about 1835.

Home  Back to Photos  Back to Material Culture