“I have seized the light! I have arrested his flight! The sun himself in future shall draw my pictures!”
Louis Daguerre
At one point or the other, you might have taken a selfie, made a video, or sent a snap. While clicking a picture is as easy as inhaling oxygen, not everyone may answer the following question. Who invented photography? Well! His name was Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, shortened to Louis Daguerre. He was a French artist, painter, photographer, and developer of the diorama theatre. He is most known for inventing the daguerreotype, one of the earliest widely used photographic processes. For his contribution, he is seldom called the Father of Photography.
Early Life
Louis Daguerre was born on November 18th, 1787 in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d’Oise, in France. He gained his expertise by serving as an apprentice in the fields of architecture, theatre design, and panorama painting. He found work as an opera scene painter and an inland revenue officer.
The world soon came to learn of two trailblazing Louis Daguerre inventions, for which he rose to prominence. They are briefly discussed below.
Diorama
One of Louis Daguerre’s early creations was the Diorama, a popular tool demonstrating theatrical painting and lighting effects that was first displayed in Paris in 1822. He created it using his expertise in theatre lighting and artistic abilities. In the middle of the 1820s, it rose to prominence as a kind of entertainment, with critics praising its enchantments. The popularity of the show increased after the opening of another ‘diorama’ structure in London’s Regent’s Park in September 1823, which cleared the way for imitations by other British artists including Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts. In the middle of the 1820s, as an improvement on the well-liked panorama painting, the Diorama Theatre gained praise from both audiences and reviewers. Regrettably, a fire in 1839 destroyed the building.
Daguerreotype Photography
Louis Daguerre was inspired by camera obscuras and set out to discover a means to capture the images they produced. Daguerre’s discovery was greatly impacted by views of modernity and capitalism because his major objective was to advance and modernize the method previously used to record images and to upgrade what he saw using a camera obscura. For this reason, he developed daguerreotype photography. Daguerreotype photography engendered the first permanent photographic image.
The pictures that resulted from this process came to be known as daguerreotype or daguerreotype pictures. Louis Daguerre revealed his technique to the public in the latter part of the summer of 1839. It soon spread like wildfire and gained popularity in the 1840s and 1850s. Since, the craze for getting their pictures taken pulled in several affluent figures, they were seldom called daguerreotype portraits.
Daguerreotype Process
A daguerreotype image can only be produced onto a silver sheet, however, they were quite expensive. In addition, the surface of the element must be thoroughly polished to produce a better image quality. To eradicate these issues, Louis Daguerre used silver-plated copper sheets (with a mirror finish) and treated them with iodine fumes. The exposed sheets are then placed in the daguerreotype camera (originally built by Susse Frères) entailing a light-tight plate holder.
Courtesy – Un Jour De Plus A Paris
The sheet is then exposed to the subject of the photograph. The exposure time was judged on the sensitivity of the copper plate, the light-concentrating ability of the lens, and the room’s brightness. Depending on these three factors, the exposure to produce an ‘invisible’ image may take seconds to a few minutes. The picture was then ‘developed’ using warm mercury vapours. To ensure that the captured photo remained intact, Louis Daguerre treated the picture with a solution of common salt (although he soon treated them with sodium thiosulfate.)
Although Louis Daguerre’s method was novel, it had a problem equivalent to the impact on the photographer’s health because mercury vapours are hazardous. Despite all of this, photographers continued to make extensive use of daguerreotype photography since it provided a positive image with incredibly fine detail. Additionally, it was a tool that sparked the emergence of travelling photographers.
Later Life
In the latter years of his life, Louis Daguerre returned to creating dioramas and painted a number of them for churches in and around the eastern Paris suburb of Bry-sur-Marne. The Bry-sur-Marne church is home to one of his diorama paintings. On July 10, 1851, Louis passed away from a heart attack in Bry-sur-Marne, where he was buried and is commemorated by a monument. The inception of daguerreotype photography is now etched in history as the first-ever method to create irreversible photos.
Louis Daguerre rose to prominence as one of the founding fathers of photography. He was the first to possess lighting and scenic effects expertise, allowing the paintings in his theatre to change based on the viewer’s perspective. He is one of the 72 French mathematicians, scientists, and engineers who have had their names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower in honour of their achievements.
Photo Courtesy – Gallery Intell
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