portrait of a little girl using media so slow the girl has to have a stand/char to keep still
Toronto. Do you ever wonder what a dag photographer might dream about while sitting on a grassy knoll in the bright sunlight? If he was a futurist like the fictional Ralph 124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback or the real Alvin Toffler of third wave fame, he may have foreseen today’s digital photography in all its glory.
Imagine the change from B&W to colour; from glacial slow media to ultrafast; from results in minutes, days, weeks or more to nearly instantaneous; cameras the size of a stove to ones so small they fit on a pocket phone.
I picked up this daguerreotype (c1845) at left years ago at one of the PHSC fairs. Cleaned, the black iron stand can be seen between the child’s legs. The chair she is holding helps keep her steady too for the few minutes exposure needed for a ‘good likeness’. I sharpened the image slightly so you can see her eyes more clearly but this also enhanced the many tiny spots on the daguerreotype. Unfortunately, the effect of my cleaning has faded making the tarnished areas more noticeable while hiding the support.
NB. The post title is a riff on the 1966 song titled, “California Dreamin” by the Mamas and Papas.
