AH 331 History of Photography Spring 2021 Compendium

Adrian Lynn Essay 1

Henry Fox Talbot and Development of Photographic Technologies

The mid 19th Century has been an influential time in history and was mainly known for the variety of inventions that have taken place throughout the world. Such innovations were profoundly known in areas such as Western Europe, with their role in arts and design. These innovations consist of the typewriter, the telegraph, and including but not limited to the revolutionary technology of photography. 

Before introducing photography, many artists and innovators at the time used the camera obscura concept. This instrument acts as an aid for drawing landscapes and scenery with a mirror-like projection of the outside world until 1825, where Joseph Nicéphore Niépce had this projection permanently affixed onto a metal plate. This technique was being achieved using a coated pewter plate with bitumen of Judea, which allows it to become sensitive to light exposure.[1] Upon the ambient reflection, the chemical process then imprints the negative/positive image on the subjected plate.[2] Niépce has been known for his involvement as the founding father of photography and has led him to become the creator of what is recorded to be the first photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras of 1826. His technique with heliography has enabled future experimenters and photographers to progress and expand on this creation.

A few years after creating the first photograph, Louis Daguerre, a French inventor, creates a shortened exposure image based on Niépce's invention, which decreased the time from hours to minutes, initiating the development of the Daguerreotype.[3] The Daguerreotype has now become the practical process of photography. It only took an exposure time of an estimated ten to twenty minutes to permanently capture an image as seen through the Boulevard du Temple of 1838.[4] The semi-long exposure resulted the streets to become apocalyptic like as it only captures the buildings and other stationary objects. The Daguerreotype process is accomplished through polishing a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror-like finish. It allows the surface to become light-sensitive for it to capture what is projected through the lenses. This technique results in a latent exposure to imprint onto the polished plate, which is later fumed and sealed with mercury vapor to have present a permanent image.[5] Although the Daguerreotype propelled the publicity of photography, it did not successfully capture the artistic features and the ability to make multiple copies, unlike what the Calotype has achieved. Introduced by Henry Fox Talbot in 1841, the Calotype captures the negatives through the lenses and projects a vivid image of the positives onto a salt paper coated with silver nitrate.[6]

William Henry Fox Talbot was an affluent English intellectual in the mid-19th Century known for his profound interest in photography. With the prosperous lifestyle he has already attained, Talbot dedicated his time to experimenting with the camera obscura. However, he has always been unsatisfied with the results due to the artistic tracing skills he lacked. It has always been his concern to permanently imprint the projected reflection on the tracing paper that came through from the lens of his camera obscura.[7] After returning home to Lacock Abbey, he soon experiments with an incident from his vacation at Lake Como. He notices that a solution consisting of a mixture of salt and silver nitrate darkens a fine sheet of writing paper. Talbot also discovered that the second layer of salt solution further darkens the paper exposed to the sun.[8] This technique motivated Talbot to experiment with pressed leaves and branches onto sensitized paper and expose it to the sun for the chemical process.

Early Calotypes of Talbot's work can be represented through the infamous Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey of 1835. Its distinction between the black and whites represents a vivid image of the lead glass outlines.[9] However, exploring this photogenic drawing procedure drove Talbot to put the sensitized paper in his camera obscura. The camera obscura now instead traces itself the exposure of the negatives and positives of the outside world. With this new technique's success, Talbot used this opportunity to further pursue the experimentation of the Calotype by exposing the silhouettes created around his Lacock Abby estate. One can see such works from the experiment through the infamous salted paper print, Oak Tree in Winter of the early 1840s, as this represents the bright contrast between the trees and the background.

Talbot further pursues with photographing subjects that are instead exposed to the sunlight rather than needing to be silhouetted by the sunshine behind. With the new technique, he soon implements this method both in and outdoors around his Lacock Abby estate.[10] One can see examples of these images through Talbot's Articles of China, 1844 and The Cloisters at Lacock Abbey, 1840s as these prints no longer have bright backgrounds compared to that of his earlier works. Contrasting to the other photography methods at the time, such as the Daguerreotype, Talbot's process has narrowed down to more efficient use of chemicals in a less hazardous manner to imprint an image successfully.

As fascinating as Talbot’s images were, the Royal Society of London recognized his prints as photogenic drawings instead of camera images.[11] However, to overcome the Daguerreotype's success and put a stake to his name, Talbot created a true brass ring to speed up photographic images' production to exemplify its potential fully.[12] This process enables the prints' chemical composition to be exposed to the subjects under a minute or two with proper sunlight. Whereas in taking a picture in the form of a Daguerreotype, the subjects instead have to stay still for a gruesome ten to fifteen minutes, which is quite noticeable to those taking portraits.[13] Talbot soon patented this process as the "Calotype" to claim a stake to his name understanding the potential of this new improvement to his creation.

It is recognized that those who contributed to photography's innovation have been known for their monetary success of being inventors. However, as for William Henry Fox Talbot, he was not motivated by the desire for fame and fortune but instead pursued it for the sake of his unsatisfactory drawing skills.[14] Additionally, other innovators have already put in a decent amount of time to experiment with chemicals and lights. In contrast, Talbot has discovered the chemical process of the Calotype by a mere accident. However, with the uproar of Louis Daguerre's success on the Daguerreotype, it has driven Talbot to pursue his side experiment full time, opening up a new approach to the concept of photography.

The modernity of the photographic process brought significance to the creation of the Calotype and changed Talbot's idea of freely sharing the process. Although Talbot initially had no capitalistic intent in creating the Calotype, he pursues the licensing right to patent this process as this will bring him the further climb towards his notoriety significance he now desires. Knowing the superiority of the Calotype over the Daguerreotype, Talbot used this knowledge to charge up to £300 annually for certain professionals.[15] The President of the Royal Society and Royal Academy president soon requested to bring down free up the patent.[16] It was reasoned to become a threat in slowing down the development of photography. Similar to what Louis Daguerre has proposed for the Daguerreotype, the Calotype slowly became "free to the world." With the pressure Talbot received from the Royal institutions, the Calotype became a gateway in expanding mass-produce prints and further contributed to developing today's photography technology.  

 
 
[1] Mark Osterman, and Grant B. Romer, “History and Evolution of Photography: The Technical Evolution of Photography in the 19th Century,” The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th Edition, 27-35, George  Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film Press, 2007.
[2] Osterman, and Romer, “History and Evolution of Photography: The Technical Evolution of Photography in the 19th Century,” 27.
[3]Osterman, and Romer, “History and Evolution of Photography: The Technical Evolution of Photography in the 19th Century,” 31.
[4] Osterman, and Romer, “History and Evolution of Photography: The Technical Evolution of Photography in the 19th Century,” 35.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Malcolm Daniel, “William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) and the Invention of Photography,” In Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm
[7] Ellen Sharp, “A Note on William Henry Fox Talbot and The Pencil of Nature,” Detroit Institute of Arts, 1991, 43.
[8] Daniel, Malcolm, “William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) and the Invention of Photography,” October 2004.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.     
[14] Ellen Sharp, “A Note on William Henry Fox Talbot and The Pencil of Nature,” Detroit Institute of Arts, 1991, 43.
 
[15] Daniel, Malcolm, “William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) and the Invention of Photography,” October 2004.
[16] Ibid.

Bibliography
Daniel, Malcolm. “William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) and the Invention of Photography.”
                In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
               October 2004. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm

Osterman, Mark, and Grant B Romer. “History and Evolution of Photography: The Technical Evolution of
               Photography in the 19th Century.” The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th Edition, 27-35.
               George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film Press, 2007.  

Sharp, Ellen. “A Note on William Henry Fox Talbot and The Pencil of Nature.” Detriot Institute
                of Arts. 1991, 43.

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