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Daguerreotype process was the first commercially successful photographic process in the history of the photography.
This first photographic process requires very hazardous chemicals and it is extremely stern steps to make a silver plate sensitise to light. In addition, produced images are very fragile. However, they are simply marvelous. It is just lifelike.
All living things leave offsprings. This is the principle of all living things. We are so fragile that we hope to leave offspring as a trace of self. However, only human beings have another factor why to do so, which is ego. Our ego resist from fading into oblivion.
Neanderthal man would have made a practice of burial in this fear of oblivion. At the same time of acquiring a good memory skill, they encountered the fear of fading memories. Since this encounter, our ego are resisting "Oblivion Terror".
Human beings had always tried to leave a trace of self in various means. And I believe that this tide constituted the source of photography. Thus, the invention of Daguerreotype was an outcome of the instinct to leave a trace of self and our ego resisting from fading into oblivion.
The processes are as follows...,
All equipment are my hand-made.
Sensitized to light over iodine and bromine, then developed over mercury.
Hand-made paddles to buff and polish a silver plate for hours.
Swing arm polishing stand.
Necessary gas mask due to the hazardous vapor of the mercury and fumes of the iodine and the bromine.
Electric ventilator
and its exhaust pipe.
Special darkroom for daguerreotype process
Fuming boxes, the left side is for the iodine and the right side is for the bromine.
Mercury developing pot.
Alcohol lamp to warm up the mercury for developing.
Thermometer to maintain the best temperature of the Mercury.
Place the silver plate and pull out this stainless sheet.
Gilding stand to give physically reinforce with a gold chloride solution.
As I mentioned on the top page, on the film there are many elementary particles of light that once touched me.
It is my "Physical Linkage".
