What if you had no photos of anyone you’ve ever known?
Lately, I have been browsing various museums and historical society websites in search of portraits from the earliest age of photography. Whether they are daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, or albumen, they captivate me.
The names of so many of the sitters have been lost to time, but their images persist. Their bones or ashes have long been returned to dust, yet these were the first so-called common people with the ability to preserve a version of their corporeal form.
Never before had anyone other than the wealthiest and most influential individuals been able to reflect on life-like facsimiles of their loved one’s faces after a separation between them via space or time. People of middling means were able to engage in the self-indulgent act of recording their own likeness. Further, a not-insignificant number chose to have post-mortem photographs made of their beloved departed children. The opportunity to look upon a loved one’s face after their death was now open to them.
Though we in the 21st century may lose access to favorite photos via bad luck or broken devices, we seldom appreciate the privilege of taking and keeping images, objective imprints, of those we love. I had never before thought about how utterly out-of-reach such a simple comfort was to our ancestors prior to the mid-19th century.
As our access to images of our world and its people threatens to overtake us, don’t forget to make physical prints and appreciate your favorite portraits. Look with wonder and gratefulness upon the faces the ordinary and unique people you wish to remember.
Further Reading
Securing the Shadow: Daguerreotypes, Family, & Memory | Art Institute of Chicago
Timeline of the Daguerreian Era | Library of Congress
Selected Daguerreotype & Ambrotype Public Domain Image Sources
- Missouri Historical Society
- MetMuseum.org
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