Real Photographs of Photographers in our Collection page 1

We collect a wide range of images of photographers with their cameras from popular images to actual photographs. A few of those images from mid 19th to early 20th century are shown on this page and on page 2. There is something very immediate and wonderful to see actual images that show the pride and affection of photographers from many eras as they pose with their cameras.

Samuel morse
H W Vogel
A recent and welcome addition to our collection is the albumen print of Samuel F. B. Morse with his camera shown above. The photograph by A. Bogardus of New York shows an older Morse with his daguerreotype camera beside him on a table. In addition to his accomplishments as a painter and inventor of the telegraph Morse was an very early practitioner of the daguerreotype process. He was given a demonstration by Daguerre himself in 1839 before the public presentation. Morse taught the process to a succession of eager American photographers, including Mathew Brady. Dr. Hermann Wilhelm Vogel poses with his camera in the print above. The photograph is a oval cut albumen print mounted on a gold and black decorative page. The handwritten text reads "your old friend H. Vogel" and we can not determine if it is written or printed on the mount. Vogel was a famous figure in 19th century photography and well known as the teacher of Alfred Steiglitz.

 

This albumen print on the left shows two ladies in 1860s hoop skirts teasing a photographer. It was taken from an album of amateur photographs marked as having been made in Mt. Savage, Maryland.

Below is a tintype of three young women posed with a large studio camera. The cryptic writing reads "The Three Damnid" or "Danmid" Wilhemina Greek Slave & Damnid or Danmid"

Perhaps they were referring to the Danaïds, daughters of Danaüs in Greek mythology painted by Burne-Jones. "Greek Slave" seems to be a reference to Hiram Powers famous stature but these young ladies are certainly more completely dressed than she! Wilhemina has defeated us as an art history reference but maybe it is the name of one of the young ladies.

Below is one of our treasures. It is a collodian negative/positive lantern slide. As with ambrotypes and ferrotypes when the creamy collodian image is viewed against a dark background it appears positive. A little Photoshop magic has combined an inverse image with the paper matt that tells us it was made in 1873 in Belvidere, New Jersey. It names the young men (it appears that the young women did not rate naming), H. W. Hazard and John C. Browne. We have found reference to a 19th century photographer named John C. Browne but we have not been able to identify an H. W. Hazard.

The camera peeks out of the matt on the left side but the dark tent, buckets, and other supplies give us a delightful window on what was involved in an afternoon of photographing in 1873.

darkroom tent

 

camera tintype

 

The carte-de-visite below appears to be a self portrait of W. E. Bowman of Ottawa, Illinois. It is a rephotographed collage of the photographer's head and a cartoon body.

The tintype below shows a young man standing beside a cloth draped table that supports a camera. Behind his legs we see the base of a posing stand to keep him still during the exposure and on the left of the image is the edge of a reflector to bounce the light back into the shadow side. The tintype below shows a young man wearing a derby photographing another young man in a boater with a folding camera on a tripod. A painted backdrop of a room is hung outside since the ground appears to be real grass. We feel this kind of delightful contradiction of part of the charm of the tintype.
cdv camera camera boy camera pair
Images of Photographers
Real Photographs of Photographers page 1 < You are Here
Real Photographs of Photographers page 2
Photographic Valentines
Trade Cards with Photographic Subjects
Sheet Music with Photographic Subjects **New Page added 2/05**

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Contact us at studio@brightbytes.com

**NOTE** All items on the Collection of Collections web site are in our private collection and are NOT for sale. From time to time duplicate items from our collection will be offered for sale in the Do You Remember This? shop on the GoAntiques cyber mall. Visit the Do You Remember This? inventory page for photographica and toaster related collectibles.

Please feel free to write us if you want to chat or share information about areas we collect but we will NOT give appraisals.

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Updated on 4/2007