1838: First photograph of a human

http://www.retronaut.com/2010/04/first-photograph-of-a-human/ ^ | April 12, 2010 | Chris

[BunnySlippers]

It is a famous photo. The first photo ever. Drags are amazing as the subjects look very real. I used to collect for awhile. My favorite that I own are two little boys playing wearing Tiny Union uniforms. Check out eBay for a huge selection. It is easier to collect on the east coast as there are many families who still own the photos and have never been in circulation.

[Rebelbase]

The guy getting the shoe shine appears to be Monsieur Billy Batts from Sicily. The shine boy is Tommy DeVito.

[yarddog]

That is a cute little girl and a really ornate frame.

Do you know the date?

[BunnySlippers]

Daguerreotypes weren’t used for very long. More modern photographic techniques took over.

More are around the time of the American Civil War.

Around 1860 - 1880 roughly.

I bought my drags from a very well known collector. He sells here

http://www.finedags.com/salon.shtm

[GreenHornet]

The guy getting the shoe shine appears to be Monsieur Billy Batts from Sicily. The shine boy is Tommy DeVito.

You're funny, Rebelbase...you're really funny!....you're a funny guy!

[BunnySlippers]

My reply was on post 84. You might like to see this

[yarddog]

Thanks you.

[Jane Long]

Two beauties. I love that.

[donaldo]

I find this haunting and beautiful at the same time. What interesting tales they could have told.

[donaldo]

Haunting in that the slave didn’t see a white demon and the white child didn’t see a slave. The common humanity between them is sublime. Again, a very moving photo, thanks.

[BunnySlippers]

Daggerreotypes tell a wonderful history of the American Civil War as most were taken at that time. It gives us a little slice of life between whites .. And, yes, slaves.

[donaldo]

Speaking of Civil War photographs, the link below contains the best I’ve seen on the net. The clarity is nothing short of remarkable. They’re simply stunning.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-1-the-places/100241/

[txhurl]

I see just the opposite.

[BunnySlippers]

Thank you for the link. I can see they are remarkable. I’ll browse awhile.

[donaldo]

Then we disagree. The photo brings William Cowper’s words to mind:

Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit nature’s claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in white and black the same.

[ctdonath2]

“someday people will look back on our computers, cellphones and such and have similar comments.”

I’ve watched this with the onset of digital photography.
People now have no idea of how low resolution digital images were, and more importantly the minuscule space available to accumulate images in. When document scanning and processing hit mainstream, computing power was devoted to throwing away as much of the image as possible and still be legally viable, resulting in artifacts which confuse the he11 out of conspiracy theorists today.

And today, there is a great deal of a picture we are not capturing: wave phase, impinging angles, and other data not stored in part because doing so requires orders of magnitude more bandwidth & storage - which when achieved, will make our current photos look as absurd as that “first human photo”.

[morphing libertarian]

There’s some photos of old revolutionary war vets on the net. On a tablet and don’t know how to post link.

[txhurl]

Look again, poet.

The slave is being forced to hold up the baby with her damaged right hand. The baby is not sitting on her lap, and leaning in, with ‘happy’ slaves. Her eyes, one telling her soul, and the other telegraphing her obedience, are not a happy slave.

Baby herself is ‘get me out of this NOW’. She does not know who is holding her.

Very contemporary situation for our American Blacks. Having a soul that wants and knows how to create and produce, hemmed down by the RAT plantation.

[txhurl]

Read me your read on this Dag.

[donaldo]

Then we disagree. I can live without unanimity of opinion.