When photography was born, fascination, obsession, and danger followed

Post by bgwalter » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 2:59 PM UTC

bugsMarathon88 wrote: post #11

JKCalhoun wrote: post #6

> This meant toting hundreds of pounds of equipment — including volatile chemicals, a darkroom tent and fragile glass plates — to wherever they hoped to snap a scene. I am something of a "photography genealogist" for the family. My father's half-aunt lived to be 103, never had children, and left behind a suitcase stuffed with photos — going back to a tintype of her mother from the 1880's. I was lucky the suitcase was…

Please upload these photos to Commons, especially if you own the rights to them; photos taken in the US before 1930 can be shared even if they are not yours, too. These stories and associated artifacts are interesting and deserve to be shared, if you're comfortable with it.

Post by JKCalhoun » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 3:22 PM UTC

bugsMarathon88 wrote: post #11

JKCalhoun wrote: post #6

> This meant toting hundreds of pounds of equipment — including volatile chemicals, a darkroom tent and fragile glass plates — to wherever they hoped to snap a scene. I am something of a "photography genealogist" for the family. My father's half-aunt lived to be 103, never had children, and left behind a suitcase stuffed with photos — going back to a tintype of her mother from the 1880's. I was lucky the suitcase was…

Please upload these photos to Commons, especially if you own the rights to them; photos taken in the US before 1930 can be shared even if they are not yours, too. These stories and associated artifacts are interesting and deserve to be shared, if you're comfortable with it.

Post by radlad » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 3:56 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #6

> This meant toting hundreds of pounds of equipment — including volatile chemicals, a darkroom tent and fragile glass plates — to wherever they hoped to snap a scene. I am something of a "photography genealogist" for the family. My father's half-aunt lived to be 103, never had children, and left behind a suitcase stuffed with photos — going back to a tintype of her mother from the 1880's. I was lucky the suitcase was…

Post by bell-cot » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #6

> This meant toting hundreds of pounds of equipment — including volatile chemicals, a darkroom tent and fragile glass plates — to wherever they hoped to snap a scene. I am something of a "photography genealogist" for the family. My father's half-aunt lived to be 103, never had children, and left behind a suitcase stuffed with photos — going back to a tintype of her mother from the 1880's. I was lucky the suitcase was…

Post by lblume » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 4:53 PM UTC

api wrote: post #8

The discourse around photography and art reminds me exactly of the discourse around AI and art too: https://medium.com/@aaronhertzmann/how-photography-became-an... In some cases pieces I've read on AI and art contain phrases or paragraphs that are almost word for word identical to photography and art discourse. There were moral panics around photography too, especially its obvious use in pornography. There was of cou…