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Major developments in photographt were made in a small number of countries, primarily England, France, Germany, and the United States. These counries made the major technical advances. Commercial photography began with the development of the Daguerreotype in France. Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) in England invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. The ambrotype used this process. Prof. Hamilton L. Smith in America developed the tintype or ferrotype process in 1856. He patented the process. The tintype was an almost instant process, ideal for both small-scale local and itinerant street photographers. As the name suggests, the origins of the CDV using a negative process was French. One source indicates that the carte-de-viste or CDV was first introdued in 1851. I have been unable to confirm that. Another source indicates that a French photographer, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, introduce the CDV about 1854. Over the rest of the 19th century, quite a number of experimenters made improvements in chemistry improving speeds. The next major step was emulsions and film. Several inventors made important contributions. It was the Americam George Eastman that created the first user frindly camera for anateurs--the Kodak Brownie. Germany was a leader in cilor photography, but German industry was destroyed in World War II and Kodak energed as a world leader in photography after the War, dominating the market for many years. There were also differences from country to country as to the popularity of photography and the use of different formats.
We do not yet have any information about photogrphy in Bulgaria. We think trends were very silimar to those in the rest of Europe, especially Germany. The general pattern in the Balkans after the various countries achieved independence was for foreigners to setup studios. Many Germans set up studios. This meant that modern trends were rapidly introduced in Bulgaria during the 19th century. We do note some rather dated trends in the early-20th century. We do not yet have a large enough archive to know how common this was.
Photography was invented in Europe and quickly made its way across the North Atlantic. The industry as in America developed very rapidly in Canada. At this time we do not know if photography developed any differently in Canada than in other countries. Canada is a fairly small country, at least in terms of population. We do not know of any major technical developmens achieved in Canada. Nor do we know much about the development of the industry in the 19th century. This topic is of interest to HBC because often formats, cases, cards, and frames can help date images. We have begun to work on this tgopic in the main photographic secfion of HBC, but at this tome have very little country-specific information on Canada.
English researchers made some of the most important discoveries which led to modern photography. It was English scholar and resaearcher William Henry Fox Talbott that first fixed an image on paper (1834). He does not, however, seem to have told anyone. Talbot was a classical scholar and amateur scientist of independent means and saw no need or inclination to either publicize his achievement or develop a commercial application. He apparently did not even tell his mother untilmafter Daguerre began publicizing his accomplishments (1839). She was apparently furious with him. And after Tabot began showing his images, he called them calotypes, using the Greek word "kalos" meaning beautiful. This showed his roots as a clasical scholar and lack of interest in self promotion. The resut of course is Daguerre is generally seen in the public mind and only a few historians have ever heard of Talbot. Daguere's process using metal plates was in fact a commercial dead end although the Daguerreotype was a commercial success in the 1840s. . It would be Talbot's process which used a negative that would until the digital age be the basis for modern photography. Talbot worked to improved his process in the 1840s. Frederick Scott Archer (1813-57) in England invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. The initial result ambrotype which used this process. This esentially ended the commercial potential of the calotype. Professional studios quickly adopted the collodion process. Interestingly, upperclass amateurs, often from thelanded gentry, continued to dable with caloptypes. Thus mny of these images are scenes of the countryside, but rarely of the rising industrial cities.
Commercial photography began with the development of the Daguerreotype in France. While France was the leader in photography with the Daguerreotype, for some reason we have bren able to find few Frencg dags. We are not sure why. As the name suggests, the origins of the CDV using a negative process was French. One source indicates that the carte-de-viste or CDV was first introdued in 1851. I have been unable to confirm that. Another source indicates that a French photographer, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, introduce the CDV about 1854.
Germany in the 20th century is one of the countries most associated with photography and was in particular a leader with color photography. We have much less information on the 19th century. The first available commercial photographic process was the Daguerreotype which was developed in France (1830s). Talbot at the same time developed the caloptype. There seems to have been no comparable work in Germany. Nor or we sure about te development oif the industry in the mid-19th century. We note large numbers of dags, mostly in cases from the 1840s and 50s in America. And by the 1850s other processes like anbrotypes appeares. We have not yet found substantial numbers of German dags or ambrotypes. We are sonewhat confused by this as surely there must have been mny dags made as although Germany was not yet united, it was one of the more prosperous areas of Europe. We do note large numbers of CDVs in Germany beginning with the 1860s. The CDVs basically made dags and ambrotypes obsolete. Most families of any affluence would have a CDV album, sometimes several, in the parlour. CDVs seem to gave been the principal formt form most of the late 19th century. Cabinent cards do not seem to have been as popular in Germany as they were in America. Most studio portraits were CDvs. We note large numbers of snapshots after the turn of the 20th century. Photography seems to have been more popular in Germany than in any other European country. Families through World War II would combine albums. Some times children would put together their own albums. Snapshots were pasted on blacl paper sheets. Germany became a leader in photography, including color photography. Agfa was more common in Europe than Kodak. World War II changed that.
Photography began in Europe and America with the opening of Daguerreotype studios (1840s). Very little of this or other Western technology filtered into Japan as the Shogunate kept the country closed to the West. There was only a small Dutch trading post in Nagasaki where foreign trade and contacts were allowed under extremely limited conditions. It was here that the Japanese saw their first photographic portraits--Daguerreotypes. It is believed that a Dutch photographer took the first photograph in Japan. His identity and when he took that photograph appears lost to history. Only after Japan was opened to the West by Commodore Perry (1853) did modern refinements like photography begin to filter in to the country. Here because of their existing contacts, the Dutch helped introduce photography to Japan. Other foreigners soon were involved in this process. As this began to occur in the 1850s we see processes like the Ambrotype entering Japan. Thus most early Japanese photographs are Ambrotypes rather than Daguerreotypes. In fact there are very few Japanese Daguerreotypes. The cased photographs in Japan were done in wood. Within a few years Japanese pioneers like the physician Matsumoto Jun (1832-1907) began to study photography with a Dutch colleague. Much of the earliest work occurred in Nahasaki. His adopted son, Uchida Kuichi (1844-1875), studied photography under Ueno Hikoma in Nagasaki and opened a studio there. Many Japanaese city did not have photographic studios until the 1860s. Uchida moved his studio to Yokahama near Tokyo and acquired the reputation as the best photographer in Tokyo. He was granted a royal commission to photograph the Emperor Menji (1872). Most early photographers were foreigners. A particularly important one was the Venetian-British photographer, Felice Beato (1840-1904), who took beautiful images illustrating the Japanese lifestyle. Most Japanese photographers in the 19th century was more focused on portraits. We are not sure when the first albumen print was made, but surely it must have been during the 1860s. Even so, we notice ambrotypes still being made in the 1880s. The Ambrotype process in the West was displaced by albumen CDVs and cabinent cards in the 1860s. The number of Japanese photographers gradually increased and there were soon many Japanese studios (1870s). Japanese studios gradually replaced the Europeans (1880s). With the development of simple, inexpensive cameras, amateur photography became a popular hobby as was the case in the West.
A Russian experiment developed a color process in the 19th century that created beautiful images, but the process was too complicated for commercial use.
The early research on photigraphy was donne in Europe. Americans took to the European developments and the potential for a new industry with a vengence. Processes developed in Europe appeared in America within months. Developers in Europe weee able with varying degress of success able to enforce patents. American photographers paid not attention to patents in the early stages of the industry. We note large numbers of cased dags in America from the 1840s and 50s, mostly prepared in cases. We find far fewer dags in Europe, even France where the process was developed. We are not sure just why this is. It may reflected a greater reluctance of European dealers, including France, to sell their items over the internet rather than an actual differerence in the number of portraits made. But we think there were probably far more Dags made in America. The tintype was also developed in France. Prof. Hamilton L. Smith in America developed the tintype or ferrotype process (1856). He patented the process. The albumen process used for CDVs and cabinents cards was a.so developed in Rurop and quickly adopted in America. The tintype was an almost instant process, ideal for both small-scale local and itinerant street photographers. Several inventors made important contributions. It was the Americam George Eastman that created the first user frindly camera for anateurs--the Kodak Brownie. Germany was a leader in color photography, but German industry was destroyed in World War II and Kodak energed as a world leader in photography after the War, dominating the market for may years.
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