Caney, William Laws, Photographer

Reverse of photographic card: 'Wm Laws Caney late of

D'Urban and Kimberley'

By this time the back of the photo was recognised as good

advertising space for the photographer and could show his studio

address and other information. Written in ink at the top is the sitter's name, Mr Garland.

Larsen, Emil, Natal photographer, Knowles family

Taken by Emil Larsen at his Durban studio, 410 West Street. Mrs Knowles

and children. Cabinet print ca 1880s

Acknowledgement to Rory John for the photograph and restoration

Daguerrotypes and Ambrotypes 1

Louis Daguerre and another experimental photographer, Joseph Niepce, became partners
in 1829, the two working on methods of producing an image. Niepce died before he saw the results of their labours but Daguerre went on to find a way of fixing a reproduced image, called by its inventor the Daguerrotype.



A copper plate was covered with a thin coating of silver which was then polished to a high shine. It was then treated with iodine which produced a light-sensitive layer of iodide. The plate was exposed in a camera and the image brought out by the action of mercury vapour. Stopping the chemical action and fixing the image was a problem at first solved by use of common salt. But later Daguerre found 'hypo' (sodium thiosulphate) to be a better fixing agent.

The daguerrotype was a negative image but when viewed at the right angle the negative appeared positive. The picture was faint but well defined..

Early daguerrotypes took time to expose. This made it difficult to photograph anything other than still scenery. People or animals moving in the picture showed up only as a blur. However, other photographers introduced improvements. Bromine was found to act as an accelerator speeding up the process, so that exposure times were reduced to a couple of minutes by the early 1840s. Portraiture thus become possible and an entire new industry was born.

Ambrotype: Charlotte Rose

Ambrotypes were introduced in the very early 1850s and photography left them behind around the 1880s when other easier methods came into being. Nevertheless there is something charming about an ambrotype which lifts it above the ordinary carte de visite of later years. The ambrotype has 'class'.

This lady - who also has class - dates to the first decade of the sixties, her hair worn with a central parting and her ears demurely covered. 

No photographer's name is given.