As the seasons change it is coming round to that time of year again when opportunities abound for Daguerreian instruction in north America.

First up is Rob McElroy’s “Modern Daguerreian Methods: A daguerreotype workshop with Rob McElroy”.
The workshop is at his studio/gallery in Buffalo, NY on May 26-28, 2011, where he will be sharing his “trouble-free method of producing a perfectly-polished daguerreotype plate without the need for tedious hand buffing”. Participants will learn and perform all the necessary steps themselves, finishing with their very own mercury-developed daguerreotype, archivally housed in a custom frame.

Rob’s large state-of-the-art darkroom/laboratory, along with his studio — equipped with electronic-flash units powerful enough to expose daguerreotype plates, will make for a convenient and exciting learning environment. Also there is a half-day trip to George Eastman House planned, where participants will get a private viewing of some of the world’s finest daguerreotypes along with the vintage equipment used to produce them. Rob is also seeking permission to use an unoccupied 1890s photographer’s studio nearby which still has its huge original curved-glass skylight windows.

Later in summer Jerry Spagnoli has two workshops, one in Pittsburgh and another in Sante Fe. In Pittsburgh the workshop will investigate the process introduced by M.E. Bequerrel in 1840 and in Sante Fe the workshop will cover the alternative to “live” exposures: contact printing from a positive transparency. This method can produce an image indistinguishable from an in-camera plate—but with the greater control over the film positive, superior results can be achieved.

Info about upcoming events such as these can be seen on our events page.

The 4th annual F295 Symposium “Further Explorations on the Idea of a 21st Century Photography” takes place June 2-5, 2011 in Pittsburgh PA, USA and features photographers/artists talking about their work and the ideas, rationale, and thoughts behind it. It also features historic process workshops by leaders in the field.

F295 is keen to build the presence of contemporary daguerreotypists at this event and future ones. A component of the event of particular interest is the Thursday evening opening reception which features an informal portfolio sharing event. There will be a large ballroom and attendees will be able to lay out work samples to share and discuss with the speakers and other attendees.

F295 is offering registered members of cdags forum the opportunity to register at the F295 member rate. In registering, dagforum members can declare their affiliation by stating their full name, dagforum name and email address and will receive the F295 member rate. This is for a limited time so do be in quick.

Artist Curtis Wehrfritz joins the ranks of cdags galleried artists with his own gallery page. Curtis learned the process from Mike Robinson and makes daguerreotypes from digital files as well images directly from nature. Shooting 8 x 10 film performance pieces he uses them to make daguerreotypes that are editions produced one at a time when sold.