Following on from the exhibition annoucement is the addition of an artist gallery for Binh Danh with a selection of 9 images by Binh.

“Binh Danh was born in Viet Nam and immigrated to the United States in 1980. After acquiring a BFA in photography at San Jose State University, Binh Danh received an MFA in studio art at Stanford University in 2004. Binh Danh’s work is in the permanent collections of Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College,
Chicago; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, New York; and Philadelphia Museum of Art.”

Opening this week in San Francisco is an exhibit of Daguerreotypes by Binh Danh. The show with 9 x 12 inch Daguerreotypes of temples in South East Asia marks Danh’s ?rst public exhibition of daguerreotypes. He says: “with contemporary equipment, I have perfected a process of exposing a daguerreotype in the darkroom, allowing me more creative control.”

For more information on Binh or the exhibition click here for the Exhibition pdf or visit HainesGallery.com

HAINES GALLERY
FIFTH FLOOR
49 GEARY STREET
SAN FRANCISCO
TEL: 415.397.8114
www.haingesgallery.com

January 8 – February 28, 2009
Opening Reception with the Artist:
Thursday, January 8, 2009, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

For those of you looking for a traditional ambience to your studio, a new listing on ebay just might be the ticket… or not, an unusual item but probably not destined for the Resources page.

A chamfered box camera from the last years Naylor collection auction has been given a new lease of life with some new accessories. Daguerreotypist Ken Nelson aims to put this camera to work and has made a new ground-glass and plate holders;

“They’re constructed of Bainbridge Island cherrywood. (I helped drop and mill the tree, so the owner gave me 5 nice thick boards about 5 ft. long each. They’ve been seasoning for 4 years.) The slides are cannibalized from old 4×5 film holders, capped with cherry, and each has 5 brass dots on one side to indicate exposed/unexposed. The backs are clear acrylic with brass leaf springs that I made myself.”

It exhibits some traits that are not standard in American chamfered box cameras, but Ken believes it was made in the daguerreian era, and was used as a daguerreotype and wet-plate camera.

“The “non-standard” part of the camera to me are that curious sliding wooden insert with the two plate holder slots, and the application of the rosewood veneer. On other chamfered box cameras I’ve seen, the grain of the veneer on the chamfers is parallel to the grain on the body of the camera. On mine, the veneer on the chamfers is cross-grain to what is on the main body. Also, the hinges on the trap-doors are not beveled and corner-clipped like on most chamfered box examples. And, the bone knobs appear to be hand carved, not turned. The wooden insert and holder are curious too, the insert fits well, but has no engagement with the grooves in the interior of the camera.”

Following on from the series of articles by John Hurlock, I have added some by another Vetern Daguerreotypist, Ken Nelson. “Mercury and the Daguerreotypist: A Modern Assessment” gives a comprehensive view of working with Mercury today.

Also you may have noticed the parade of flags of to the left on the page. I have noticed that the web traffic for this site comes from around the world so in an effort to facilitate this I have installed a translator. From using Google translate myself I know these can be a bit loose at times but its the best practical solution, short of having sister websites in other countries.

At age 20 Savana Jones has many years of Daguerreotypy ahead of her, but is off to a very good start. Hailing from Salt Lake City, her self portraits make our latest addition to the Galleries section. Savana uses the becquerel process, gilding her plates also. Judging by these and her inventive and sublime other photography on her blog, she is a Daguerreotypist to keep eye on.

“He is one of the few men in history to change the course of art and technology. And the only one without a museum”

Its the museum that will be (hopefully) and those that attended the recent Daguerreian Society symposium will have heard the Mayor Jean-Pierre Spillbauer of Bry-sur-Marne talk of the Daguerre related projects taking place there. These were outlined in a brochure given out at the symposium and excerpts from it are reproduced here to spread the word.

“The Daguerre Mansion is located in the heart of the town. Along with Daguerre’s family vault and the monument in the town center, there are also many of his works of art, from Paintings to Daguerreotypes, in the city hall.”

The restoration project of Daguerre’s last remaining Diorama (installed in the Church at Bry) can be viewed online at Daguerre-bry.com

Musée Gruérien in Switzerland is exhibiting Daguerreotypes by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, who travelled extensively in Europe and the Near East between 1841 and 1850, producing almost a thousand daguerreotypes on the way.

The Musée recently rediscovered and preserved a collection of 61 daguerreotypes by this talented pioneer showing views of Basel, the Jura, Bern and its highlands, Vevey, the Tête-Noire passage in the Valais region, the Mont-Dore ruins in Auvergne and the Mer-de-Glace in Chamonix.

SILVER MIRRORS highlights these works, together with 17 of Girault de Prangey’s images of Paris and the East Mediterranean – Athens, Istanbul, Izmir, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cairo (National Library of France). These daguerreotypes are among the earliest surviving one and a publication accompanies the exhibit.

Exhibit: 30 novembre 2008 – 29 mars 2009
Musée gruérien
WEBSITE LINK
Rue de la Condémine 25
1630 Bulle
T. ++41 (0)26 916 10 10

In recent months we slowly have been adding to the material available through the Resources and Galleries sections of the website;

Galleries Section–
New Galleries showing Contemporary Cases and Passe Partout
Cameras by maker Ty Guillory
Additional content on the existing vintage equipment galleries.

Resources Section–

Articles by Contemporary Daguerreian John Hurlock on the finer points of mastering the process,
New sub-section on Daguerreotype Conservation,
Additional vintage manuals,
New section on video resources available on the internet about the Daguerreotype process,
New section on blogs related to Daguerreotypes