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WHEN THEY REALLY "MADE A PHOTOGRAPH"
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ROBERT NOYE
MR. R. J. NOYE, who
at present has the
Foelsche collection, writes in
his booklet, "Early South
Australian Photography":
"Wet-plate photography
replaced the daguerreotype, the
'mirror with a memory' invented
by Frenchman Louis Daguerre.
"The wet-plate photographers
were true 'do-it-yourself prac-
titioners. Glass was bought, cut
to size, cleaned, and polished. In
the darkroom or darktent the
plate was coated with iodised col-
lodion, a thick viscous liquid
made by dissolving guncotton in
a mixture of alcohols and ether.
"The coated plate was
immersed in a silver-nitrate solu-
tion to sensitise it, drained, put
in a dark-slide, taken to the
camera, and exposed.
"Back in the darkroom it was
developed in pyrogallic acid,
fixed in hypo or cyanide, washed,
and dried. If the collodion dried
between sensitisation and develop-
ment the plate was ruined.
Obviously landscape photog-
raphers had to work quickly on
hot days.
"Prints were made on the
photographer's own albumen
paper. Egg-whites (albumen)
were whipped, filtered, then
brushed on paper. To sensitise the
paper it was floated on a silver
nitrate bath, dried, and stored in
the dark. The paper was printed
in contact with the negative,
toned, fixed, and washed.
"By this time the photographer
could say with truth that he had
indeed made a photograph."
In the picture at left Mr.
Noye is holding a wet-plate
Dallmeyer camera, which dates
back to before 1860.
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