What We Can Learn from the Daguerreotype

In the academic year 2023/24, Anna Artaker held a two-semester course at the University of Arts Linz, where she has been a professor since 2023, in collaboration with artist and photographer Christa Amadea.

The course explored what we can learn from the early days of photography in the age of omnipresent digital images. This discussion was reflected in the motifs of the 35 mm Daguerreotypes produced during the course using the Becquerel method.

Polishing the silver-plated copper plates for the daguerreotypes

Polishing the silver-plated copper plates for the daguerreotypes

Thorough cleaning of the plates before the sensitization step

Thorough cleaning of the plates before the sensitization step

Building up the still life

Building up the still life

Exposure of the sensitized platelets in the camera

Exposure of the sensitized platelets in the camera

Development of the image

Development of the image