Daguerreotype: Mercury with Kenneth Nelson
Date: August 25 & 26 | Saturday and Sunday
Time: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30th Street, New York, NY 10016
Price: $895 + $130
Course Description:
The mercury-developed daguerreotype was the process that Daguerre, and the French government, gave to the world in August of 1839. Within the next two years, the process was dramatically refined. This class will introduce this refined technique, brought forward into the 21st Century. In comparison to the Becquerel process, this refined mercury-developed daguerreotype is fairly fast; Development is a few minutes rather than hours, and exposures are dramatically shortened. But the introduction of a bromine accelerator and mercury for development add significant laboratory requirements to ensure safety for the contemporary daguerreotypist. This workshop will build on the skills learned from the Becquerel workshop, and provide the experience of making mercury-process daguerreotypes. The goal is to have each participant leave the workshop with mercury-process daguerreotypes that they have made themselves, and the knowledge to safely undertake the process on their own, from an informed standpoint. The class will teach a blend of the best 19th Century techniques (as I know them) and bring in what the 20th and 21st Centuries offer in improved techniques, tools, and safety. We never stop learning. Note: It is highly recommended that participants in the Mercury-Process Workshop first attend a Becquerel workshop at CAP or elsewhere.
Instructor Biography:
Kenneth E. Nelson has been making daguerreotypes since 1976. He has actively written about, lectured on, demonstrated and taught the daguerreotype process since 1980, including 5 years of teaching with the Historic Process Workshops at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. He holds BFA and MFA degrees in Photography and Photographic Museum Practices, and a Certificate in Photographic Conservation. His daguerreian work is widely published, and is included in public and private collections in France, the U.S., Canada, Japan and other countries. He and his wife Meg live near Seattle, Washington and together are in business as KaufmaNelson Vintage Photographs.
Updating...
The Center for Alternative Photography is pleased to announce our partnership with the International Center of Photography. The workshops that have CAP/ICP* next to the description are workshops that will appear in the Spring ICP catalog. We are looking forward to working with the ICP and to our continuing collaboration.