January 21

Kayla Vahling

Cultural Event 1

Photo Portfolio

1/15/10

Underground at the DAM

            My alternative photo processes class was lucky enough to visit the Denver Art Museum, and see some of the prints in the curator’s storage area.  Eric Paddock, the Museum’s head curator of photography gave us a tour of the underground storage area of the DAM’s newly developed photography department.  He explained to us that the different areas/ departments of the museum had been collecting photographs that pertained to their specific discipline for years and years, but that it wasn’t until recently that the DAM decided to create an entire photography department to organize and preserve their collection of thousands of photographs. 

            The first images that we got to see were two original Daguerrotypes.  I had heard about Daguerre’s photographs before, and learned how they are printed on silver plates, polished until they have a mirrored finish, but had never seen one up close.  The detail in the images was amazing, particularly for how primitive the process was.

            Following the Daguerrotypes, we got to look at an original print made by Henry Fox Talbot.  The print had a sepia tone to it, and was a landscape image of a town in England.  The detail in the photo was impressive, but not as much as the tiny Daguerrotypes.  I was surprised to find that a print as rare as an original Fox Talbot was housed in storage rather than out for the public to see.  It was later explained to me however, that one of a Museum’s main purpose is preservation, which obviously explained why the print was not out on display at all times.

            The chance to see some of the museum’s oldest prints was very interesting.  Like I said before, I had read about Daquerrotypes and Fox Talbot before, but seeing them in person completely changed my perceptions of the alternative processes used to create the images.