Snapshots of the Past

Daguerreotype portrait of a man, head and shoulders – Antique Photo Print

Daguerreotype portrait of a man, head and shoulders, 1844 — historic photograph
Daguerreotype portrait of a man, head and shoulders, 1844. Historic photograph from the Daguerreotypes & Early Photography collection.

(Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Daguerreotype portrait of a man, head and shoulders. It comes from the Snapshots of the Past collection, curated over 25 years for its historical value.

Order it framed and ready to hang, or unframed to match a frame you already love. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Daguerreotype portrait of a man, head and shoulders

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A head-and-shoulders daguerreotype from 1844 places this sitter at the very start of photography's commercial life, only a few years after Louis Daguerre publicly unveiled his process in 1839. Exposures of that era were long, often running to several minutes in strong light, so subjects had to hold still while the silvered copper plate slowly recorded their face. The result is a single, mirror-like image that reverses left and right and can shift in tone as you tilt it, something worth noticing when you view the plate directly. Portraits like this one were typically made in studios for ordinary sitters, not only the wealthy, and they offer a rare, unfiltered glimpse of how people presented themselves in the decade photography began.

Created / published1844
Original scan1,188 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
Reference242_John_P_Hale_headandshou_1844

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Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

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