Willian Henry Fox Talbot’s photographic rival, Louis Daguerre, made beautiful artifacts that shimmer and come alive in the hand, but are a complete dead-end, for they cannot be duplicated or reproduced, shared or distributed. Fox Talbot’s genius, quite apart from developing the chemistry, was in understanding that the negative image was far from being a problem, and actually the solution to further reproductions.

The image above was taken in late March or early April 1844, dated by the advert for the Theatre Royal Lyceum, for the show “Open Sesame”. This poster can be seen on the hoardings just before the “NO” for “No bills to be stuck to this hoarding” - that has clearly been an issue for longer than I thought.

A fabulous time machine of a picture and I beseech you to click on it to enlarge or head over to Getty to see even larger versions so you can zoom right in - their copy is in particularly fine condition. The version at SFMOMA is considerably faded.

Rescuing Old Kit

It was a sleepy Saturday afternoon and I got wind of a gentleman in Chiswick who was about to throw out a bunch of functioning kit… So I winged it over and rescued it. Here, some old film, which I love since you never know how it’s going to react when you use it… You’ve never even seen #IlfordHP4 220, have you? And these #HP5 135 canisters are sealed! Never seen those before. #filmphotography #filmisnotdead #blackandwhitephotography

4:26 PM

Ok, I have to get through this pile by spring. Who wants their picture taken? Freebie shoots until this has gone. #film #photography #photoshoot #fuji #ilford #kodak #agfa #35mm #120film #filmphotography #filmisnotdead #trix400

11:36 AM

More marvellous discoveries at mum’s. my original bulk film loader for 35mm, saved me a fortune at university. #watsonbulkloader #filmloader #pfeferproducts #madeinusa #35mm #film #photography #argentique #ilford #fuji

10:59 PM

#MichaelStipe and #MirandaSawyer in conversation at the @icalondon on the publication of his first volume of photography. Interesting, complex man. Photos reflect this. #photography #jonathanberger

1:20 PM

Two weeks early! It’s here! #GenerationWealth by the fabulous #LaurenGreenfield. 25 years of work into society’s growing obsession with wealth. Riveting. #photography #wealth #luxury

7:26 PM

Finally, this technology is properly awesome - and turnkey. The card creates a wifi network, your phone attaches to it and immediately starts downloading the pics. Done. Energy-intensive, but brilliant. #wifi #sdcard #photography

12:42 PM

Bob found some unexposed #Kodachrome! Best before 1961! #film #photography

4:58 PM

In the digital era, this stack is not really considered to be a lot of pics. But it’s still awesome getting a batch of negs and scans back. #photography #negatives #filmisnotdead #film #blackandwhite

5:12 PM

Ah look at this beautiful Art Deco #kodak #camera from 1930! It is truly a shame that I am going to butcher it and cut it into pieces. #brownie #photography