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The daguerreotype process, named for its French inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, was one of the first forms of photography. Images were exposed in-camera on sensitized metal plates coated with a thin layer of highly-polished silver, then developed, fixed, and mounted in protective cases. Since no negatives were used, daguerreotypes are one-of-a-kind images.

Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the heyday of the medium, daguerreotypes were used primarily to make studio portraits. Sitters posed with their heads held still by metal braces and their hands perched on the arms of chairs or holding objects like books. Because of the bulky equipment, complicated process, and long exposure times, outdoor scenes were much less common. Despite the difficulty of viewing an image on a mirrored surface, daguerreotypes were valued for their amazing detail.

This project was supported by a grant from the Andrew J. Mellon Foundation and the Digital Liberal Arts Initiative at Middlebury College. Additional funding was provided by the Committee on the Arts, the Director for the Arts, and the Department of History of Art and Architecture.

I am extremely grateful to the staff of the Middlebury College Museum of Art, who have all had a hand in this exhibition, especially Ken Pohlman, Museum Designer; Donn Marcus, Head of Security; and Margaret Wallace, Museum Registrar. Thanks also to Museum Director Richard Saunders and Emmie Donadio, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, who supported acquisition of the many photographs that have entered the collection. My appreciation goes to the students in my seminars on Photography and the Environment who provided their insights and inspiration for the exhibition, as well as my team of student research, videography, musical composers, and website design interns: Kirk Horton; Tevan Goldberg; Sam Kudman; Danny Padilla; Kristin Richards; Scott Waller; Danielle Weindling, and Rachel Kang.

Additional thanks to: Tatyana Bessmertnaya, Videographer; Pieter Broucke, Professor of History of Art and Architecture and Director for the Arts; Robert Chehoski, KQED Public Television; Mark Christensen, Concert Hall Technical Director; Michaela Davico, Department Coordinator for History of Art and Architecture; John Elder, Professor Emeritus of English and Environmental Studies; Daniel Houghton, Arts Technology Specialist; Jonathan Kemp, Telescope and Scientific Computing Specialist; Andrea Murray, Visiting Instructor in History of Art and Architecture; Matt Lennon, Video and Audio Technician, Arts Tech Assistant DLA; Andi Lloyd, Professor of Biology and Vice-President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty; Christopher McCrory Klyza, Professor of Political Science; Jason Mittell, Professor of Film and Media Culture and American Studies, Faculty Director of the DLA; Kathryn Morse, Professor of History and Environmental Studies; Jeff Munroe, Professor of Geology.

Also Alicia Peaker and Kristy Golubiewski-Davis, DLA Post-doctoral Fellows; Peter Ryan, Professor of Geology; Heather Stafford, Multimedia/Curricular Technologist; Sue Tan, Professor of Music; Steve Trombulak, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies; Frank Winkler, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy.

Kirsten Hoving
Professor of History of Art and Architecture
Guest Curator, Land and Lens

In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer invented a new photographic process to replace one-of-a-kind daguerreotypes on metal that were popular for portraits and multiple but imprecise calotypes made from paper negatives. The new process produced a clear negative on transparent glass that could be used to print multiple prints on paper. As its name implies, exposure and development of the negative had to be done within a ten-minute time frame while the light sensitive chemicals were wet, requiring photographers to bring portable darkrooms into the field. Although the process was capable of rendering fine detail within the shadows, the chemicals were sensitive only to blue light, making it impossible to render cloud-filled skies without exposing a separate negative only for the clouds. Because practical techniques for enlarging were not yet available, the glass negatives had to be the size of the finished print.

To achieve a large, or “mammoth,” print, a photographer required a glass negative of the same size, as well as a camera big enough to hold it. Thus photographing in places that were difficult to reach, like Yosemite Valley, meant hiking difficult terrain with mules loaded down with equipment, finding a source for water to rinse chemicals from plates, and a place to pitch a dark tent for working with poisonous and flammable materials. The sticky collodion solution would be carefully poured onto the clean glass, placed and exposed in the camera, developed in the dark, and finally fixed. Exposures required several seconds to several minutes, depending on the available light and the sensitivity of the chemicals.

Once a photographer had completed work in the field to obtain glass negatives, back in the studio prints were made using paper with light-sensitive materials suspended in a solution of albumen, or egg white. These prints would then be adhered to a thick cardboard mount to keep from curling.

The history of farming is a history land acquisition and use, weather patterns, and crop choices. It is also a history of backbreaking labor and the exploitation of workers. Danny Lyon reminds us of this in his photograph, Cotton Pickers, Ferguson Unit, Texas. Drawn from his series of photographs of inmates of the Texas penitentiary system made over an extended period in 1968 and 1969, this photograph calls to mind the role of slavery in the South, as repeated in the forced labor of prison gangs.

While it is easy to idealize farm work, as Clarence White does in his photograph, The Orchard, today’s dependence on migrant laborers in Vermont orchards is just one example of the realities of farm labor.

In 1967 and 1968, photographer Danny Lyon spent fourteen months photographing inmates of six Texas penitentiaries. The project resulted in his book, Conversations with the Dead, published in 1971. In addition to portraits and scenes of prison life, Lyon photographed work gangs. In this photograph, prisoners fell trees and gather debris to clear land.

Unlike idyllic scenes of the forest as an Edenic paradise, like that of Arthur F. Kales, Lyon’s photograph is an unidealized view of the work needed to fell a forest. And, unlike Robert Adams’ views of clear cutting, where enormous machines cut huge swaths in the landscape, in this image the focus is on the role of forced labor in the American penal system.

Click on the photograph or artist’s name to visit the separate page for each photograph. Click the return arrow in the upper left to return to this list.

Abbott, Berenice (1898 – 1991), Canyon Stone and William, 1936, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Lapham III, 1984.030. Berenice Abbott/Getty Images

Adams, Ansel (1902-1984), Banner Peak – Thousand Island Lake,  from Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, 1927, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund and the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2016.001.12. Reproduced with permission from The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. All rights reserved.

Adams, Ansel (1902-1984), Lower Paradise Valley, from Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, 1927, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund and the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2016.001.17. Reproduced with permission from The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. All rights reserved.

Adams, Ansel (1902-1984), Monolith – The Face of Half Dome, from Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, 1927, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund and the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2016.001.03. Reproduced with permission from The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. All rights reserved.

Ansel Adams, Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, from Manzanar, California, 1944, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Fund and the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, 2003.006. Reproduced with permission from The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. All rights reserved.

Adams, Robert (1937 – ), Clatsop County, Oregon, from Turning Back, A Photographic Journal of Re-exploration, 1999-2003, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr. 2006.026.091. © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Adams, Robert (1937 – ), Sitka Spruce, Cape Blanco State Park, Curry County, Oregon, from Turning Back, A Photographic Journal of Re-exploration, 1999-2003, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr., 2006.026.030. © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Alt, Jane Fulton (1951 – ), The Burn No. 74, 2009, archival inkjet print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2016.83.

Anders, Wiliam (1933 – ), Earthrise, Apollo 8, December 24, 1968, archival digital print. Private collection. Courtesy NASA

Babbitt, Platt D. (1823-1879), Niagara Falls, c. 1854, daguerreotype. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2005.055.

Balog, James (1952 – ), Greenland Ice Sheet, 28 June 2009, Adam LeWinter surveys Birthday Canyon, 2009, chromogenic color print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2015.006

Bridges, Marilyn (1948 – ), Barn Shadow, 1981, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2014.078. Copyright Marilyn Bridges. All rights reserved.

Bridges, Marilyn (1948 – ), Geometries, Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, 1987, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2014.060. Copyright Marilyn Bridges. All rights reserved.

Bridges, Marilyn (1948 – ), Mohave, CA, 1986, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art, gift of an anonymous donor, 2014.059. Copyright Marilyn Bridges. All rights reserved.

Bridges, Marilyn (1948 – ), Tom Loves Mary, Coral Graffiti, Hawaii, 1990, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of an anonymous donor. 2014.065. Copyright Marilyn Bridges. All rights reserved.

Burtynsky, Edward (1955 – ), Rock of Ages No. 19, Granite Section, Rock of Ages Quarry, Barre, Vermont, 1991, chromogenic color print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2008.034.

Cherney, Michael (秋麥) (1969 – ), Pan Zhi Hua from Ten Thousand Li of the Yangtze River, 2015, handscroll, ink on mica flecked xuan paper. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, 2015.017.

Dobrowner, Mitch (1956 – ), Chromosphere, Green Grass, South Dakota, 2012, archival pigment print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2015.229.

Edgerton, Harold (1903 – 1990), Atomic Bomb Explosion, 1952, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Robert F. Young. 1988.111. © 2010 MIT. Courtesy of MIT Museum

ESA/Hubble and NASA, acknowledgement Judy Schmidt, Spiral Galaxy NGC 6814. Hubble Space Telescope, 2016, archival digital print. Private collection. Courtesy NASA

Friedlander, Lee (1934 – ), Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota, 1969, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Memorial Art Fund, 1998.028. © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Gohlke, Frank (1942 – ), Grain Elevator, Hutchinson, Kansas, 1973, printed 1974, gelatin silver print. Middlebury Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2011.011.

Gowin, Emmet (1941 – ), Old Hanford City Site and the Columbia River, Hanford Nuclear Reservation, near Richland, Washington, 1986, toned gelatin silver print. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Purchased through a gift by exchange from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hazen, 20015.17.9. ©Emmet Gowin; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.

Jackson, William Henry (1843 – 1942, Phantom Curve, c. 1881-82, albumen print. Middlebury College Museum ofArt. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Lapham III, 1984.043.

Kales, Arthur F. (1882-1936), Nude in Forest, c. 1914, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of an anonymous donor and the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund, 1988. 012.

Lewis, C.E., Lebanon, N.H., c. 1881, stereograph. Private Collection.

Lowe, Jacques (1930-2001), untitled, c. 1960, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Nicholas, 2015.130.

Lowe, Jacques (1930-2001), untitled, c. 1960, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Nicholas, 2015.130.

Lowell, Percival (1855 – 1916), Mars, 1909, and E.C. Slipher (1883 – 1964), Jupiter, 1909, gelatin silver prints. Middlebury College, Davis Family Library, Special Collections.

Lyon, Danny (1942 – ), Clearing Land, Ellis Unit, Texas, from the series Conversations with the Dead, 1968, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Carl W. Melcher, M.D., 1983.036. © Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos

Lyon, Danny (1942 – ), Cotton Pickers, Ferguson Unit, Texas, from Conversations with the Dead, 1968, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Carl W. Melcher, M.D., 1983.035. © Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos

Maisel, David (1961 – ), The Lake Project 19, 2002, archival pigment print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2016.082.

McCaw, Chris (1971 – ), Sunburned GSP#539 (Galapagos), 2012, unique gelatin silver paper negative. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Foster Family Art Acquisition Fund, 2012.033.

McCaw, Chris (1971 – ), Sunburned GSP #423 (Arctic Circle, Alaska), 2010, unique gelatin silver paper negative. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Foster Family Art Acquisition Fund, 2012.032.

Meyerowitz, Joel (1938 – ), Bay Sky Storm, 1987, chromogenic contact print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Nichols, 2014.118.

Milstein, Jeffrey, Coney Island, 2015, archival pigment print. Middlebury College Museum of Art.

Ming, Dodo Jin (1955 – ), Free Element, Plate XXXI, 2002, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, 2005.035.

Misrach, Richard (1949 – ), Hazardous Waste Containment Site, Dow Chemical Corp, 1998, 1998/2001, chromogenic color print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Contemporary Photography, Film, and Video Acquisition Fund, 2004.026.

Muybridge, Eadweard (1830-1904), Loya, Valley of Yosemite, c. 1872, albumen print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund, 1998.030.

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Hubble WFC/UVIS Image of M16/ The Eagle Nebula, 2014 and NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A Near-Infrared View of the Pillars of Creation, Hubble Space Telescope, 2015, archival digital prints. Private collection. Courtesy NASA

NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (ASU), Z. Levay (STScI), Hubble Ultra Deep Field, 2014, archival digital print. Private collection. Courtesy NASA

Osodi, George (1974 – ), Oil Spill Near Farm Land Ogoni, 2007, digital ink print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Foster Family Art Acquisition Fund. 2012.028. By permission of George Osodi c/o Z Photographic Ltd.

O’Sullivan, Timothy (1840-1882), The Old Trapper, 1869, albumen print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of the Friends of Art, 1987.045.

ParkeHarrison, Robert and Shana (1968, 1964 – ), Tree Sonata, 1999, gelatin silver print on resin-coated paper, mounted on wood panel with acrylics and varnish. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund and the Memorial Art Fund, 2013.020.

Pfahl, John (1939 – ), Trojan Nuclear Plant, Columbia River, Oregon, October 1982/printed 2014, pigment print on Platine Paper. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2015.018.

Porter, Eliot (1901-1990), Escalante River Outwash, Glen Canyon, September 2, 1962, dye transfer Print, 1980. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Jeremy Dworkin ’62 and B.D. Dworkin, 2013.023.07. © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Porter, Eliot (1901-1990), Pool in a brook, Pond Brook, Near Whiteface, New Hampshire, 1953, dye transfer print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Jeremy Dworkin ’62 and B. D. Dworkin, South Londonderry, Vermont, 2012.031.09. © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Porter, Eliot (1901-1990), Red Osier, Near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1957, dye transfer print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Jeremy Dworkin ’62 and B. D. Dworkin, South Londonderry, Vermont. 2012.031.01. © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Porter, Eliot (1901-1990), Sculpted Rock, Marble Canyon, Arizona, 967, from the portfolio In Wildness, 1981, dye transfer print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Jeremy Dworkin ’62 and B. D. Dworkin, South Londonderry, Vermont, 2012..031.07. © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Rich, Jeff (1977 – ), Blue Ridge Paper Mill, Pigeon River, Canton, North Carolina, 2008, archival pigment print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2015.230.

Rothstein, Arthur (1915 – 1985), Dust Storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, April 1936, gelatin silver print. Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art, gift of George R. Rinhart, 1996.003.

Schutmaat, Bryan (1983 – ), Tonopah, Nevada, 2012, archival digital print. Middlebury College Museum of Art.

Shore, Stephen (1947 – ), North Black Avenue, Bozeman, 1981, dye transfer print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Ted Perry, 1987.033.

Starn, Mike and Doug (1961 – ), Structure of Thought 30, archival digital print with vellum overlay. 2001-2006/2016. Private collection.

Steichen, Edward (1879 – 1973), The Flatiron—Evening from Camera Work XIV, 1904, published 1906, tritone on paper. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2008.026.

Stieglitz, Alfred (1864-1946), The Hand of Man, 1902, photogravure printed on Japanese paper and included in Camera Work magazine, 1903. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2004.045.

Stillings, Jamey (1955 – ), #6425 2 June 2012 from The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar, archival pigment print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Bread Loaf Corporation, Architects, Planners, Builders. 2013.010.

Strand, Paul (1890-1976), White Fence, Port Kent, New York, 1916, photogravure, published in Camera Work, 1917. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Walter Cerf Art Fund, 2008.031. © Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive

Tice, George A. (1938 – ), Industrial Landscape, Kearney, N.J., 1979, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1981.107.

Uelsmann, Jerry (1934 – ), untitled, 1976, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Fund, 2003.022.

Watkins, Carleton (1829-1916), Yosemite Falls, 2630 feet; In the Mariposa Grove; Cathedral Rocks, 2600 feet, from Watkins Pacific Coast stereographs, c. 1871-75, albumen prints from wet-collodion negatives. Private collection.

Wegman, William (1943 – ), October 1981, Rangeley, Maine, 1981, dye transfer print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Perry, 1984.024. Courtesy William Wegman

Welling, James (1951 – ), 6236, 2008, inkjet print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, 2011.002. © James Welling. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London. Philip Johnson Glass House is a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Weston, Brett (1911-1993), Bristlecone Pine, California, 1976, gelatin silver print. Middlebury Museum of Art. Gift from the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016.033.

Weston, Brett (1911-1993), Glacial Silt, 1973, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift from the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016.064.

Weston, Brett (1911-1993), Mountains and Clouds, New Mexico, c. 1940, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift from the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016.041.

Weston, Brett (1911-1993), Sandbar, Glen Canyon, Utah, 1960, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift from the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016.049.

Weston, Brett (1911-1993), Untitled (Desert Clouds), 1976, gelatin silver print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift from the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016.073.

Whipple, John Adams (1823 – 1891), The Moon, 6 August 1851, daguerreotype. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund and the Overbrook Foundation, 1989.009.

White, Clarence (1871-1925), The Orchard, from Camera Work IX, 1902, published 1905, photogravure. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Walter Cerf Art Fund. 2008.022.

Wortley, Colonel Henry Stuart (1832-1890), View of Water and Sky, c. 1869, albumen print. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund. 2004.043.

The daguerreotype process, named for its French inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, was one of the first forms of photography. Images were exposed in-camera on sensitized metal plates coated with a thin layer of highly-polished silver, then developed, fixed, and mounted in protective cases. Since no negatives were used, daguerreotypes are one-of-a-kind images.

Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the heyday of the medium, daguerreotypes were used primarily to make studio portraits. Sitters posed with their heads held still by metal braces and their hands perched on the arms of chairs or holding objects like books. Because of the bulky equipment, complicated process, and long exposure times, outdoor scenes were much less common. Despite the difficulty of viewing an image on a mirrored surface, daguerreotypes were valued for their amazing detail.