[Jeffbridge]

Wow, I love "the man who wouldn't open his eyes." These are so interesting.

http://www.photographytalk.com/photograp...ce-records

[WDHewson]

Thanks:

Great stuff.

MY father was a hobby photographer who became a chemist as a result of the chemical processes in photography of that period.

The oldest image in my collection is, I believe, an ambrotype where the silver positive is created on the back of a piece of glass.

The attached is my great grandfather and his wife in about 1850. The ambrotype was broken in the mail in the 1950s when my grandmother mailed it to my father, who had it "restored". My grandfather was a successful industrialist, but I don't think the especially tall (taller than Lincoln's) stove pipe hat was part of his wardrobe. Probably a photo studio prop.

It's interesting to zoom the image and see what excellent resolution an ambrotype achieved.