Photos of American West 150 years ago

[digitalintrigue]

http://m.theatlantic.com/infocus/201...rs-ago/100304/

[kdemas]

Terrific, thanks for posting!

[vrgard]

Really enjoyed seeing those images. Thanks for the post.

[kmallick]

these are incredible views. have been to a few of these spots in the past and I am planning to visit a couple of more in the next few days. these old pictures make it more special.

glad you posted it.

[Steve Bellayr]

About a week ago I picked up a daguerreotype which I have definitely dated made between 1847 and 1850. It is in near perfect condition, though without a cover. It is of a woman in her 50's. It is incredible how fine the details are on the picture. You can see the lines of her hand and face under a magnifying glass. What is eerie about this image is that it is probably the only photograph of this unknown woman, who was more than likely alive when Thomas Jefferson was president and probably when John Adams was president and there is even a chance that she was born during Washington's presidency. It, is as I have stated, strangely eerie to be looking into the face of an unknown subject who lived through the earliest times of the American Republic. There is something unnerving and grand about a form that is adocumentary image.

[Argenticien]

Wow, those are well preserved. The results are all the more brilliant given the undoubtedly great bulk of equipment O'Sullivan was hauling around (by the mule wagon shown in Photo 12) and the presumably extremely slow "film" he was using--wet collodion plates. I'm thinking he was not fortunate enough to have a constant 20 deg C work environment, either.

About 15 years ago I made a photo (albeit not with a rangefinder) quite similar to Photo 19, the confluence of the Green and the Yampa, now in Dinosaur National Monument. I might even be able to find it here somewhere and scan it ... Anyway, fabulous country out there.
--Dave

[gns]

I Recently purchased a new book with all of O'Sullivan's pictures from the King Survey and am tempted to get the new Getty publication of Watkins' mammoth plate images.

These guys must get the award for shear effort required to make a photograph. If not them, it would have to go to NASA for the moon pictures.

Tanks for posting.

Gary

[robklurfield]

Robert, thanks for sharing the link.

Even if you've seen O'Sullivan's images before, they still amaze.

[jsrockit]

Great stuff...thanks.

[charjohncarter]

Santa Fe wasn't that small back then: pretty nice photos.

[Gerry M]

Preserved or restored, these are great. Thanks for posting.

[lynnb]

thanks for the link!