Erica Deeman Photography

Models: Colin Tewksbury, Ashlynn Danielsen, Erica Deeman

Today we visited the Civic Centre in downtown SF for a field trip. The Civic Centre has an amazing history, having cost $6 million to build at the turn of the 20th century, only to be half destroyed in the big earthquake that hit the city in 1906. Think about how much $6 million back in 1900 is worth today? It is also the site where Harvey Milk, the city’s first opening gay elected official was assassinated by Dan White in 1978. Today it is still a government building whilst also being a popular place for wedding ceremonies.

I found this bridesmaid reflecting on the day.

Just a distant memory.

I wanted to create something in the style of an old photographic process so I chose the daguerreotype. The first commercially successful process created by….guess who…yes Daguerre in Paris in 1839. The original process used a copper plate which was sensitised, exposed and then fixed to the plate. It created a mirror like effect with the image appearing to move from negative to positive as you tilted it. The daguerreotype was also placed in a hand-held case. They were small and delicate. If you ever see a real one, they are truly magnificent!

So using what I knew and had seen at the MOMA SF, I took a portrait of an officer at fleet week. I needed to create a transparent feel so I printed onto acetate paper (used on projectors as slides). This paper is clear and only printed out the blacks so the next stage could deliver the final effect. From this I scalped the image to size and then stuck this onto a mirror to create my very own daguerreotype.

I’m very pleased with the result.