Adam Fuss

I fell in love with Adam Fuss’ work after seeing an exhibit at the MFA. Even after all these years I have kept a poster from that show. In fact every time I think of imaginative photography, of exciting photography, and of beautiful photography Adam Fuss comes to mind. I remember looking at the daguerreotype portraits of children he took - it was almost a mystical experience - full of wonder, magic, and creepiness. There were about seven black rectangles hanging on one wall. And as one took a moment to concentrate one almost-black frame, slowly an image of a child would emerge. It was so startling, it felt like you were being let in on some secret.

“Following a process invented by Louis J. M. Daguerre in the early 1830’s, a daguerreotypist begins by polishing a silvered copper plate to a mirror finish. He then photosensitizes the plate with iodine vapors before inserting it in a camera to make an exposure. If he chooses, which is what Mr. Fuss prefers, he can dispense with a camera and place an object directly on the plate and expose the pair to light.

The exposed plate is developed with mercury or, as Mr. Fuss does it in his studio, through a technique discovered by the French physicist Edmund Becquerel in 1840, with a red light for about 10 to 20 hours. (For the mercury development process, Mr. Fuss goes to Rochester.)”

His work is even more impressive on the large scale. It would be amazing to own one of his works.

Cross posted on my tumblr. (With different photos.)