Back in 2006 I went to visit my family in the USA. This shot, is of the Campbell’s factory in Philadelphia, where my family now live, although on this trip in fact, they did not. They used to live in the Pocono mountains a couple of hours or so drive north of Philly. So we stayed in a hotel for a couple of days and had a look around the city. It was amazing, I made of own waffles on a waffle iron in the hotel, and went on the duck ride tourist bus/boat. It was on this duck tour that I took this photograph of the Campbell’s factory.  Naturally it did not look quite like this. In fact it was warm pleasant sunny day and the sky was clear blue. The building was grey and red and although sort of modern it also had an old look to it too. When I got home, and some years later to be honest, I decided to give this shot some treatment and make it look like it is a lot older than it actually is. Hence the daguerreotype effect.

The daguerreotype was in fact the first commercially successfully photographic process and was widely used between 1839 and 1860. Named after its’ inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, the real deal was an image on a mirror like metal surface. Depending on the lighting and background the image would be either negative or positive, dark or light. There was no negative to reproduce shots from, so the only way to have more than one copy was to create more than one image, a time-consuming thing to do, as well as expensive I would imagine.

 

Naturally I have not used a silver-plated copper sheet or a box camera and I would not have a clue about using mercury fumes and iodine vapours. But thankfully these days to create this effect photoshop and some clever trickery can be used. No need to break the thermometer to get some mercury (I would not know where else to get some) and don’t get me started on iodine vapours, I am certain they are not available in the local vape shop.

 

Having created the first image, I played around with it a bit and created the second. I don’t know which one I prefer but I do like them both and so they are both available in the on-line shop. I think the daguerreotype effect works well in this image and gives a respectable old brand the look of the time it was first created. Campbell’s was in fact, started in 1869, although not in Philadelphia but Campden, New Jersey. Not too far away then. I did also visit New Jersey on that trip too but I won’t go into details here, suffice to say my most memorable photograph there was of my mother, wearing her fake Gucci glasses posing outside a real Gucci store! What a cheek!

 

I hope you like theses images of Campbell’s factory and remember they are available in the on-line shop in various sizes.

 

Leonard George