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Glass plate negatives!
I'm scanning glass plate negatives from the late 1800s today. Working with things like this are part of why I love working in the UW-Parkside Library archives. I'm thrilled at the chance to hold tangible, direct, links to the past in my hand and physically interact with them.
It's similar to the awe I feel when I think about some of the really old 78RPM records that were recorded without electricity via a solely acoustic process. There's a direct physical-acoustic link from those sound waves to my ears. Similarly, there's no extra stage with these negative. They're the very same piece of glass that the photographer exposed to the light from these turn-of-the-century scenes. It's a direct window into the past.
The fact that I'm a photographer myself adds a dimension to the appreciation I think. I can try and get inside the head of the person who observed these scenes a hundred-plus years ago as he setup his camera.
It's similar to the awe I feel when I think about some of the really old 78RPM records that were recorded without electricity via a solely acoustic process. There's a direct physical-acoustic link from those sound waves to my ears. Similarly, there's no extra stage with these negative. They're the very same piece of glass that the photographer exposed to the light from these turn-of-the-century scenes. It's a direct window into the past.
The fact that I'm a photographer myself adds a dimension to the appreciation I think. I can try and get inside the head of the person who observed these scenes a hundred-plus years ago as he setup his camera.