This is
an excellent read if you are interested in the birth of photography. Written by Roger Watson and Helen
Rappaport. It takes you back in time to the years after the French revolution
where a flamboyant Louis Daguerre is making his name as a scenery painter and
showman. While in the English countryside a young shy gentleman amateur
scientist by the name of Henry Fox Talbot plays with the idea of being able to
fix a scene on paper using chemicals among other things.
The book is
written like an historical thriller as the two gentlemen race to discover the
holy grail of chemicals that will allow the light drawings to be developed and fixed so that all can enjoy
their own images, but who gets there first and crowned the inventor of
photography?
For me this
was a page turner even though I have studied both men in some detail at collage.
While I was reading this book I felt that I was being introduced to both men
for the first time. This was nothing like the dry text books from my collage
days; it is easy to read although in the beginning it has a bit of a quirky
writing style but once you get the hang of it the book flies by so don't be put
off, otherwise you will miss out!
