Reflected Light: A Century of Photography in Chester County

Powell, Pamela C.

ISBN 10: 0929706021 / ISBN 13: 9780929706023

Published by Univ Publ Assn / Chester County Historical Society, West Chester PA, 1988

About this Item

Signed by Author on title page. Exhibit catalog, 8 3/4 x 11 1/4 oblong softcover, 80 pp. w/ 60 b&w photos, celebrating the 150th anniversary of photography (1989). Examines the development of photography as a profession and hobby through the work of 10 Chester County photographers. Book Condition : Good; no text marks; curling and creasing to front and rear cover corners; rubbing and some creasing to rear cover.

Seller Inventory # 222567

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reflected Light: A Century of Photography in Chester County
• Publisher: Univ Publ Assn / Chester County Historical Society, West Chester PA
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0929706021
• ISBN 13: 9780929706023
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Photography
  • Pennsylvania History
  • Americana

About this title

Synopsis

Photography began almost 150 years ago with the nearly simultaneous invention of two types of photographic processes, the daguerreotype and the Talbotype or calotype. On January 7, 1839, Louis Daguerre announced his discovery of a way to reproduce images on coated copper plate. Shortly thereafter, on January 31, William Talbot explained how shadows of objects could be chemically recorded on salted paper sensitized with silver nitrate.
With the advent of photography, the people, architecture, and natural beauty of Chester County, Pennsylvania, made worthy subject matter for many professional and amateur photographers. Photographers in Chester County, many of whom were also skilled artisans and craftsmen, were fortunate in that they lived near Philadelphia, a center of photographic activity. The first photographers in the county were itinerant tradesmen who traveled from place to place, taking photographs, portraits mainly, for a fee. Later, as photography developed and became more widely known, many photographers opened their own studios.
Reflected Light: A Century of Photography in Chester County offers an overview of the development of the photographic medium and traces the progress of photography by examining the work of ten Chester County photographers. In the text by Pamela Powell and in striking photographs of the county and its people, the story of photography in its earliest years is deftly told.