Who Was William Henry Fox Talbot?

 Who Was William Henry Fox Talbot?

He was an English writer and Scientist, Pioneer of Photography.

   He was educated at Trinity College (Cambridge).

   He used the dark camera for drawings on his travels.

   Talbot was a much more discreet and collected man than Daguerre.

   He had been researching the fixation of the dark camera image for some time.

   Extremely erudite, with multiple investigative interests, his knowledge extended from mathematics, an area in which he was an expert, to oriental languages, passing through Physics and Chemistry.

   Shortly after the French Government announced Daguerre's invention, Talbot claimed the priority of his invention in a report to the Royal Society, called "Some reports on the art of Photogenic Design", the process by which natural objects can be achieved reproduce by themselves ”.

   Unlike Daguerre, the publication of this report was private and very limited, restricted to fellow scientists at the Academy.

   Talbot began his photographic research, trying to obtain contact copies of silhouettes of leaves, feathers, lace and other objects.

   The paper was dipped in nitrate and silver chloride and after drying, made its contact with the objects, obtaining a dark silhouette.

   Finally, the paper was fixed flawlessly with ammonia or a concentrated salt solution.

   Sometimes, potassium iodide was also used.

   South gallery window of Locock Abbey Abbey.

   In the year 1835, Talbot built a small wooden camera, only 6.30 cm², which his wife called "mousetrap".

   The camera was loaded with silver chloride paper, and according to the lens used, it was necessary between half and one hour of exposure.

   The negative image was fixed in table salt and subjected to contact with another sensitive paper.

   Thus, the copy was positive if the lateral inversion.

   The best known shows the window of the Locock Abbey Abbey Library, considered the first photograph obtained by the negative / positive process.