Digital to Daguerreotype Opens at CMOA Sat.

The Carnegie Museum of Art opens a new photo exhibition Saturday tracing the history of photography with a special eye on people. The exhibition “Digital to Daguerreotype: Photographs of People” begins with a room full of colorful photograph taken with digital cameras and printed on paper by inkjet printers. As viewers walk through the exhibition the photos become black and white “gelatin silver” prints and the last room features some of the oldest types of photography including Daguerreotypes. However, some of the pictures taken using 160-year-old technology were actually taken in this decade, including a Daguerreotype taken at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Curator Linda Benedict-Jones says photography made it possible for people who could never afford to hire an artist to paint their portrait were able to hire a photographer to capture an image of their family. She says that focus on humans as subjects has never changed but the way the images are made has changed and the cost has continued to shrink. Benedict-Jones says with the evolution of digital photography the number of pictures being taken has exploded but a smaller percentage of them are being printed. She says that may be good because there are so many but she warns that people should still print out the pictures that are most important to them to make sure they are preserved for the next generation. The exhibition runs June 20-October 18. To listen to an interview with the curator click here. Images provided by The Carnegie Museum of Art.