This is a post-mortem daguerreotype – a photograph taken of a dead person. Many people now think of these images as morbid or gruesome, but I think they’re especially poignant.

Back in the Daguerreian era (1839 to ~1858), death was more routine than visits to the photographer. $5 for a photograph was a lot of money […]

I collect a lot of stuff: old cameras, nuns, boudoir dolls, old playing cards, antique photographs – and daguerreotypes. Each dag is unique – the dag is its own negative. In fact, if you tilt it, you can see it change from positive to negative and back again. Dags have holographic properties, and they’re quite […]