Natural Magic: Salted Paper Prints In North America

The salted paper print process and the daguerreotype were invented, for all practical purposes, simultaneously. Though using different materials and methods (the salted paper print was patented, while daguerreotype was not) still both achieved the miracle of fixing an image from life within a substrate―in other words, they ushered in the medium of photography. The uses of each form of photography varied greatly. In Europe the salted paper print was valued for its aesthetic qualitiesthe massing of light and the softening of detail―while in North America, the salted paper print was valued for its portability and reproducibility. At the same time, the three evolving regions that comprised North America―Canada, the United States and Mexico―faced quite different realities and challenges than those in Europe (primarily France and Britain). In North America artistic merit was less of a priority, as each emerging nation faced vast, untamed territories, as well as social and political tumult. These were countries in the making―defining borders, struggling to create identities, and establishing metropolitan areas and transportation networks, while the scions on the other side of the…