CHARLES A. LONG.
153, Fleet Street,
June 1858.
[OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.]
From the Athenæum.
We have not merely examined the description given by Mr. Long of his dry collodion process, but we have witnessed the results obtained by following carefully his directions. It appears to us that, by it, a collodion plate may be prepared at home, wrapped in paper, and packed in portmanteau; that we may journey to Rome or Venice, then place our plate in the camera obscura, and allow it for a few minutes to receive the luminous image; remove it in a dark room; re-pack it and trouble ourselves no more about it until our return to England; when, in the room in which it was prepared, we may witness the magic process of development, and rejoice that we have, without much labour, secured a picture of the Coliseum or of the Bridge of Sighs.
From the Journal of the Cambrian Archæological Association.
New Photographic Process.—Mr. Long, of the firm of Bland and Long, Opticians, Fleet Street, has recently put forth a valuable pamphlet, in the form of an essay on the dry collodion process. By means of this, plates prepared weeks beforehand may be exposed to objects, and then kept for weeks afterwards before they are developed, as he has proved it himself on the Continent. The advantage of this process to travellers, and especially to archæologists, is immense; because hitherto the main drawback upon photography has been the trouble and expense of carrying chemicals, tents, &c. &c., besides the camera, with its lenses, to the scene of operation. Now, however, it will be sufficient to carry merely the camera, with a suitable supply of plates prepared according to this process. The observer can then, by merely exposing his plates, with the proper precautions, bag any number of views per diem, and on his return home can develop them—or have them developed—at leisure. If this process succeeds, it will have the effect of splitting photography into two distinct branches—the æsthetic, and the practical. The former will fall to the share of the intelligent observer, the traveller, the man of taste, who will go and search for objects, combine them, or use them, under the most favourable æsthetic circumstances, and then will carry them home to be handed over to the man of practice. Once in his hands, nothing will remain but to manipulate the plates according to the rules of photographic science, by means of all the best appliances that a well fitted laboratory can furnish. One branch will feed the other. One will be the department of observation, of search, of taste, of beauty; the other will be that of calm scientific development, of improvement, of preservation. One man will be like the artist who paints; the other like the artist who engraves. One will be like the author, the man who writes; the other like the printer, the man who perpetuates. We recommend members to enquire carefully about this new process; because if it becomes firmly established, any archæologist moving about the Country may get views of churches, castles, cromlechs, meini-hirion, seals, &c. &c., usque ad satietatum—we had almost said ad nauseam; but that word can never be connected with archæology! The upshot of this is,—"Read Mr. Long's pamphlet, and set up a portable camera with his prepared plates, as we intend doing ourselves!"
From the Liverpool and Manchester Photographic Journal.