Making Daguerreotypes with Dr. Mike Robinson - [Republished]

This video was originally published on my old channel and was moved during the channel migration to keep this content available.
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From the original video description:
I recently had the privilege of spending three days studying the mercurial daguerreotype process with renown daguerreotypist, historian, and educator, Dr. Mike Robinson. This video provides a brief overview of the mercurial daguerreotype process with footage from the three days we spent making daguerreotypes in Mike’s Toronto daguerreotype studio. The video also contains a short interview with Mike discussing how he arrived at daguerreotypy, his influences, and how he approaches his work.
To learn more about Mike, see some of his work, and to learn about specialized daguerreotype equipment that he's developed, as well as to find clad daguerreotype plates, visit his website: www.CenturyDarkroom.com.
A huge special thanks to Dr. Mike Robinson (Century Darkroom) for his time and for sharing his knowledge with me.
Video by Francesco Fragomeni
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Instagram: francescofragomeni

[@abarrutia]

I took several Dag workshops in my life, one with Mike 5 years ago and he is The Master. The quality of his craftmanship is unbelievable.

[@samboyd-wilson8685]

It really is like watching a magician at work, absolutely beautiful

[@cncshrops]

Fascinating. Thank you.

[@greg7mdp2]

Excellent video. Mike is a great guy and a master of the daguerreotype process. Thanks for sharing.

[@francescofragomeni]

Yea, great guy and a fantastic teacher. A true wealth of knowledge!

[@GiulioSciorio]

Thanks so much for posting this interview. I learned a lot, quickly

[@francescofragomeni]

Love this! That's my hope with videos like these. Thanks man!

[@duckducks649]

Wow 👌 amazing 👏 😍 🙌 ❤️

[@Brendan9674]

Wow

[@MSACoachMike]

How is the silver deposited onto the plate before it is polished - is that electroplated? If not, how was it done in the 1840’s? Is that historically accurate as they used to use copper plates with a silver surface.

[@francescofragomeni]

I use both clad plates and electroplated plates. Two different methods for silvering. I mainly use copper plates as is most common traditionally but have experimented with other metal bases. In cladding, the two metals are bonded together under great pressure that causes them to fuse. The only place to get clad plates today is Century Darkroom. They are excellent and have a lot of silver on them so I like to use them when working on something where I may need to iterate and use a plate numerous times. In other cases when I know I'll get the image in one or two tries, I use electroplated plates which I have either plated for me or I plate them myself. Those have about half the silver on them. Both methods and a combination of the two are historically accurate. Copper and brass were used in the 19th century, copper being most common. Initially clad plates were most common because electroplating technology had not yet been perfected. After various advancements in generators were made, electroplating become more common. There was also a period where the preference was for using clad plates that had a final silver layer added by electroplating so the combination of the two.

[@MSACoachMike]

Thanks for the detailed reply - it is very much appreciated!

[@user-st9kp2hj4x]

Great but not so easy as it looks!

[@francescofragomeni]

Åke! So true. Not as easy as it looks but so worth the effort! Also, I would like a copy of your daguerreotype book. Can you send me a copy?