Exhibit proves we’ve been photographing the same things for 150 years — except maybe our dead relatives

Charles Thompson and his soprano horn by an unknown ambrotypist, circa 1855.

Charles Thompson and his soprano horn by an unknown ambrotypist, circa 1855.

The images currently on display at the Maine Historical Society’s Brown Research Library in Portland in the Early Maine Photography, 1840-1870 exhibition look pretty familiar. All the photographs (Daguerreotypes, tintypes and ambrotypes) are of Maine subjects, or were made by Maine photographers, in the 19th century. The technology of photography has changed at lot since then, but the themes are the same — except nowadays we tend to shy away from photographing our dead relatives.

You’ll find dignified pictures of men and women (including Dolly Madison, who had a sister in Saco) the grinning faces of children and groups of men flashing secret signals with their hands while mugging for the camera. There’s a man showing off his musical horn akin to rockers posing with electric guitars on Facebook. Also in the exhibit are photos of city streets, local churches and families dragged together for what passed as a snapshot back then. Some are clearly less thrilled about being photographed than others.

Sadie O. Gould by ambrotypist Thomas R. Burnham in Portland, circa 1860.

Sadie O. Gould by ambrotypist Thomas R. Burnham in Portland, circa 1860.

Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine’s State Historian and an authority on Maine photography, is curator of this exhibition. He’ll give a talk about the pictures and their place in Maine’s past on Wednesday night Dec. 9. The show is up until January 16th at 489 Congress Street in Portland. While you’re there, check out another photo exhibit they’ve got running: Imbued with Hues. It features historic monochrome images spruced up with imaginative colors by Portland artist Patty Allison.

Postmortem image of Mrs. William H. Herbert by an unknown Daguerreotypist, circa 1843.

Postmortem image of Mrs. William H. Herbert by an unknown Daguerreotypist, circa 1843.

Troy R. Bennett

About Troy R. Bennett

Troy R. Bennett is a Buxton native and longtime Portland resident whose photojournalism has appeared in media outlets all over the world.