Nadja and me we stopped in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes while travelling through France in the summer of 2022. Nicéphore Niépce experimented here with heliography. 200 years ago he used camera obscura bodies and Bitumen of Judea as light sensitive material. By applying the tar-like bitumen to a pewter plate and exposing for days straight from his window into the garden, Nicéphore took the first photograph made in a camera. “View from the Window at Le Gras” was fixed with oil of lavender, and is today part of the Harry Ransom Centers collection in Austin, Texas.
I had the pleasure to shoot from the same spot with my Nikon F3, 35mm ƒ2 and Ilford HP5.
Who knows, without Nicéphore some of us would be painters.
Share this post:
Comments
No comments found