Very Old Darkroom Discovered Untouched

TStodPhoto · Jun 6, 2007

Hello All: I do not know if this is a good place to put it but, I am gonna post it here....

I have read an article that Luis Nadeau sent out about a Darkroom that had not been touched from 1840's to 1855... The photographer died in 1855 and ever since his mysterious death in 1855 the family closed the doors and left it closed for over a century untouched and unseen.... The last heir discovered it and its a long story but click on the link to read more but I warn you its in French... I translated the article so I could read it...

Just to tell you a little more about it, they found over 400 books and hundreds of chemical bottles still unused and in original bottles...

They show a pic of the darkroom....

I would love to be there giving them a hand cataloging all the items... I think its an amazing find... I hope they preserve it and maybe it will be one of the tourists spots in France....

TStodPhoto · Jun 6, 2007

Dead Link Removed

here is the link oopps forgot to add it

Edwardv · Jun 6, 2007

Wow what a find. Should make the darkroom a museum.

mmcclellan · Jun 6, 2007

Try this -- the translation is not bad.

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

Sirius Glass · Jun 6, 2007

mmcclellan said:
Try this -- the translation is not bad.

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

Thank you for the translation.

Steve

jstraw · Jun 6, 2007

An astounding find.

I loved “all is hustled in the head in only one moment."

psvensson · Jun 6, 2007

Very cool! It's only missing a mummified photographer. I see they think the owner may have died of the chemicals, and that's why the relatives sealed the room.

Krockmitaine · Jun 6, 2007

Photos!
I want to see more photos!
I want to see those books they're talking about!
What a find! Considering that France went through two wars, it's a wonderful discovery.

Marc

Roger Hicks · Jun 6, 2007

Thanks for an incredible 'heads up'.

As soon as I can persuade them to let me in, I'M THERE!

Cheers,

R.

Sean · Jun 6, 2007

They might need to make it a museum, then once a year we can have an apug pilgrimage to the site

I hope someone can post more pics.

Vaughn · Jun 6, 2007

Obviously they don't have many earthquakes there -- the room would be a toxic waste pit here in California by now!

Vaughn

Kino · Jun 6, 2007

I vote Roger reports back with photos!

Sean can temporarily appoint him, "Ambassador to APUG".

Sean can wave a red dot artar over his head and splash him with Caffinol to make it official.

BTW; does that one stoneware crock say, "RODINAL"?

dancqu · Jun 6, 2007

Krockmitaine said:
Photos!
I want to see more photos!
I want to see those books they're talking about!
What a find! Considering that France went through
two wars, it's a wonderful discovery. Marc

Then there was the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.
They lost some with that one. Dan

TStodPhoto · Jun 6, 2007

Roger if you go im going too... I would love to shoot some Still Lifes.... Then use the money from the sell of the prints to keep the museum open... Talk about getting some good shots... I am seriously considering trying to get in touch with these people to go see this place.... maybe even volunteer my time to help out.... More pictures would be awesome... too.... If I hear anymore about this I will post it here...

Krockmitaine · Jun 6, 2007

dancqu said:
Then there was the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.
They lost some with that one. Dan

Was so excited by this discovery that I forgot that one. Shame on me who studied so much French history! *Tsk, tsk tsk*

Marc

copake_ham · Jun 6, 2007

Roger Hicks said:
Thanks for an incredible 'heads up'.

As soon as I can persuade them to let me in, I'M THERE!

Cheers,

R.

Sean said:
They might need to make it a museum, then once a year we can have an apug pilgrimage to the site

I hope someone can post more pics.

TStodPhoto said:
Roger if you go im going too... I would love to shoot some Still Lifes.... Then use the money from the sell of the prints to keep the museum open... Talk about getting some good shots... I am seriously considering trying to get in touch with these people to go see this place.... maybe even volunteer my time to help out.... More pictures would be awesome... too.... If I hear anymore about this I will post it here...

Folks,

Now lets be careful here. We cannot all "descend" on the place en masse. Elsewise they'll have to do to this DR what they do with the Lauscaux (sp?) Cave and create a "re-creation" for visitors!

I agree with Roger going in first. A picture of him at the chair will look contemporary to 1855!

Great find, great fun - what a treat. Do you think that 150 years from now they'll find a "preserved lightroom" containing a PC loaded with PS? :confused:

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 6, 2007

Kino said:
I vote Roger reports back with photos!

Sean can temporarily appoint him, "Ambassador to APUG".

Sean can wave a red dot artar over his head and splash him with Caffinol to make it official.

BTW; does that one stoneware crock say, "RODINAL"?

I think this place pre-dates even Rodinal. Didn't Rodinal originate in the late 1800s?

Quinn · Jun 7, 2007

Does anyone know the exact village or city this is in? I think I may be fairly close to this discovery. I'm in Germany, but near the French border (45 mins). I'm also a wet plate Collodion artist - I would like to get more info on this.

GeorgesGiralt · Jun 8, 2007

Hi !
The Nicephore Niepce * museum has a page about it :
Dead Link Removed
* He was _the_ inventor of photography ;-)
BTW it was the lab of a very talented French Photographer, and his dead is suspected to be from cancer from the nasty chemicals he used at the time.

Removed Account · Jun 10, 2007

My French is terrible at best, but I think I understand the article better in French than with Google's translation

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 26, 2010

Maison Nicéphore Nièpce has posted images of this darkroom on flickr--

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44111063@N04/sets/72157622724275698/

Ray Rogers · Jan 27, 2010

TStodPhoto said:
Dead Link Removed

here is the link oopps forgot to add it

Link not working for me... La page que vous demandez n'a pas été trouvée...
But there is a good running English commentary on the HP of Maison Nicéphore Nièpce, as mentioned earlier....

Ian Grant · Jan 27, 2010

Ray I have a French Photo magazine with an very good article on this darkroom herewith me in Turkey, I can copy and email to you.

Ian

Andy K · Jan 27, 2010

I'm getting 'page not found' on those links.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 27, 2010

The older links are two years old. The flickr link is current as of this post.

Very Old Darkroom Discovered Untouched

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