If you can believe it, this picture of the Paris Catacombs was taken in the 1860s. Can you imagine how hard it would have been to get down there and take photos (and find your way out again) without electricity? The photographer was Félix Nadar (see reply below).
If you’re interested in the history of the catacombs, we talk about it in Episode 18 of the Dirty Sexy History podcast.
#histodons @histodons #goth #FrenchHistory #19thCentury #VintagePhotography
@dirtysexyhistory @histodons this was my favorite destination in Paris and I have no idea what that says about me
@josh it’s a fascinating place! The more I learn about it, the more I love it.
@dirtysexyhistory it had such an incredible energy. The thought of all that humanity in one space was almost overwhelming. Any good docs you know of? Anyway, have some more pics
@dirtysexyhistory @histodons I just finished reading "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson. In one chapter, he talks about the invention of flash photography, so that photo reminds me of that. However, due to the lighting and the date, the Catacombs photo appears to be taken with natural light.
@KansasGrant how interesting! Not natural light—there’s no light down there whatsoever. He used a series of special lamps. I wish I could remember what they were called! I think that’s one in the picture with him in the first reply
@dirtysexyhistory Makes sense. In Johnson book, he makes reference to that kind of thing, and talks about the problems involved. In your photo, the photographer must have done a good job to make the lighting appear natural to me.
@KansasGrant @dirtysexyhistory Any sense of exposure length on this? The subjects obviously weren’t going to move that much, but this had to have been a half minute or more of exposure time. Amazing!
@TJJohn12 @dirtysexyhistory I have no idea but I do know that film was very slow back then, so I think you're right about a very long exposure.
@KansasGrant @dirtysexyhistory This would have been a wet glass plate ambrotype - I’ve had a couple taken in the past and in a decently lit cloudy outdoor setting exposure length was 6-10 seconds.