Edward A. Edgerton is credited with introducing the wet collodion process of photography to Singapore in 1858. In this process, the chemicals used to develop a photograph had to remain in a wet colloidal form for proper development. It offered advantages over the earlier daguerreotype technique especially in allowing duplicates to be made from a negative.[1]
Formerly a lawyer from Massachusetts, Edgerton headed out of San Francisco for a holiday to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) in November 1854. In Honolulu, he met with a company of American traders who wanted to travel to Japan to capitalise on the newly minted Treaty of Kanagawa, a trade agreement that allowed American transactions with Japan. Edgerton decided to join them, making a quick purchase of daguerreotype equipment in Honolulu and the necessary chemicals to make photographs, primarily to take photographs of Japan.Edgerton and the traders departed on the schooner Caroline E. Foote on 13 February 1855. They first landed on Shimoda, where they remained for three months, before heading for Hokadadi. Although it was his first time taking photographs, Edgerton is credited with taking some of the earliest photographs of Japan. The traders’ plans for trade with Japan did not work out so Edgerton and the company made their way to Guam to stock up on supplies. Enjoying the tropical life there, Edgerton parted ways with his company and attempted to find work in Guam but was unsuccessful. However, he had to remain there for several months due to a smallpox quarantine that was imposed on him.[2]
On 14 January 1857,[3] Edgerton travelled via Hong Kong to Singapore arriving on the island sometime that same year. On 13 February 1858, he advertised his photographic services – using the wet collodian process – conducted from his home along Stamford Road.[4] By May the same year, Edgerton had formed a partnership with a certain Alfeld. Their studio was located at No. 3 Armenian Street opposite Edgerton’s Stamford Road residence.[5]
Although the studio offered the daguerreotype technique of photography, the advertisement in The Straits Times dated 13 February 1858 shows that the wet collodian process is the first known commercial use of the albumen printing process for photography in Singapore. The process is also known as the wet-plate process, which was invented by British amateur photographer Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. A collodian of chemicals was placed on a glass plate which had to be processed before it dried. Then the glass negative was transferred to an albumenised paper creating very clear images. This process allowed for clearly defined images to be reproduced multiple times.[6]
Edgerton’s advertisement also highlighted the method’s superiority over the daguerreotype and noted how it was less likely to be affected by climate, although he still offered daguerreotype photography. Edgerton’s equipment for the wet-plate technique was purchased from London and Paris.[7] He charged between $2 and $75 for his services and opened his business between 8 am and 4 pm,[8] although in later months the studio with Alfeld operated from 9 am.[9] Edgerton also advertised for a colourist which indicates that he was one of the first in Singapore to provide coloured photographs.[10]
By 1859, Edgerton was heading the New Photographic Rooms but without any mention of Alfeld. It was located at the South West end of Commercial Square, with the entrance on the street leading to D’Almeida’s Pier.[11]
Unfortunately, none of Edgerton’s photographic works have been preserved. By January 1861, he had ventured into publishing The Singapore Review and Monthly Magazine. The serial did not last more than a few months. The last that is known of Edgerton is that he had started a portrait studio in New York by the 1870s.[12]
References
1. Toh, J. (2009). Singapore through 19th century photographs (p. 187). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING 959.5703 TOH-[HIS]
2. Bennett, T. (2006). Photography in Japan, 1853–1912 (p. 34). Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing. Call no.: R 952.030222 BEN; Palmquist, P. E., & Kailbourn, T. R. (2000). Pioneer photographers of the Far West: A biographical dictionary, 1840–1865 (p. 216). California, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from Google Books website: http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Nne4L9h27RsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
3. Bennett, 2006, p. 34; Falconer, J. (1987). A vision of the past: A history of early photography in Singapore and Malaya: The photographs of G. R. Lambert & Co., 1880–1910 (p. 189). Liu, G. (Ed.). Singapore: Times Editions. Call no.: RSING 779.995957 FAL.
4. Page 2 Advertisements Column 3 (Portraits & Views) (1858, February 13). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Page 2 Advertisements Column 4 (Photography). (1858, May 15). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Toh, 2009, pp. 20, 187. [Toh also calls it the collodion negative process on p. 187.]
7. The Straits Times, 1858, February 13, p. 2.
8. The Straits Times, 1858, February 13, p. 2.
9. The Straits Times, 1858, May 15, p. 2.
10. The Straits Times, 1858, February 13, p. 2; Bennett, 2006, p. 35.
11. Page 2 Advertisements Column 2 (Portraits & Views at the New Photographic Rooms). (1859, May 21). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
12. Bennett, 2006, p. 35.
The information in this article is valid as at 2014 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.