John Johnson
was born at Saco, Maine, U.S.A. on 28th May 1813, the son of William
Short
Johnson. He was brought up in New Hampshire and for a time worked
as an assistant to a jeweller and watchmaker in New York. Johnson
formed a business partnership with Alexander Simon Wolcott (1804
-1844),
a New York instrument maker. On 6th October 1839, John Johnson
took
a written description of Daguerre's method of photography to Wolcott,
who
immediately designed a camera for making daguerreotype portraits.
Johnson claimed that Wolcott made a tiny daguerreotype portrait of him
with the camera the same day. Alexander S. Wolcott invented a
camera
which used a highly reflective concave mirror instead of a lens.
This cut exposure times to about 90 seconds in bright sunlight, thereby
making daguerreotype portraiture a possibility. In March 1840,
Wolcott
and Johnson opened a daguerreotype portrait gallery in New York,
probably
the first commercial photographic portrait studio in the world.
Johnson
perfected the technique of polishing the silvered copper plates used
for
daguerreotype portraits and later claimed to have discovered the use of
iodine chloride to sensitize plates and reduce camera exposure times. |
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John
Johnson (1813-1871)
Derby's
first photographer
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In February
1840, John
Johnson's father Wiliam S. Johnson travelled to England with details of
Wolcott's mirror camera, intending to take out an English patent on
Wolcott's
invention. Johnson had a meeting with Richard Beard, who was
planning
to open a daguerreotype portrait gallery in London, and Beard agreed to
purchase the exclusive rights to Wolcott's camera. In the autumn
of 1840, John Johnson also travelled to England in order to provide
technical
assistance to Beard, who was about to construct a photographic studio
on
the roof of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London's Regent Street.
Johnson worked
with
the English scientist John Frederick Goddard (1795-1866) on chemical
techniques
for accelerating camera exposures to provide Beard with a practical
method
of making daguerreotype portraits. Beard opened England's first
photographic
portrait studio to the public on 23rd March 1841. Johnson
continued
to provide technical assistance to Beard at the Regent Street
studio.
In 1841, Johnson filed a patent in the United States for his method of
polishing metal plates for photography. On 9th November 1842,
John
Johnson obtained from Richard Beard the patent rights for the
daguerreotype
process in the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire and took
control of Beard's Photographic & Daguerreotype Portrait Gallery in
Manchester.
In July 1843,
Johnson
opened a daguerreotype portrait studio next to the Athenaeum on
Victoria
Street in Derby. While based in Derby, Johnson arranged for
daguerreotypes
to be made of the farm animals and agricultural implements on display
at
the Royal Agricultural Society's show being held in the town in July
1843.
A couple of month's later, Johnson opened a daguerreotype gallery in
Blackpool,
Lancashire. In 1843,together with his former business partner
Alexander
S. Wolcott, Johnson filed a British Patent on a camera and apparatus
designed
for copying daguerreotypes. In 1844, Johnson sold the Manchester
studio to William Akers, passed the daguerreotype licence for
Derbyshire
to Thomas Roberts, a local bookseller and
newsagent,
and returned to the United States.
On his return to
America,
John Johnson continued his interest in photography and pursued his
scientific
interests. He was an early member of the American Photographical
Society
and became the society's first Treasurer. In the early 1860s,
Johnson
conducted chemical experiments and gave lectures on scientific topics
such
as the influence of light on the growth of plants. By 1866,
Johnson
had returned to his native town of Saco in Maine where he became the
first
President of the York Institute, a society which aimed "to promote
the
study of Natural History and encourage Science and Art ." John
Johnson
died in Saco on 3rd May 1871 at the age of 57.
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