In Broken glass (part 1), we looked at how the Library captures glass plate negatives, and explored some interestingly damaged photographs from the Library’s collection. In this — part 2 — we will look at how the Library houses the negatives and show some more examples of unexpected beauty.

While glass is quite a fragile medium, if stored correctly glass negatives are a relatively stable photographic format. At the Library they are boxed vertically, separated and kept in cool and relatively dry conditions. If the plate experiences extreme conditions however, damage can occur. Conditions that are too cold and dry will make the glass prone to cracking and breaking; too hot on the other hand, and mould can develop.¹

Water is not a friend of the glass plate as it can react with its thin emulsion layer (which contains the negative) causing damage, or even complete image removal. Some helpful newspaper articles back in the day gave tips and techniques for the removal of the emulsion layer so that the glass could be reused.²

Glass plates can be successfully cleaned without damaging the emulsion. At the Library, Preservation staff clean each plate removing dust and dirt. A mixture of distilled water, ethanol and a gentle surfactant is used to clean the non-emulsion side of the plate. No fluid is used on the emulsion side;³ just a gentle brush to remove any dust. Plates are then placed into a sleeve and custom-designed box, keeping them safe for long term storage.

While the following glass negatives would still be valuable if they were in perfect condition, the accidental interplay between damage and image has added an unintentional energy and life to their captured forms. The image below has been transformed, a gardener now holds back a wave of degradation while tending to his crops:

We have a few examples of glass plates which have become fixed together (due to moisture, under-dried emulsion layers or mould). To avoid the risk of further damage, it was decided not to separate them, but to capture them as they are instead. This analogue ‘double exposure’ has effectively created a newly unified single image, very different from the photographer’s initial intention but no less striking.

The composition of this negative, above, is evocative of early spirit photography (or ‘ghost’ photography). An early article reprinted in The Sydney Morning Herald has some interesting things to say about the medium, pointing out that the Spiritual Magazine were selling sealed, ‘lucky bags’ of photos:⁴

The buyer in this case, a experienced photographer, paid for a packet, brought it home, opened it, and found – just what he expected. The photographs had each been taken from a negative which had been twice exposed to the camera, for the two different sitters or at any rate had had a double manipulation bestowed upon them. Two of them had obviously been taken from imperfectly-cleaned old plates…

The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 28 Sep 1864, p 8

A later pamphlet from 1921: The case against spirit photographs, lists in great detail the methods of double exposure and substitution a photographer could employ to give the illusion of a supernatural image.⁵ The more circumstantial origins of the adjoined plates don’t hinder their otherworldly appeal. It’s tempting to create a narrative by conjuring ethereal, florid descriptions…. Ectoplasmic strands string forth as a transparent doppelganger joins their corporeal partner gazing off into space….

In what now feels like a purposeful statement this man and child form an intersecting image of the stages of life:

It is hard to put your finger on why the image below appears a bit strange. It is a double exposure containing two images. This is fully revealed when the image is turned 90 degrees left and the larger portrait in profile is more visible (flipped image underneath).

The composition of the two faces fit so perfectly it’s hard to tell how purposeful this image is (the portrait in profile appears to be wearing the full body sitter’s décolletage as a mask). Was the photographer playing with form and transparency, or was it just a happy accident, now given new life as a digitised image?

Below is another example of a double exposed negative, which again may be totally accidental⁶ but, when cropped, is hard not to see as an intentional image:

The emulsion damage to the right of this portrait appears to be mimicking a human form, willing itself into the picture as a captured ‘spirit’:

We hold a large collection of Vincent Kelly photographs at the Library. Many of the examples in this collection contain two portraits on the one glass negative plate.⁷ In the following example some sort of mishap has led to the image on the left becoming misaligned and double exposed:

The double exposed side of the photograph shows the striking image of an abstracted face with piercing eyes that thankfully was not scrubbed from history:

Another Vincent Kelly example (see below) shows the inadvertent value of having two portraits of the same sitter on a single plate, as the emulsion damage has only obscured the one on the left (the sitter looks nonplussed as the fingers of corrosion creep closer):

The damage on the image below (itself a playful double portrait using a mirror) appears to have mimicked the qualities of a reflection; freeing itself from the mirror to envelope the face of the sitter:

The ability to crop, zoom and play with the high quality digital reproductions allows new focal points to be created. The abstract nature of the damage appears to transform the below photograph into a painting. Thick modernist ‘brush strokes’ nicely contrast the delicate portrait.

The portrait by Spencer Shier, when cropped tight to the sitter’s profile, appears to hold a quiet rage; the sitter holding firm as scratches of damage blow across the frame like a storm.

Broken or cracked plates are often given more stability by an extra piece of backing board (before being housed with other plates). Or where possible, they are repaired by Conservation staff. This example by Lindt is a diamond in the ‘rough’, attacked on all sides by cracks, breaks and failing emulsion.

Severely damaged and broken plates are housed flat. This final example reiterates the beautiful patina and aged melancholy that glass plate negatives can have. A lonely sitter fighting it out against time, and any expectation they would still be around over 100 years later to elicit emotion from an unfamiliar world.

Postscript

There are many more examples that can be found in our catalogue; have a browse and see what you can find. You can also see a large selection of digitised Glass negatives and lantern slides (over 57,000 and counting) on our Collection discovery page. The high quality captures available afford the unique opportunity to zoom right into corners of the image and uncover previously hidden detail. Happy exploring! You are sure to find many buried treasures.

We have conservation guides available on our website. These provide general practical advice when caring for material in your own collection. One of these guides gives guidance on caring for photographs, including some handling, storing and labeling advice.

Thanks to staff in Collection Curation, Conservation, Digital Production, Digitising and Document Delivery and Preservation for their advice and expertise.

Further reading

• Jolly, M, 2006, Faces of the Living Dead: the Belief in Spirit Photography, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, Victoria
• Long, S, 2021, ‘Self-representation in the nineteenth century‘, Latrobe Journal, vol 106, September, pp 48-59
• Patrick, C, V & Smith W, W, 1921, The Case Against Spirit Photographs, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, London
• State Library Victoria staff, 2020, ‘Vincent Kelly photographic studio, Bendigo: opening up a collection of early 20th-century photographs,’ LaTrobe Journal, vol 104, March, pp 48-62

More to explore

Mysteries from the Rosenberg Collection of Vincent Kelly’s Bendigonian portraits

References

1. This is a result of the higher humidity levels.
2. As late as the 1930s you can find helpful articles, such as this one from The Queenslander Illustrated Weekly advising the use of very hot water to wash the emulsion off so the ‘good quality glass’ can be reused for various purposes such as ‘glazing small passe-partouts’.
3. This can remove the emulsion which would remove the image. This side appears matte on the physical negative.
4. ‘Ghosts everywhere’, The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 28 Sep 1864, p 8.
5. Patrick, C, V & Smith W, W, 1921, The case against spirit photographs, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, London, pp 15.
6. It would be fairly easy to absent-mindedly shoot using the same negative twice only to discover the error when developing.
7. This was often for the purpose of retouching one and using the other as a reference.