The First Daguerrotype Of A Human Being

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">March 7, 1839,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>a tall man wearing a hat</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>got a shoe shine </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>on a Paris street.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We know this because</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>Daguerre standing at a distance</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>captured this, his first human form,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>on a silvered copper plate.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The tall man getting a shoe shine</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>appears not to have noticed </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– taken unawares.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Perhaps the street </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>hummed, sang, rattled</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>with people scurrying,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>ambling, proceeding apace.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">But that is at best</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>a reasonable surmise,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>a likely conjecture,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>a mere supposition.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We do not know because</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>if they were there,</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>they were moving and so </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>invisible to Daguerre’s camera.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Only the tall man </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>wearing a hat</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>getting his shoes shined</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>on a Paris street</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">stood still long enough</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to become immortal. </div>

The First Daguerrotype Of A Human Being

March 7, 1839,             a tall man wearing a hat             got a shoe shine             on a Paris street. We know this because        ...

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