odditiesThe Public Domain Review1914 · Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
In 1914 a botanist and his wife photographed insects with 20-foot cameras and made them look like monsters
David Fairchild, a botanist, and his wife Marian made some of the earliest macrophotographs of tiny creatures in their backyard near Chevy Chase, Maryland, for their 1914 book Book of Monsters. To get large images, they built cardboard extension tubes up to 20 feet long, with a lens at one end and a plate at the other, and exposed plates for 50 to 80 seconds with a magnesium flash. Marian fixed each freshly killed specimen to a waxed block through a leaf, so the wax acted as hidden glue. The photographs of spiders, weevils and pill bugs were paired with writing that cast the creatures as monsters. The book aimed to make people see insects as wonders rather than pests.
A long tube between lens and plate increases magnification, but it also makes the depth of field very narrow, so only a thin slice of the subject is sharp. Lighting and shade were controlled to avoid shadows and heat, and the specimen had to be held very still during the long exposure.
Fairchild's larger goal was to counter the teaching that made children fear and destroy such creatures. The method of long extension tubes also foreshadowed later macro photography.
Marian Fairchild was the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell.
Image: The Public Domain Review
