BISMARCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Post office box 47
Bismarck North Dakota 58502-0047
EVENT ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 3, 2015
Contact: Walter L. Bailey (701) 425-9000
BISMARCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
10th ANNUAL PROGRAM SERIES PRESENTS
DEMONSTRATION OF HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHY
The Bismarck Historical Society’s first program of the 2015-16 lecture series will feature Mr. Shane Balkowitsch, a Bismarck businessman and ambrotypist, and Mr. Mike LaLonde, a long time photographer and teacher who will present an interesting vignette of the history of photography in general and in Bismarck in particular.
Almost everyone recognizes the importance of photographs in knowing and understanding the history of events, buildings, structures, communities, families, and the people who made all those historic relationships happen. Today, millions of photos are taken every hour of every day of every conceivable subject that someone wants to note or remember. All one needs to do is point a camera (or even a telephone) at the subject and press a button. In 1848, however, the process of capturing a likeness was much more complex and the equipment far more cumbersome.
Tonight’s speakers will review some of the highlights of that development process and relate its relevance to Bismarck, particularly the work of Orlando Goff, one of Bismarck’s earliest photographers. They will conclude the presentation by demonstrating the taking and processing of a photograph using the wet plate photography method, one of the oldest photographic systems ever invented and an important forerunner of photography as we know it today. This demonstration will include the entire process from preparing the glass plate to showing the finished picture. You’ve never seen photography quite like this…unless you already know an ambrotypist. Want to know one? Come on out and meet one for yourself.
The public is invited. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served. Reservations are not required.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
6:30 P.M.,
Meeting Room A,
Bismarck Veterans’ Memorial Public Library
515 5th Street Bismarck, North Dakota