Old school photography in Kansas City

According to the world's most accurate encyclopedia: The daguerreotype is an early type of photograph, developed by Louis Daguerre, in which the image is exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface of silver bearing a coating of silver halide particles deposited by iodine vapor . . . The daguerreotype is a negative image, but the mirrored surface of the metal plate reflects the image and makes it appear positive in the proper light. Thus, daguerreotype is a direct photographic process without the capacity for duplication.

This old school form of photography will be the subject of this year's Daguerreian Society Symposium, which runs from Thursday through Sunday at the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

While the locals haven't been paying much attention to news from the Nelson (and who could blame them?) and basically ignoring the ugly ass addition the Museum on general principle, another media blog promotes the event with the following passage:

The symposium itself will include a celebration of the museum's recently acquired Hallmark Photographic Collection, a jaw-dropping 6,500 works by 900 artists, including everyone from "dag" legends Southworth & Hawes to Lee Friedlander and Cindy Sherman.

For more old school artsy news check out the press release the Nelson-Atkins Museum put together promoting the photography event.

And while I don't find the subject exciting in the least, I will note that it keeps in the tradition of Kansas City peeps paying far too much respect to the past and maybe hints that the new Bloch building is already looking a bit outdated and a lot like something that was dreamed up in 1999.