Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, inventor of the first practical process of photography, was born near Paris, France on November 18, 1789. A professional scene painter for the opera, Daguerre began experimenting with the effects of light upon translucent paintings in the 1820s. In 1829, he formed a partnership with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce to improve the process Niépce had developed to take the first permanent photograph in 1826-1827. Niépce died in 1833.
After several years of experimentation, Daguerre developed a more convenient and effective method of photography, naming it after himself - the Daguerreotype. In 1839, he and Niépce's son sold the rights for the Daguerreotype to the French government and published a booklet describing the process.
Daguerre invented the Daguerreotype process in France. The invention was announced to the public on August 19, 1839 at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
The Process
     The Daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper, plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror. Next, the plate was sensitized in a closed box over iodine until it took on a yellow-rose appearance. The plate, held in a lightproof holder, was then transferred to the camera. After exposure to light, the plate was developed over hot mercury until an image appeared. To fix the image, the plate was immersed in a solution of sodium thiosulfate or salt and then toned with gold chloride.
Exposure times for the earliest Daguerreotypes ranged from three to fifteen minutes, making the process nearly impractical for portraiture. Modifications to the sensitization process coupled with the improvement of photographic lenses soon reduced the exposure time to less than a minute.
Although Daguerreotypes are unique images, they could be copied by "redaguerreotyping" the original. Copies were also produced by lithography or engraving. Portraits based upon Daguerreotypes appeared in popular periodicals and in books. James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the New York Herald, posed for his Daguerreotype at Brady's studio. An engraving, based on this Daguerreotype later appeared in the Democratic Review.
The Cameras
     The earliest cameras used in the Daguerreotype process were made by opticians and instrument makers, or sometimes even by the photographers themselves. The most popular cameras utilized a sliding-box design. The lens was placed in the front box. A second, slightly smaller box, slid into the back of the larger box. The focus was controlled by sliding the rear box forward or backwards. A laterally reversed image would be obtained unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism to correct this effect. When the sensitized plate was placed in the camera, the lens cap would be removed to start the exposure.
Contemporary Daguerreotypes
      As a medium, the daguerreotype is unequaled in detail. Whereas modern film employs an emulsion of light sensitive silver crystals to capture light, the daguerreotype's surface is solid, .999 pure silver. Photons of light act on this surface at the molecular level to create the image. There is no "grain" to be seen and therefore the daguerreotype is much finer than any modern film. To see what makes up the image, a scanning electron microscope must be used that can record in the millionths of an inch.   
Daguerreotypes made today are made no different than in the 1800's.  The same chemicals and materials are used as well as the many details of the process itself. The only differences now are new cameras and lenses and modern materials used to make fuming boxes, mercury units, and other equipment. Also, a stopwatch is a lot easier than counting "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, etc..." for several minutes. A spot meter is very helpful too.
  Some contemporary artists use this medium as a method to evoke the charm of the past while combining subject matter that is clearly 21st. Century into a piece of art that in which the artist's individual personality underlies a highly hand crafted product.