*
Homepage

 

08/30 (Sat)

Closed Today

*
Travel Memories— School Excursion in the Archives of the Institute of Taiwan History

Publication date: 12 Mar 2018
Author: Ou Yi-han |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

On Open House Day in 2017, the Institute of Taiwan History featured “Travel Memories-Journeys and Experiences in the Diaries”. The exhibition selected contents of The Diary of Ye Sheng-ji and relative photographs, postcards, itineraries, representing travel memories during the Japanese colonial period. Let us follow the travelers’ steps and enjoy impressive scenery through viewing abundant archives and experiencing a busy school excursion!

*
IV. The equipment and technique of photography that John Thomson applied

The photography technique that John Thomson applied was wet-plate collodion, which was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The equipment included a wooden camera, a portable tent to be a dark room, glass plate negatives, collodion and silver nitrate used to be sensitizers and developers. However, walking in the old-growth forest with the equipment was not convenient at all. Hence, John Thomson hired several porters assisting him to take photographs. Since the exposing process of wet-plate collodion took several seconds to 2 minutes, the photographer’s expertise and his interaction with the models were both tested. Surprisingly, there were no serious conflicts between the plain aborigines in Taiwan and western people. It was likely that Dr. Maxwell’s introduction already won the trust from Taiwanese plain aborigines. Therefore, they were calm and comfortable when facing John Thomson’s lens. According to what Thomson wrote in Through China: with a Camera, we can know that Taiwanese plain aborigines were very hospitable.


11F., South Wing, Building for Humanities and Social Sciences, 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City 11529,
Taiwan Tel: +886-2-2652-5181 Fax: +886-2-2652-5184 【Contact us
Copyright © 2010 Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. All Rights Reserved