In the 19th century, photography was a marvel of science, patience, and skill. Long exposure times, fragile materials, and complex chemical processes meant having your portrait taken was a serious event, not a quick snapshot. In this deep dive, Our Collections Manager Tina Lee explores two of the earliest photographic processes, the daguerreotype and ambrotype, and what they reveal about life and identity in the goldfields era. She also touches on the hisorty of the Red Hill Photographic Studio,