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Francesco Fragomeni

@fragomeni.bsky.social

4.6K followers 450 following 160 posts

Contemporary daguerreotypist and historian building cameras and working in 19th century photographic processes. Other apps I barely use: Instagram.com/FrancescoFragomeni

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Jan 24

I’m Francesco Fragomeni, a photographic artist & researcher specializing in 19th century photographic processes with a focus on daguerreotype, Bayard direct positive, calotype and salted paper, collodion variations, and albumen. I also build and restore cameras. I share about my work and process.

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thank you Martin!

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Sep 6

Some video from one of the most incredible experiences of my life making daguerreotypes from the roof of the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building for the Library of Congress and the U.S. Capitol:
www.instagram.com/reel/DN6La3i...

Daguerreotype by Francesco Fragomeni of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building from the roof of the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Sep 6

Some of my recent work exploring the early work of daguerreotypist Robert Cornelius for the Library of Congress: www.instagram.com/p/DNyftyYZFCp

Self-Portrait After Cornelius - Iodine-only daguerreotype by Francesco Fragomeni for the Library of Congress

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 6

Yea, nothing like a good ol’ double standard. Not really surprised though. Well at least you learned quick not to waste time on that app.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 5

Didn’t expect this considering there is already so much nudity on there. Well, another one bites the dust. I’ve already found myself giving up on that app anyway because it never seems to load anyway.

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 4

Is there a good or preferred way to surface bugs and feature requests to you?

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 3

Very kind and appreciated. Thanks man

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 3

Yea, they haven’t built any discoverability yet either but it’s on their roadmap. I’m basically just keeping an eye on it for now as I figure out what social I want to land on, if any. Honestly, the fatigue is real and going back to a personal website with only minimal social is winning in my mind

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 3

The design isn’t bad and is probably its strongest asset right now but for me it only loads about half the time and is overall feature-poor with a small user base but they’re still new and working on it with a public roadmap. Not really sure if it’ll find any real competitive advantage though.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 3

Photo focused app in early dev. Kind of blending Flickr and IG. It’s trying to get away from typical social elements— no public facing follower metrics. No DMs. Still early and feels more portfolio than social but without the flexibility of a website so not sure where it’s gonna land if it survives.

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Reposted by Francesco Fragomeni

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Nov 19

Daguerreotype of the same snake plant from the last post, made several months later after it had unbraided itself.

Here, the plate has just been gilded (gold chloride) and is unsealed with edges still bent down (helps the plate grab onto my polishing block).

#daguerreotype #photography #artist

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Mar 3

When my mercury apparatus is being used indoors in my lab it lives in a fume hood which is always on when the apparatus is turned on and at temperature. The negative pressure in the fume hood ensures any free mercury fumes that escape the box during use get pulled and out of the room.

Reposted by Francesco Fragomeni

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Nov 19

Contemporary daguerreotype of a braided snake plant.

Made by iodizing and then brominating a silver plate, exposing, developing in fumes of hot mercury, and then chemically gilding in gold. Pure alchemy.

#daguerreotype #artist #photographer

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 28

To clarify, I’m not actually saying there’s anything wrong with that and I don’t believe there should be any moral judgement around why someone makes whatever they want to make. It just makes it very obvious why most nude work comes across as it does and falls flat in terms of perception.

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 28

A photographer‘s intentions are always revealed in their work one way or another, sometimes obviously and sometimes more subtly but that’s never more true than with a nude.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 28

You remember how big my cameras are. Tripod is unavoidable for me. Although, at a time long ago I did shoot a lot of handheld 4x5 when I missed my Leica days

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 28

This just seems like a dramatically over engineered product solving an entirely imaginary problem. That said, if it helps someone out, more power to them— use the tool that works for you. No one else’s opinion matters beyond that.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 28

Yea, if it ends up being nothing more than a portfolio site (which is what it feels like) it’ll likely sink and disappear rather quickly. They would just never be able to compete against feature-rich legacy platforms like Squarespace and similar, plus we don’t need more of those solutions anyway.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 25

I see some promise but am put off by starting over and dealing with yet another app in what seems to be the perpetual fracturing of social. The aesthetic is good but it’s feature-lacking and I’m unsure how it’ll fair when competing against something like the Flashes app and the more well known apps.

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 24

Not sure where I’ll land but using my last bit of energy to try out Foto App. Photo people find me there:
the.fotoapp.co/fragomeni

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 16

Why is your website banned? Because you have nudes? They ban anything that links to any site that has nudes now? This is mindblowing to me.

Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 16

I’m missing something (my fb has been deactivated for a long while at this point). Are you no longer allowed to have a website watermarked on an image?

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 9

Homemade camera obscura. Originally completed mid-2022, shortly thereafter deconstructed and cut into scrap and parts for another project. Then all pieces and parts re-salvaged and reconstructed in April 2024. The reconstructed camera was then used during my artist talk series at the Getty in 2024.

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 8

I was just thinking how much I missed blogs

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Francesco Fragomeni @fragomeni.bsky.social · Feb 7

If the one they’re providing doesn’t have a diopter adjustment sufficient for you, you may be able to find a better one. Prices tend to very but they usually aren’t overly expensive so maybe buy a few to try. There are not many other ways to achieve critical focus when enlarging.

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