KOPSCH & MAY

In the Register for 26 December 1853 Messrs Kopsch & May informed the public that they were ready to make daguerreotype portraits in their glasshouse opposite the Southern Cross Hotel in King William Street, Adelaide, between , between 8 am and 5 pm.

In an advertisement in the Observer for 21 January 1854 they said they were taking ‘likenesses by daguerreotype on silver plates, in rings, lockets, brooches etc., and up to a size of eight inches by ten... Mr Kopsch, an artist of long and practical experience, has brought with him, on his recent arrival in the colony, the best and newly improved apparatuses, by which means, and combined with his skill in the above art, portraits can now be obtained which in perfection never before were equalled in the colony. Orders to take the likenesses of deceased relations will be punctually attended to. Sketches of estates and landscapes taken when desired. Open daily from 9 am till 4 pm. The weather will make no difference whether cloudy or bright.’

In February the Observer devoted a lengthy item to Kopsch & May: ‘We have had hasty visits from several daguerreotype artists, who, having caught up what stray guineas the people of Adelaide and country districts would suddenly spare, have run away to other colonies, or sought different occupations. This peripatetic mode of using the camera obscura is the most unfortunate possible, as the taking of portraits through is agency is as much a science as an art, and one which requires great experience in the particular locality where it is exercised. Not only the light, but the state of the atmosphere, has to be considered; and every skilful daguerreotypist is aware that he must choose his time with judgement if he would rely upon producing a successful likeness.

‘We are glad, therefore, to find that two accomplished gentlemen from Germany, Messrs Kopsch and May, who possess every possible appliance, have established themselves in King William Street, and erected a glass-room, so well provided with blinds that the light can be admitted or excluded from any quarter of the compass. We have seen several of their portraits, which are singularly characteristic, and some of their copies from pictures, which are equally happy. The latter have been found in some instances particularly valuable, as enabling residents of Adelaide to send their English friends the likenesses of those who have passed from this mortal scene, and of whom the only remaining memorial is a portrait or a miniature.’

In May and August 1854 Kopsch and May’s advertisements said that they ‘continue to take likenesses by Daguerreotype in any size. The winter season is strongly recommended, as there is now no more heat and dust, which, in the summer, are the two great evils that have to be overcome. The weather will in no instance make any difference, whether raining or sunshine. Open daily from 9 till 3.’ One aspect of photography that they played down was that although daguerreotypes could still be made in the winter months, much longer exposure times were necessary, and this is reflected in their hours of closing, which were 5 pm in December and 3 pm in the winter months.

Kopsch’s partner may have been Charles William May (q.v.).

End.