Tents

The most elemental form of the mobile studio was the canvas tent. Essential for the surveyor, the explorer, and the war photographer, the "dark tent" was a portable chemical closet that could be pitched on a mountaintop or a battlefield.
 
This theme examines the fragility of working under canvas. Here, amidst dust, heat, and insects, photographers like Timothy O’Sullivan and Samuel Bourne coated and processed their giant glass plates. The tent represents photography at its most exposed—where the barrier between the delicate chemical process and the chaotic natural world was nothing more than a thin sheet of fabric.

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Enter the Field
 
Step inside the portable darkrooms of the explorers.