Amusement park ride across the street from my house

This image demonstrates a little appreciated property of the daguerreotype - the fact that daguerreotype images are usually laterally reversed. Because the silver plate is the film it cannot be viewed through the clear film base so all text and faces are seen as if in a mirror. This has some interesting implications for the portrait. When a person sees their face in a daguerreotype they are seeing themselves in the same way they see their own reflection in a mirror. All other portraits that are not mirror reversed reveal the subject as others see them - not as you see yourself.

Note:Laterally correct daguerreotype images were acheived by shooting the subject in a mirror at the time of exposure (the best way) or by copying another daguerreotype. The daguerreotype has been called "the magic mirror" , the "mirror with a memory" and the "mirror of nature" amongst other things. The shiny surface anf the diificulty of viewing a daguerreotype adds another layer of intimacy to the encounter between a subject and a portrait - the picture can really only be seen well by one person at a time.