Carleton Watkins Homo Faber—Man as Maker
In late 1847, Vance decided to make the seaport city of Valparaiso his base of operations and secured a prime location for a portrait studio in a heavily trafficked spot on its waterfront at Calle de la Aduana, no. 113 [Fig. 4]. This gallery offered daguerreian portraits, a stock of photographic materials, as well as daguerreian cameras that Vance fabricated himself. The Valparaiso studio was operated as a sole proprietorship under the name "Vance y Cia." The name translates as "Vance and Company" suggesting that he had abandoned the partnership business structure in favor of employing semi-skilled "camera operators," who were paid according to their productivity. Camera operators would have followed a picture-making formula that was established by the master photographer, who in this case was Vance. The names of hired camera operators did not figure in advertising nor would they receive any credit in the creative process.
In late 1848 or early 1849, Vance once again took on a partner in the operation of the Valparaiso portrait studio, a man known only to us by his family name, "Mason." However, Mason [Fig. 5] was not a photographer, but rather a letter-press printer and engraver.[21] Vance would have managed the daguerreian operation when he was in Valparaiso, but he would have required a reliable camera operator or operators to handle the portrait business when he traveled.
Let us presume, for the sake of argument, that Carleton secured passage in mid-May, 1849, on a scheduled British Mail steamer traveling the well-established route along the Pacific Coast of South America between Panama and Valparaiso.[22] If Carleton had headed directly for Valparaiso from Panama City he could have arrived there as early as the last week in May, 1849. Once there he would not have been lonely as there were shiploads of North Americans traveling the opposite direction around Cape Horn each month on their way to the Mother Lode in California.[23]
After three months or more at sea, even as inhospitable as its geography was, Valparaiso was considered a paradise by comparison to the grim shipboard life and the dreary passage around Cape Horn through the Strait of Magellan. After passing rigorous customs and medical interviews, the new arrivals typically congregated around the Customs House and nearby library for English-speakers located practically across the street from the Vance portrait studio. When he arrived in Valparaiso, Carleton would have followed the same patterns as other transient North Americans.
[21] See note 27. Autograph letter signed by Robert Vance to Hale & Co., 109 Washington St., Boston, dated July 26, 1849, from Arequipa, Peru (Private Collection).
[22] Carleton could have departed Panama a week or two before May 20.
[23] Oscar Lewis, "South American Ports of Call," in John Walton Caughey, Rushing for Gold, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1949, p. 57.