Chris Karfakis: “In some form or another, photography has been with us…

…since humans first scratched images on a cave wall.  It was Zeus who gave us fire, and the alchemist who parlayed fire and other elements to preserve an image on a silver-plated sheet of copper, a daguerreotype.  That journey took maybe 2500 years.  But for the next 150 years, photography’s bounds were pushed from the alchemist to the electrical engineer.  Come with me on a journey through time and see how photography has evolved.”

Chris Karfakis has been a collector of cameras, images, and photographic ephemera for over 30 years.  His collection has enabled him to study the history and evolution of photography, and how photography impacts our daily lives.  He will speak about photography’s role in documenting the turning points in major world events.  In particular, he will zero in on the antebellum period, and explain how a daguerreotype came to be.

Karfakis has been a keynote speaker to the Pennsylvania Auctioneers Convention.  He has been invited to lecture at local colleges, such as Lafayette College, Moravian College, and Penn State Lehigh Valley.  He is a member of the Daguerreian Society, the Penumbra Foundation, and the Society for Photographic Education.

“Chris Karfakis’ knowledge and passion for the subject is contagious!”—Luke Wynne, photographer.