Painting from Daguerreotypes

Here are some recent head paintings I've done at Whitaker's studio. He has me painting these old dageurreotypes. A dageurreotype is an obsolete photographic process, invented in 1839, in which a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine was developed by exposure to mercury vapor (Dictionary.com).
I usually do one each day, or work on one for two days. It's a great exercise but makes me appreciate working from life.