History Of Photography

Transcription

1 History Of Photography

2 Camera Obscura The name Camera is derived from camera obscura, Latin for "dark chamber. May have been discovered by the Chinese in the 4th century. The earliest ones were the size of an entire room! It functioned much like a modern camera, except there was no way at this time to record the image short of tracing it. (Vermeer/ Davinci used it!)

3 Joseph Niecephore Niepce This is the first known photograph, ca There is little merit in this picture other than that fact. The exposure lasted eight hours, so the sun had time to move from east to west, appearing to shine on both sides of the building. It was made on a substance called Bitumin of Judea, a kind of asphalt. It hardened as it was exposed to light.

4 William Henry Fox Talbot Though Fox Talbot was not the first to produce photographs, he made a major contribution to the photographic process as we know it today. His inability to draw led him to experiment with photography. His Calotypes or Talbotypes used a paper negative that produced a hazy, textured image. Although not as popular as Daguerre s sharper images, Talbot s process utilized a positive/ negative process that allowed the making of multiple prints.

5 Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre He regularly used a camera obscura as an aid to painting in perspective, and this had led him to seek to freeze the image. In 1826 he learned of the work of Nicephore Niépce, and partnered with him. His process was called the Daguerreotype. It reduced the exposure time from hours to minutes. It was a mirror-like image on a metal plate. It was a one-of-a-kind image (no enlargements were possible) It was very fragile. It was fairly expensive.

6 Tintypes The Tintype, or ferrotype process allowed for faster exposures than the earlier daguerreotype and ambrotype. Hence, more candid shots outside the photographer's studio, like this image, were easier to achieve. In addition, Tintypes were cheaper to produce, allowing a broader spectrum of society to have their likeness captured.

7 Cartes-de-visites Cartes-de-visite were small visiting card portraits. By 1854, a number of photographs could be made on one plate. Small, light and cheap to collect, many people began to place these in photographic albums Collections of pictures, particularly of royalty, became highly treasured (there was no television, of course, in those days). Cartes-de-visite were Albumen prints (egg white), and it is on record that in Britain half a million eggs were being delivered yearly to one photo studio alone!

8 Frederick Scott Archer Archer invented the wet-plate collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. He used calotypes and was dissatisfied with the poor definition, contrast and the long exposures needed. Reduced exposure times to two or three seconds The Wet/ Glass Plate process enabled photographers to combine the fine detail of the daguerreotype with the ability to print multiple paper copies like the calotype. He died in poverty as he didn't patent the collodion process and made very little money from it.

9 The Portable Wet Plate Darkroom The Wet plate process was complex and cumbersome. Photographers had to mix their own chemistry (often in a portable darkroom). They had to coat a large glass plate of glass with emulsion (collodion), load the (very large) camera, take the photograph and develop it without allowing the plate to dry out!

10 The American Civil War This was the first time that anyone had seen the realities of war firsthand as distinct from previous "artists' impressions". Matthew Brady employed over 20 men to photograph the war including Alexander Gardner & Timothy O'Sullivan. Due to his deteriorating eyesight, he made few photographs during the war, but took credit for them anyway. During the war Brady spent over $100,000 to create 10,000 prints. He expected the U.S. government to buy the photographs when the war ended, but when the government refused to do so he was forced to sell his New York City studio and go into bankruptcy.

11 Eadweard Muybridge A British-born photographer, known for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion. By 1878, Muybridge had successfully photographed a horse in fast motion using a series of fifty cameras. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse's, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse's hooves. This series of photos, taken at what is now Stanford University, is called The Horse in Motion, and shows that, indeed, the hooves all leave the ground when the animal is galloping.

12 Julia Margaret Cameron June 11, 1815 January 26, 1879 Groundbreaking British female photographer who used the wet plate process. She became known for her portraits of celebrities of the time, and for Arthurian and similar legendary themed pictures. Cameron's photographic career was short (about 12 years) and came late in her life (began at age 48). Her work had a huge impact on the development of modern photography, especially her closely cropped portraits which are still mimicked today.

13 Pictorialism Pictorialism was a photographic movement in vogue from 1885 and declined rapidly in 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism. Pictorialism largely subscribed to the idea that art photography needed to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Among the methods used were soft focus, special filters and lens coatings, heavy manipulation in the darkroom, and exotic printing processes.

14 George Eastman/ Kodak He introduced the Kodak box camera incorporating roll film. His slogan was "You press the button, we do the rest. He brought photography to the masses. The box camera had a simple lens focusing on 8 feet and beyond. One roll of film took a hundred images, all circular in shape. The entire camera would be mailed to the factory where the film was processed and the camera re-loaded and returned to the user.

15 Jacques Henri Lartigue He started taking photos when he was 6, his subject matter being primarily his own (privileged) life and the people and activities in it. Born outside of Paris, he is most famous for his stunning photos of automobile races, planes and fashionable Parisian women from the turn of the century.

16 History Of Photography: Early 20th Century

17 Lewis Hine Lewis Hine was an American sociologist who took up photography in He used it as a documentary tool, to show the working class conditions of the poor immigrants (especially children) from Europe. By the 1930 s, with the help of his photographs, child labor was controlled.

18 Jacques Henri Lartigue He started taking photos when he was 6, his subject matter being primarily his own (privileged) life and the people and activities in it. Born outside of Paris, he is most famous for his stunning photos of automobile races, planes and fashionable Parisian women from the turn of the century.

19 Alfred Stieglitz Owned Gallery 291 which helped bring art photography to the same level of appreciation in America as painting and sculpture. Published the magazine Camera Work Later used this space to introduce to the United States the early modernist art works from European artists such as Matisse, Rodin, Rousseau, Cezanne, and Picasso. Also known for his marriage to painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

20 Edward Weston Co-founder of F-64. Began as a Pictorialist, but later renounced it in favor of straight photography. Known for his nudes and inanimate objects reminiscent of the human form.

21 Minor White He became involved with a circle of influential photographers including Stieglitz, Weston, and Ansel Adams; hearing Stieglitz's idea of "equivalents" from Stieglitz was crucial to the direction of White's work. The "equivalents" of White were often photographs of barns, doorways, water, the sky, or simple paint peeling on a wall: things usually considered mundane, but often made special by the quality of the light in which they were photographed.

22 James Van Der Zee James Van Der Zee (born in 1886) was an African American photographer best known for his portraits of Black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in the United States during the 1920 s & 30 s led primarily by the African American community based in Harlem, New York City.

23 Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson French photographer known for capturing the decisive moment. Cartier-Bresson is considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was one of the first serious photographers to shoot in the smaller 35mm format. He helped to develop the "street photography" style that influenced generations of photographers that followed.

24 Man Ray American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movement. Best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, Man Ray produced major works in a variety of media and considered himself a painter above all.

25 André Kertész André Kertész, born in 1894, was a Hungarian-born photographer distinguished by unusual compositions and by his early efforts in developing the photo essay. Used unorthodox camera angles and symbolism. Kertész is now recognized as one of the seminal figures of photojournalism.

26 The W.P.A. Works Progress Admininstration During the Great Depression of the 1930 s, the US government (under FDR) hired photographers to document the struggle of its citizens. Best known were Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. The image on the right, Migrant Mother may be the best known of all images made during this time.

27 Dorothea Lange: About Migrant Mother The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. In 1960, Lange gave this account of the experience: I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirtytwo. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).

28 Life Magazine Life was the first allphotography U.S. news magazine and dominated the market for more than forty years. The magazine s place in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. The image depicted on the cover is by Eugene Smith.

29 W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith ( ) was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs. On Okinawa, Smith was hit by mortar fire. After recovering, Smith continued at Life and perfected the photo essay from 1947 to 1954.

30 Robert Frank Swiss photographer His most notable work, the 1958 photographic book titled simply The Americans, was heavily influential in the post-war period Skeptical outsider's view of American society. Frank later expanded into film and video and experimented with compositing and manipulating photographs.

31 Irving Penn American photographer born in Known as The aristocrat of fashion photography. Penn is known for his fashion, portrait and still life photography that blurs the line between commercial and fine art photography.

32 Arnold Newman Arnold Newman is famous for portraying artists, writers, actors, composers, politicians in his unique style. places the subject in a carefully composed (rule of thirds) setting to capture the essence of their work and personality. Has become one of the world's most renowned portrait photographers. *End of Section 2

33 History Of Photography Late 20th Century

34 Gary Winogrand Garry Winogrand ( ) was a photographer, born in New York City. He was a proponent and practitioner of street photography. Influenced by Walker Evans and Robert Frank. Winogrand died in 1984, leaving behind nearly 300,000 unedited and in many cases undeveloped images.

35 Jerry Uelsmann Jerry Uelsmann, master of the photo montage and pioneer of photo manipulation in the darkroom. Uelsmann has been exploring, and pushing, the boundaries of photographic medium for over 40 years. Experiments with complex multiple prints, negative imagery and other techniques to convey his personal vision.

36 Richard Avedon His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. He is also distinguished by his large prints, sometimes measuring over three feet in height. His large-format portrait work of drifters, miners, cowboys and others from the western United States became a best-selling book and traveling exhibit entitled In the American West.

37 David Hockney Primarily a painter, Hockney also worked with photography, or more precisely - photocollaging/ montaging. Using varying numbers (~5-150) of small polaroid snaps or photolabprints of a single subject Hockney arranged a patchwork to make a composite image that he called a joiner. Because these photos are taken from different perspectives and at slightly different times, the result is work which has an affinity with Cubism.

38 Diane Arbus Photographs depicting outsiders, such as tranvestites, dwarves, giants, prostitutes, and ordinary citizens in poses and settings conveying a disturbing uncanniness. Nicole Kidman stars as Arbus in a movie called Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. This film will be released on 10 November 2006.

39 Lucas Samaras Lucas Samaras was already known as a sculptor, painter, and performance artist when he began experimenting with photography. Used himself as a subject. In 1970 s Samaras discovered that the wet dyes of Polaroid prints were highly malleable, allowing him to create what he calls "Photo-Transformations.

40 Annie Leibovitz Leibovitz is a noted American portrait photographer; her style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject. In 1975, Leibovitz served as a concerttour photographer for the The Rolling Stones. Since 1983, Leibovitz has worked as a featured portrait photographer for Vanity Fair. In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

41 Sandy Skoglund (born 11 September 1946) is an American photographer and installation artist. Skoglund creates surrealist images by building elaborate sets, furnishing them with carefully selected colored objects, a process of which takes her months to complete. Finally, she photographs the set, complete with actors. The works are characterized by bright, contrasting colors or a monochromatic color scheme. Sandy Skoglund

42 Sebastião Salgado Brazilian economist- turned documentary photographer. Salgado works on long term, self assigned projects many of which have been published as books. His projects often focus on the underprivileged and the working class around the world.

43 Cindy Sherman Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. For example, Sherman appeared as B- movie and European art film actresses in her landmark series, the Complete Untitled Film Stills, ( ). Sherman's recent series, dated 2003, features her as clowns. Although Sherman does not consider her work feminist, many of her photoseries, like the 1981 "Centerfolds," call attention to the stereotyping of women in films, television and magazines.

44 Richard Misrach Contemporary landscape photographer concerned with man s impact on and destruction of the land. Richard Misrach has spent most of his career photographing the American desert, revealing it in images that have been described as haunting, potent, and alarming.

45 James Nachtwey James Nachtwey ( ) is one of the most influential photojournalists and war photographers of the late 20th century. Has traveled the world covering wars and conflicts, getting injured in the process. His photographs of the World Trade center after the 911 bombings are simply amazing.

46 David LaChapelle Uses a distinctive mix of journalistic and surrealistic techniques. Advertising/ Fashion photographer who won the 1997 International Center of Photography's Infinity Award. Won 1996 VH1 Fashion Award for Photographer of the Year.

47 Jeff Wall His themes are primarily social and political, including urban violence and alienation, racism, poverty, and gender and class conflict. Wall distinguishes between unstaged "documentary" pictures, and "cinematographic" pictures, produced using a combination of actors, sets, and special effects. His signature works are large, light-boxed transparencies

48 Thomas Demand Photographs can seem convincingly real or strangely artificial. The work of German photographer Thomas Demand achieves a disquieting balance between the two. Born in 1964, Demand began as a sculptor and took up photography to record his paper constructions. In 1993 began making constructions for the sole purpose of photographing them. Demand begins with a preexisting image taken from the media, usually of a political event, which he translates into a life-size model made of colored paper and cardboard. Once they have been photographed, the models are destroyed.