Photography_Lecture

PHOTOGRAPHY Comes from the Greek words:Photos (light) and Graphein (drawing)

The History of Photography:The word photography derives from two Greek words: photos meaning “light” andgraphein, meaning “to draw”; together, they mean “drawing with light.”When photography was invented in the nineteenth century, its reliance on mechanical andchemical processes led many to refuse to consider it an art form. It seemed to be a simplerecording of the real world by a machine, not the result of an artist’s creative imagination.

The word photograph means “writing with light”.The name of the opening that lets light into any camera is called the aperture.Camera Obscura: The first camera. Room-sized. Limited because they were not permanentand could be recorded only when traced over by hand.Cyanotype: English scientist John Herschel discovered the chemical compound but Anna Atkinsbrought the procedure to photography. Paper coated with light-sensitive chemicals leave a negativeexposure of the subject. The chemicals change to a blue color.Daguerreotype: Recorded images on a light-sensitive polished metal plate, which was placed insidethe camera. The daguerreotype process created very detailed images, but it couldnot make images that were readily reproduced. Also, the photographing process was not fast.Calotypes: Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot. Captured negative images on light-sensitive paper.The prints contained shades of gray that matched the values of the original scene. The calotype processproduced a translucent original negative image from which multiple positives could be made by simplecontact printing. This gave it an important advantage over the daguerreotype process as it couldmake photographs that could be readily reproduced.

The History of Photography:A simple kind of camera called the camera obscura had been used by artists forseveral centuries as an aid to drawing.These first cameras were room-sized.

Camera Obscura







Anna AtkinsHalydrys Siliquosa, 1843-4Cyanotype5x4”The History of Photography:CyanotypesEnglish scientist John Herscheldiscovered the chemicalcompound but Anna Atkinsbrought the procedure tophotography.Placed pieces of algae on paperthat had been treated with aspecial light-sensitive solution andexposed the sensitized paper todirect sunlight.The areas of the paper exposed tothe light turned the paper dark,but in the places where theplant’s stems and leaves created ashadow, the paper remained white.Process



William Henry Fox Talbot The Oriel Window, South Gallery, Lacock Abbey, 1835 or 1839 Photogenic drawing negative 3 1/4” x 4 1/4” The History of Photography: CalotypesCaptured on a light-sensitive surface a negative image of a window at his home.These images known as calotypes, resembled Atkins’s botanical specimens.Talbot eventually discovered how to reverse the negative to make numerous positive prints. The resultingprint contained shades of gray that matched the values of the original scene. This negative/positive process isthe basis of film photography.

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. ca 1795



View from the Window at Le Gras. 1826 or 1827



Lens Based Camera Obscura, 1568

Still life with plaster casts, made by Daguerre, the earliest reliably dateddaguerreotype, 1837.

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre The Artist’s Studio, 1837 Whole-plate daguerreotype Photographic Genres: Still LifeDaguerre was a painter as well as a photographer and used the genre of still life in much the same way that hedid when he painted.A still life, or artistic arrangement of objects, allowed him to study the formal relationships of light, shadow, andtexture. Used plaster casts instead of live models, because his exposure times were then generally more thaneight minutes.This is one of the earliest surviving photographs.

Daguerreotype, 1838.

Photographic Genres: Portraiture, Landscape, Still LifeEnglish art critic John Ruskin argued in the 1850’s that “a photograph is not a work of art”because only art “expresses the personality, the activity, the living perception of a good and greathuman soul.”

Portraiture:Before photography was invented, the only way to get a portrait was to have an artistpaint one. Eventually, camera technology allowed people to take their own pictures andto select and capture their own memories.

NadarSarah Bernhardt, 1865Albumen printPhotographic Genres: PortraitureBest known for making portraits. Madeportraits of well-known artists, writers,and politicians.This photograph of the actress SarahBernhardt illustrates Nadar’s distinctivestyle. Rather than show the actressposed with elaborate props, which wasthe norm for portraits at the time, Nadarplaced her in the foreground, surroundedonly by luxurious fabric and leaning on aplain column.By focusing his attention on the sitter, hisimage highlights the actress’s eleganceand an introspective aspect of herpersonality. Nadar

Robert Cornelius,quarter plate daguerreotype,1839.

Lewis HineAddie Card, 12 years.1910

Albert K. Wittmer –Kodak Research Laboratories,test transparency. 1939

Ansel AdamsSand Dunes, Sunrise-Death ValleyNational Monument, California, c. 1948Photographic Genres: LandscapeKnown for his landscape photographsof the American West.Adams arranges black, white, and graytones to achieve a balanced effect. ForAdams, a balanced photographcontains a range of tones that help ussee the subject the way the artist wantsus to. Ansel Adams Process







Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Edward WestonPepper No. 30, 1930Gelatin silver print9 3/8 x 7 1/2”Photographic Genres: Still LifeBy focusing so closely on an object thatit became almost abstract, suchphotographers as the American EdwardWeston were able to create a new visualexperience.Weston believed in photographing asubject as he found it, creating sharplyfocused prints on glossy paper.Pepper No. 30 concentrates the viewer’sattention on the form and texture of thevegetable, so it begins to look likesomething other than itself, taking onqualities similar to those of a humanform; at the same time it clearlyrepresents what it is, a pepper.









The Art of Photography:Art can be considered to express an artist’s creative interpretation of a subject.Soon after photography was invented there were heated debates about where it workedbest for recording reality or as a way to make works of art.Today photography is a favored medium by many contemporary artists.

Oscar Gustav Rejlander Making “Artistic” Photographs:The Two Ways of Life, 1857Albumen silver print By emulating the appearance and process of painting, he hoped his photographs16 x 31” would earn the respect that at that time was reserved for painting. Two Ways of Life was made with thirty separate negatives, which were cut out like puzzle pieces. Rejlander exposed the negatives one at a time, covering the rest of the print every time he exposed another negative. The resulting image, which took him six weeks to make, looks like one seamless scene.

Loretta Lux The Waiting Girl, 2006 Ilfochrome print 11 7/8 x 15 7/8” LuxMaking “Artistic” Photographs:Uses digital technology to assemble the elements in her compositions and alter certain attributes, such as scaleand proportion to create the desired effect.The little girl’s neat hair and uniform-like clothes along with the emptiness of the background, give theimpression she spent her time in a confined environment, likely with people much older than herself.

Persistence of vision:a commonly used term to describe the optical illusionwhereby multiple images blend into a single image inthe human mind and is believed to be the explanationfor motion perception in cinema and animated films.

Eadweard MuybridgeOccident, 1872

Edison’s Kinetoscope with peephole viewer at top of cabinet, 1893



Edison's Black Maria, c 1893Keyboard Cat Edison Film