The theory of photography originated from the discovery of the camera obscura phenomenon – light that enters a darkened chamber through a small hole is projects an identical inverted image on the interior wall of the outside scene. The first recordings of scientists recognizing this concept was in the writings of Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384 – 322 BC).
The first models of the Camera Obscura were large chambers that could be entered by the artist. At first, this invention was recognized as an aid to artists who could trace the images to create a more realistic impression of the scene. The difficulty with the chamber was that it was not readily portable, and was therefore useless to an artist. This issue was solved when advancements were made in the seventeenth century when inventors developed a portable version of the optical device. Also, those using the instrument found that the image produced was inaccurate in that it defied the rules of perspective because it was formed by a single lens. Inventors discovered a way to correct this problem, as explained in the History of Photography:
“By combining two lenses ground to segments of arcs of different radii a reasonable flatness of field could be obtained. And by using lenses of different focal lengths, the angle of view could be made narrow for portraiture and wide of landscape work” (Newhall 9).
As the use of this tool became widely practiced among artists, experimenters began to realize the possibilities of the invention.
The idea that images formed by the Camera Obscura could be saved as permanent prints came to light in the 1790’s, when Thomas Wedgwood began experimenting with photo-sensitive silver salts. The discovery of light’s effect on certain chemicals was made b...
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...ive prints of Brady and his team amounted to over seven thousand. Contrary to Fenton’s romantic style, Brady’s photos told a much more graphic story, influencing Americans everywhere.
Other prominent photographers whose prints moved the public were Jacob August Riis (1849 – 1914) and Lewis W. Hine (1874 – 1940). At age twenty-one, Danish photographer, Riis, immigrated to the United States, where he experienced the impoverished side of New York City. Four years after arriving, Riis was given the position of police reporter. He longed for a social reform, and published a book describing the condition of the slums, illustrated with drawings that were based on his original photographs.
Lewis Hine photographed factories and children working in coalmines in an attempt to bring awareness to upper class, which lead to the downfall of child labor in America.
Born in 1934, Jerry Uelsmann grew up an inner city kid of Detroit. In high school, Uelsmann worked as an assistant for a photography studio; he eventually photographed weddings. Uelsmann went to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he met Minor White, who “introduced [him] to the concept that photography could be used for self-expression” (Berman). While at RIT, he studied with Bruce Davidson, Peter Turner and Car Chiaraenza, with whom he held frequent discussions on how photography could be different. After RIT, Uelsmann went to Indiana University where he changed his degree to a Master of Fine Arts degree. He graduated with an M.S. and an M.F.A at Indiana University in 1960, where he studied with Henry Holmes Smith, who had worked with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. After graduation, he moved to Gainesville, Florida and began teaching photography (Taylor). Currently, Uelsmann is retired in Florida with his wife Maggie Taylor. He still creates photomontages and has exhibits all over the world. Uelsmann and his wife vacation in Yellowstone National Park every year, where he photographs the area and creates beautiful surreal photomontages (Congdon, 316-317).
John Fielder is a nationally famous photographer. For the last 40 years his photos are taken of Colorado while he is hiking and skiing. When he first visited Colorado at the age of 14 he said he felt like something or someone guided him their and he belonged in Colorado for the rest of his life. He is well known for creating his best selling books ever; Colorado 1870-2000. His latest work is the work of great outdoors Colorado for its 20th anniversary. When he was 23 he decided to start doing photography. He was amazed by other famous photographers work and tried to take photos just like them, but it didn’t really turn out how he wanted. Nevertheless he did not give up. On his days off he would go on hikes and he would take photos. He practiced for 8 years and decided to quit his job and just focus on photography. He loves nature so therefore he loves to take photos or nature. He has published 33 books in the past 30 years. He uses photography with a large format 4 x 5 film camera, he also carries 7 lenses and 30 sheet film holders and about 400 sheets of color film. In the winter he usually country skies around the mountains of Colorado. He skies 5 to 9 miles a day to get to hut to hut. In the summer he goes on river trips and usually river rafts. Sometimes he rafts on class 5 rapids. He has two daughters who love to go on trips with him although they do not take photos themselves.
Lewis Hine - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Lewis Hine was a photographer in the early 1900's. He photographed children, women, and men. Lewis Hine did not just photograph all the good things, he also took pictures of the hard things too, like the boys working in the mines, to the girls working in the sweatshops. In 1911, Lewis Hine took a job with the National Child Labor Committee. He then used his photography to show the world what it is really like to live in America during the Depression. Lewis Hine always respected his subjects. He never wanted to take photos of random people. He wanted to capture something that nobody else saw. He felt a moral obligation to share with the world the visions of children, women, and the horrible working conditions they were forced to work in.
Prior to the invention of the daguerreotype, the Camera Obscura was the main optical instrument that was used to project images onto paper. The Camera Obscura was a device in the shape of a box that allowed light, which was being reflected from the images that the user was intending to capture, to enter through an opening at one end of the box to form an image on a surface and an artist would then trace the image to form the most accurate impression of an image at that peri...
The first type of using light to make a picture was the daguerreotype. Both Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre and Nicephore Niepce, who passed away before the public was introduced to the daguerreotype, founded this type of picture taking. However, before this Louis Daguerre made a "theater without actors." Beaumont Newhall explains that this was an illusion made by extraordinary lighting effects that made the 45 ½ foot by 71 ½ foot pictures appear to change as one looked at them (2).
It is considered that photography only became widely available to the public when the Kodak Eastman Company introduced the box shaped Brownie Camera in 1900. (Baker, n.p.) Its features became more refined since its original placing on the market; one of the reasons why it has become considered the birth of public photography is because of the processing. Using a similar image capture system, the brownie exposed the light to a 120mm roll of film, which could be wound round, meaning six photographs could be taken before the slides needed removing. The first Brownie used a six-exposure cartridge that Kodak processed for the photographer. (Kodak.com, n.d.) Realistically, the armature photographers did not need to understand darkroom processes, they could simply use capture the subjects, and send it to be developed. The cameras were relatively affordable, targeting many different markets, which is apparent from their advertisements. Figure 2 Is an advertisement from for the Eastman Kodak Company’s Brownie Camera; It states in bold lettering “Operated by any school boy or girl” which emphasis how it was targeted for amateur use.
Many Americans choose to forget the past brutalities of child labor. Unfortunately, the past does not disappear. Child labor did take place in the U.S. and the Carolina Cotton Mill photograph is a prominent witness. Lewis Wickes Hine is the artist behind this powerful photo, which was taken in the early 1900s (Dimock). Hine’s Carolina Cotton Mill embodies the struggle of child labor through the incorporation of situational information, artistic elements such as lines and space, and cultural values.
Question 2: Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre made the Louis Daguerre in 1838, which was made with a camera obscura but had no color in it. The Daguerreotype manuals went around the world a year later and begin studies on the process. Historical it was the first photograph and changed the art world view on images because it was just so perfectly designed.
An impressive feat Sir Isaac Newton accomplished was the evolution of optics. Every scientist since Aristotle had believed light to be a simple entity, but Newton thought otherwise through his studies and building telescopes. It was thought that, “The idea that visual perception involves a medium somehow relating the beheld to the beholder is as old as ancient Greece,” (Darrigol 117). Isaac Newton challenged old ideas after an experiment with a prism and how it refracted light, as he saw this happen in a telescope where he saw the rings of colors distorting the image. This lea...
Masters. With his small hand camera he unobtrusively photographed people’s lives around the world. He was solely responsible for bridging the gap between photojournalism and art. He has published more than a dozen books of his work. The greatest museums in the world have shown his work.
The idea for photographing came around in 1814 when Joseph Niépce wanted an image of his son before he left for war. He succeeded in making the first camera in 1827, but the camera needed at least eight hours to produce one picture. Parisian Louis Daguerre invented the next kind of camera in 1839, who worked with Niépce for four years. His camera only needed fifteen to thirty minutes to produce a picture. Both Niécpe’s and Daguerre’s cameras made pictues on metal plates. In the same year Daguerre made his camera, an Englishman by the name of William Henry Fox Talbot made the first camera that photographed pictures on paper. The camera printed a reverse picture onto a negative and chemicals were needed to produce the photo up right. In 1861, color film came along and pictures were produced with color instead of being just black and white. James Clerk Maxwell is credited with coming up with color film, after he took the ...
The Golden Age of Photojournalism was when photos started to make a large presence in magazines. The Golden Ag...
...riedlander was on display at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Thanks to his studies, especially after the translation of Kitâb al-Manâzir (The Book of Optics), many scholars and scientists were inspired. Later European scholars were able take what he had discovered and further our knowledge about cameras and optics in general. Alhazen’s creation of the pinhole camera is the reason why cameras and other important inventions were created, such as eye-glasses, magnifying glasses and telescopes were created, as scholars and scientists knew how images are reflected in our eyes. He especially influenced Isaac Ne...
There was a time when the only way to capture a moment or surrounding was by a painting. Joseph Nicephore Niepce created the first photograph ever in 1827. Photography went thru many beneficial changes since then only improving and