The Early Years
In the early years photography was similar to art as they did not know what they were meant to photograph and so looked to art for inspiration.
A camera obscura is a darkened room that could see the picture upside down but not capture it. The camera obscura made things more realist as it gave a perception of the objects. Whereas the camera lucida was a prism in which rays of light reflected through it onto a sheet of paper. In the same way as a camera obscura it gave the photo a more realist view but was again unable to capture the image.
A camera obscura is a darkened room that could see the picture upside down but not capture it. The camera obscura made things more realist as it gave a perception of the objects. Whereas the camera lucida was a prism in which rays of light reflected through it onto a sheet of paper. In the same way as a camera obscura it gave the photo a more realist view but was again unable to capture the image.
It was later found how to capture the image by Joseph Nicéphore niépce who was a scientist. He was able to take the first photograph and named it 'view from a window at Le Gras'. He worked together with Louis Jacques Daguerre who produced the daguerreotype, they were photographs which were placed onto a metal plate. They were usually used for portraits. Even though they were very accurate, they had problems. Daguerreotypes could be ruined by any movement in the process of it being made, the movement would make the outcome blurred. The process of making them was very long and after they were made they could be damaged by any scratching. As well they were one offs and so if they were damaged the buyer would have to go have a whole new daguerreotype made. Here are some examples of daguerreotypes:
At the same time Louis Jacques Daguerre was creating his daguerreotypes in France, William Henry Fox Talbot was also trying to capture photos in England. There was a rivalry between France and England due to this. William Henry Fox Talbot created a type of photograph called the calotype, it was made on paper unlike on metal plates. They also produce a softer and less sharp photo then daguerrrotypes, some differentiate the two by daguerreotypes being more informational as they show all the detail, and calotypes having a more artistic feel to them. The calotype also introduced the negative, positive process in producing photos which allows copies to be made of them. Here are some examples of calotypes:
Key dates of the early years:
- The Renaissance, this is where there was a search for realism and art stopped being so cantered around God but more around men.
- Camera Obscura
- Industrial revolution, more and more scientists began to try and produce reality in a fixed format
- 1827 'view from a window at Le Gras' first photo taken by Joseph Nicéphore niépce
- 1834 William Henry Fox Talbot created the salted paper prints
- 1839 Louis Jacques Daguerre crated the daguerrrotypes
- 1839 William Henry Fox Talbot created the calotype process
- The Renaissance, this is where there was a search for realism and art stopped being so cantered around God but more around men.
- Camera Obscura
- Industrial revolution, more and more scientists began to try and produce reality in a fixed format
- 1827 'view from a window at Le Gras' first photo taken by Joseph Nicéphore niépce
- 1834 William Henry Fox Talbot created the salted paper prints
- 1839 Louis Jacques Daguerre crated the daguerrrotypes
- 1839 William Henry Fox Talbot created the calotype process
Pictorialism
Impressionist wanted to capture the light and atmosphere in photos, from this pictorialism emerged.
Pictorialist wanted to express beauty rather than facts in photos, they wanted photography to more like art and considered as equal. So people like Alfred Stieglitz changed the photos to make them seem like a thing of the past and from a romantic world. They did things such as scratching out the negative, in the dark room using chemicals to make it look more like it had been painted and rubbed vaseline on the lenses in order to create a softer photo. This was in order to make the photos one offs instead of being able to mass produce them. For example in these photos:
Pictorialist wanted to express beauty rather than facts in photos, they wanted photography to more like art and considered as equal. So people like Alfred Stieglitz changed the photos to make them seem like a thing of the past and from a romantic world. They did things such as scratching out the negative, in the dark room using chemicals to make it look more like it had been painted and rubbed vaseline on the lenses in order to create a softer photo. This was in order to make the photos one offs instead of being able to mass produce them. For example in these photos:
Alfred Stieglitz then moved on to focus more on the mechanical part of the photographs, minding less about them not being one offs but still having views from pictorialism. This movement was now called successionism. Alfred's student Paul Strand then moved on from this to straight photography. Straight photography was trying to keep the photo just as it was and not alter it, it used a sharp focus to capture the realism. Paul Strand emphasises the selection and framing of photos and he looked to capture the form and shape of his subjects, as shown below:
Not long after the F64 group formed, it included photographers such as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunninghan and Edward Weston. Unlike pictorialists, the F64 group did not feel the need to try and make there photos into art, as they saw the skill of photography to be an art in itself. They used the F/stop 64 which meant that the photos came out extremely clear and sharp, they focused on portraying pure reality through the maximum depth of field. As shown in some of their photos below: