History of Photography

Zmina Hawthorne

WHAT IS A PHOTOGRAPHY?

• A photograph is an image that is created by light being exposed to a light-sensitive surface which is most likely to be photographic film or aelectronic chip such as CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are takenusing a camera which uses a lens to focus on visible wavelengths of lightinto a reproduction of what we, humans can see.

EXPOSURE

• Exposures were made faster in 1840, when English chemist John FrederickGoddard discovered that adding bromine to a daguerreotype plate madeit more light-sensitive.

• A new lens designed by German-Hungarian mathematician Joseph Petzvalhad an aperture of about 3.5 and let in up to eight times amount of light.

THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY – TAKEN IN 1926

The first photograph was taken in 1826 byJoseph Nicéphore Niépce. The photodepicts a image that was taken from anupstairs window at Niépce’s estate in LeGras.This photo is thought of the earliestsurviving photo of nature taken with acamera obscure (pinhole camera)Niépce began experimenting withlithographic printmaking because hecouldn’t draft images by hand.He experimented with light-sensitivevarnishes and then with the imagesproduced on the camera but the imageswould eventually fade. He discovered thathe got the best results by using a solutionof bitumen of Judea, which dated back tothe ancient Egyptians but continued to beused throughout 1800’s.

PIONEERS IN PHOTOGRAPHYAngelo Sala (1576 – 1637)In 1614, Sala had published that papercontaining silver nitrate reacted with sunlightwhich caused it to darken (producing animage). Some observations were made butthey turned out to be wrong, it was air thatmade the paper darken, not sunlight.

Johann Heinrich Schulze (1687 – 1744)Schulze experimented and proved that silver nitratewould darken due to sunlight and not bytemperature, he was also the first person to createphotograms with paper masks but they could notlast because of the lack of paper fixer.

Hippolyte Bayard (1807 – 1887)Bayard was the first to hold a photographicexhibition and the first to combine two negativesto produce one print which is called combinedprinting.

THE EARLIEST CAMERA• The first camera invented by

a man named AlexanderWolcott. His camera designwas presented on May 8,1840. His invention made itpossible to take candidpermanent candid photos.

• The first cameras madeworked when light from theimage on the outside entersthrough the hole and flips itonto the film on the insideand then the film capturesit.

FIRST PHOTOGRAPH OF A HUMAN

The first photograph of a human was taken by Louis-Jacques Daguerre in 1838. Thephotograph depicts a landscape but in the bottom left corner of the photo there is atwo males of which one of them is shining the other shoe.

MATHEW BRADY – 1800’S PHOTOGRAPHER/ PHOTOJOURNALISM

Mathew Brady (May 18, 1822 – January 15, 1896) ismostly celebrated because he was one of the firstphotographers to take photographs of a historicalevent (American Civil War) in the 19th century. He isalso credited as the ‘father of photojournalism’.

Throughout the AmericanCivil War, Brady had taken avast amount of photos todocument the event of theCivil War. Here’s one of thephotos taken around thattime. He would even bringhis photography studio tothe battlefields in effort todocument the war.

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY

This photograph is color engraved. Testing found that Levi Hill’s process did produce color photography but may have been sweetened by the addition of colors being applied by hand.

This is the first color photograph made with the ‘three color’ method suggested by James Clerk Maxwell 1855. The photo was originally taken by Thomas Sutton in 1861. The subject is a tartan ribbon.

1900’S →Portable Camera’s

The 1900’s introduced some of the first portable cameras such as the Kodak Vest Pocket camera and the Argus C3, also the 1900’s introduced the first flash cameras.

WAR DOCUMENTATION• Robert Capa, born Endre

Friendmann was a Hungarianwar photographer who isconsidered to be the ‘pioneer ofwar photography’ since he hasdocumented five different warsthrough photography includingWorld War II and the secondSino-Japanese War.

PIONEERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE 1900’S

Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882 – 1966) was aphotographer that had a high involvement with thepictorialism movement, he was the firstphotographer to ‘emphasize the potential ofelevated viewpoints’.

Edward Henry Weston (1886 – 1958) was named‘one of the most influential Americanphotographers’ and ‘a master of photography’.Over his 40 year photography career hephotographed many different things such asportraits, still lifes, and landscapes.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 – 2004) was a Frenchphotographer who was considered the ‘father ofphotojournalism’ and also was an early adopter ofthe 35 mm format and was also considered themaster of candid photography. He developed thelife reportage style.

ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHSThis photograph is called ‘Afghan Girl’ bySteve McCurry, taken in December 1984. Thephotograph is of a girl named Sharbat Gulawho was a refugee living in Pakistan duringthe Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Thephotograph has featured on the front coverof magazines and has even been comparedto Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Mona Lisa.The image of her face, with a red scarfwrapped loosely around her head and herpiercing green eyes staring directly into thecamera, became a symbol both of the 1980sAfghan conflict.

WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHYDora Phillippine Kallmus (1881 – 1963) was aphotographer best known for fashion andportrait photography and was known forworking with celebrities in her time includingJosephine Baker, Tamare de Lempicka andColette.

Anna Atkins (1799 – 1871) was an Englishphotographer. She is considered the first personto publish a book illustrated with photographicimages and she was the first woman to create aphotograph.

CREATOR OF PHOTOSHOP

Thomas Knoll is an American softwareengineer who created Adobe Photoshop. John(Thomas’ brother) successfully sold theprogram to Adobe Systems which brought itout as Photoshop after Thomas had addedextra features.

ANDREAS GURSKY

Andreas Gursky (1955) is a Germanphotographer. He is known for his photographsof buildings.The perspective in many of Gursky’sphotographs are taken from a high vantagepoint. Visually, Gursky is drawn to large,anonymous, man-made spaces such as high-rise buildings at night, office lobbies.

90’S – 2000’S CAMERAS

Recently, cameras have become more hand-held and smaller so the person can use it more flexibly. Cameras include compact camera, camera phones, bridge cameras, QuickTake 100 and Dycam Model 1.

DIGITAL MANIPULATIONAccording to Wikipedia, photo manipulation is the application of image editingtechniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception after theoriginal photographing happens. A correction is known as retouching which canbe done in programs such as Photoshop.

Original photograph Manipulated photograph