The Development of Photography

The Development of Photography
By
Jennifer Lewis
Humanities-303
Professor Dewberry

How Photography Started

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” ― Ansel Adams. When it comes to photography it has changed this world in many ways whether they were good or bad Photography has made us look at things in a totally different way. Today when people think of photography, they think of breathtaking sceneries and beautiful images of people and objects. Lets us go back to the beginning of how such an incredible device was created. “1827, Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first photographic image with a camera obscura which many people used for viewing or drawing purposes. He realized by letting light draw the picture when it was on a metal plate coated in asphalt weould create an image. This first photograph required eight hours of light exposure to create and after appearing would soon fade away (Bellis, Mary June 2012)”. Before Niepce created the first photograph, people only used the camera obscura for viewing or drawing purposes. Niepce 's heliographs,which also called in that time sun prints, were the prototype for the modern photograph, by letting light draw the picture. By using a sheet of pewter coated with bitumen (which is asphalt). The metal was placed inside a camera obscura; then Niepce pointed it out the window of his workroom. As the light created the image he then put oil of lavender and white petroleum together on the metal. The result was a permanent image of some neighboring buildings. “There was a epistemological status of the early photograph by people such as William Henry Fox Talbot who were analyzing the specific scientific, philosophical, and aesthetic historical conditions within which the conception of photography took place (Maimon, Vered November 2011)”. The way he changed photography was he made images by putting objects on the paper under the bright sun. At first, he could view them only under dim candles, but then he created a way to fix the image so it could be seen in daylight. After another year, he then improved the sensitivity until he could expose pictures by admitting light into his cameras. The downfall was that all the pictures were negative ones. Light appeared as darkness, and dark was the same as light. Talbot kept revising and improving his chemical processes until 1841. He was then finally able to create multiple positive pictures from one of his negatives, which made this a huge breaking point. At that point, modern photography as we know it, was born. “Photography’s role in art history as a medium of realism, and its connections to the labor movements of the 1850s. There many photographers who started taking pictures of the the bad things that were happening in the world. The more advanced photography got the more in demand it became by society. The biggest effect photography had was on World War II when people all over the would could see what war really was (Bear, Jordan and June 2010)”. A good example would be the photographic evidence of the Holocaust, and especially for the photos taken by Allied troops after the liberation of the concentration camps. This really opened people’s eyes to what was happening. Life magazine was the biggest magazines at that time to have captured so many horrific images. Twenty-one Life photographers logged 13,000 days outside the U.S.; half of that time was spent in combat zones. Because of the power these pictures had several were never revealed because of the devastation this war had ,brought upon many people in the United States. According to Becky Jones, “It allowed people to see things they might never have seen. It also has allowed news stories to carry a lot more impact because the shock from the image can drive a point home. As they say, "A picture is worth a 1000 words" (Johns, Becky October 2010)”. A huge moment in photography happened in 1952. The most famous reproduction of the First Photograph print was created in March 1952. It was produced at Helmut Gernsheim 's request by the Research Laboratory of the Eastman Kodak Company in Harrow. Gernsheim spent 11 hours on March 20, 1952, touching up with watercolors one of the prints of the Kodak reproduction. He said his main focus was to bring the heliograph (A device for transmitting messages by reflecting sunlight) as close as possible to a positive representation of how he felt Niépce intended the original to look like. It is this version of the image which would become the accepted reproduction of the image for the next 50 years. As many can see more clearly with this recreation, the view was made from an upper rear window of the Niépce family home in Burgundy. In the 1980‘s is what many consider the golden age of photojournalism. Even though television clearly had a huge impact on everyone, who would want to go see a picture on paper when you could see many different things on a television? But what one thing many people did not forget was how photography symbolized a time and a place in our world, many in which were captured by still photography. Newspapers and many magazines were still publishing many photo-pages with minimal copy, stories told through photographs. Many magazines would use photography as part of an overall design along with drawings, headlines, graphics, etc. In conclusion, photography plays a huge part of humanities because it tells our history. Humanities is all about learning our past and looking toward the future and photography has done just that. Between the early 1800’s to the year 2012, many changes have happened to make photography more modern and more beautiful. The way photography has become more beautiful and modern is by the colors we can now capture, how we can make something simple like a little old house in he middle of field and make it an art piece. Many things in our lives are created around some type of imagery many of which are photography. As we advance in technology so will photography, but most technology is not able to capture our past history like photography has. Photography is not only our past but it is out future; it shows us the beauty of life. What would our world be like without photography?

Annotated Bibliography

Bann, S. (December 2009). History & theory. History & Theory,48(4), 95-111, 17.

This journal article is all about art history, which includes photography. Learning about the history and how it has affected the future of photography and where it is now. that the 19th century “invented History and Photography,” that the era of photography is one of revolutions, and that the photograph 's “testimony” has diminished our capacity. Barthes also asserts that the French photographer Nadar is “the greatest photographer in the world” He is known for his photograph work in a period when war and revolution were compromising the onward march of social and economic progress.

Bear, J. (June 2010). 3 color photographs, 1 black and white photograph. Nineteenth- Century Contexts, 32(2), 139-152, 14.

This journal article I read and found it to be quite fascinating. This is a necessary citation for my essay because it provides information on the how the camera was becoming more advanced in the mid-19th century. It provides information on photography 's role in art history as a medium of realism, and its connections to the labor movements of the 1850s. The photographer known as Gustave Rejlander had a photograph called "Two Ways of Life" made a huge impact. The technical characteristics, particularly the process used to combine multiple negatives into a single image, are addressed in depth, reflecting on its philosophical implications.

Bryant, D. (April 1989). Symbols of ideal life: Social documentary photography in America 1890, 114(7), 74.

I chose this article because it goes over Americas history of art and how it has inspired many people and future artists. It also provides detailed information about certain artists whose photography had really changed history for people in some hard times such as war, and the Great Depression. This documentary style that dominates American photography had its origins in the social reform publicity campaigns of the turn of the century. This book traces the history of this genre and its main participants, including Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Russell Lee.

Maimon, V. (November 2011). Black and white photograph. Art History, 34(5), 958-977.

In this journal article, the basic focus is on the first decade of photography. It explains how William Henry Fox Talbot wanted to conceptualize paper photography. It looks into epistemological status of the early photograph by looking at the specific scientific, philosophical, and aesthetic historical conditions that photography had in the early 19th century. Not only does the author provide detailed information about photography, he also argues that the early photograph was not conceived to be identical to the image of the camera obscura because the two image types belonged to different regimes of knowledge. This was very important for me to put into the essay because it is the first real big reason to make photography more advanced in that time frame.

Bibliography: Bann, S. (December 2009). History & theory. History & Theory,48(4), 95-111, 17. This journal article is all about art history, which includes photography. Learning about the history and how it has affected the future of photography and where it is now. that the 19th century “invented History and Photography,” that the era of photography is one of revolutions, and that the photograph 's “testimony” has diminished our capacity. Barthes also asserts that the French photographer Nadar is “the greatest photographer in the world” He is known for his photograph work in a period when war and revolution were compromising the onward march of social and economic progress. Bear, J. (June 2010). 3 color photographs, 1 black and white photograph. Nineteenth- Century Contexts, 32(2), 139-152, 14. This journal article I read and found it to be quite fascinating. This is a necessary citation for my essay because it provides information on the how the camera was becoming more advanced in the mid-19th century. It provides information on photography 's role in art history as a medium of realism, and its connections to the labor movements of the 1850s. The photographer known as Gustave Rejlander had a photograph called "Two Ways of Life" made a huge impact. The technical characteristics, particularly the process used to combine multiple negatives into a single image, are addressed in depth, reflecting on its philosophical implications. Bryant, D. (April 1989). Symbols of ideal life: Social documentary photography in America 1890, 114(7), 74. I chose this article because it goes over Americas history of art and how it has inspired many people and future artists. It also provides detailed information about certain artists whose photography had really changed history for people in some hard times such as war, and the Great Depression. This documentary style that dominates American photography had its origins in the social reform publicity campaigns of the turn of the century. This book traces the history of this genre and its main participants, including Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Russell Lee. Maimon, V. (November 2011). Black and white photograph. Art History, 34(5), 958-977. In this journal article, the basic focus is on the first decade of photography. It explains how William Henry Fox Talbot wanted to conceptualize paper photography. It looks into epistemological status of the early photograph by looking at the specific scientific, philosophical, and aesthetic historical conditions that photography had in the early 19th century. Not only does the author provide detailed information about photography, he also argues that the early photograph was not conceived to be identical to the image of the camera obscura because the two image types belonged to different regimes of knowledge. This was very important for me to put into the essay because it is the first real big reason to make photography more advanced in that time frame.