Photography As an Always- Changing Technology with Benefits and Drawbacks That Also Change
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES FOR THE WEEK: Consider the history of photography as an always- changing technology with benefits and drawbacks that also change. PHOTOGRAPHY Consider who and what makes it into the visual record as a result of changes in imaging technology. Contemplate the questions: What are the benefits and The Democratic Art drawbacks of today’s photo technologies? And Why bother studying the history of a medium? life before photography... 01-01! 1st published illustration of camera obscura (1544) – viewing solar eclipse 01-01! Illus. of camera obscura phenomenon with view of Florence 01-01! Abelardo Morrell. Camera obscura image of Houses Across the Street (1991) 01-01! large portable camera obscura 02-01! portrait silhouettes by Jacques Charles (on silver coated paper?) early 1800s Kam = Curved or bent. The first English use of the The primary meaning word “camera” appeared as camera comes from the “the private office of a judge.” Aryan root “Kamera” - a vaulted chamber. http://brightbytes.com/cosite/portable.html Thomas Wedgewood Late 1790’s “Sun prints” on leather A technological dead-end 02-01! contact prints on leather with silver nitrate (Thomas Wedgwood form) Joseph Nicéphore Niépce 1827 “Heliographs” (sunwriting) Nicéphore Niépce. [earliest surviving heliographic print (1825)] 02-01! Illus. of Niépce reading to Daguerre the descr. of his process for fixing images Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre 1839 The Daguerreotype (a mirror with a memory) Daguerre’s desire to fix an image stemmed from his profession of creating of enormous, larger than life-sized, dioramas. 02-01! Pen & ink sketch for Diorama by Louis Daguerre (c. 1836) 02-01! lithograph of audience viewing a Diorama (c. 1835) 02-01! lithograph of audience viewing a Diorama (c. 1835) 02-01! Louis J. Daguerre. [title page to “History & Descr of the Process of Dag…] 1839 The benefits of daguerreotypes: • exceptionally detailed • beautiful renderings William Henry Fox Talbot • one of a kind The drawbacks: 1840 •expensive •hard to make The Calotype •highly toxic •one of a kind 02-01! portrait of Wm. Henry Fox Talbot (c. 1844) 02-01! Talbot’s “mousetrap” camera (c. 1835) 02-02! [S. Front of Lacock Abbey, w/ oriel window of 1st negative] 02-03! [view of 1st negative, looking out of window] 02-04! William Henry Fox Talbot. Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey. (1835) Ph. draw neg. 02-01! Talbot’s “mousetrap” camera (c. 1835) 02-01! Talbot’s “mousetrap” camera (c. 1835) 02-02! [S. Front of Lacock Abbey, w/ oriel window of 1st negative] 02-02! [S. Front of Lacock Abbey, w/ oriel window of 1st negative] 02-03! [view of 1st negative, looking out of window] 02-03! [view of 1st negative, looking out of window] 02-04! William Henry Fox Talbot. Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey. (1835) Ph. draw neg. 02-04! William Henry Fox Talbot. Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey. (1835) Ph. draw neg. 02-01! Talbot’s “mousetrap” camera (c. 1835) 02-02! [S. Front of Lacock Abbey, w/ oriel window of 1st negative] 02-03! [view of 1st negative, looking out of window] 02-04! William Henry Fox Talbot. Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey. (1835) Ph. draw neg. The benefits of calotypes: • cheap(er) • can make multiple, nearly identical copies The drawbacks: •highly toxic •not especially sharp or detailed James Hajicek and Carol Panaro-Smith Contemporary artists making Photogenic drawings Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 http://www.josephbellows.com/artists/carol-panaro-smith-and-james-hajicek/ Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, c. 2006 Anna Atkins 1846 Cyanotypes of Flowering Plants and Ferns The benefits of cyanotypes: • very cheap • easy to make Jenn Daly • can make multiple prints Anthotypes (digitally produced negatives - transparencies - that are The drawbacks: contact printed on papers using light sensitive plant dyes) • couldn’t make negatives to then convert into positive prints http://www.jldalyphotography.com/ Scott Archer 1851 The wet plate process The benefits of wet plate negatives: • cheap • can make one glass negative, then multiple prints • just as sharp as daguerreotypes The drawbacks: • highly toxic Slaves, J. J. Smith's Plantation, South Carolina Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, Beaufort, South Carolina, 1862 Albumen print 8 7/16 x 10 3/4 in. 84.XM.484.39 A Harvest of Death Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg Timothy H. O'Sullivan, photographer; printed by Alexander Gardner Timothy H. O'Sullivan, photographer; printed by Alexander Gardner American, negative July 4, 1863; print 1866 American, negative July 4, 1863; print 1866 Albumen print Albumen print 7 x 8 11/16 in. 7 x 8 11/16 in. 84.XO.1232.1.36 84.XO.1232.1.36 Ancient Ruins in the Cañon de Chelle, New Mexico Desert Sand Hills near Sink of Carson, Nevada Timothy H. O'Sullivan Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, Cañon de Chelle, New Mexico, 1873 American, Nevada, 1867 Albumen print Albumen print 10 7/8 x 7 9/16 in. 8 13/16 x 11 7/16 in. 84.XM.484.4 84.XM.484.42 The Tintype Process 1856 Also called the “poor man’s daguerreotype”. It flourished during the Civil War. http://www.robbkendrick.com/ The benefits of tintypes: • cheap • extraordinarily durable (unlike daguerreotypes) • sharp The drawbacks: • fairly toxic • one of a kind http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8079411349144989883&q=matrix+pinG+PONG What are the benefits and drawbacks of today’s photo technologies? Why bother with looking at the history of a medium? .