The Photographic Snapshot
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
“The Merest Novice”: the Snapshot, Gender, and the Museum, 1888-2008 by Perry M. Collins Submitted to the Graduate Degree Pr
“The Merest Novice”: The Snapshot, Gender, and the Museum, 1888-2008 By Perry M. Collins Submitted to the graduate degree program in American Studies and to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. _________________________________ Chairperson John Pultz * Committee Members* _________________________________ Marjorie Swann * _________________________________ Tanya Hart Date defended: June 15, 2010 ii The Thesis Committee for Perry Collins certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: “The Merest Novice”: The Snapshot, Gender, and the Museum, 1888-2008 ________________________________ Chairperson John Pultz Date approved: July 27, 2010 1 Introduction The snapshot is everywhere. It sits in shoeboxes, hangs on walls, flashes on computer desktops. In recent years, the snapshot’s universality, along with its ability to exhibit eccentricity, familiarity, or history, has made it a favorite of the art museum. But why has this happened? How are snapshots being interpreted and exhibited by art historians, and how have these characterizations evolved since the snapshot became a mass phenomenon in the late nineteenth century? Using these questions as a starting point, I set out to trace the history of the snapshot as both an intensely personal and increasingly public cultural object. Perceptions of and attitudes toward gender have played a major role in the characterization and exhibition of snapshot photography within the physical and social space of the museum, and I use this lens to help shape my arguments throughout the following chapters. Historically, the relationship between snapshots and other vernacular work and femininity has led both to the omission of such work in major museums and, where it has been included, to ambivalent, often gendered characterizations of the everyday snapshooter. -
Polaroid After Digital: Technology, Cultural Form, and the Social Practices of Snapshot Photography Buse, P
Polaroid after digital: technology, cultural form, and the social practices of snapshot photography Buse, P http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304310903363864 Title Polaroid after digital: technology, cultural form, and the social practices of snapshot photography Authors Buse, P Type Article URL This version is available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/18795/ Published Date 2010 USIR is a digital collection of the research output of the University of Salford. Where copyright permits, full text material held in the repository is made freely available online and can be read, downloaded and copied for non-commercial private study or research purposes. Please check the manuscript for any further copyright restrictions. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. Polaroid into digital: Technology, cultural form, and the social practices of snapshot photography At its Annual Meeting in 1991, the Polaroid Corporation distributed, as part of its Shareholders’ package, a loose sheet devoted to ‘Photo-Document Integration’. Beneath an image depicting a Polaroid camera, a Polaroid print, a scanner, a computer, and a laser printer, the document details how in the future ‘image- dependent businesses’ will rely on ‘converting … images into digital data files that can be easily integrated with other computer data.’ (see Figure 1)1 By any measure it is a melancholy document. It successfully predicts the technological future but cannot see that the full arrival of this future will render the Polaroid image obsolete. In the new media landscape so accurately sketched out by the document, melancholics are of course thin on the ground: one of the pleasant, even narcotic, effects of new media, for those who have access to them, is a forgetfulness about the once new older forms they have replaced. -
Exhibition Catalog Introduction
Excerpted from The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888 – 1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson © 2007 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington Introduction / Sarah Greenough In 1902 Charles M. Taylor wrote a book titled Why My Photographs Are Bad in the hope that his study would “aid the ambitious beginner, and enable him to avoid the most common mistakes incident to the first stages of this interesting study.”1 Noting that photography demanded “perseverance almost equal to that bestowed upon the kindred arts,” he cau- tioned that readers should not expect to master its intricacies “in too short a time and without labor and study.”2 He urged them to join camera clubs and seek out training from commercial photographers. Illustrating his book with “good” and “bad” photographs, Taylor described typical “mistakes” amateurs made, such as double exposures, abruptly cropped or out-of-focus forms, tilted horizons, or the inclusion of the photographer’s shadow. And he gave hints on how to correct these gaffes: to avoid blurred portraits, he suggested using a headrest; to eliminate the photographer’s shadow, he recommended working at mid- day. While he admired the originality of snapshots and their strong personal associa- tions, certain types of photographs, he said, were far too difficult and should simply not be attempted. For example, he admonished amateurs not to take instantaneous photographs because they did not give the photographer time to study the scene carefully enough to achieve the best results. With such rote prescriptions, Taylor’s “good” As snapshots seeped into every aspect of photographs are, not surprisingly, stiff, bland, and twentieth-century fine art photography, the lan- boring. -
Family Snapshots: a Woman’S Prerogative by Jennifer Eurell
Family Snapshots: a Woman’s Prerogative by Jennifer Eurell Is snapshot photography a gendered activity? If one counted all the photographs that were ever taken they might come to the conclusion that most were taken by men. However, snapshot photography has always been one area where women have been involved. Just what is a snapshot? A snapshot is primarily a private photograph – the sort of photograph that ends up in the family album. Various writers will define it by referring to blurriness, tilting horizons, cut off heads, figures too far in distance, poor photographic techniques and strange framing, but with smarter cameras (and more informed snapshot photographers) this may be unfair. It is perhaps fairer to say that family snapshots are of the „Say Cheese‟ variety – happy families, relatives and friends at home and on holiday. An early 1960s birthday party snapshot – tops of heads missing, somewhat blurred, and plenty of smiles. Snapshotting is photography‟s only naïve genre. A snapshot photographer differs from an amateur photographer in that they take a photograph without hesitation and with little consideration for the technical or aesthetic. The snapshot photographer „takes‟ a photo, while the amateur tries to „make‟ one. There is a gender bias towards female snapshot photographers and male amateurs (Evans 2000:112). This is partly because most snapshots photographs are taken at home. Family photographs are predominantly of babies and children. They record children‟s growth, birthday parties and play, along with celebrations and family holidays of both adults and children. The Golden Age of the snapshot was between 1910 and 1950, when affordable camera‟s became available, and roll film separated the „taking of the photograph‟ from „processing and printing‟. -
Snapshots with an Edge a Study of the Deckle Edge In
SNAPSHOTS WITH AN EDGE A STUDY OF THE DECKLE EDGE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN SNAPSHOT By Anna Krentz Bachelor of Arts St. Francis Xavier University Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada 2009 A thesis presented to Ryerson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the program of Photographic Preservation and Collections Management Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2014 © Anna Krentz 2014 i Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Snapshots With an Edge: A study of the deckle edge in the North American snapshot Master of Arts, 2014 Anna Krentz Photographic Preservation and Collections Management Ryerson University This thesis takes an object-based approach to the amateur snapshot through an in-depth examination of the deckle edge, a form of snapshot presentation popular in the mid-twentieth century. Research draws primarily from a sample of 321 dated deckle edge snapshots in the collection of the Archive of Modern Conflict, Toronto, and from Kodak trade periodicals held by Ryerson University Special Collections. The thesis examines the formerly undelineated dates of the deckle edge snapshot’s popularity, the various devices used to create the deckle edge, the multiplicities of edge variation blanketed under the term “deckle edge,” the appearance of the deckle edge in Kodak advertising, and the routes by which the deckle edge came to the snapshot. -
Domestic Photography and Technological Paths
Chapter 2 Domestic Photography and Technological Paths 2.1 What Is Domestic Photography? In this book, we use the term domestic photography to describe the photographic activities of ordinary people taking and using images for non-professional purposes. Also, in our use of the term we focus on the kind of use in which photography is not a hobby as such but embedded in other activities. The word ‘domestic’ implies that the activities take place mainly in homes, and the home is the headquarters for this activity.1 Many photographs are taken in the home of people who live or visit there. People go abroad and take photographs, then return home to view, show, share, and store the captured pictures. The cameras, photo albums, prints, printers, computers, mobile phones, television sets, and other photographic technologies can be taken out of the home space, but they do ‘live’ at home as much as the owners of these technologies. Their resting place is at home. The ordinary activities performed with cameras and photographs are also related to the people living in the home. Traditionally this has been the family unit. The connection between photography and the family has been so strong in the past that family photography has become almost synonymous with domestic photography. It has often been the members of the family who are photographed and who do most of the photographing. It is through family relations and the home that photography is introduced to babies and small children. The home is the place and the family is the social context inherent in the photographic practices we are all so familiar with. -
Focus on Photography: a Curriculum Guide
FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: A CURRICULUM GUIDE This page is an excerpt from Focus on Photography: A Curriculum Guide Written by Cynthia Way for the International Center of Photography © 2006 International Center of Photography All rights reserved. Published by the International Center of Photography, New York. Printed in the United States of America. Please credit the International Center of Photography on all reproductions. This project has been made possible with generous support from Andrew and Marina Lewin, the GE Fund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Challenge Program. FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: A CURRICULUM GUIDE PART II Teaching Photography FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: A CURRICULUM GUIDE This chapter is an excerpt from Focus on Photography: A Curriculum Guide Written by Cynthia Way for the International Center of Photography © 2006 International Center of Photography All rights reserved. Published by the International Center of Photography, New York. Printed in the United States of America. Please credit the International Center of Photography on all reproductions. This project has been made possible with generous support from Andrew and Marina Lewin, the GE Fund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Challenge Program. FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: A CURRICULUM GUIDE Teaching the Basics: History, Techniques, Aesthetics, 4and Practice OVERVIEW his chapter discusses Thow to develop an effective, balanced curriculum in basic photography. Sample curriculum and lesson plans address how to teach photography in darkroom and non-darkroom formats, including using digital imaging. Examples are provided for working in elementary, middle, and high school settings. Figure 13 Building a Curriculum Everyone has the capacity to interpret and create images. -
Snapshot Photography: a Phatic, Socially
SNAPSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY: A PHATIC, SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED, MNEMONIC TECHNOLOGY Alistair Joseph Parker BA (Hons), MA Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) Lancaster University This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2017 Dedication Dedications Dedicated to my wife Irene Thank you for your love, encouragement, and understanding. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on until you come to the end: then stop.”– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland “Not to take photographs of one’s children, particularly when small, is a sign of parental indifference.” Susan Sontag, On Photography i Dedication Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work. It has not been previously submitted, in part or whole, to any university or institution for any degree, diploma, or other qualification. Signed:______________________________________________________________ Date:_________________________________________________________________ Alistair Joseph Parker BA (Hons), MA Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) Lancaster University Copyright: Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) ii Alistair Joseph Parker BA Hons, MA Snapshot Photography: A Phatic, Socially Constructed Mnemonic Technology This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 Abstract This practice related research study explores my cognitive response to a biographical snapshot photograph celebrating my first day at school. The experience triggered an exploration of the relationship between snapshot photographs and memory. The finding of a second almost identical snapshot photograph of my son taken twenty years later by me prompted me to question why my father and I should take almost identical snapshots. -
KODAK INSTAMATIC Call1eras in Complete Gift Outfits
spring-summer 1968 APR 8 . COUNTER CATALOG Happy Birthday! Congratulations! Best VVishes! Choose one of these KODAK INSTAMATIC Call1eras in complete gift outfits • Automatie eleetrie eye! • Slim, smart! • Fits poeket! • Winds film foryou! • Lowest priee! N ew palm-size KODAK INSTAMATIC Movie Cameras and Outfits • Lowest-prieed Kodak super 8 eamera Happy Mother's Day! Happy Father's Day! • Most automatie! • Extra·fast lens! • Eleetrie eye! • Extra power! • Rangefinder! ~ • Slim, smart! • Extra·fast lens! • Winds film foryou! o - • Eleetrie eye! • Eleetrie eye! <_. cn~ • Fine fast lens! • Action shutter! • Automatie d> .. flash eontro!! nl» • Winds film • Automatie flash eontro!! • Finest of all I» a foryou! ~ • Not availa ble INSTAMATIC Cameras! d>a ... • Automatie .. r> in outfits • Not available I» eleetrie eye! cn in outfits o~ •.< -~ d> cn ".. ..I» .....o aI» r>d> .._ • ..o r> ül • Eleetrie·eye model at a • Extra·fast lens plus • Zoom lens plus eleetrie budget priee eleetrie eye eye and pistol grip Still Cameras CAMERA5 U51NG KODAK FILM 51ZE 126 10 Basic Features shared by 1 Instant loading 2 Accepts f1ashcube-rotates it automatically 3 Hinged bock KODAK INSTAMATIC® 4 Automatie film load identification 5 Automatie exposure positioning and counting Camera Models: 6 Double-exposure prevention 7 Optical eye-level finder 104, 154, 5-10, 5-20, 304, 324, 8 Compactness and carrying ease 9 Sturdy construction 404,704,804,714, and 814 10 Modern styling KODAK INSTAMATIC 104 A 104R OUTFIT A 104E CAMERA COLOR OUTFIT Ten basie features-see above-plus: • Sharp, preset lens-no focusing. • Quick-action lever film advance. less thon ... -
Caring for Kodak's Colorama: Methodologies for Collections Care at George Eastman Museum
Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 5-2016 Caring for Kodak's Colorama: Methodologies for Collections Care at George Eastman Museum Mackenzie Robbins Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Robbins, Mackenzie, "Caring for Kodak's Colorama: Methodologies for Collections Care at George Eastman Museum" (2016). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS CARING FOR KODAK'S COLORAMA: METHODOLOGIES FOR COLLECTIONS CARE AT GEORGE EASTMAN MUSEUM A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN MUSEUM STUDIES HISTORY DEPARTMENT BY MACKENZIE ROBBINS MAY 2016 ! Table of Contents ABSTRACT PART I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………...………………………….1 PART II: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………….…………...…………………………7 PART III: PROJECT METHODOLOGIES………………….…...………………………………9 Cataloging the Colorama Collection……………………………………..…………..........10 Rehousing the Colorama Collection……………………...….……………………….........13 Creating A Collections Guide…………………………..…....………………………........15 PART IV: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………................................18 APPENDIX: A COLLECTIONS GUIDE TO THE KODAK COLORAMA COLLECTION AT GEORGE EASTMAN MUSUEM…………………………………………..………………......21 Section -
The Snapshot, Under the Intervention of Flies on The
THE SNAPSHOT, UNDER THE INTERVENTION OF FLIES ON THE WALL AMELIA ISHMAEL JANUARY 2009 Fig. 1. Ryan McGinley, Dakota Hair, 2004. THE SNAPSHOT AMELIA ISHMAEL Following the mass-marketed introduction of the first hand-held Kodak camera to popular culture in the late 19th century—and the subsequent birth of the “amateur” aesthetic—photography became synonymous with immediacy. Significant exhibitions such as the Museum of Modern Art’s, The American Snapshot (1944), The Family of Man (1955), and New Documents (1967) featured and, in effect, canonized images created by amateurs and others using hand-held cameras. Art historians such as Geoffrey Batchen, Michel Frizot, and Mary Warner Marien have recognized problematic assumptions of an essentially “fine-art” history of photography, and have argued for an expanded canon that includes a diverse field of practices, including the “snapshot” and the “snapshot aesthetic.” As James Elkins’s recent text Photography Theory reflects, art history scholars are divided about the merits of maintaining boundaries between “high art” and vernacular practices.1 Through investigation of the influence of the “snapshot aesthetic” upon “fine-art” practice, the snapshot’s position within photography’s history has been secured – but on the merits of the snapshot’s aesthetic influence only.2 A group of contemporary photographers, including Ryan McGinley, have begun to examine assumptions of the snapshot's immediacy and conventions of its aesthetic. 1 See James Elkins, ed., Photography Theory (New York: Routledge, 2007). 2 The snapshot and its aesthetic are at the center of current photography-history discourses. These discussions aim to satisfy objections to the master-narrative of the history of art by directing attention to the rich visual culture and social history that thrives within popular culture and often directly inspires the traditionally described “high arts.” Recent exhibitions of vernacular photography which appeared at the Newark Museum in New Jersey (2008), the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. -
Culture of the Selfie: Self-Representation in Contemporary Visual Culture Ana Peraica
CULTURE OF THE SELFIE: SELF-REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE ANA PERAICA A SERIES OF READERS PUBLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE OF NETWORK CULTURES ISSUE NO.: 24 INSTITUTE OF NETWORK CULTURES CULTURE OF THE SELFIE SELF-REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE ANA PERAICA 2 THEORY ON DEMAND Theory on Demand #24 Culture of the Selfie: Self-Representation in Contemporary Visual Culture Author: Ana Peraica Editorial Support: Leonieke van Dipten Copy-editing: Veena Hariharan Cover design: Katja van Stiphout Design: Isabella Calabretta EPUB development: Isabella Calabretta Publisher: Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2017 ISBN: 978-94-92302-17-5 Contact Institute of Network Cultures Phone: +3120 5951865 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.networkcultures.org This publication is available through various print on demand services and freely downloadable from http://networkcultures.org/publications This publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoD- erivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). CULTURE OF THE SELFIE: SELF-REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE 3 To my sister Tina. CULTURE OF THE SELFIE: SELF-REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE 5 CONTENTS Preface 7 Selfie as Trend But is it Art? #whataboutyourselfie Acknowledgements Introduction 13 Selfie as Visual Paradox Book Overview I: Histories of Self-Observation 18 History of Self-Observing From Camera Obscura Self-portrait to the Digital Selfie History of Self-Presentation Alla Sfera and Allo Specchio: From