Camera Obscura
Louis
Daguerre (Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre)
Born near Paris, France on November
18, 1789. A professional scene painter for the opera with an interest in
lighting effects, Daguerre began experimenting with the effects of light upon
translucent paintings in the 1820s.
Louis
Daguerre regularly used a camera obscura as an aid to painting in perspective, and this led him
think about ways to keep the image still.
In
1826, he discovered the work of Joseph Niepce, and in 1829 began a partnership
with him.
He
formed a partnership with Joseph Niepce to improve upon the photography process
Niepce had invented. Niepce, who died in 1833, produced the first photographic image, however, Niepce's
photographs quickly faded.
After
several years of experimentation, Louis Daguerre developed a more convenient
and effective method of photography, naming it after himself - the
daguerreotype.
According
to writer Robert Leggat, Louis Daguerre made an important discovery by
accident. In 1835, he put an exposed plate in his chemical cupboard, and some
days later found, to his surprise, that the latent image had developed.
Daguerre eventually concluded that this was due to the presence of mercury
vapour from a broken thermometer. This important discovery that a latent image
could be developed made it possible to reduce the exposure time from some eight
hours to thirty minutes.
Louis
Daguerre introduced
the daguerreotype process to the public on August 19, 1839 at a meeting of the
French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
In
1839, Louis Daguerre and Niépce's son sold the rights for the daguerreotype to
the French government and published a booklet describing the process.
Henry Fox Talbot
Fox Talbot
reported his 'art of photogenic drawing' to the Royal Society. His process
based the prints on paper that had been made light sensitive, rather than
bitumen or copper-paper.
Fox Talbot went
on to develop the three primary elements of photography: developing, fixing,
and printing. Although simply exposing photographic paper to the light produced
an image, it required extremely long exposure times. By accident, he discovered
that there was an image after a very short exposure. Although he could not see
it, he found he could chemically develop it into a useful negative. The image
on this negative was then fixed with a chemical solution. This removed the light-sensitive
silver and enabled the picture to be viewed in bright light. With the negative
image, Fox Talbot realised he could repeat the process of printing from the
negative. Consequently, his process could make any number of positive prints,
unlike the Daguerreotypes. He called this the 'calotype' and patented the
process in 1841.
Kodak Brownie
In 1900, the
Eastman Kodak Company introduced the Brownie camera.
The Brownie
camera, simple enough for even children to use, was designed, priced, and marketed
to have wide appeal. It made photography accessible to the masses.
The Brownie
camera was a simple, black, rectangular box covered in imitation leather with
nickeled fittings.
To take a
"snapshot," all one had to do was hold the camera waist height, aim,
and turn a switch. Kodak claimed in its advertisements that the Brownie camera
was "so simple they can easily be operated by any school boy or
girl"
The Brownie
camera was very affordable, selling for only $1 each.
Edward Curtis
Edward Curtis
published The North American Indian between 1907 and 1930 with the intent to
record traditional Indian traditional cultures. The work comprises twenty
volumes of narrative text photogravure images.
Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine
was an American sociologist and photographer, Hine used his camera as a tool
for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child
labor lows in the United States
Eugene Atget
Eugene Atget was
a French pioneer of documentary Photography, noted for his determination to
document all of the architecture and street scenes Paris before their
disappearance to modernisations.
Andre Kertesz
Andre Kertesez originally from Hungary bought his first
camera and made his first photograph Budapest stock exchange in 1912 where he
used to work as a clerk. He after moved to Paris and began a career as a
freelance photographer. There the young transplant, speaking little French,
took the street, wandering , observing and developing his intimate approach to image
making.
From 1933 to 1936 Kertesz published three books of his own
photographs. Immigrating to the United States in 1936, he settled in New York,
where he earned his living photographing architecture and interiors for magazines
such as House and Garden. It was not until he retired from commercial work at
age sixty-eight taht Kertesz was free to focus again on the more personal
subject that had delighted him as an amateur.
Henri Cartier Bresson
Henri Cartier Bresson was born on August 22, 1908 in
Chanteloup, France. A pioneer in photojournalism.
Considered on of the major artists of the 20 th
century, he covered many of the world biggest event from the Spanish Civil War
to the French uprisings in 1968
For the rest of his life, in fact,
Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography would remain much the same. He made
clear his disdain for improved images, one that had been enhanced by artificial
light, dark room effects, even cropping. The naturalist in Cartier-Bresson
believed that all edits should be done when the image was made. His equipment
load was often light: a 50mm lens and if he needed it, a longer 90mm lens.
Robert Frank
One of the most acclaimed photographers of the 20 th century
, Robert Frank is best know for is seminal book The Americans, feauturing
photographs taken by the artist in the mid-1950s as he travelled across the
U.S.
These photographs feature sight of highway, cars , parades, jukeboxes,
and diners as iconic symbolsof America
while simultaneously suggesting an underline sense of alienation and hardship.
In the 1950s, Frank was a regular contributor to Harper’s
bazaar, but later turned his focus from still images to filmmaking , creating
classic of American subculture such as Pull My daisy (1959)
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