A Brief History of
Modern Photography
In
1826-27, Nicéphore Niépce. Took a camera obscure, pointed
it at a courtyard, and managed to make a permanent exposure of it. It took
eight hours. He called it a heliograph, the first recorded picture using
light-sensitive materials. In 1844 Daguerre perfected a process were by a: a
sheet of copper was coated with a thin layer of silver. The silver was made
sensitive to light with iodine vapour. It was exposed in a camera, and then
vapour of mercury was used to bring out an image. Finally that image was fixed
with a salt solution, common table salt.
In
England 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot, had managed to make a permanent
image, on paper. Talbot dipped paper in salt, and when dries, in silver
nitrate, forming a light-sensitive chemical, silver chloride. He pointed the
sensitized paper in a camera obscura at an object; waited until the image
turned dark enough to be seen with the naked eye, about 30 minutes, then fixed
the image with a strong salt solution, or potassium iodide. By putting the
negative image against a second sensitized sheet, and shining light through it,
he could produce a positive image. These images where mainly sought after by
the public as portraitures and Artists, as aids to painting, photographing a
scene or a face and returned to the studio to paint it.
In
1888 George Eastman, introduced the first roll of film called a Kodak, with the
slogan, "You push the button and we do the rest!" The roll of film
with, one hundred exposures was returned to Eastman’s for processing. Now you
no longer needed to be an Inventor, chemist artist or professional photographer
to take pictures.
In 1920 the first 35 mm camera, the ‘Leica’. Was designed as a way to use surplus movie film, before this a photo
of professional quality required bulky equipment. Now with the hand held flash
camera the Leica photographers could go anywhere and take photos unobtrusively,
without lights or tripods. This gave the photographer the freedom to take ‘un-staged’
photographs of people and daily events as they occurred, giving birth to
‘photojournalism’. News paper had previously relied on illustrations.
The combination of photography and journalism, or
photojournalism--a term coined by Frank Luther Mott, historian and dean of the
University Of Missouri School Of Journalism--really became familiar after World
War II (1939-1945). This concept had been original conceived in Germany in the
mid 1920 put the rise to power of Hitler had suppressed the notion of shooting
pictures to write about as supposed to illustrating stories.
Henry Luce, already successful with Time
and Fortune magazines,
conceived of a new general-interest magazine relying on modern photojournalism.
It was called Life, launched
Nov. 23, 1936.
Polaroid
Polaroid Photography
- Instant Photography
Polaroid photography was invented by Edwin
Land. Land was the American inventor and physicist whose one-step process
for developing and printing photographs created a revolution in photography -
instant photography. You can view Edwin Land's patent for the polaroid camera
on the left for the camera that allowed the photographer to remove a developing
print after the picture had been snapped. Edwin Land founded the Polaroid Corporation
to manufacturer his new camera. The first poloroid camera was sold to the
public in November, 1948. 
As
compared to most of the fixed-lens compact cameras, the most commonly used and
inexpensive SLR lenses offer a wider aperture range and larger maximum aperture
typically f/1.4 to f/1.8 for a 50 mm lens. This allows photographs to be taken
in lower light conditions without flash, and allows a narrower depth of field,
which is useful for blurring the background behind the subject, and making the
subject more prominent. SLR lenses are manufactured with extremely long focal
lengths, allowing a photographer to be at a considerable distance away from the
subject and yet still expose a sharp and focused image.
Adobe Photoshop
In Sept. 1988, the Knoll brothers (John
Knoll, was in charge of the special effects department for Industrial Light and
Magic on the 1st Star) approached Adobe and stuck a deal. All the wholesale rights
of Photoshop were purchased by Adobe. The Knoll brothers released the first
version Photoshop 1.0 in 1990.
‘Photoshop’, today is the most popular
and profitable application that supports layers, filters, brushes, text, 3D
objects, videos, etc. Photoshop is mainly used for bitmap image and to do image
manipulation tasks effectively. This gave, students, amateur photographers,
artist, as well as professional graphic artist a method of develop a range of
stunning images from a single photograph.
Digital Cameras
The first true
digital camera that recorded images as a computerized file was likely the Fuji DS-1P of 1988, which recorded to a
16 MB internal memory card that used a battery to keep the data in memory.
This camera was never market
The move to
digital formats was helped by the formation of the first JPEG and MPEG standards in 1988,
which allowed image and video files to be compressed for storage.
Mobile Phones Cameras
The Camera Phone was invented on June 11, 1997, by Philippe Kahn. The
camera phone became the founding vision for Light-Surf Technologies.
inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm
There is a more detailed time line of the history of the
camera in appendix one
Influential
people in photography and their achievements:
People who have left their mark in photography are to
numerous to mention. I have chosen a selection of them here that are
acknowledge by our peers to be ground breaking in the development of
photography been the major tool of modern society it has become. Here is a
small selection of photographers who I personally admire and would wish to
emulate.
Roger Fenton
1855 was one of the first people that we would today describe as a professional
photographer, as well as the world’s first photographic war journalist. After a
visit to an early art show of photography, he went to learn a method of
photography known as the Talbot-type process.
Dorothea Lange
was born in 1895, and is best-known for her work chronicling the
Great Depression and the struggles of people caught in its wake. Struggling
with a constant limp caused by a childhood bout with polio, Lange nearly
pioneered documentary photography on a grand scale. Her most famous photograph,
Migrant Mother, clearly shows the worry and fear of a poor woman with her two
crying children.
Nancy Wynne Newhall (May 9, 1908 – July 7, 1974) was an American photography critic. She is best known for
writing the text to accompany photographs by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, but was also a widely published
writer on photography, conservation, and American culture. The best known and most
influential of these is This Is the American Earth, a collaboration with
Ansel Adams, published in 1960
Ansel
Adams
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Adams is well-known as a master of the darkroom.
His black and white landscapes of Yosemite and Grand Teton are
outstanding for the captivating contrast that he achieved with extensive
dodging and burning in the darkroom. Even later in his life, he continued
to use large format cameras.
He is seen as an environmental folk hero and a symbol of
the American West Adams' dedication to wilderness preservation, his commitment
to the Sierra Club, made him one of the first true campaigners and
Conservationist of the earth.
Edward Weston
Photographer
Edward Henry Weston. has been called
"one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…"
and "one of the masters of 20th century photography."
Nancy Newhall, (born May 9,
1908, Lynn, Mass., U.S.—died July 7, 1974, Jackson,
Wyo.), American photography critic, conservationist, and editor who was an
important contributor to the development of the photograph book as an art form.
Among the 22 books Newhall helped
publish are Time in New England
(1950), with photographs by Paul Strand, and the biography Ansel
Adams (1963).
Richard Avedon American 1923-2004A commercial photographer, who was able to create instantly iconic and memorable images. Using large-format portrait style with the stark white background and his use of two images to tell one portrait story
www.richardavedon.com
W. Eugene Smith American 1918-1978
Intense and at times obsessed with his work. He helped establish the photo story and the power of black & white printing.
www.smithfund.org
Helmut Newton German 1920-2004
Newton. created erotically charged and powerful images of women, and developed the use of ring flash in fashion images.
www.helmutnewton.com
Hannah Höch
Artist
Hannah Höch was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of
the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage. Hoch appropriated
and rearranged images and text from the mass media to critique the failings of
the Weimar German Government. Her work was politically motivated and very
contemporary. Hoch cutting edge collage works appeal to me greatly.
londonist.com/.../surreal-collage-hannah-hoch-at-whitechapel-gallery.ph
Irving Penn American 1917- 2009
He is the established genius of American Vogue magazine. Portraiture and still life.
www.irvingpenn.com
Guy Bourdin French 1928-1991
Bourdin, set the bar for fashion and art photography. Erotic, surreal and controversial. www.guybourdin.org
Henri
Cartier-Bresson French 1908-2004
Known as the creator of ‘The decisive moment’. He never cropped his images and only shot in black & white. the master of candid photography. A favourite of mine Bresson depicted urban culture
Known as the creator of ‘The decisive moment’. He never cropped his images and only shot in black & white. the master of candid photography. A favourite of mine Bresson depicted urban culture
Freaks, loners and people on the edges of society’s norms were Arbus‘s subjects. Her direct and simple portrait style and subject matter have inspired ever since.
www.diane-arbus-photography.com
Walker Evans American 1903-1975
The chronicler of American life who brought a detached observer’s eye to all of his images. He created order and beauty through composition where there was none.
Martin Parr British
1952-
Parr’s use of intense colour and his ability to raise the snapshot to the level of art has led to him being recognised as the master chronicler of the every day.
Parr’s use of intense colour and his ability to raise the snapshot to the level of art has led to him being recognised as the master chronicler of the every day.
Annie Leibovitz
Photographer
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait
photographer.
annieleibovitz.tumblr.com
Jerry Uelsman
Jerry Uelsman has established a photographic
style using multiple photos to create a surrealistic and impressionist
composite image. Born in 1934, he used film for many years and built his
works using film cameras. His work became famous mostly for his abilities
in the dark room. Few others were capable of creating composites using so
many images with such skill. Although Uelsman is alive today, he never
switched to digital cameras. He said
, “ “I am sympathetic to the current
digital revolution and excited by the visual options created by the computer.
However, I feel my creative process remains intrinsically linked to the alchemy
of the darkroom.”
Andy Warhol
Artist
Andy Warhol was an American
artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.
His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity
culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s
Warhol's art is inseparable from
photography. One of the pioneers of the Pop art movement of the 1960s, Warhol
initially appropriated photographic images from advertising and photojournalism
as the starting point for his celebrated silkscreen paintings
Cindy Sherman
Photographer
Cynthia "Cindy" Morris Sherman is an American
photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits.
By turning the camera on herself, Cindy Sherman has built a name as one
of the most respected photographers of the late twentieth century. Although,
the majority of her photographs are pictures of her, however, these photographs
are most definitely not self-portraits. Rather, Sherman uses herself as a
vehicle for commentary on a variety of issues of the modern world: the role of
the woman, the role of the artist and many more. It is through these ambiguous
and eclectic photographs that Sherman has developed a distinct signature style.
Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has raised challenging
and important questions about the role and representation of women in society,
the media and the nature of the creation of art
Richard Prince
Photographer
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer.
Prince began appropriating photographs in 1975
Appropriation in art is
the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied
to them.
Here's a look at one of the images that haven't yet been determined to
be fair use or infringing:
Regarding the
work above, Judge Parker says, "Prince did little more than paint blue
lozenges over the subject's eyes and mouth, and paste a picture of a guitar
over the subject's body... Where the photograph presents someone comfortably at
home in nature, Graduation combines divergent elements to create a sense of
discomfort. However, we cannot say for sure whether Graduation constitutes fair
use or whether Prince has transformed Cariou’s work enough to render it
transformative."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/appropriation-artist-richard-prince-prevails-446479
References:
Some Different applications of
Photography in Modern Media
Advertising
Photography in advertising is often the medium
that holds a concept together. Without intelligent choices that grasp the
consumer’s attention, much of the other hard work that must go into a campaign,
marketing program, branding execution or website can be rendered nearly
meaningless.
Advertisement has always defined and
directed our lifestyle. It has got inspired from how we live and also has
inspired us to change our own way of living. Both words and pictures in
advertisements have played critical role in informing us, educating us,
inspiring us, enlightening us and also deluding its audience.
Photography became established in print advertising in the late 1800s. At
that time it was been used as, little more than an illustration tool.
Straightforward shots of consumer products filled the back pages of magazines.
Not until In 1920s, was photography used to make their company’s products stand
out among the vast array of manufactured goods.
“The influence of applied
psychology had reoriented managers toward an appreciation of the mind as the
critical element of rationalized consumption. Greater sales in an increasingly
competitive and national marketplace required persuading reticent consumers
that individual difference and personal meaning could be theirs despite a
regularized landscape of standardized goods.”
As Elspeth Brown noted in The
Corporate Eye: Photography and the Rationalization of American Commercial
Culture 1884–1929
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Photographs like Gilbert Seehausen’s striking before-and-after shots
showing the benefits Esther face powder offered persuasive realism that
appealed to customers on an emotional level. By the 1930s, photography would
become the medium of choice for most print advertising.
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Over the years,
advertising was opened up to include a wider range of styles and techniques
that lends the photographer notoriety on
the scale of film directors and artist.
By the 1980's,
mass market fashion photography were marked by high glamour typified
in Herb Ritts, who continued through the 1990's.
Fallon McElligot,
Mullen, McKinney & Silver and other agencies around the country were
setting the standards for creative, clever and image-driven advertising.
Another arena, where advertising
photography has gradually and permanently made an effect is its use for online
media advertising. We come across different websites, online ads like banners,
pop ups etc. Has annoying as they can be, the preferred images been used, to
sell you their product are, photographic images.
Fashion
Fashion
photography is most often conducted for advertisements or fashion magazines
such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, or Allure. Over time, fashion photography has
developed its own aesthetic in which the clothes and fashions are enhanced by
the presence of exotic locations or accessories.
In
the mid, 1940s. House photographers such as Irving Penn, Martin Munkacsi,
Richard Avedon, and Louise Dahl-Wolfe would shape the look of fashion
photography for the following decades. Richard Avedon revolutionized fashion
photography — and redefined the role of the fashion photographer
Fashion photography as also
brought us our “celebs” from the faceless illustrations of the 1800’s and the characterless
“cloth hangers” from the 1940. Photography have merged fashion with Life style
and give us super models who have the status of social icons
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How Street Style Changed the Frontier of Fashion Photography
What
was formerly the realm of professional, meticulously staged fashion shoots has
had to make way for a new medium of informal, more natural-looking images of
real people going about their real business — and looking great while they do
it.
It is now hailed as a democratic platform where anyone
with an original look, regardless of age, weight, or income, could be
celebrated for dressing themselves with creativity and panache. It is grassroots
fashion.
Some
of today's most famous fashion photographers are Patrick Demarchelier, Steven
Meisel, Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh and Annie Leibovitz.
Check out: Bill Cunningham’s “On the Street” section in the New York Times, and
blogger like The Sartorialist’s Scott Schumann. Street style celebrities like
Tomasi Hill, Elle’s
Kate Lanphear, Japanese Vogue’s Anna Dello Russo.
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is probably the most dramatic and powerful tool of the media
The beginning of modern photojournalism
took place in 1925, in Germany. Now, photographers could go just about anywhere
and take photos with impetus, no time lapse of setting up bulky equipment.
Henry Luce, who was
successful with Time and Fortune magazines, went on to conceive a
new general-interest magazine relying on modern photojournalism. It was called Life, launched Nov.
23, 1936. A universally accepted publication that become a beacon for cutting
edge articles that portrayed true life drama’s highlighted controversial issues
that affected all humanity.
At TED University, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images
shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation
sees an image so powerful it can't look away — or back.
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“Photographs do more than document
history — they make it.”
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Jonathan Klein
runs Getty Images, a stock photo agency whose vast archive of still photography
and illustrations is a mainstay of the creative class. Here is a link to
presentation that must be viewed
Many photographic images used in journalism have become to
symbolize a time and place in our own worlds, evoking personal memories and
emotions at that time in our own lives. They have the capacity to associating
us, with the plight and devastation of others, the power to making us aware of
our own vulnerability.
![Description: Burning Monk – The Self-Immolation [1963]](file://localhost/Domain/mbro.net/Users/M1006239/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image058.gif) |
Burning Monk – The Self-Immolation …: June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned
himself to death.
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![Description: Sudan Famine UN food camp [1994]](file://localhost/Domain/mbro.net/Users/M1006239/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image060.gif) |
§
§
Sudan
Famine UN food camp [1994]:
The photo is the "Pulitzer Prize" winning photo taken in 1994
during the Sudan Famine.
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The invention of the mobile phone camera
saw perceptions of reality and journalism alter forever. The notion that a
moment could be captured in time and provide an undisputable account of an
event in a factual pictorial way, gave photograph the credibility as a tool
that can be used as evidence for dramatic political, social and environmental
changes...
Mobil phones now have the capacity to
give the concerned bystander the abilities to record, take a factual account of
both noteworthy and insignificant events.
London Bombing Pictures Mark New Role for Camera
Phones
July 11, 2005
The images that defined the media coverage of the July
7 London terrorist bombings, which claimed more than 50 lives, came not from professional
news crews but from everyday people.
The professional photographer and bystanders
who are keep up with technology can convert photos and up-load them sending
them via the internet to the news room in almost real time.
-http://www.williamgibsonboard.com/topic/4393793103308889?reply=58014800156238
Fine ART
On February 14th 2006, the auction
house, Sotheby’s of London sold a ’99 cent 11 Diptychon” for a record
$3,346,456.
“Turning
the concept or idea into a photograph is what Art Photography is.”
It is thanks to John Szarkowski,
Alfred Stieglitz, F Holland Day, and Edward Steichen to name only a few that
the medium of photography as come to be accepted through the world as artistic
expressionism. Used to emulate paintings in a dreamy romantic mode. With the
founding of the group f/62 the
photograph claimed its own individuality.
In expressive photography, we rely on visual symbols to represent abstract ideas. A symbol stands for something with a larger meaning. We may also call them metaphors.) Photography is a unique tool that can seduce us to add our own concepts to the subliminal messages photos can hold.
Adverts may use Semitics, aesthetic and
image manipulation to lure and entrap the observer with the ultimate aim of the customer buying into, not
only an abstract object designed to please but also a branded commodity that signals
who we are and our worth, attitude and social status.
Where photojournalist show themselves to be
a hunters who takes good shot or a paparazzi that as a
lucky break ‘right time right place’ with one good shot.
When it comes to fine art we are expected to
give something of ourselves that reveals/share with the viewer who we are and
what moves us this cannot be a one way exchange is we are to grow.
As the advert needs to capture in seconds
(just as the shutter speed of the camera) the interest of the consumer The
photographer of fine art needs to open a channel of communication that will
last as long as fond memories.
Since
the 1960s photography has become an increasingly dominant medium within the
visual arts. Many painters and printmakers, including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and David Hockney have blended
photography with other modes of expression, including computer imaging in mixed
media compositions at both large and small scale. Contemporary photographers
who use more traditional methods to explore non-traditional subjects include
Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince
Recreational Pass Time (a Hobby)
Photography as
assured families history in the ‘family Album’, It would be very difficult to
find a house hold that contains no family photos. There are the obligatory New
born picture of first child the christening the weddings the 21st
The list goes
on, keepsakes for the years to come, memories share with old and new friend a
tangible reminder of the good times, the time when we have weather the storm,
photographs on display that give us that instant shot of pleasure when we
glance at them.
With
the well established Getty Institute stock photos for advertising and the new
demand for readily available images of on line of stock photographs wanted by
companies such as Alamy, who advertises itself as "the world's
first open, unedited collection of images".
It
has more than 25 million of them on its servers, and thousands of contributors,
including many - amateurs, students and others, who would never have had access
to the market in the pre-digital era. There is the opportunity to recover the
cost of your hobby, make a profit or even take the first steps to becoming a
recognised photographer.
Philip Wolmuth make an interesting read for those,
hobbyist who want to that photography a step further. Phil has worked as a
freelance photographer for 30 years, with a primary interest in documenting the
impact of social, economic and political forces on individuals and communities.
His pictures have appeared widely in newspapers, magazines, trade union
journals, books, and public and voluntary sector publications.
He distributes his work through the Reportdigital social issues photo library,
and his own archive at www.philipwolmuth.com.
‘A’ list
Celebrities that have taken up the camera as a hobby and to express themselves
in alternative way.
Bryan Adams
Adams was also invited to photograph Queen Elizabeth II for her Golden
Jubilee. As if that wasn’t enough, he then had the honour of having one of the
pictures from the shoot featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 2004 and 2005.
One of the pictures is now also on display in London’s National Portrait
Gallery.
Jeff
Bridges
Style: Documentary-style, behind the movie scenes
Most famous for: Being one of the world’s first supermodels
Her first solo exhibition, People and Portraits, was held at London’s Proud Central Gallery in 2003
Dennis
Hopper
Image by Dennis Hopper
Camera: NikonStyle: Black and white documentary style
Hopper first became interested in photography thanks to his friend James Dean, who was said to have encouraged him to pick up a camera.
Image
copyright Viggo Mortensen
Style: SpookyMortensen sets himself apart from the average photographer, often scratching or writing on his photographs. He ascertains that the moments he captures in his photography are based on lived experiences.
Dizzee’s passion for photography has produced a great series of pictures of Britain, from the places that inspired him growing up, to the places that inspire him today
Brad Pitt
Style: Lomo
Most famous for: Hollywood Heartthrob
Pitt’s retro photography made an impact as it featured a completely new angle of one of the world’s most photographed women; his then wife, Angelina Jolie.
Melissa Auf der Maur
Style: Lomo, documentary
Most famous for: Former bass player for American rock bands Hole and Smashing Pumpkins
Auf de Maur is another musician turned behind-the-scenes band
photographer. At the time she joined rock band Hole, she was a photography
major at Concordia University specialising in self-portraiture. Since then, she
has been widely published in magazines such as Nylon, Bust, and American Photo,
and her work has been exhibited internationally.
How Photography as affected Culture and Society
Photography has shined an
uncompromising light on crucial issues, given us images that transcend borders
that transcend religions, images that provoke us to step up to
act. Photographic images can change our view of the physical world
and touched on the ethereal realms of self-awareness. Can given
our society the opportunity of experiencing our worlds of many different countries
and cultures. As given us the away to share and to learn from each other, to an
almost collective experience when a picture paints a thousand word.
We are now more
aware thanks to the Space photography of the melting Polar Ice Cap the visual disappearance of the
Brazilian Forest that robs native Brazilians of their natural habitat these
cultural issues, environmental issues
effect every generation past and present future. Without the photograph bring
to society a universal knowledge of who and how our fellow human begins live
how the worship, feed themselves their morals ethics customs and what they
value in life.
A gift to
fashion and design is the many influence found in the rich tapestry of foreign
cultures exotic flowers, furs and feathers that are woven into this year’s
Societies must have coat, wall paper or any other accessories. Hair: colour,
style, hair no hair.
Photogrpay can
promote ..........cultures within culture the youth grudge gothic newageForm
In today’s society, photography plays an important role to
our visual awareness and it has always been considered to have a special status
for truthfully recording the world and making people perceive photographs as
something real.
(“…all these kind of pictures are capable of capturing and
conveying to our eyes the distinctive features that our brains need in order to
be able to figure out what we are looking at”) (p.151, Persuasion in the Media
Age,) Timothy Borchers.
Photographs have the
ability to educate and inform, to record and preserve moments in time for
generations to come, a method of archiving factual recorded data that can,
remind of our tyrannical past, to illustrate the downfalls of human nature and
the carnage war has on the lives of those incapable of defending them selves
It can be used as an
advocate for peace, to provoke emotional support, to be used as a tool to the
advocate of change, to present a real alternative, to acknowledge the divide
between the poor and wealthy, to provide the evidence for injustice.
The Mobile
Cameras in our society can have a mixed roll
As
a network-connected device, megapixel camera phones are starting to play
significant roles such as crime prevention, journalism and business
applications as well as individual uses. On the other hand, they are prone to
abuse such as voyeurism, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement.
Some organizations and places have started to ban camera
phones because of the privacy and security issues they raise. One country, Saudi Arabia, banned the sale of camera phones
nationwide for a time before allowing their sale in 2004
In
South Korea and Japan, all camera phones sold in the country have to make a
clearly audible sound whenever a picture is taken. In Singapore camera phones
are banned at companies or facilities that have an association with national
security. In Europe, some BDSM conventions and play parties ban mobile phones
altogether to prevent of camera phone abuse.
Camera
equipped mobile phones have been linked to industrial espionage and paparazzi
activity. During much of 2004, a black hat hacker named Nicolas Jacobsen had
illegal access to the backbone of T-Online USA mobile network. Besides stealing
classified US Secret Service documents and selling them on IRC, he amused
himself and friends by finding out celebrity phone numbers (including that of
Paris Hilton, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher). Then he siphoned off recently
made photos from their handsets and circulated some of the pictures.
‘How selfies became a global phenomenon’
The smart-phone self-portrait or 'selfie' has established
itself a form of self-expression. Is it a harmless fad or a dangerous sign of
western society's growing narcissism?
"The selfie is
revolutionising how we gather autobiographical information about ourselves and
our friends," says Dr Mariann
Hardey, a lecturer in marketing at Durham University who specialises in
digital social networks. "It's about continuously rewriting yourself. It's
an extension of our natural construction of self. It's about presenting
yourself in the best way … [similar to] when women put on makeup or men
who body build to look a certain way: it's an aspect of performance that's
about knowing yourself and being vulnerable."
Recently, the Chinese manufacturer
Huawei
unveiled plans for a new smartphone with "instant facial beauty
support" software which reduces wrinkles and blends skin tone.
On the other hand the selfie can
be seen in some respects, be a more authentic representation of beauty than
other media images. In an article
for Psychology Today
published earlier this year, Sarah J Gervais, an assistant professor of
psychology, wrote that: "Instagram (and other social media) has allowed
the public to reclaim photography as a source of empowerment… it
offers a quiet resistance to the barrage of perfect images that we face each
day.
References:
http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Magazine/Latest-Issue/The-State-of-The-Stock-Photography-Market
Contextual influences
on the Photography
Throughout the history of photography,
technical innovations have affected the way we take and look at pictures.
Digital photography has now provided us a new visual culture that enabled new
types of practices, such as digital post-manipulation of photographs (Adobe
Photoshop), direct image sharing using MMS, or web communities. It is now more
essential to understand in what context these photographs have been taken
Photographs have tremendous power to
communicate information. They also have tremendous power to communicate misinformation.
The viewer should ask themselves why?,
are they been shown this image. Is the photo to be viewed aesthetically is it
paying homage to a revered artist, made in a mode of past invention a Widelux F8
camera for example, is it an informative image, is it a personal reflection, a symbolic
were the context is implicit, viewers are left to fill it in on their own, making
assumptions based on their own experience or values.
In many photographs, information about
the people, events, setting, and so on are made explicit by
the photographer, there are distinct visual clues that tell us who the people
are, what they are doing, and where and when the photograph was taken.
It is not always possible to decode,
evaluate, and respond to photographic images and only with the aid of a tile or
some research can the view become full aware of the photographs intent of not
only shooting an aesthetic photo image a shot that conveys a message, or a
historical reason for shooting the image. The idea is to shoot an image that is
characteristic or appropriate, as for the purposes of study.
Cindy Sherman
self portraits are contextually influenced by a
radical new 'ism': post modernism. It was only a matter of time before it
seeped into the photographic darkroom.
"The
premise of post modernism is that we now live in a culture so saturated with
media imagery and media models of how people live that our idea of how one
lives one's life and who one is, is made up of that kind of media myth. And in
a sense it negates the idea of portraiture, the idea that you can dress up and
go to a studio and somehow reveal your strength of character, or your inherent
humanity or whatever. You don't have an inherent humanity in the post modernist
analysis of these things we are all these composites of a lot of myths and
narratives written by other people." (Colin Westerbeck, Writer)
Sherman’s self-portrait emulating
Hitchcock’s leading lady in ‘Vertigo’
Cindy Sherman transforms herself into a disquieting image
of 1950s B-movie femininity in this photographic performance. Engaged with
issues current in the early 1980s under the rubric of postmodernism, the work investigates
the role of photography in the construction of the unified self, and makes
explicit the power relations provoked by the act of looking.
Digital cameras are rapidly becoming a
pervasive presence in people’s everyday life, and are now even integrated into
other technologies, such as camera phones.
Given rise to the ‘Selfies’ (taking
one’s own photograph in situ) notably the golden globe Ellen DeGeneres, selfie
that was international news headlines and as now gone viral on the internet
with people substituting their own face for that of a member of the group.
The Russian Daredevils Who Climbed a 2,073-Foot Tower in China
The photographers travel around the world in search of
tall buildings to secretly scale.
Makhorov and Raskalov, who are both in
their 20s, have run into trouble with the law before; last year, Makhorov apologized for climbing
pyramids and snapping pictures in Giza, Egypt. That same year, the pair briefly
got arrested by Czech police for ascending to the top of the St. Vitus
Cathedral in Prague (they've also scaled some of the world's most iconic tourist
destinations, including Barcelona's Sagrada Familia and Paris's Eiffel
Tower).
The Heights of Contextual Photography
It's
not all about the dizzying heights, though; roofs are only part of the pair's
repertoire, according to Makhorov. "My genre is locations of all kinds.
Heights, the underground," he tells HUB. "We look for unusual
places."
Referrences:
London’s Street Photography
Author Colin
Westerbeck writes for Light-Box about the Museum of London’s current
exhibition, London Street Photography.
On a personal
note My voyage to become a photographer as only just begun. I will after
developing my skills using a cannon digital SLR and Adobe photo shop soft-
ware. Concentrate on photojournalism and
urban culture.
Appendix one
The Origins and History of Photography
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From Earliest Times
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It may seem strange but cameras existed long before photography. It
had been observed as far back as the fifth century BC that an image of the
outside scene was formed by sunlight shining through a small hole into a
darkened room. The phrase Camera Obscura means "Darkened
Room".
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From 16th Century
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Camera Obscura was improved by utilising a simple lens.
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1666
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Demonstrated that light is
the source of colour. He used a prism to split sunlight into its
constituent colours and another to recombine them to make white light.
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1725
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Discovered the darkening
of silver salts by the action of light.
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1758
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Developed the Achromatic telescope lens, this improved the camera
obscura image.
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1801
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Suggested that the retina at the back of the eye contains three types
of colour sensitive receptor, one sensitive to blue light, one to green
and one to red. The brain interprets various combinations of these colours to
form any other colour in the visible spectrum.
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1802
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Produced silhouettes of opaque objects by contact printing them on
silver nitrate coated paper however the images were unfixed and faded in
daylight.
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1826
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Produced the first permanent image (Heliograph) using a camera obscura
and white bitumen it required 8 hours to expose.
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1829
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Started partnership with Niepce.
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1834
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Experiments using Silver chloride coated paper to yield
"negatives" of silhouettes.
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1835
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Using his small "mousetrap"
cameras he photographs the inside of his library window at Lacock Abbey,
creating the first negative.
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1837
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Following experiments on his own he evolved a workable process
(Daguerreotype). Silver iodide coated copper plate was exposed and developed
by mercury to give a single direct positive. He removed the remaining silver
iodide with a warm solution of cooking salt, they took 30 minutes to develop.
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1839
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Daguerreotype process released for general use in return for state
pensions given to Daguerre and Isidore Niepce. Patented in England. On August
19th 1839 Argo announced details.
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1839
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Hurriedly prepared and presented papers at the Royal Institution and
the Royal Society. Unlike the Daguerre process the image is recorded as a
"negative" and had to be printed via a similar process to produce
the final "positive". Many positive prints can be made from a
single negative.
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1839
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Suggests fixing Talbot's images in sodium thiosulphate and coined the
terms "photography", "negative"
and "positive".
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1840
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Following suggestions he improved his process, using silver iodide and
developing in gallic acid. The use of paper negatives meant that the images
were not as detailed as Dagurreotypes.
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1841
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1841
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Mathematically calculated compound lens of f/3.6 effectively reduces
Daguerreotype exposure to 1 minute.
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1844
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Publishes "Pencil of Nature" the first book with
photographic illustrations, glued in calotypes .
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1847
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Discovers the use of albumen to bind silver salts on glass base.
Albumen process requires 10 minutes exposure. Talbot patents process in
England.
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1850
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Proposes use of Albumen for printing paper. Albumen paper was never
patented and was popularly used for 40 years.
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1851
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Proposes "Collodion" process. Collodion (a solution of
nitrocellulose in a mixture of ethyl alcohol and ethyl ether) forms a binder
for silver iodide on glass. Exposure and processing is performed immediately
after coating plate. Scott Archer did not patent the process and died in
poverty. Two versions of this process were "Ambrotype" and
"Tintype" . Exposure was about 10 seconds . The Collodion process
greatly expanded photography and brought everyone into contact with its
results.
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1861
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Demonstrated the formation of colours by combining three light sources
of red, green and blue. All other colours, including white, are a
mixture of these primary colours. The colours combine by an additive
process.
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1868
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Published a book suggesting how a range of colour photographic methods
might work, but they could not yet be put into practice.
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1871
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Writing in the ‘British Journal Of Photography’ he suggested
gelatin, derived from a protein found in animal bones, as a collodion
substitute. Gelatin "Emulsions" and "Dry Plates" were
marketed by various manufacturing companies from 1878, and gelatin is still
used today. Exposure times of 1/25th second could be achieved.
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1887
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New York clergyman filled patent for roll film with a flexible plastic
base
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1888
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Produced the first simplified camera system for the general public, The Kodak
Number 1, and the first mass Developing and Processing service.
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1889
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Produced the first transparent roll film (nitrocellulose)
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1889
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Slit the 2 3/4 inch Kodak roll film down the middle making it 1 3/8
inch (35mm) and put transport perforations down each side - to become the
international standard for motion picture film.
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1890
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Devised the first independent system to give emulsions speed numbers,
this essentially led to the current ISO numbers on film boxes today.
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The first halftone
photographic reproductions appeared in daily papers, although it took another
ten years before the process was fully adopted. Halftones were created by
using a camera containing a ruled glass screen with a grid pattern to break
up the image into tiny dots of different sizes.
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1904
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Research lead to panchromatic
film using sensitising dyes. This type of film is sensitive to all visible
colours.
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1904
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Patented "Autochrome" the first additive
colour screen film material.
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1912
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The two German chemists invented the action of colour
coupling , so dyes required for colour film processing could be
created by combining appropriate developer oxidation products with colour
former chemicals. However the process was not reliable enough to start
film production.
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1924
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An employer of E. Leitz designed a camera for use with a microscope
using motion picture film, this became the first precision 35mm camera. It
was called the Leica
derived from Leitz camera. The capabilities of the Leica made a new form of
photojournalism possible, as typified by the Magnum
photographic agency.
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1935
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Mannes and Godowsky helped develop Kodachrome
for home movies, the following year it was introduced in 35mm format.
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1936
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This German company was the first to sell a film, Agfacolor,
with the colour formers in the film. Towards the end of the second World War
their closely guarded secrets were "liberated".
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1940s
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Large factory size laboratories took over film processing from
individual chemists. However chemists still continued to sell films.
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1947
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Magnum, arguably the most famous photographic agency in the world, was
founded in 1947 by Henri
Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour and Robert
Capa. The agency developed a style of photojournalism that was
largely based upon the capability of the Leica
35 mm camera. Magnum is still an exclusive club of illustrious photographers
with membership limited to thirty six.
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1947
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Invented an "instant" picture process, first called Polaroid
Land. The special camera sandwiched the exposed negative with a receiving
positive paper and spread the processing chemicals between the two, after
processing these were peeled apart.
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1963
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His Polaroid Corporation's research team invented the first instant
colour picture material.
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1976
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AE-1
the first 35mm camera with built in microprocessor is introduced
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1980s
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A system called DX coding was introduced for 35mm films. The
cassettes have an auto-sensing code printed on them which enable certain
cameras to automatically set the film speed, this information can also
be used by processing laboratories.
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1984
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Demonstrated the first digital
still camera.
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1985
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The Minolta
7000 auto-focus 35mm SLR camera was introduced
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1990
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Windows 3.1 is released
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1990
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Adobe
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Adobe Photoshop 1.0 image manipulation program is introduced for Apple
Macintosh computers
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1992
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Develops the software and protocol for the World Wide Web (WWW)
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1993
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Adobe Photoshop is made available for MS-Windows computers.
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1993
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Release the first World Wide Web browser.
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1994
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Launch their WWW browser called Navigator.
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1996
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APS
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Advanced Photo
System (APS)
is introduced. APS uses a cassette which holds 24 mm wide film on a base
which has a magnetic data strip as well as fine grained emulsion. When the
film is being developed automatic handling mechanisms locate the correct
frames and determines the required print format from the data strip. After
processing the film is rewound into the cassette and a digitally mastered
index print of all the frames is created as a reference for reordering.
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1996
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Release their WWW browser called Internet Explorer.
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1998
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The first consumer megapixel
cameras were introduced.
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2000
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Canon
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2000
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In November 2000 Sharp and J-Phone
introduced the first camera-phone in Japan. The J-SH04
is a mobile phone with a built in camera, it uses a 110,000-pixel CMOS
image sensor and began the trend for camera-phones. These cameras play an
increasingly significant role in photography, for example the main news
pictures covering the 7 July 2005 London bombings were taken by the general
public on camera-phones and not by professional news crews. However the use
of camera-phones can also be abused leading to invasions of privacy and other
forms of socially unacceptable behaviour.
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2002
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Contax
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photodoto.com/camera-history-timeline/
Everything started with the camera
obscura, and continued with Daguerreotypes,
35mm cameras, ...
invention.yukozimo.com/who-invented-the-camera/
having created the camera. The
following is a brief history of cultures, inventors, and inventions that ...
library.thinkquest.org/J0112389/cameras.htm
he camera is a great invention, an
invention that started at around 1500 and is still being innovated. Did you know that if
you went back to about 1900
