History of Photography
In the early years, lots of photographers were concerned with documentation and continued to focus on portraiture and landscape. Over time this changed as photographers started to assert their own identity, separate to that of any contemporary artists.
During the Renaissance era (16th century), artists became increasingly interested in exploring the reality of nature. In order to achieve such realism, artists created various instruments to help them to find the perfect perspective. One such instrument used was the camera obscura, a dark room space in which an inverted image was projected onto a surface.
As the industrial revolution completely changed society in the 19th century with mass-production leading the way forward, scientists endeavoured to reproduce reality in a fixed format. In 1827, scientist Joseph Niepce was successful in fixing the first projected image of his view from his window in Le Gras, Southern France.
Niepce worked with Louis Daguerre in his quest to fix the projected image. Daguerre was a painter of stage sets and illusionistic scenery for The Diorama (a popular visual entertainment in Paris). In January 1839, Daguerre finished the invention of the Daguerreotype, a type of photograph which was laterally reversed and monochromatic printed onto a metal plate. However there were problems with it, the daguerreotype required long exposures and this meant that any movement resulted in blur. Also, it was a one off image that was extremely delicate, the mirror surface could be easily scratched and this led to them becoming an object of attention just as much as it was an image of information.
Around the same time as the invention of the Daguerreotype, an English scientist called William Henry Fox Talbot developed the Calotype, another type of photograph. The Calotype had one distinct advantage over the Daguerreotype: it could be reproduced as a negative as opposed to being a single, unduplicatable image. Talbot's initial photographic experiments involved producing photograms or, what he referred to as 'Photogenic Drawings'. And the first Calotype images produced was the latticed window in 1835.
In terms of mass production, Talbot's Calotype was much more superior. However, it lacked the overall quality to the Daguerreotype and this made it less popular in the early years, especially since many European countries and America had adopted Daguerre's process. However, the Calotype was improved over time and advances in paper technology led to better processing. Thus, the Calotype was improved over time and advances in paper technology led to better processing. Thus, the Calotype soon became the most popular type of photography that is still commonly used today.
Source: Fortismere Weebly
In the early years, lots of photographers were concerned with documentation and continued to focus on portraiture and landscape. Over time this changed as photographers started to assert their own identity, separate to that of any contemporary artists.
During the Renaissance era (16th century), artists became increasingly interested in exploring the reality of nature. In order to achieve such realism, artists created various instruments to help them to find the perfect perspective. One such instrument used was the camera obscura, a dark room space in which an inverted image was projected onto a surface.
As the industrial revolution completely changed society in the 19th century with mass-production leading the way forward, scientists endeavoured to reproduce reality in a fixed format. In 1827, scientist Joseph Niepce was successful in fixing the first projected image of his view from his window in Le Gras, Southern France.
Niepce worked with Louis Daguerre in his quest to fix the projected image. Daguerre was a painter of stage sets and illusionistic scenery for The Diorama (a popular visual entertainment in Paris). In January 1839, Daguerre finished the invention of the Daguerreotype, a type of photograph which was laterally reversed and monochromatic printed onto a metal plate. However there were problems with it, the daguerreotype required long exposures and this meant that any movement resulted in blur. Also, it was a one off image that was extremely delicate, the mirror surface could be easily scratched and this led to them becoming an object of attention just as much as it was an image of information.
Around the same time as the invention of the Daguerreotype, an English scientist called William Henry Fox Talbot developed the Calotype, another type of photograph. The Calotype had one distinct advantage over the Daguerreotype: it could be reproduced as a negative as opposed to being a single, unduplicatable image. Talbot's initial photographic experiments involved producing photograms or, what he referred to as 'Photogenic Drawings'. And the first Calotype images produced was the latticed window in 1835.
In terms of mass production, Talbot's Calotype was much more superior. However, it lacked the overall quality to the Daguerreotype and this made it less popular in the early years, especially since many European countries and America had adopted Daguerre's process. However, the Calotype was improved over time and advances in paper technology led to better processing. Thus, the Calotype was improved over time and advances in paper technology led to better processing. Thus, the Calotype soon became the most popular type of photography that is still commonly used today.
Source: Fortismere Weebly
Pictorialism
Pictorialism was an approach to photography that hyperbolises beauty of subject matter, tonality and composition rather than the documentation of reality. The Pictorialist was born in the late 1860s and held sway through the first decade of the 20th century.It approached the camera as a tool that, like the paintbrush, could be used to make an artistic statement. Making photographs have a more aesthetic value and able to be linked to the world of art expression. The name itself derived from the thought of Henry Peach Robinson who suggested the joining together of sections of different photographs to form a composite image. In the 1880s the British photographer Peter Henry Emerson also sought ways to promote personal expression in camera images. While critical of composite photographs, Emerson and his followers, looking to models provided by the artists such as J.M.W. Turner, the painters of the Barbizon school, and the impressionist painters, attempted to recreate atmospheric effects in nature through attention to focus and tonality.
Source: Brittanica.com
Pictorialism was an approach to photography that hyperbolises beauty of subject matter, tonality and composition rather than the documentation of reality. The Pictorialist was born in the late 1860s and held sway through the first decade of the 20th century.It approached the camera as a tool that, like the paintbrush, could be used to make an artistic statement. Making photographs have a more aesthetic value and able to be linked to the world of art expression. The name itself derived from the thought of Henry Peach Robinson who suggested the joining together of sections of different photographs to form a composite image. In the 1880s the British photographer Peter Henry Emerson also sought ways to promote personal expression in camera images. While critical of composite photographs, Emerson and his followers, looking to models provided by the artists such as J.M.W. Turner, the painters of the Barbizon school, and the impressionist painters, attempted to recreate atmospheric effects in nature through attention to focus and tonality.
Source: Brittanica.com
During the 20th century as modernism took its roots, art work became much more abstract which influenced phototgraphers such as Alfred Stieglitz and E.O Hoppe to focus on more formal elements such as form, line and space.
As a result of this, many artists like Man Ray and Paul Strand started to experiment with a range of media, not restricting themselves to a career in one medium. The concept of a landscape came to refer to anything from the surface quality of an object to the abstract shadows from a building.
This then led to photographers eager to show that photography was a distinct art form and not just a tool of scientific documentation or romantic glamorisation of the countryside.
Therefore this caused high regard for unconventional compositions and perspectives, often focusing on modern architecture and the industrial world.
Artists then started to respond to the hopes and fear of the modern world and used photo montage as a way of constructing realities to reflect utopian and dystopian society.
Although many photographers were interested in documenting the city, as this is where they saw the greatest changes, photographers such as Ansel Adams were infatuated with trying to document the beauty of nature. He refined a technique he called 'The Zone Sytem' to achieve an excellent tonal balance and great depth of field.
Increasingly, art work came to be seen as a direct extension of the artist and this affected the way that artists produced work including autobiographical elements. Lee Friedlander used to capture himself as part of his landscapes, reminding you of his presence behind the camera.
From the 1960s onwards, photography became increasingly conceptual and photogrpahers resisted being labelled. Photographers started to define themselves as either professionals working vocationally or fine artists who use photography to express their ideas.
Conceptual art tended to be deadpan and ridicule itself, often choosing to focus on the mundane and ordinary. German photographers Bernd and Hill Becher, set out to document defunct industrial structures in a systematic and ordered way. They photographed objects from the same perspective, producing a catalogue of images often presented formally as a grid.
Some photographers view themselves as objectives and act as 'recorders of truth'. Conversely, some photographers choose to see themselves as artists that construct a scene, preferring to highlight the subjectivity through which we see the world. Robert Smithson and John Pfahl like to question our ability to discern spaces by using props to optically trick us.
Source: Fortismere Weebly
As a result of this, many artists like Man Ray and Paul Strand started to experiment with a range of media, not restricting themselves to a career in one medium. The concept of a landscape came to refer to anything from the surface quality of an object to the abstract shadows from a building.
This then led to photographers eager to show that photography was a distinct art form and not just a tool of scientific documentation or romantic glamorisation of the countryside.
Therefore this caused high regard for unconventional compositions and perspectives, often focusing on modern architecture and the industrial world.
Artists then started to respond to the hopes and fear of the modern world and used photo montage as a way of constructing realities to reflect utopian and dystopian society.
Although many photographers were interested in documenting the city, as this is where they saw the greatest changes, photographers such as Ansel Adams were infatuated with trying to document the beauty of nature. He refined a technique he called 'The Zone Sytem' to achieve an excellent tonal balance and great depth of field.
Increasingly, art work came to be seen as a direct extension of the artist and this affected the way that artists produced work including autobiographical elements. Lee Friedlander used to capture himself as part of his landscapes, reminding you of his presence behind the camera.
From the 1960s onwards, photography became increasingly conceptual and photogrpahers resisted being labelled. Photographers started to define themselves as either professionals working vocationally or fine artists who use photography to express their ideas.
Conceptual art tended to be deadpan and ridicule itself, often choosing to focus on the mundane and ordinary. German photographers Bernd and Hill Becher, set out to document defunct industrial structures in a systematic and ordered way. They photographed objects from the same perspective, producing a catalogue of images often presented formally as a grid.
Some photographers view themselves as objectives and act as 'recorders of truth'. Conversely, some photographers choose to see themselves as artists that construct a scene, preferring to highlight the subjectivity through which we see the world. Robert Smithson and John Pfahl like to question our ability to discern spaces by using props to optically trick us.
Source: Fortismere Weebly
Landscape photography has many forms but is primarily concerned with recording the environment. It is perhaps best to think of it as being distinct from the pother common forms of photography such as portraiture and documentary.