The Genius Of Photography – Part 1
What
is Photography’s “True genius”?
For
170 years, Photography has delighted us, served us, moved us, outraged us,
occasionally disappointed us, but mainly intrigued us, showing the secret
strangeness that lies beneath appearances.
Name a proto-Photographer
Henry
Fox Talbot was British and inventor or the Calotype. Louis Daguerre, who was French Invented the
Daguerreotype. They were rivals
In the 19th Century,
what term was associated with the Daguerreotype?
“A
Mirror with a Memory”, a precise description of the Daguerreotype. A direct positive made in the camera on a
silver copper plate. The surface of the plate was like a mirror, with the image
made directly onto the surface. Very fragile and can be rubbed off easily,
depending on the angle viewed, and the colour of the surface reflected on to
it, the image can change from positive to negative. This was the dominant
process until the 1850’s
Henry
Fox Talbot’s calotype was a main rival to Louis Daguerre’s Daguerreotype.
Calotype involved using light sensitized paper being exposed in a camera. When
developed and fixed it produced an image with reversed tonal values. The
negative, was made by exposing another sensitized sheet of paper. This was then
placed in contact with reversed negative. When printed the paper fibers dpiffused
the image and obscured the fine details. They lacked the hard edge precision of
the daguerreotypes.
What is a vernacular?
The
Amateur snapshot is also known as a vernacular. It is all types of photography.
Holiday snaps, passports. Snapshots of everyday life.
How do you fix the Shadows?
This
is a saying from around 1839, when fox Talbot and Daguerre invented rival
processes to “Fix the Shadows.”
Abe
Morrell and his family recreated this experiment in Venice by Blacking out the
Windows and cutting a small hole to let in the light. It also let in more. I also
let in something spectacular! The outside world but upside down, and twice as
natural.
What is the Carte De visite?
A
formal Portrait on a Card Created by a French man Disderi in 1854. The method was to take 8 separate negatives on
a single plate. The camera had 8 lenses on it, enabling the taking of the
portrait to be fairly quick. This reduced production costs initially. These
were on small postcard sized and were swapped with friends and family. It
became extremely popular and became known as “cardomania”. The popularity led
to publication and collection of such cards. They became a common fixture in a
Victorian parlour. Usually made on albumen print and mounted on thicker card.
Who was Nadar and why was he so
successful?
He
was a portrait photographer, born Gaspard – Felix Tournachon. He mastered the
art of natural expressions, and realism in his photographs. The portraits were
simple with plain backgrounds. He didn’t dress them up, just stood them still
looking authentic. He photographed up and coming stars, as well as Princes and
ambassadors. It is said that his portrait of the impoverished writer, Henri
Murger in 1857, Provided inspiration for Puccini’s Opera La Boehme
What is Pictorialism?
An
International Style, It focused on the movement aesthetics instead of form and
process of photography. It dominated photography during the late 19th
and early 20th centaury.
Mean,
Moody, occasionally Magnificent. Pictorialism is photography at it s most “Po
faced”.
