The Genius Of Photography – Part 1

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 19^th 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 19^th and early 20^th centaury.

Mean, Moody, occasionally Magnificent. Pictorialism is photography at it s most “Po faced”.