Photography: A Brief History

Photography Defined The word photography, comes from two ancient Greek words: “Photo” which means light, and “Graph” which means draw. Thus the phrase “Drawing with Light” is used to describe photography When a photograph is “made”, light is used to record a picture of the object or scene on a light-sensative surface. The earliest photographs, were called ‘sun pictures’, because the sunlight was used to create the image. Although “pictures” (in the drawn sense) have been around for centuries, with the invention of photography, a realistic image that would have taken hours to draw, could be produced in minutes or even seconds.

Today’s World.. In today’s world, photography has become a powerful means of communication, and a mode of visual expression that has the impact on human life in many ways. For example, a photograph holds the key to many memories that have taken place in each of our lives. (Ex: family pictures, wedding photos etc) Most photos taken by the average person, are called snapshots, which is defined as ‘casual records to document personal events’ (The Digital Photography Book; Scott Kelby) Photographs are used by newspapers, magazines, books and television to convey information and advertise products and services. If you look closely at a photograph through one of the mass media conglomerates, you will notice that for each message that the media puts out, the photograph represents almost human emotion or angst, and/or how we are “told” to see the image.

First EVER Photo…

Nicéphore Niépce Nicéphore Niépce is known for taking and producing the first photograph in The photo is sot from his office window, taken with a camera obscura, A darkened chamber in which the real image of an object is received through a small opening or lens and focused in natural color onto a facing surface rather than recorded on a film or plate.

Early Photos of People sss Notice how these early images of people show no emotion? Why is that? What kind of camera would have been used?

And one of the most famous photographs ever….. The photo, shown above, was taken by the inventor of the Daguerreotype himself, Louis Daguerre, on the streets of Paris in 1838.

Daguerreotype…. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate. The raw material for plates was called Sheffield plate, plating by fusion or cold-rolled cladding and was a standard hardware item produced by heating and rolling silver foil in contact with a copper support. The surface of a daguerreotype is like a mirror, with the image made directly on the silvered surface; it is very fragile and can be rubbed off with a finger, and the finished plate has to be angled so as to reflect some dark surface in order to view the image properly. Depending on the angle viewed, and the color of the surface reflected into it, the image can change from a positive to a negative.(The daguerreotype: nineteenth- century technology and modern science By M. Susan Barger, William Blaine White)The daguerreotype: nineteenth- century technology and modern science By M. Susan Barger, William Blaine White

The Camera Itself…. No matter how many features a camera has, it is essentially a lifeless piece of equipment. Until a person uses it. It then becomes this amazing responsive tool, i.e an extension of the photographers eye and mind. As a photographer, your duty is to create a picture by a process of selection. What do you include in your scene? What would you want to omit. Is it a close up, landscape, portrait, high angle, low angle shot, should it be blurred or a reflection? The ultimate decision is yours. You the photographer are the mastermind, and the camera is your tool. Sometimes however, the decision process may take hours or even days. If you are looking for the perfect natural light to reflect off an object, you must wait patiently. Perfection, although wanted, can be painstakingly hard to finalize