Photography

“The art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (film).” Mirriam-Webster Online Dictionary

1.Chinese Philosopher Mo Ti – 5 th B.C.E. Noticed that light passing through a pinhole opening into a darkened chamber forms an exact view of the world outside, but upside down 2.Alhazen – Arab mathematician and physicist, 11 th A.D. Concluded that light travels in straight lines (similar to the human eye) 3.Camera Obscura - Renaissance The Birth of Photography

Used during the Renaissance period. Camera Obscura – “Dark Chamber”

Pinhole Camera

1.Camera Obscura - Renaissance On optical device that projects an image onto flat surface 2.Lens – approx Help to focus an image projected 3.Daguerreotype Preserves an image 4.Improved Lenses Reduce exposure time to a fraction of a second Other Photographic Inventions

Image is preserved on a light-sensitive surface – a copper plate coated with silver iodide Daguerreotype – 1837 Le Boulevard du Temple, Louise Jacques Mande Daguerre, Daguerreotype, 1839

Photographer Unknown. Daguerreotype of a Couple Holding a Daguerreotype, st Commercially viable method for making permanent images from reflected light Daguerreotype – 1837

A camera is a light-tide box with an opening at one end to admit light, a lens to focus and refract the light, and a light-sensitive surface such as film to receive the image and hold it. First Portable Cameras French Daguerreotype Camera, 1850 (left) / 5x7 Eastman View Camera, 1885 (right)

1888 – Invention of Kodak by George Eastman Can be taken anywhere you go!!! Photography becomes a hobby. First Lightweight, Handheld Camera Kodak Camera & Film, 1888

Lincoln “Cooper Union” Portrait, Mathew Brady, 1860 Mathew Brady - Portrait Photography

Charles Darwin (left); The Rosebud Garden of Girls (right), Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868Julia Margaret Cameron Julia Margaret Cameron’s Portraits

Ancient Ruins in the Canon De Chelle, Timothy O’Sullivan, 1873 (left) Colorado River From Camp 8, Timothy O’Sullivan, 1871 (right) Landscape Photography

The Role of Photography: 1.Record events as history is unfolding 2.Document and preserve a visual record of what existed for a time Invention of photomechanical reproduction – high-speed printing of photos and type (1900) gives rise to Photojournalism. Documentary Photography is Born!

Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange, (hired by Farm Security Administration), 1936 (left) Migrant Mother Series, Dorothea Lange, 1936 (right) Photography During the Great Depression

“One aspect of photography that some felt stood in the way of making art was its detailed objectivity, which seemed more suited for science.” Artists tried to make their work look like painting: –Created images that looked painterly (blurry, atmospheric, etc.) –Staged things, people to be photographed to resemble a painting –Created images by placing objects directly on photographic plates, etc. Photography and Art

Fading Away, Henry Peach Robinson, 1858, Composite print Photography and Art

Composite Photograph, John P. Morrissey, 1896 Tableaux Vivants contained “high art” themes and were designed to resemble classical paintings.

Photomontage Technique The technique of making a picture by assembling pieces of photographs, often in combination with other types of graphic material.

1. Composite pictures made by darkroom masking (multiple exposures made onto the same plate, unexposed areas – masked by pieces of black velvet ) 2. Images were created using “cut and paste” technique, than re-photographed 3. Double Exposure 4. Direct contact printing of objects placed on photographic plates How Were Photomontages Made?

Man With the Rubber Head, Film Still, 1902 German Postcard, Anon, 1902 Examples of Photomontage

Direct contact printing of objects placed on photographic plates, Man Ray, 1922 “Rayograph” images

“For photography to be an art, it must be true to its own nature; it should not try to be painting.” Alfred Stieglitz “Pure” Photography -Emphasis on formal values: composition, line, value -Images framed with the viewfinder; not cropped, not manipulated -Composition, tonal values, etc. are visualized in advance

Bridalveil Fall, Ansel Adams, 1960, photographic print (left)Ansel Adams Untitled, Alfred Stieglitz, 1924, photographic print (right) Photography and Art

Photography Itself Becomes the Subject Matter As everyday life gets flooded with photographic images which start to compete with direct experience, artists start to examine the role of Photography in society (the particular vision of the world it promotes, and the assumptions we make about it).

What is Photography? Is it a tool for making images or a tool for recording the world?

Cut With the Kitchen Knife Dada through Germany’s Last Weinmar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch, Hannah Hoch, 1919, collage “Found” Images and Collage

Untitled #123, Cindy Sherman, 1983 Contemporary Photography Untitled #209, Cindy Sherman, 1989

Untitled Film Still #14, Cindy Sherman, 1978 Contemporary Photography “I wanted to make something that anyone off the street could appreciate... I wanted to imitate something out of the culture, and also make fun of the culture as I was doing it.” Cindy Sherman

Binh Dahn Contemporary Photography

Chtulhu People, Image #d6, Gulnur Guvenc, Adobe Photoshop Photography & Computer – 1980s to Present

Peter Kennard – London, 1980s “There is a problem with montage in that you see it everywhere now because of digital technology. There is so much transformed imagery around that people accept constructed images without questioning their meaning. I think my work is losing impact because of that.” – Peter Kennard Peter Kennard, Protect and Survive, 1981 Peter Kennard, Untitled,1982

Exercises

What is Camera Obscura and how does it work?

What kind of painting technique is this?

2 Categories Which Can Be Applied to Drawing Materials Are:

Film

The Invention of Film 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge – motion studies (series of still images documenting animals and people in motion) Horse Galloping, Eadweard Muybridge, 1878, Collotype

The Invention of Film 1. Film depends on “persistence of vision” phenomenon 2. Celluloid film is invented by George Eastman which allows to string single images together – Thomas Edison creates 1 st motion picture – Brothers Lumiere invent a movie projector

The Invention of Film 1 st Public Exhibition of a Movie Picture

Fantasy and Film Georges Melies, “A Trip to the Moon” – st stop action Sci Fi Movie ever made!!! Incorporates theatrical sets, props, real actors. A Trip to the Moon, Georges Melies, 1902

Movie Studios 1. Studios began to take shape – 1910s 2. Movies can be produced on a larger scale 3. All aspects of the movie industry are under one roof: directing, producing, writing scripts, filming… 4. A concept of a “Movie Star” is created 5. The job of a Producer becomes increasingly important

One of the 1 st Commercial Films Gone With the Wind, David O. Selznick, 1939, MGM Studios, Hollywood, CA

Filmmaking Vocabulary 1. “Shot” - an unbroken sequence of movie frames 2. “Pan Shot” – camera moving from side to side 3. “Traveling Shot” – camera moving back to front 4. “Cross-Cutting” – two or more shots are alternated to foster the advancement of the story

JR – French graffiti artist, photographer