The early Photograph
The early photograph or more logically the early camera originated during the 16th century renaissance period, where artists like Leonardo Divinci who was constantly working on realism, began looking into the use of the camera obscura who was invented by Ibn al-Haytham. This was the name given to an enclosure that let no light in except a very small hole. This therefore resulted in an image being projected onto the opposite wall (See Diagram below). This then allowed artists to then trace this image and create a painting that was almost an exact replica of what the image was outside. Come the industrial revolution often 1800's, Joseph Niepce was eager to discover a way of fixing an image. He experimented with silver chloride and successfully produced one of the earliest photographs ever recorded. However this image produced was a negative image meaning the lights would appear dark and darks would appear light and you were unable to make different prints out of that image.
At this point Louis Daguerre, a painter and physicist, teamed up with Joseph Niepce and after Niepce's death in
Pictorialism,successionism and Straight photography movements
In the early ages of photography and the attempts being made to move photography forward as an art form all began wth the Pictorialist movement. The photographs produced in this movement were often striving to be beautiful and romantic images often depicting scenery or landscape photography which would have been because of the lack of technology allowing the photographer to use quick shutter speeds so it was an obvious type of photography to endure.
20th century landscape photography
Early 20th century
As a result of the fine art painters rejecting ideas of realism in their paintings, they drifted to a more impressionistic view of the environment, this group of people included artists like Van Gogh and Claude Monet and they were named the impressionists. They used very vivid colours in their depiction of landscapes and focused on creating a certain atmosphere in their paintings. This also was an interest in photographers too. They also wanted to create a photo with more atmosphere and life to it, striving to make it unique. Their aim was to create something more than just and accurate recreation of a scene. Photographers who became interested in this were Edward Steichen and George Davidson. This became known as the Pictorialism. In the 50's Brassai, a french photographer became a notable figure, he used light in a very exaggerated sense, using light within the landscape and photographing in Black and White to show this intense contrast. This could easily be defined a pictorials.
1920's
In the 20's came the dawn of Modernism. Artists began to focus on more abstraction photography and using line, form and structure. They focused in on smaller elements or less obvious. It was more challenging to the viewer as it wasn't so clear as to what it was depicting. This gave them a chance to explore different mediums and experiment with their camera. This included things like using a smaller objects or scenes to take on the essence of a landscape and this was done by using lighting and experimenting with different methods. For example Man ray took an incredibly close up picture of dust, however with the lighting it allowed the image to look more like a landscape and really allowed the viewer to get more involved and interested in the process of how the image is taken.This image is called 'Dust Breeding'.
Eventually people started to realise photography was becoming a true Art form and not just a form of documentation or glamorisation. This led to photographers using unconventional perspectives and focusing on a more modern architecture and the overall more modern world. New York was a very common subject for this new perspective. For example Berenice Abbot's 'New York at Night'.
30's
As a result of the fine art painters rejecting ideas of realism in their paintings, they drifted to a more impressionistic view of the environment, this group of people included artists like Van Gogh and Claude Monet and they were named the impressionists. They used very vivid colours in their depiction of landscapes and focused on creating a certain atmosphere in their paintings. This also was an interest in photographers too. They also wanted to create a photo with more atmosphere and life to it, striving to make it unique. Their aim was to create something more than just and accurate recreation of a scene. Photographers who became interested in this were Edward Steichen and George Davidson. This became known as the Pictorialism. In the 50's Brassai, a french photographer became a notable figure, he used light in a very exaggerated sense, using light within the landscape and photographing in Black and White to show this intense contrast. This could easily be defined a pictorials.
1920's
In the 20's came the dawn of Modernism. Artists began to focus on more abstraction photography and using line, form and structure. They focused in on smaller elements or less obvious. It was more challenging to the viewer as it wasn't so clear as to what it was depicting. This gave them a chance to explore different mediums and experiment with their camera. This included things like using a smaller objects or scenes to take on the essence of a landscape and this was done by using lighting and experimenting with different methods. For example Man ray took an incredibly close up picture of dust, however with the lighting it allowed the image to look more like a landscape and really allowed the viewer to get more involved and interested in the process of how the image is taken.This image is called 'Dust Breeding'.
Eventually people started to realise photography was becoming a true Art form and not just a form of documentation or glamorisation. This led to photographers using unconventional perspectives and focusing on a more modern architecture and the overall more modern world. New York was a very common subject for this new perspective. For example Berenice Abbot's 'New York at Night'.
30's