ARTH357

An optical device that consisted of a box or darkened room with an opening on one side projecting an image onto the facing side. It was used by artists as a drawing aid because it preserved perspective.
Modern example of Camera Obscura is Abe Morell’s photographs

Also known as Sun Writing. The “Worlds First Photograph” was done by Joseph Nicephor Niepce
Example photograph:”View from his window at Les Gras” (1827)

An image produced without a camera or lens by placing an opaque, translucent or transparent object between, often directly on, a piece of photogenic paper or film and a light source. These were among the earliest photographic images.
Example Photograph: William Henry Talbot “Botanical Specimen” (1839)

A process invented by Sir John Herschel and reported in 1842. The prints are also known as blue prints. The chemical process is simple and produces a characteristic blue image on paper or cloth. Most popular during the 1840’s and 1880’s. Its main use was to reproduce architectural or technical drawings.
Example Photograph: Anna Atkins “British Algae 1843”

Announced on Jan. 7th, 1839, and presented to the world in August 1839 (Daguerreotypomania) Created by Louis Daguerre. Produced a unique image on a silver coated copper plate. It was popular during the 1850’s until it was superseded by the sensitive wet collodion process. Mostly used to make portraits.Characteristics of the daguerreotype include: Mirror with a memory, highly reflective surface, no grain, precise detail, extremes of contrast, limited tonal range, linear, fragile, no negative. Hand tinting provided color to daguerreotypes.
Example Photograph: Louis Daguerre “Paris Boulevard” (1839)

Patented by William Henry Talbot in 1841 in Britain. The process was a significant enhancement of Talbots photogenic drawing process and used silver iodide combined with a gallic acid to enhance its sensitivity. After exposure the paper was developed to produce a negative and then chemically fixed to make it permanent. The salted paper print was the first calotype process. It was the first negative/positive process and it provided the basis of modern photography. It is good for still lifes. Characteristics include: Visual softness, lack of detail, greater tonal range/limited contrast (middle tones), Matte surface, Short exposure time (shorter than the daguerreotype; depends on the lighting), Multiple copies (inexpensiveness of paper).
The French calotype was a process that was a salt paper print from a waxed paper negative which perfected the calotype process.
Example Photograph: William Talbot “The Haystack” (1844) Salted paper print process

Stereograph views were the use of 2 lenses to show a picture in 3D. It announced in 1838 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, displayed at the Crystal Palace in 1851, and then stereoscopes were patented in 1853 by Antoin Claudet. The stereograph viewers were used for entertainment and bought by people to view and watch them.
Example Photograph: Carleton Watkins’s Agassiz Rock and Yosemite Falls from Union Point (1860s)

A dry or more commonly wet process using collodion as a medium to support a light sensitive emulsion. The process was described by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, and after refinement it came into widespread use in 1854. It was used till the mid 1870’s and was used to produce direct positives on glass (ambrotypes) and tin (tin types). Characteristics include: greater sensitivity, short exposure time, cheaper/quicker production, and can be viewed from any angle due to no lateral reversal.
Example Photograph: William Henry Jackson, Mountain of the Holy Cross, 1873

greater sensitivity and shorter exposure time; production was cheaper and quicker, as no printing was required; negative could be mounted either way so no lateral reversal was necessary, as in daguerreotypes; can be viewed from any angle unlike daguerreotypes; doesn’t require printing process; Mathew Brady and Sally Mann; imperfections contribute to final product
Example Photograph: J.M. Cameron’s Julia Jackson (1860s)

Derived from egg whites it was first used in 1848 for dry plates before being superseded by the wet collodion process in 1851. It had greater success for coating onto paper where it provided a smooth surface for the photographic emulsion. This was described by Louis Desirie Blanquart-Evrard in 1850 and albumen paper remained popular until the 1890’s.
Example Photograph: Francis Frith “The Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Geezeh” (1857)

there are, in any group of people/animals, a set of attributes that are necessary to its identity and function (generalities). This was common when making or speaking about Slave Photography in the world of art
Example Photograph: Slave Daguerreotypes of Louis Agassiz; J.T. Zealy, Jack, 1850-59

The idea where an artist/photographer would take an original work and make it their own without changing the original or taking it as their own. Basically, changing the meaning of the original idea, however, there has to be a recognizable change.
Example Photograph: Carrie Mae Weems “From Here I Saw What Happened” (1997)

A genre of photography that uses the geometric of space. Is viewed as constantly evolving. It is also all the visable features of an area of countryside, or land that is often considered in terms of its aesthetic appeal. Landscape portraits are contemporary, are used in industry for tourism, and used for the urban planning and modernity through topographics, picturesque, and the sublime.
Example Photograph: Gursky, Endgadin, 1995

Portraiture was the key mechanism to advancement of photography to modern day throughout the world. The key elements were face, pose, clothing, and location. You would use identification and projection to “read portraits”. The 4 steps:
1.) With the camera as a viewer, 2.) Of the person depicted (recognition), 3.) With the other person (or object) depicted, 4.) With the look of the person(s) in the picture at us or other characters in the picture (subjects gaze).
Example Photograph: Pretty much anything J.M. Cameron did that we’ve studied

Sparked the artist/photography dialogue where vice versa would pick up poses from one another.
Example Photograph: Robert Howlett, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, 1857

Documentary photography was used to construct narratives and to travel to document the “others”. The use of text and image in documentary photography became a key to create meaning in the photographs which would engage the audience in social and political issues.
Example Photograph: Slave Daguerreotypes of Louis Agassiz (1850’s-1860s)

Was the highest genre of photography in France. It spurred Historical narratives which defined peoples ideals of what history was. This created a problem because people were conflicted about creating history from the inside. Combat was beyond photograph capability until WWI. After WWI, war was seen in real time, where photos could be reproduced and people could see the aftermath of war (corpses strewn, guttered villages etc.)
Example Photograph: Alexander Gardner/ Timothy O’Sullivan, Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July, 1863
Stereoscope

Was an easy form of photography because it was not alive and was not going anywhere. The photography would transform objects from 3D to 2D thus transforming the perceptions of the object. Memento mori/vanitas: Remember that you will die, vanity. Vanity was a genre of still life paintings that portrayed death and objects of pleasure–>ask to repent.
Though these two can be frequently found together, they are not mutually exclusive. While Still Life is a genre, Memento Mori is a symbol.
Example Photograph: example of still life: Daguerre’s “Still Life”, example of momento mori: Sands of Time by Thomas Richard Williams, 1855

Foggy fuzzy of the image itself especially in the background of portraits.
Example Photograph: Cameron, Julia Jackson, 1867

multiple photographs on one sheet. Was very cheap to produce (able to produce up to 8 on 1 plate). The distance from the camera is eliminated due to need and expense of careful lighting and time consuming retouching. It was patented in Paris in 1854 by Adolphe Eugene Disderie. It fueled the collection phenomenon and was mostly used during the civil war. It was later supplemented by larger cabinet cards in the 1870’s.
Example Photograph: Sojourner Truth, Unknown Photographer, or Matthew Brady’s Abraham Lincoln

contrasts of light and dark
Example Photograph: Timothy O’Sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Canyon de Chelly, 1873

The zone of sharp focus seen in the camera. Manipulation of this zone by extending or reducing it, can be an important aspect of creative control and view cameras have evolved to facilitate this.
Example Photograph: large: Ansel Adams; small: Chuck Close

putting something slightly out of focus (or adjusting it in the darkroom) to emphasize another element
Example Photograph: Stieglitz, Spring Showers, c. 1900

allows for selective focus. Large Apeture: Selective focus, shallow depth of field,,
Small apeture: sharp overall focus, extensive depth of field.

the mode of representation which supports reality; counters idealized subject matter
Example Photograph: Charles Nègre, Chimney Sweeps Walking, 1851

group of artists who wanted to return to the type of artmaking before Raphael; J.M. Cameron is associated with preRaphaelites
Example Photograph: J.M. Cameron, Sir John Herschel, 1867

similar to Monet’s paintings, gives an impression of a scene with large brushstrokes, Impressionists depict everyday city life
Example Photograph: Peter Henry Emerson, Poling the Marsh-Hay; 1886

Nostalgia and wanting for an uncomplicated past. It was a theme used by artists and photographers; Henry Peach Robinson; prevalent theme in the PRB.
Example Photograph: J.M. Cameron, Sir John Herschel, 1867

obsession with ancient Egypt, similar but not the same as Orientalism (subset of Orientalism)
Example Photograph: Frith’s The Pyramids of El-Gizeh (1850s)

belief that Americans were meant to expand westward. It was the key concept of its time where it was the duty and right of the U.S to expand their territory and influence. Brought forward the rationalization to dominate and the beauty of the sublime.
Example Photograph: William Henry Jackson, Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, 1883

denotation is the dictionary/exact definition, and connotation is the implied meaning/thoughts/images/ideas that come up in your mind (that are not explicitly stated but nonetheless tied to the image/idea); in photography denotation is what you actually see in the photo, and connotation is the messages/ideas that the photographer creates through these images

Signifier is the sign. The signified is the meaning behind the sign.
Example Photograph: Sands of Time by Thomas Richard Williams, 1855 (memento mori is the signified, the signifiers are the skull, flowers, etc.)

the picturesque shows tranquil, ordered, harmonious scenes, often ones that have been organized by humans but nonetheless show the beauty of nature; Niagara falls from afar; Central Park in NY is picturesque; everything is very controlled
Example Photograph: Carleton Watkins’s Cape Horn, Columbia River, Oregon (1860s)

the sublime instills intense feelings of awe; scenes that appear treacherous/dangerous but which the viewer can experience unharmed; viewpoint is often from a precarious perch/unusual place where someone could not actually stand; close-ups of Niagara falls; contrasted with the picturesque
Example Photograph: Carleton Watkins’s Agassiz Rock (because it looks like it’s about to fall- creates a sense of danger/suspense), or William Henry Jackson’s Grand Canyon of the Colorado River

“A living picture” – theatrical, actors acting out a scene, carefully posed
Example Photograph: O.G Rejlanders Two Ways of Life (1857), or Fading Away by Henry Peach Robinson

A technique using two or more photographic negatives or prints to make a single image. It was suggested by Hippolyte Bayard in 1852 for improving the appearance of the skies. It was first shown by William Lake Price in 1855. The technique was revived in the 1920’s-1930’s often to produce surreal work. Digital techniques have made it obsolete.
Example Photograph: O.G Rejlanders Two Ways of Life (1857)

an obsession with everything that is to the east of Europe/America (including the Middle East/etc); almost entirely fictitious and served to feed America’s infatuation with differing cultural norms regarding sex (harems are often depicted, like Ingres); also a part of literature; helped them define the “other”; riddled with misconceptions and stereotypes; also includes places like Morocco, Algeria, etc.
Example Photograph: Frith’s The Pyramids of El-Gizeh (1850s)

Photographs inspired by Japanese print block paintings. An interest in Japanese art aesthetic; includes flattened picture plane, blocks of unmodulated color, etc.; lack of perspective and shadow; flat areas of strong color; compositional freedom (off-center); spatial flattening
Example Photograph: Alvin Langdon Coburn, Wrapping, 1904; Emerson’s The Lone Lagoon

The idea of how the material of a picture is shown. This “vision” sparked a debate between photographers and artists. The truth and fidelity of a picture became the dominate part of the debate. Photography was seen as mechanical, crude, and a lack of aesthetic ideals. Landscape painting was able to capture notions of pleasure, site, and aesthetic view of nature where the knowledge of painting was supreme to all other materials. Overall, from this debate of vision photography began to have an effect on painting, and painting began effect photography by promoting aesthetic ideals.

A circular disc that would rotate to take photographs to show movement. Marey created this with the Chronophotograph which was a device shaped like a gun to “shoot a photograph”.
Example Photograph: Marey, Analysis of the Flight of the Pigeon, 1887

art movement in Italy that wanted to show the dynamism/color/excitement of bustling city life; images are often colorful and fragmented; depicted urban life in a good light; In photography this frequently meant the use of long exposures to show movement. Futurists shunned the instant photo
Example Photograph: Antonio Julia Bragaglia, Cello player, 1913

a photographic style in which photographers attempted to replicate the aesthetic of paintings in their photos; done in an effort to bring photography up to the standard of painting as a high art; it emerged out of the work of Peter Henry Emerson where art came out as a science. There was a need to replicate what the eye sees. they used gum bichromate to literally paint brushstrokes on the negatives, giving a painterly feel to them; photos often look like paintings; contrasts with straight photography, in which the artist used the elements that are unique to photography (cropping, great detail, etc.) when composing their images; Edward Steichen is considered a pictorialist, as well as many others; emerged out of the photo-secession.
Example Photograph: Stieglitz, Spring Showers, c. 1900; Silver print

Invented in the 1850’s and popularized by photographers during the early 1900’s who aimed to have photography accepted as a fine art form. It was a very time consuming process. Photographers would literally paint brushstrokes on the negatives, giving a painterly feel to them; photos often look like paintings. Process when the sheet is painted with several layers of color liquid and a negative is placed and exposed to the UV lights.The process can be repeated on the same photograph. Multiple color pigments were used to get a deeper color. Each print is unique because of the hand of the artist
Example Photograph: Robert Demachy, Spring, 1896; Gum bichromate print

An intaglio printmaking or photomechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched. It was a high quality print that could be reproduced with the detail and continuous tones of a photograph. It registers with a wide variety of tones. First method of reproduction; print-making process; high quality print with details and tone; mass reproduction vs unique print- now collected
Example Photograph: Peter Henry Emerson, Poling the Marsh-Hay; Photogravure in Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, 1886

• “World’s First Photograph”
• 8hr long exposure
• first person to actually fix an image – he had figured out the chemistry necessary
• His process has since been lost to the public

• Photogram
• came to fruition because of the camera obscura (the process was similar except it did not need a strong light source

• Photogram
• if you see a cyanotype on an exam, it is probably Atkins
• demonstrated the precision of photographic reproductions
• though cyanographs were unsuitable for photographs, they excelled at producing stable, detailed photograms

• You can tell the time of the day because of the shadows – it was very carefully composed
• ladder was placed meticulously for its shadow to fall exactly vertical
• Salted paper process
• Paper negative – salted paper used to help it develop
• The image provided evidence of photography’s possibilities – presented in his book The Pencil of Nature
• Plates created by light – there is no “artistic invention”
• Knife plunging into the hay (acting like a sundial)
• Leaves provide a dark contrast against the hay – their green tone came out very dark
•Bright sun shows the texture of the hay (and tone)

• Things in this picture make the eye travel back into the composition – brings dimension
• Diagonal bringing the eye up and down the composition
• Conscious composition – not just taken on a whim, very carefully planned out

• The entire book “The Pencil of Nature” was supposed to be images “untouched by human hands”
• HOWEVER, this image was misleading because it was originally entitled “library” – without context, the viewer could easily interpret the books as being in a larger library, when in reality this image was very staged.

• The entire book “The Pencil of Nature” was supposed to be images “untouched by human hands”
• “Groups of figures take no longer time to obtain than single figures would require, since the Camera depicts them all at once, however numerous they may be.” – shows the power of the camera

• still lifes were a popular genre in daguerreotype because they were unmoving subjects, and therefore worked well with the long exposure times necessary
• still lifes worked with daguerreotypes because of the high level of detail possible

• first the picture looks as if it is an empty street, but really the people have just been blurred significantly because of the long exposure time
• If you look closely, you can see a figure at the shoe shine stand
• first photograph known to include human beings

• This was the duo that originally photographed the first use of ether anesthesia
• Lighting seems to have been manipulated here – one of the qualities of a daguerreotype is that it is super detailed in the center and then it fades off – vignette
• Pose, lighting, framing – all the visual elements of the photograph that determine how it is interpreted
• This is called REMBRANDT LIGHTING – light on the forehead – light and dark – highlighting the genius (head/brain)
• Camera angle – tilted slightly up – When you photograph from below, it elevates the sitter (literally and metaphorically)

• uses a super shallow depth of field – really in focus at the center and then it blurs towards the edges
• modern use of an older style of photography

• earliest known portrait of the abolitionist John Brown
• he stands with one hand raised, as if repeating the pledge he made several years earlier to dedicate his life to destroying slavery
• With his other hand, he grasps what is thought to be the standard of his “Subterranean Pass Way.” (his version of an underground railroad)

• this photograph is performance art – there is a narrative that accompanies the photograph that tells a story associated with the image
• it’s making fun of the “reality” of photography – obviously a dead man could not photograph himself, and so it brings to question the scientific and unquestionable association of photography
• expressed his frustration in having been pushed aside in the public mind (he had taken the daguerreotype and imposed in onto paper, but people sort of just forgot about him)

• unlike other prints, this was made with one negative
• succeeded by taking advantage of the qualities of the sea and (like other prints) suggested moonlight/twilight instead of sun
• this was one of the most famous and widely distributed prints of the 19th century in England and France

• dramatic effects of sunlight, clouds, and water
• one can see the joining of these two negatives at the horizon
• famous not only because of his fantastic exposure of water and sky without one being over or under exposed, but also because the scenes had not been seen in photography yet

• “Agassiz commissioned these images to use as scientific visual evidence to prove the physical difference between white Europeans and black Africans. The primary goal was to prove the racial superiority of the white race. The photographs were also meant to serve as evidence for his theory of “separate creation,” which contends that each race originated as a separate species.”

• Appropriated (took something and changed its meaning) photographs and transformed them into something else
• Both the text and the image are necessary in constructing the meaning here
• Critical commentary on race and ethnography
• recontextualizing the images

• Influenced by realism (not romanticised but really showing the plight of the worker) – especially Gustave Courbet, a French Realist painter (see The Stonebreakers)
• shows a dynamic of dialogue between two mediums of art
• modern view of street life in motion
• treats men of the lower classes as anonymous figures (even though photography has the ability to portray a person exactly as they are) – taken from painting

• compresses the picture frame with a large depth of field
• tightly cropped
• land acting as typography – pleasure of information being presented (this was in my notes but I am not quite sure what it means?)
• the sphinx and pyramid are perfectly centered in the composition
• his publishing these images allowed for people to see far away lands that they dreamed of without having to travel

• Created a number of images like this on his frequent trips to Egypt
• The pyramids are symmetrical in the way that he arranged them in the composition
• the three pyramids overlap one another
• the hill (which looks like a shadow) holds the smaller figures and the camel, which contrast against the huge pyramids behind them
• though Frith frequently said that his images were “truthful”, it was impossible for the picturesque to not creep into his pictures
• land acts as typography (again, in my notes but I don’t know what it means?)

• part of a series
• Took photographs that resembled the absurd snapshots made by the tourists he was photographing
• shows the difference between the reality and mythology of a tourist location – critique of the reality of photography, as well
• self-reflexive

• reminder of war – cannonballs scattered
• Drew on Charge of the Light Brigade poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• Speculation that Fenton manipulated the cannon shells
• Severely delineated horizon – sky is white due to the likelihood of blue to overdevelop
• Absence of bodies, despite being a war photograph – Fenton avoided that – what is absent can mean just as much as what is present (it’s significant that he didn’t include bodies)
• wavering road leads the eye through the photograph – examine the details along its course

• memorializing gaze of the camera
• like it has been tampered with
• his images were accompanied with narratives that told the story of the images (but this narrative was FAKE)
• THESE BODIES WERE MOVED
• Most in these photographs was staged, and everyone knew but it didn’t bother anyone
• “The mutability of photographic truth”
• man on horseback – though the battle is over, the war rages on – set in a misty background in an almost impressionistic style

• again, a fake image
• The body and gun would not have gone that long without being moved or looted – the narrative accompanying it said it was found months later
• the body in the image had been moved from another to that sharpshooter den

• This image gave Capa international renown
• Defining image of the conflict in Spain at the time
• Some say that this could have been staged, and the man died while posing for a photograph rather than in battle
• Demonstrates the dangers of war for those fighting and those reporting it
• Shows the moment of death and startles the viewer with its immediacy
• Subject is slightly blurred, which adds tension
• Long shadow suggests time the photograph was taken, mountains have been studied to find out the exact location it was taken

• Heroic moment, but the flag in the real moment wasn’t big enough, so this was a re-enactment
• We see this in other war-time photos as well, and it is a real eye opener in terms of understanding the reality of photography and how its use for documenting history can be flawed

• The actress was not yet famous, but she became so later
• this was one of the first “celebrity portraits”
• Experimented with directional lighting
• Eye is brought to the woman’s neck
• Drapes of the clothing suggest a shapely body
• Hands and nails are sharp in the composition
• The depth of field focusing mostly on the triangle of the eyes, hands, and fabric give the composition a 3D feel
• Poses were ways to stay still
• Strong light coming from the upper left hand corner
• Shot from below
• She is looking above the camera – not engaging with the viewer – contemplative

• did numerous self portraits, which allowed him to experiment with poses and expressions before turning the camera on other people
• gazing self-assuredly at a point just above the camera
• intended to make himself look like an intense, romantic artist
• his hand gestures echo each other, giving pictorial balance
• at this point, nadar was already a celebrated artist, which gave him the freedom to explore with his work

• though Nadar photographed Baudelaire many times, this one is the most enigmatic portrait of the poet, who appears to be dreaming with glazed eyes, as if his thoughts were elsewhere
• this is the only known print from their first sitting
• Baudelaire believed that photography belonged to the sciences and was a tool of documenting, not a tool of art or imagination

• carte-de-visite were very cheap to produce and came eight to ten images on a sheet
• the process eliminated the need for careful lighting or darkroom retouching
• brought photography to everyone in a cheap and faster manner than previous methods
• pictured in bourgeois setting (holding books, etc) revealed the aspirations of sitters more than their social status (much like the Sojourner Truth portraits)
• even in the most functional and scientific portraits (i.e. mugshots), there is an aspect of the personal and intimate

• Emphasized socially constructed identities
• used as propaganda
• Truth’s photographs liberated her from the words of others
• After being enslaved, these portraits served as her literal embodiment – rendering of the spirit trapped within
• “black woman as lady” – this space didn’t exist in society until Truth created it
• proved that she was PRESENT IN HER TIME

• Looking up at him
• Classical pillar in the background
• Distinguished pose
• He’s represented as scholarly
• taken directly before he delivered his address at Cooper union
• he is unusually beardless
• he drew lincolns collar up high to improve his appearance
• later versions of the photograph showed that artists had smoothed lincolns hair and refined his features to make him look better

• Poetic, aesthetic component
• ethereal and almost bodiless
• portrayed as unspecified ideals of beauty, grace, and purity
• taken right before Julia’s wedding (Cameron’s niece)

• inspired by the PRB (pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?)
• he was her inspiration and mentor
• she aimed to capture the greatness of the inner as well as the features of the outer man
• shows him as a mythical figure with tousled hair
• he emerges from the black like the stars that he studied (he was an astronomer and experimental photographer)
• result of the authentic encounter between the portrayer and the portrayed

• part of the PRB ← ? (Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood – can be abbreviated as this)
• Referencing fine arts in the title and composition- making photography into an art
• Uses sfumato

• Shallow depth of field
• Something in the picture refers to something outside of the picture (stove hat, cigar, posture, chains – signify wealth) – signifiers telling you additional information
• this was the engineer of the steamship Great Eastern
• anxiety in his eyes contradicts the composure of his pose
• environmental portraiture – shows a man dressed up but muddy – his professor conbined being a gentleman and being hands on – and the giant chains represent his huge ambition and contradict his small stature

• best known for his pictures of the american west
• combined a virtuoso mastery of the difficult wet plate negative process with a rigorous sense of pictorial structure.
• physical demands were great because they were large format images – his glass negatives had to be as large as he wanted the prints to be
• needed a traveling darkroom, like the war photographers did with wet collodion as well
• his work is best known for its crystalline clarity

• Signs of civilization just visible on the floor of the valley emphasize the scale of the valley
• Commissioned a cabinet maker to make him a camera that held humongous negative plates
• His work played a large role in the congressional grant given in 1864 to Yosemite
• surface of the rock appears in great detail
• the right edge of the rock mimics the waterfall behind it
• buildings are visible – evidence of change

• Lines
• Texture – lots of play with contrasting texture
• Light – diffused, natural lighting; evenness, but the angle is casting shadows
• Contrast
• Framing – frame is what you put in the picture and what you exclude
• conveys the sights imposing grandeur
• rock towers over the scene, obliterating the sky

• you can see where the wagon abruptly stopped and U-turned in the image
• the footprints show where O’Sullivan came from
• reveals the tracks that have been altered by the winds of the sand dunes
• the wagon’s striking contrast against the landscape shows the pioneering experience in the uncharted west
• “O’Sullivan’s photographs from the 1867 Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel expedition were intended to provide information for the purpose of expanding railroads and industry, yet they demonstrate his eye for poetic beauty.”

• Excitement, thrill, and danger of the west
• sublime view of the Grand Canyon
• contrasts human and natural scale
• landscape photography meant to elicit a strong emotional response

• the negative has been altered because a number of setbacks made it so that when Jackson got there, the snow on the mountain was mostly gone
• proof that myth was “reality” – paved the way to protecting land in the west, as did most of his other photographs

• Allowed people to watch inmates in an institution without them knowing they were being watched
• It was never built, but the idea was interesting
• Could be used for prisons, hospitals, etc.
• This is where the idea for the panorama came from, being able to see everything at once

• panoramic photo of a train traversing Marshall pass
• the train is barely visible
• panorama offers a mastery over the scene and even over nature itself

• everything is in focus – represents the large depth of field frequently used by Adams
• high level of contrast
• used large plates to capture this image
• subject matter of the American west

• everything is in focus – represents the large depth of field frequently used by Adams
• Taken a year before he formally codified the method of exposure and development he called the Zone System.
• He used the luminance of the moon to estimate his exposure time due to the fact that he couldn’t find his light meter.
• The small town, and white cemetery crosses caught his eye as he was driving to Santa Fe. The photo represents texture, detail, and emphasizes the parallel of the land to the sky.
• This photograph is a good example of straight photography: photography of everyday things.

• First, you’re drawn to the beauty of it, but then you realize the people at the bottom are invading this nature
• Scale becomes a big thing
• Resisted essentialized category – doesn’t fit into
• The picturesque needs to be examined if we are to take it seriously as an artistic form
• in thirds horizontally
• the human presence disturbs the calm and picturesque
• depicts the “tragic sublime” – awful consequence of mass tourism
• the title (just the title of the place it is representing) solidifies the neutrality of the artist

• Huge oil tanker spill
• Using the medium to critique society but to also use as a dynamic form
• looks at the tragedy of industrial costs
• explores the mechanisms and environmental legacies of heavy industry.
• we are presented with large, pin-sharp landscape photographs, with a grand sense of scale, objective detachment and a desaturated colour palette of rusty oranges, cool blues and steely treys
• his photographs hover between environmental documentary photography and fine art photography; they concentrate on environmental themes, but are exhibited in galleries as art objects – Contemporary photography is at its most powerful when the aesthetic and conceptual coexist to deliver a thoughtful message or idea.

• Controversial for it’s “untruthful” production
• Composition photograph (used 30 different negatives to make one picture)
• Nudity was considered improper in such a realistic medium
• Father leads two youths into adulthood in the center
• Curtains reinforce the theatricality
• Reality factor creates impressively provocative imagery
• Evoking a renaissance composition
• Meant to compete thematically and stylistically with the paintings of the time
• Works of high art should not be executed by mechanical means – not accepted as art
• Bought by Queen Victoria

• influenced by Rejlander
• Someone is dying – however, these are all models, no one is actually dying
• Spliced together from other negatives
• People got upset because the photograph wasn’t “real” and they felt tricked
• it was a staged scene, and so it was not as shocking to see as people thought (seeing a woman dying in a medium as real as photography was appalling to Victorian societies

• He advocated naturalism in photography, which meant that he believed photographs should represent nature as truthfully as possible without manipulation by the photographer
• He presented his images in books so that text could accompany them
• He derived his subject matter from rural life in the marshy, coastal region of East Anglia, northeast of London
• though this is a peaceful image, it portrays laborers doing work
• Emerson sought a moment of tender beauty as the woman reaches into the water to collect a blossom
• wanted to scientifically understand how the eye sees (contrasts with George Davidson’s The Onion Field)- believed that photos should show what the eye actually sees
• periphery is out of focus- selective vision: aligning with cutting edge of science to make it a part of the modern world
• Imitating the action of light upon the eye- not merely transcribing reality

• Pictorialist who engaged in these very atmospheric landscapes – PICTORIALISM
• Platinum photography is the most luminous, archival, and rare; Expensive and time consuming; greatest tonal range
• Done in a monochrome printing process that results in the greatest tonal range
• In this print, no gelatin emulsion is used, the actual platinum soaks into the paper – completely matte
• part of the naturalism that he advocated for in photography
• selective focus and the careful gradation of tones, subtly rendered here by the platinum process
• In breaking the existing molds of ambitious photography–sharp, straightforward documentation and contrived tableaux–and opting for a more impressionist vision, Emerson blazed the trail that would be followed by the American Pictorialists
• it is an essay on the nobility of manual labor and a meditation on nature and mortality
• Below ominous dark clouds the assertive strong-bodied woman in the foreground and the shadowed figure behind pole their hay as if carrying a funeral litter.

• Based his ideas on Emersons PHOTOGRAPHS rather than his IDEAS
• Everything is slightly out of focus, there is no selective focus
• Move to more evocative and expressive photographs
• Moving away from an absolute replication of reality
• Impressionistic photography intended to render a response – visual imprint
• Returning to previous, less complicated times, ADAVISM – using a pinhole camera
• Based on the new urban industrial secular order – abandoned historical subject matter
• photographic equivalent of impressionism
• Impressionistic- all out of focus, imprecise
• Evocative and expressive- pictorialist
• Attempting to evoke an emotional response- symbolic, metaphor
• Ativism- going back to simpler times
• Abandons historical events- depicts modern, everyday events

• Steichen was a painter and in his photographs he portrays himself as a painter
• pictorial aspect of photography
• holding a painters palette and a paintbrush; wearing a smock
• implies that the photographic craft is equal to that of the traditional artist
• the process heightens the painterly feel of the image
• the darkness of the print heightens the drama
• tight grip on the brush shows his sense of purpose

• 1907 – the Autochrome Lumiere is the first color process that was marketed and used
• soft focus of the image makes it seem as if it is the photographer’s dreams
• Though color photography existed before, this was the first time that color photography could be used in mass

• Nude young girl – she somehow maintains her dignity while betraying vulnerability
• The hairstyle was natural, not fashionable
• Printed with red ochre (used with the gum biochromate process) – multi-layered printing gives this a painted feel
• This photograph is often compared to some of Degas’ paintings – calls to mind the look of impressionism – whispy

first photograph (took several hours to expose); created the first heliograph. “View from his Window at Les Gras (1827)

invented daguerreotype with the discovery of idolized silver plates that could be developed with mercury producing direct positives. “Still Life” (1837)

Created the first calotype process of salt paper process. In his photogenic drawings he was able to “fix” the image by using a silver compound on paper. With his book Pencil of Nature, Talbot created the first major photographic publication of his own prints which created an aesthetic guideline for other photographers to follow.
“Botanical Specimen” (1839) -photogenic drawing
“The Haystack” (1844)- Salted paper print.

Was the first female photographer to use the cyanotype process (invented by Sir John Herschel) to create prints of British Algae. She did this by flattening dried algae effectively as negatives, positioning them onto sheets of sensitive paper in the sun. These became cyanotypes cause the paper she used was based on salts of iron thus creating the blue color.
“British Algae, 1843”

Photographer that invented a photographic paper by direct paper positive which combined daguerreotype process to Talbots paper. His invention, however, was too late. Thus he made a photo of himself that was a performance in order to show his frustration.
“Self Portrait as a Drowned Man” (1840)

Photographer who in 1853 was granted a monopoly concession to establish a daguerreotype studio on the U.S side of the Niagara Falls. His photographs were apart of the exploration of the world and tourism thanks to the daguerreomania.

daguerreotypes, making photography into art. Used daguerreotypes to document events such as “the use of ether for Anesthesia c.1847”. They did this to provide authenticity and posterity. Hawes was known to harness light and shade so effectively in the photographs that their clients were flattered by what they saw. Southworth was interested in bettering himself.
“Albert Sands Southworth) c.1848

A modern photographer that uses the camera obscura to create modern compositions. In order to achieve this, he darkens the room by covering all the windows with dark plastic. Then he cuts a small hole into the material he used to cover the windows. Light filters into the room and creates and projects an inverted view of the world outside on the wall inside.
“Camera Obscura Image of Boston’s Old Customs House in Hotel Room (1999) Silver Print

contemporary photographer who has experimented with daguerreotypes, like the one we have to study that includes intense detail in the middle and blurred on the sides

Photographer who resurrected the daguerreotype. He experiments with such diverse processes as the monochrome gelatin silver and color saturated gye destruction prints. His “Butterfly Daguerreotype” has a polished surface and reflects the viewers countenance. Unlike the daguerreotype, its dimensions are as large as a mirror and acts as a powerful memento mori.

Scottish calotypists from 1843-1847. They were the first to produce a self body of work using this new medium of photography of 300 photographs. David Hill was a painter and Robert was a photographer. Hill wanted to record the break in Scotland so he had Roberts take photographs of the officials faces so that he could paint the picture.

Important British Calotypist. He traveled and took pictures of buildings and war. He is most famous for his works during the Crimean war (didn’t show death). He was also an advocate for photography’s status as an art form.
“Valley of the Shadow of Death” Salted paper print from a wet collodion glass negatives (1855)- Drew on Tennyson’s work for this photograph.

Landscape photographer that participated in the dialogue between painting an art in his photograph of the Forest of Fontainebleau (1851; albumen print from wax paper negative). In his career he participated by working alongside of the painters of the Barbizon School. The images that he took of the beauty of the forest would lead to a new aesthetic of photography called “Primitives” which pioneered the artistic photography. He introduced the wax paper negative into photography and he claimed the calotype for France. He also participated in the project of Mission Heliographique where along with 4 other photographers, Le Grey was chosen to go across France to photograph buildings throughout France. This led to architects to use photographs in order to rebuild France.

Photographer that worked on waxed paper to create a salt print positive. His photograph “Little Window” (1999) was pencil on calotype negative and was dedicated to Talbot’s “Latticed Window”.

Modern photographer that caused controversy in 1992 when she photographed her children (under age 10) naked or partially dressed

Artist and Photographer of the 1990’s that used appropriation where she would borrow photographs and transform them by using a recognizable change in order to not claim or change the original photograph as her own. She is most famous for her series “I Saw What Happend….” (1997). For this series she took slave daguerreotypes and created a narrative. From this text/image became a key to creating meaning in photographs and engaging social and political issues.

Photographer that was interested in studies of figures especially those on the streets. His figures appeared candid and instantaneous which would later become to define street photography.
“Chimney Sweeps Walking” (1851; albumen print from wax paper negative)

Photographer interested in the human condition.Took and used photographs in an asylum and recommended they be used for diagnosing and treating patients. His photographs were one of the earliest used by portraying using the camera to capture and record science.

Known to be the founder of modern photography. His photographs were known to capture historical objects. He was a pictorialist photographer, but then in the 1900’s he moved away from it and more toward modernism, cubism, and expressionism.
“Steerage” (1907; silver gelatin plate)

Photographer that produced lyrical landscape photography which would dominate photographic art making. He was also known for doing straight photography by focusing on everyday things.
“Moonrise Hernandez, New Mexico” (1941; silver print)

journalistic/war photography. Was apart of the eyewitness photography that began to be used that allowed the public to view the war in real time. However, his famous photograph of the flag being raised is questionable when it comes to authenticity.
“Old Glory Goes Up On Mt. Suribachi” (1945; silver print)

Daguerreotypist and photographer. Is best known for his Daguerreotype “John Brown, c.1846-1847). Is a good example of documentation of the civil war time period.

Portrait photographer who was very conscious of artists and photographers in the 19th century. Using his hobby of ballooning, he created the first aerial photographs. He raised photography to the height of art, where he lent his studio to impressionists where they had their first exhibition there. To evoke impressionism, Nadar would play with light and shade through the eye, and he would make fun of paintings by taking photographs that were similar to them. He also was known to experiment with directional lighting which became apart of his style.
“Sarah Bernhardt” (1864; modern positive image from original wet plate collodion on glass negative).

Photographer whose portraits dramatized Pre Raphael light. She would invite members of the Raphael Brotherhood to come get their picture taken. Her photographic style consisted of using differential focus, costume box clothes, and occasional props to create a soft edged, warm toned portraits and figure studies which were sometimes inspired by literature. She believed that it was she that was making art out of photography.
“Sir John Herschel” (1867)

patented cartes des visites. “Napoleon III and Family” (1860)

Photographer that traveled to Egypt to take photos to contribute to “land on topography” which increased the need for tourism. His photographs were mostly taken with wet collodion, which lead him to have his own traveling dark room to achieve the print. His pictures were often depicted on mammoth plates which gave him his status. He became one of the most successful nineteenth century travel photographers.
“The Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Geezah” (1863, Albumen print)

Pictorialist photographer that took up on the concept of the picturesque in landscapes. He believed that photographic art was best learned through practice and by applying naturalistic differential focusing not by the application of artistic rules. His photographs concentrate on the land, its inhabitants, and the weather and its light conditions. Wrote the book Naturalistic Photography which gave rise to the pictorialist movement (though it ended up being a completely different movement than he intended); he wanted to replicate the way the eye sees an image, through selective focus.
“Gathering Water Lilies” (1886,Platinum print)

Photographer during the factual era of photography that depended on what the camera could do. He believed in longer exposure times in order to ensure that he did not register casual passersby thus imparting a melancholic atmosphere in his pictures.
“Rue du Chat-qui-Peche” (1868;albumprint collodion collodion on glass negative).

Modern Photographer that created big portraits using lighting and solid colors. His subjects were often emotionless.

A modern contemporary art photographer whose photographs were often staged. They are often presented as large format transparencies in light boxes.His work often references the history of painting.
” The Flooded Grave” (1998-2000; aluminum light box)

Photographer of the sublime who took horizon photographs of ocean fronts. He would measure landscape through time.
“North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Breton Island” (1996, Silver Print)

Modern Photographer of the dead tech sublime. His photographs represent what man has done to the planet. They are often large scale prints taken from aerial or elevated angles to reveal the horror and beauty of industrial scenes. his photographs show us the detritus of modern life; they look at the tragedy of industrial costs; his images often feature elements of the sublime
“Shipbreaking #11” (2000; chromogenic color print)

Photographer that traveled to Egypt and took tourism pictures. His photographic work is frontal, with strong geometry, and cool tones.

Photographer that traveled to Egypt to satisfy own research interests; although, his photographs would add to the attractions of tourism that photography would produce. He produced photographs on waxed paper negatives which lacked sharp definition though the work is more exploration of tone than detail. His photographs were more poetic that representational.
“The Bank of the Nile at Thebes” (1854; wax paper negative)

Pictorialist photographer who utilized the gum bichromate process to manipulate the negative during development to introduce a painterly effect to photography. He believed in using photography as an artistic expression rather than as a mechanic process.
“Spring” (1896; gum bichromate process)

A female photographer who portrayed herself as a “new woman” by striking a very masculine posture with a cigarette and tankard. Her photograph played with gender roles. She used photography to challenge a narrative.
“Self Portrait (as a New Woman)” (1896; silver print)

Photographer known to take up a form of photography that would mimic painting through combination printing; In his Two Ways of Life he took individual photographs and put them together. Women were showed in the nude and shocked society. He was also known for his Street Urchin Series (which, though meant to capture the “reality” of the lower classes, was photographed in studio)
“Two Ways Of Life” (1857; Wet plate collodion, albumen print)

A British photographer that constructed narrative photography. He used combination printing and used it as a tool to promote his firm belief that in the hands of artists who understood the rules of composition and lighting, photography could aspire and achieve pictorial art.
“Fading Away” (1858; albumen print from five wet collodion on glass negatives)–> sick female in photograph was a model therefore it was staged.

First painter to embrace photography in his work; he would make a painting that looked like a photograph such as his ballet dancers painting. His paintings began to have strange croppings where people would be cut in half, or the focal point would be off center.
“Dancer Adjusting Her Shoulder Strap” (1895; gelatin dry plate negative).

Famous photographers of the west at the end of the 19th century and the Civil War. In his photographs, he would diffuse natural lighting so that it spread evenly, and would cast shadows.
“Ancient Ruins in the Canyon De Chelly” (1873; albumen print)

War Photographer and portraitist. He conceived the idea of creating a comprehensive photographic record of the Civil War where he sent out teams of photographers with their own traveling dark rooms to follow the Union armies. He also did working class photos.
“Abraham Lincoln” (1860; Carte-de-visite, wet plate collodion negative/ salt paper print)

Civil War photographer who published the Photographic Sketch Book of the War. Under photographs he would give elaborate narratives to describe the photographs. Sometimes his titles were false (for example sometimes the same narration was put for Confederate and Union soldiers). Also, some of his photos seem staged, or things would be moved such as bodies themselves.
“The Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter” (1863)

Modern photographer that is known for elaborately staged tableaux such as “Untitled (Ophelia)” (2001; Laser chromogenic color print). The series references cinema not only in its method of construction, high production values, and dramatic lighting, but also in terms of its narrative.

Landscape photographer of the west that used large cameras to make larger photos. He framed his exhibition prints. His photos showed great depth and distance between the rocks and mountains.His photos played a large part in the governments decisions to preserve Yosemite Valley as a national park.
“Agassiz Rock and Yosemite Falls, From Union Point” (1867; wet plate collodion, albumen print, stereoscope)

Geological survey photographer; his photographs frequently included aspects of both the picturesque and the sublime. He utilizes scale and distance. Is a good example of how photographers/artists thought about how landscape is being represented and depicted.
“Ye Old Faithful Geyser” (1870, albumen print)

Photographer that considers himself an “artist”, he resisted centralized category of the political debate between being named what you are vs. what you want to be. His photographs are known to represent a tragic picturesque or sublime.

Photographer interested in motion in photography. He took photos of horses with high contrast, 1/2000 second of an exposure time. He wanted to break down parts to see what would happen. He created the Zoopraxiscope to show drawings from his motion photographs which these drawings were originally in cards and booklets.
“Horse in Motion” (1878)

Photographer interested in motion that also took horse photos, but in chronophotographic style (interested in physics of how the body actually moves); images are blurred. He wanted hard measurable facts. The Chronophotograph was designed to be shaped like gun to “shoot a photograph” Inside there would be a disc that rotates into a sequestration photograph.
“Figures in Motion” (1880’s; dry plate negative and print)

Pictorialist photographer. Often took photographs of himself due to an interest in the inner depths that could be revealed through portrait. He was also interested in space and pattern of Japanese aesthetics.
“Wrapping” (1904; gum platinum print)

Pictorialist photographer that worked with Steglitz. He would take photos and recreate them with photography.
“Rodin with The Thinker and Victor Hugo” (1902, gum bichromate composite print)

known for “The 7 Last Words of Christ.” His photographs in this series made his audience appalled because unlike paintings of Christ where the viewer can suspend disbelief, there is a real, live person in the photographs

Photographed approximately 80 groups of Native Americans between 1895 and 1904. His photography is ethnographic pictorialism, creating a romantic narrative of nostalgia for these “vanishing races”. He showed the narrative of past controversy.

Heliograph

Photogenic Drawing (Thomas Wedgwood)

Cyanotype/Daguerreotypes

• salted paper print from paper negative or calotype negative
• daguerreotype
• direct paper positive

• Salted paper print from wax paper negatives
• wet plate collodion negative
• albumen silver prints from wet collodion glass negatives
• albumen print
• cartes de visite
• combination prints

• albumen print
• stereoscope
• stereoviews
• wet plate collodion ambrotype

• albumen print
• albumen print from glass negative
• wet plate collodion negative albumen print

• albumen print
• platinum print
• photogravure
• pinhole camera

• panorama
• gum bichromate

• gum bichromate print
• composite print
• autochrome
• silver prints