Photography and How it all Began

Facts leading up to the Birth of Photography:

Joseph Wright of Derby "A philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrey, in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun" (1766)

Enlightenment-Age of reason
Catholic Religion- Enlightenment challeneged superstition  and religious beliefs replcaing it with facts. This is the birth of Experimentation as People, especially artists begin to experiment with their ideas. Joseph Wright's paintings represent this as it shows people experimentinig with science.  This can be seen in his painting called " An experimented bird in an air pump" where you see a bird placed in an air pump, and people around it obviously seeing the result of what would happen if all the oxygen has been sucked out.

When I first viewed his painting, at first I was confused as to what it was trying to depict, but as the lesson went on, we learnt more about enlightenment. Through research I found out that this painting "was an early experiment into the nature of air and it's ability to support life". What interests me about this photograph is the light source. In our case the light can be seen as a sign for hope or peace as it gives of an illuminating glow, which is also known as the Chiaroscuro effect. According to the Tate Gallery "Chiaroscuro is generally only remarked upon when it is a particularly prominent feature of the work, usually when the artist is using extreme contrasts of light and shade". The Chiaroscuro effect orginally orginated around the time of the Renaissance, and thie is evident in the painting as the Rennaisance was the "birth of experimentation"

As you can see the only light source is on the table with various people surrounding it all expressing different emotions. For example, the children in the Painting look worried, and fear for the birds life as it takes its last gasp for breath, whilst the the couple on the very left seem to be in love and only have eyes for each other.

Photography was born in an era of classicism which harked back to Roman sources and Ancient Greek. The Georgian House is a classic example as it had architectural designs which looked like it came from the Roman or Greek Era.

Joesph Hayden Symphany 'Le Matin'- Allegro Circa 1761 - Birth of Classical Music

The Birth of Classical music/ Birth of Enlightenment: This Particular piece represents hope as it's an awakening and an awareness for people. 'Le Matin' depicts sunrise, which again brings me back to light repsresnting Peace and Hope.

                                          George Brander- Table Camera Obsucura 1761

                                             Camera Obscura, Athanasius Kircher, 1646

 

Camera Obsucar was a word in Latin that Meant 'Vaulted dark chamber room'. This was bacially a camera with lenses and mirrors in a darkened box that permits artists to create a more realistic drawing or painting. The image above by  Anthanasius Kircher shows a camera outside the Netherlands in Holand where there are lenses in the centre of each wall that that lets light filter through , allowing the artist in the middle with transparent paper to trace the subject of interest, thus creating a very realistic artistic piece.

More facts leading up to the birth of Photography:

•  The Tarnishing of Silver had been observed since Ancient times and Arabian Alchemists
• In 1727 the German Scientist Johannes Heinrich Schulze observed that silver salts darken when exposed to the sun
• In 1777 Scheele, a swedish Chemist discovered that silver nitrate  darken quickest with blue light
• 1802- Josiah Wedgewood repots success at Producing images on leather which had been impregnated with Silver Salts
• Joeseph Nicephore Niepce (1765-1833) First man to fix the Photographic Image
• The First Photograph ever taken that survied was the "View from the window at Le Gras" which was later sold to Louis Jacques Daguerre  (1787-1851)
• Birth of Photography- 1839!

                                                    "View from the window at Le Gras"

Dauguerreotype  Method:

The Dauguerreotype Method was the first Photographic process to be developed and created by Louis Dauguerre. At first Dauguerre formed a partnership with Josepth Niepce, using a camera Obscura to aid him with painting in Perspective. Through this process, it led him to think of ways to keep the image still. When Niepce passed away in 1833 he began to experiment using various types of Chemicals. The first break through was when he put an exposed plate in his chemical cupboard. According to Robert Leggat, this is what led Dauguerre to discover the Dauguerreotype method, as Dauguerre himself only discovered this when he found his that an image had formed after opening his chemical cupboard. To conclude his break through Dauguerre stated that this happened due to the fact that mercury vapour became present from a broken thermometer. Because of this incident it was possible "to reduce the exposure of time from some eight hours to thirty minutes." Shortly after he discovered this he ended up selling the Daguerreotype method to the French government.

Producing a Daugerreotype:

Step 1. Start with a silver-plated piece of copper and polish it to as close to a mirror finish as possible. Most daguerreotypists use a bench grinder outfitted with a polishing wheel to prepare their plates.

Step 2. The next step is to "sensitize" the plate. Place the plate into a sealed box containing a shallow tub filled with iodine crystals. After a few minutes of exposure to the iodine vapors, your silver plate should take on a purplish hue. Most "dag artists" use specially-constructed coating boxes with a sliding element at the top, allowing them to slide a plate into the vapor-filled box, then slide it out without touching the plate or exposing themselves to the vapors. Iodine vapors are extremely harmful and dangerous to work with, so precautions such as ventilators and respirators are a must.

Step 3. Mount the sensitized plate onto your camera's film holder and seal the camera.

Step 4. Pick a well-lit, stationary subject to capture. Choose something as close to totally stationary as possible, as exposure can take between 1 and 7 minutes depending on the light. Obviously, bright sunlight works best. Instructables.com member duckarrowtypes has created an exposure cheatsheet for daguerreotypes PDF link.

Step 5. In a darkroom, remove your exposed plate and tape a sheet of Amberlith film on top of it. Seal the edges with light-proof tape (both can be purchased at an art supply or photo supply store) and place it in the sun for two hours. This will develop your image, and you should start seeing results within the first 30 minutes or so. This is actually different than Louis Daguerre's original method -- he used mercury vapors to develop the image. This method is much easier, safer and less expensive.

Step 6. Now it's time to wash your plate. Mix up a Hypo clearing agent in a developing tray place the plate into the solution-filled tray. Don't let any bubbles form on the surface of the plate when you're getting it wet, otherwise your image will be ruined. Once the plate is fully submerged, gently stir the solution until your image shows on the plate as clear black and white. Follow with a water bath (using the same care in immersion) to wash away any remaining silver halide particles.

Step 7. At this point, your image is just dust on a silver plate. Touching it, brushing against it, or dropping water directly onto it will ruin it. Quickly preserve it by mounting it behind a piece of glass in a specially-constructed daguerreotype holder. You can buy an antique holder, make your own, or have one constructed by a frame shop.

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_a_Daguerreotype (Info from this site)