Seminar 5 - Post War Years

Joe Rosenthal took an image in 1945 called ‘Marines Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima’
This image was the inspiration for a sculpture. It shows determination and struggle, and the American flag shows independence. However the image was set up as Rosenthal asked them to take the flag down and do it again. The photo is faked. It is not spontaneous, it is constructed. It did show a moment in time but not exactly when it first happened.

Walter Hahn took a photograph of Dresden being hit by air forces in 1945. The angel with it’s hand outstretched has a religious connotation. Germany lost the war and were having to start over. This was the end of modernity; a vision towards eutopia and trying to get to it together. However eutopia had become dystopia.

Henri Cartier Bresson shows through an image that we are all responsible for our own behaviours. The world is a Godless place and we are individuals. There was a rejection of religious dogma.

Robert Frank from The Americans shows America how it was and not how it wanted to appear. It was focusing on looking at the underbelly of America. He went around and photographed America as he found it, not how other photographers had made it look. There was a clear division in his image between the wealthy and the poor in society.

Street photography had become popular around this time and there was an emergence of individualism. Branding was common, tying people into a particular way of being their lifestyle.

David Bailey took photographs of celebrities. Mick Jagger 1964
For the first time people were becoming wealthy for their talents. Britain became more of a meritocracy (effort = success).

This was also the start of women’s liberation. There was more of a promiscuous society – the pill was created in 1960’s.

Seminar 4 - Modernism

Photography finds a voice.

Gustav Klutsis was one of the many photographers who focused his work on propaganda. Many photographers were taking propaganda photographs around this period.

Alexander Mikhailovich-Rodchenko was a photographer who rejected ‘belly button’ photography, which was taking photos from hip level.

White Army, Black Baron.
“From wild forest to the British seas – Red army is the best!”
This was one of the famous revolutionary marches of the Civil War. They all had the same belief, same direction and same future.

There was a Grand Narrative. They all looked towards a common future.
Everyone was looking towards the eutopia – and ideal world with no manual labour (to some extent). Trying to avoid a dystopia – a hellish and fearful future.

The imagery of propaganda posters was treated like a machine. It was made up of various parts. Raoul Hausmann’s ‘Tatlin at Home’ collage shows how the mind is like a machine being driven by desire.

Wanda Wultz’s ‘Me and Cat’ however shows that we are not completely machine. We evolve from animals and can become animals. It is only culture that stops us.

Sigmund Freud believes that we can never truly find desire, yet desire is the driving force for humans.

Robert Capa’s ‘Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death’ captures a moment in time. Whether it’s a moment of death however is unsure. The man in the image is neither dead nor alive at that exact stage, but he is preserved forever in that photo.

Seminar 3 - Romantics, Pictorialists and the Photo Secession

There was a gothic revival from the 50’s to the 90’s. The Pre Raphalites emerged and there became a hark to medieval times. This group was a huge influence on this period.  Often images would be focused on Greek mythologies. This all stemmed from the Pre Raphalite movement.

Julia Margaret Cameron – The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty 1866
This image is very innocent and it links in with mythology.

Many photographs had become based on stories such as Shakespeare’s ‘Ophelia’ which was portrayed in an image by Sir John Everett Millais.

There was a return back to nature in this period. People in this period felt the need for escape and to looks back at nature in the sublime. Also, in Russia, Tchaikovsky was creating romantic pieces of music such as Swan Lake and Nutcracker Sweet. People were beginning to recognise the beauty and spiritualness of nature.

Alexander Keighley. “Nature is all there is and all basic truths are of nature”

The dry plate had been invented; this was portable and open to more people. It was cheaper and had a greater influence on art. Photography had become able to capture a fleeting moment in time.

This period was moving away from paintings, people had become far more interested in photography as it can capture a moment whereas paintings can’t.

George Eastman created Kodak in February 1890. The Kodak brownie was introduced in 1900.
Edward Steichen invented the flatiron in 1905 and there was an emergence of artificial light. At this point the invention of the electric lightbulb and electricity was coming to New York.

Richard Mansfield created an anonymous studio portrait in 1895 based on Dr Jackyll and Mr Hyde. This was a metaphor for the Victorian era. The split personality shows the split between the old darker times and the new times.

Seminar 2 - Foreign Travelers and English Naturalists

Around this period there were images being taken of autopsies. People didn’t usually tend to see that sort of thing. Cameras could be used to finally see what happens during these sorts of procedures.

Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) invented the wet collodion process in 1851. This process made it far easier to take portraits of people indoors as before it took 5-10 minutes outside in bright sunlight.

Charles Dodgson, a writer, reverend and photographer went by the name of ‘Lewis Carroll’ and wrote the ‘Alice In Wonderland’ series based on Alice Liddell in 1859. The opening paragraphs in the book relate to the camera. The rabbit running represents the lens and passing from the real world into another world. The other world is in fact inside the camera, where everything is upside down due to mirrors and reflections.

Andre Adolphe-Eugene Disderi came up with carte-de-visite (calling cards) in 1845. These carte-de-visites were a way for people to promote themselves. People looking away from the lens, averting their gaze gives us permission to look at them. It makes them the object. It makes us a voyer as we take pleasure out of looking secretly.

Census of photographers at this time

Photography was not recorded as a profession but it is known that at least 3 professional establishments operated in London in 1841.
The 1851 census includes 51 photographers.
The 1861 census includes 2,534 photographers a definite understatement which excludes dabblers and the thousands who were employed in the trade.

Roger Fenton was commissioned to photograph war. This was quite deceitful though as the photos did not show everything. It was the British version of the heroicism in Crimea. It didn’t really show the horrors of war.

‘The Valley of The Shadow of Death’, a photograph taken in 1855 was controversial because it was set up. 2 photographs exist of this scene. This is the first image we know of that was a deliberate deception. He actually moved the cannonballs to be seen in the image. 

Seminar 1 - An Introduction To Photography

Joseph Wright of Derby photographed images which showed someone lecturing, showing a hierarchy of learning. The light used is a metaphor for hope, knowledge and awareness.

Photography was born in an era of classicism, which harked back to an Ancient Greek and Roman sources. The enlightenment took empiricism as it’s drive. The Age of Reason rejected the supernatural and focused instead on nature as experience by humans (humanism) which enabled closer measurement and experimental repetition which provided proof.

Georg Brander invented the Table Camera Obscura, which literally means the dark room. This involves the camera in it’s basic form. The camera obscura has a 50mm lens, the same as our eyes. These images are like looking through a wide angle lens.

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The tamishing of silver had been observed since ancient times and Arabian alchemists.

-          1727 German scientist Johannes observed that silver salts darken when exposed to the sun.

-          1777 Scheele, a Swedish chemist discovered that Silver Nitrate darkens quickest with blue light.

-          1802 Josiah Wedgewood reports success at producing images on leather which had been impregnated with silver salts.

1825 - experiments with photography.
1839 – birth of photography.

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first photographic image that we know of. This was printed onto a piece of metal. ‘View from the window at Le Gras’ – 1826

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce gave his invention to Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851) and he created the daguerreotype in 1839.

The stages of making a daguerreotype portrait
1 - An assistant polishes a silver-coated copper plate with a long buffer until the surface is highly reflective. The highly polished plate is then taken into the darkroom, where it is sensitized with chemicals ( e.g. chloride of iodine, chloride of bromine ).
2 - The operator places the sensitized plate into a camera placed on a high shelf (z). When the sitter is ready the operator removes  the camera cover and times the required exposure with a watch. [ In this illustration, the operator is using Wolcott's Mirror Camera, which was fitted with a curved mirror instead of a lens ].
3 - The exposed plate is returned to the darkroom where the photographic image on the silvered plate is "brought out" with the fumes from heated mercury. The photographic image is "fixed" by bathing the plate in hyposulphate of soda. The photographic plate with the daguerreotype image is then washed in distilled water and dried.
4- Finally, the finished daguerreotype portrait is covered by a sheet of protective glass and is either mounted in a decorative frame or presented in a leather-bound case and offered to the customer for close inspection. Early daguerreotype portraits were very small and to appreciate the fine detail these customers are using a magnifying glass.

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) created the Kalotype method shortly after.

The stages of making a kalotype portrait

Iodise the Paper

1 - Find a suitable paper.

2 - Brush onto the paper an 8%  solution of silver nitrate in distilled water.  Allow the paper to become matt dry.

3 - Immerse the paper in a solution of potassium iodide 2 to 3 minutes.  Then wash the paper for several hours under running water.

4 - Dry the paper, then hang it for up to two hours in sunlight.  This will help the paper to produce a more contrasty image. At this stage, the paper has a coating of silver iodide, which is insoluble and insensitive to light. This paper should be stored in an acid-free box until ready to use in the camera.

Sensitise the Paper

5 - Under a red light, coat the iodised paper with an silver nitrate in distilled water.  Other chemicals are also required at this stage.  I believe that these include glacial acetic acid and gallic acid. Blot the paper to remove excess liquid, then cut to size for the camera.

Expose the Paper

6 - While the sensitised paper is still wet, expose it in the camera.  A two minute exposure at f8 may be required on a sunny day.

Developing

7 - Brush a solution of silver nitrate (similar to the sensitising solution but stronger) over the paper, followed by gallic acid. [Possibly also use acetic acid.] The image should appear, perhaps in half an hour, or 3 to 4 hours on a cold day.  The image is ready when it shows a good contrast, viewed in red light.

Fixing

8 - Wash the paper, then fix in potassium bromide or hypo to create the calotype negative. Initially, iodides were used for fixing.  Talbot initially fixed his image using a solution of potassium bromide. Wash the paper, then dry.

Enlightenment Movement.

                The enlightenment movement, also known as the ‘Age of Reason’, started in 1766 where society started to challenge the orthodox, the Catholic Church. People started to trust the evidence of facts instead of the superstitions the Church had enforced. Empiricism means the belief based upon experience; and so the experiments could be repeated and produce the same results this built the trust of society that made people more independent and can share their own knowledge and thoughts. The Age of Reason showed humanism and an experimental view to life; by rejecting religious dogma to find the truth expresses the metaphor of enlightenment to mean to explore the environment and bring hope. In the 1750s classical music began, Joseph Haydn’s ‘Le Matin’ portrays the hope of the enlightenment movement, also the structure of Georgian houses and buildings with the balance and proportion was and extension from Ancient Greek and Roman sources just like Photography was. Joseph Wright of Darby was an artist that dictated the change of this time; with paintings about experimenting with a bird in a glass container getting the air pumped out of it as well as the teachings of the sun showed how people began to share their knowledge and the birth of something new by the symbol of light in both pieces of art.

              

Camera Obscura

                Camera Obscura means darkroom and Georg invented the first table camera obscura in 1769 where the light would travel though the lenses and hit a mirror that is positioned at 45⁰ so the image would project on to paper so the artist/ photographer could trace it a produce the picture.  

                In 1544 the renaissance was happening and people were exploring perspectives and found that it was relied upon more than a theory. The rudimentary camera obscra is a pin hole where the light travels through and projects onto a wall for the artist to trace and make the picture look like a real picture as he is taking it from a real situation. This was mostly used to view the eclipse of the sun. This was shown by Jan Vermeer; you can tell his paintings were done by using a camera obscura because of the wide angles like a camera that our eyes wouldn’t be able to see and the way it experiments with using lenses. In the Netherlands in 1646 the invented an outdoor obscura where the light passes through a pin hole in a wall and through a tracing screen to hit a wall to the artist can then trace it and create the image of an outside scene. Brunelleschi thought about the view of perspective and by aligning two mirrors facing each other and looking though the holes he had made in them he could see how his eyes and the cameras perspective was different.

Birth of photography.

                Arabian alchemists found that silver tarnishes to light; then in 1727 a German scientist found that silver goes darker in light so this supports what had been found in Arabia. 1777 the Swedish found that silver nitrate darkens quickest under blue light and slowest under red, this is why the safety light in modern darkrooms are red. Wedgwood was the first person to produce an image on leather in 1802 by impregnating the leather in silver salts.

                1839 is seen as the birth of photography even though experiments had happened before; this time was when a photograph could be captured without tracing the image that had been cast on a wall. Niepce took the first photographic image called ‘view from the window at le Gras’ in 1826 in France by using an 8 hour exposure on a steel plate. He sold his idea to Lois Jacques Mond’e Daguerre. Daguerre didn’t develop this idea he created a new one called the ‘Daguerreotype’ in 1839. These photos were achieved by using a silver coated copper plate cleaned so it looks like a mirror, iodine vapour fumes released on its surface then exposed in Mercury for 15 to 60 minutes. Hippolyte Bayard used a similar technique but using paper; his invention was bought by the French government and patented, it became free across the world apart from England and American due to wars.

William Henry Fox Talbolt thought of himself as a scientist and interested in the arts. He had used the camera Lucida to produce his art; this uses mirrors to see both the subject and the paper where the artist would copy and draw it. Fox Talbolt created the ‘Kalotype’ which is a paper process; where the paper is in sodium chloride then soaked in silver chloride and exposed in a camera obscura and fixed in sodium chloride to produce the image. By using, what he called, a ‘Mouse trap camera’ he took the first negative in 1835 called ‘latticed window’. In his book ‘Pencil of Nature’ he had taken pictures around the abbey of still life because he had to expose it for 10 minutes and so the subject had to be completely still, it was slow but accurate as the detail in the photo was very clear. He then experimented on photographic paper by placing flowers onto the paper then exposes it to light like a photogram. At the time of all this the Victorian empire was at a high and they collected information and ideas and classified them into their society; the invention of Museums showed how to show and share knowledge and the different ways to publicise pictures and news became easier to get someone’s name out and their work known.  

              Sir John Fredrick William Herschel was the inventor of the word photography; by ‘photo’ meaning light and ‘graphy’ meaning drawing.  Hill and Adamson were artists than went into photography who did portraits on commission. Some of their pictures were of noble, great and good people to show the hierarchy but also the working society to show the labour movement and the importance of the work force that pulls people together and bring them out of poverty and creates independence.   

Romantics

Pre-Rafallights

                                Charles Dodgson took photos in 1870 of Alice Liddell (Alice in wonderland) on her 18^th birthday; these were the last photographs of her and the letters sent between them both were destroyed. At this time Photographers copied painter as they were interested in the medieval notions and gothic revival for example Manchester Town hall was built in pre-industrial times, because the industry was still building artists documented this through paintings and photographs, the group of painters that used this style of buildings as inspiration for their art were called ‘pre Rafallights’; this was also the influence for writers. Julia Margret Cameron took photographs of her family and servants from her estate in medieval costumes; for example “The mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty” in 1866 portrayed innocence, nature, mythology, narratives and the Greek morals from their myths and stories. Julia wasn’t part of the ‘pre Rafallights’ but was very much influenced by them and also Shakespeare’s theatre so she would stage different stories and take the photographs.

Paintings

                Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted “La Ghirlandata” in 1873 of his wife in a sexual, provocative and romantic way. By using nature as a theme with flowers and greenery and the notion of Mother Nature as beautiful and pure shows how he sees his wife. Sir John Everett Millais used Shakespeare’s story and medieval mythology to create his piece called “Ophelia” in 1851- 1852. Alfred Horsley Hinton used Platinum print to produce “Sunshine and rain” and so began the ‘Pictorialists’. At this time music changed too, for example, Edward Elgar’s “Nimrod” in 1898 was powerful, emotional and romantic; he went on to create “Swan Lake and was famous throughout Russia and Europe. This was new as emotions were being shown through different arts; in photography it became diverse and romantic with emphasis on nature as a reaction to industrialisation. The arts became a way to express yourself emotionally and became acceptable to create pieces reflecting and looking back and being unsure about where we are heading with industrialisation; Alexander Keighley’s piece named “The Dayspring from on high” showed this well. Fredrick Henry Evans in 1896 wanted to bring back the focus on manmade objects and the ‘Arts and crafts Movement’ began; this took people back in time to make things rather than get machines in factories to do the work (handmade not mass production) made the consumer goods feel more intimate to the buyers and more attached to them as it was noticeable and respected how much effort had gone into the making of the object. 

                Dr Peter Henry Emerson took photographs like “Gathering Waterlillies” in 1896 He posed workers collecting lilies even though there was no reason for this but to convey romance between work and leisure and the beauty of working with nature; because it’s inaccurate it creates a myth. “Poling the Marsh Hay” in 1886 was a Marxist notion of work and labour and so made in to shows in galleries on platinum print. Claude Monet’s picture of “Girl with Umbrella” also in 1886 began the ‘Impressionists’ which was a movement of paintings and became a style; they captured a fleeting moment in time and was influenced by photography as it could achieve this well by using ‘dry plates’ as they were more portable and cheaper so was easier to capture this split-second moment in time.

‘Secessionism’

                This began in 1897; Gustav Klimt was the leader for a movement that is now known as the ‘Art Nouveau’ which translates as ‘New Art’ which started a new way of making art and new artists. These new vibrant 20^th century artists still used nature and organics in the heart of their work and kept them very much as a focus of their pieces. Antoni Gaudi is an architect who created “Casta Mila” and the “Casta Batllo”, these were unique buildings in Barcelona inspired by the gothic style and took many years to build and are now famous and a travellers destination to visit them. Fredrick Evans took a photograph of “Westminster Abbey” in 1912 to capture the romantic and gothic view of the building that was also very spiritual with the “Sea of Steps” portraying light and the heavens. Pierre- Auguste Renoir painted “Luncheon of the Boating Party” in 1880-1881 which captured people at leisure which was a new concept for art; the composition of the piece draws your attention to the bottom right of the frame as this is where most of the activity is being played out, with the amount of empty space on the other side where there are no people suggests movement around the subject that was difficult to draw as they’d be travelling but this was becoming easier.  Edgar Degas’s “Place de la Concorde” in 1875 was paintings made from photos to capture the moment in time.

America

                Alfred Stieglitz took the famous photograph “The Steerage” in 1907 which showed the migration from Western Europe to America. This photographed documented the arriving of the people and the turning point in their lives, it also showed how the poorer classes were at the bottom of the ship and the middle upper classes were placed on top deck as they had more money, it is obvious how the class division created poverty and the emotions on the migrants faces show hope of a better life in America. George Eastman was onboard the S.S. Gallia in February 1888 and was the founder of Kodak and made the Kodak Brownie; this company worked by people taking their photographs then sending them back to Kodak where they would then develop them and send the prints back to the owners (which were circular photographs) and the camera with a new film in it, because this process was cheaper and efficient the masses and ordinary people could use them and photograph themselves and their lives with ease.

                Edward Steichen took “The Flatiron” in 1905 in New York City; he was German and went to America to take photographs of the uprising buildings. The emergence of artificial lights that were on 24/7 and bought electricity and light bulbs to larger cities like New York made the photos magical and interested Steichen. “Midnight Kodin’s Balzac” 1908 proved that photographs can be taken at night showing the light and equality of the light, relationships and people towards it which was mirroring Western Europe with the notions of reflection, nature and women with nature. Alvin Langdon Cobum took photographs to show the city being lit up by the streetlights and showed how the city came alive and was magical and seen as a safer place.

Artists began to use photography as an easy way to express themselves, and easy to process and get prints. The 20^th century Robert Demachy showed the ‘Machine age’ in 1904 with “Speed” to show how fast civilisation is moving forward. Richard Mansfield was looking forward to the Edwardian period and was released from the Victorian values; “Dr Jackal and Mr Hyde” style photo in 1895 showed both the freer element and the darker side emergence of the new by showing their split personality by using double exposures.

Post war years

During the war Joe Rosenthal took a photo named ‘Marines raising the flag on iwo jima’ which is one of the only photographs that has been made into a sculpture. This photograph shows determination, struggle and independence; Rosenthal saw this event take place but couldn’t capture the moment in the time it happened so he asked the marines to repeat the putting up of the flag which has created one of the most famous photographs and sculptures from the war. The theme of having a grand narrative became common in photography; the vision of the Utopia ending and becoming a dystopia was easy to photograph as the war wasn’t a hard thing to find. Henri Cartier-Bresson took a photo in 1947 called ‘John- Paul Sartre’ which shows that we are all responsible for our own actions and individuals and no God so the rejection of religion is strong in this photograph at this time.

Street photography after the war

                A collection of photographs by Robert Frank titled ‘The Americans’ in 1958 showed how American really was like and not what it intended and wanted to be seen as. He used flags and symbols all the way through the book to keep them tied in together; it also showed the division that was taking place between the rich and the poor, these photographs show this well even if it wasn’t wanted it showed what was really happening at that time. During the civil rights movement photographs taken of Martin Luther King showed the rest of the public what was going on as radio and television weren’t big yet. Photographs from the Vietnam war that were shown in newspapers shocked people at how bad the conditions and actions that were happening as they didn’t back  up what people were being told. Diane Arbus, who is a commercial and art base photographer, took photographs of people who were on the fringes of society; she concentrated on people who looked strange or different and some that looked the same like twins or triplets.

                Other people took similar photographs about strange people on their habitats; Gary Winogrand, Joel Melferwitz and Tony Ray- Jones documented people as if they were animals as they were all influenced by each other. By catching people in action in incidental moments doing things out of the ordinary makes the photos quirky and more interesting to look and explore the actual photo to realise that maybe we as humans aren’t that far away from the animal world when we are in public.

Portraits

                David Bailey took photographs of famous people who made their names through their talent and not just by their contacts. He used a twin lens camera which cuts off the tops of peoples’ heads even though when he looks through the view finder it looked as though it framed the whole of the person, this became his signature photographic style and anyone can recognise his photos because of it. Richard Avedon took photographs of people when he was on a road trip; by putting a white background up and placing the subjects in front of it mad you focus on the people as they had been taken out of their environment. This shows how America became morally corrupt and isolated by isolating the one person from everyone else.

Modernism

Propaganda

                Constructivism was propaganda from Russia in 1917; the Soviet Union used propaganda to communicate with the masses as the radio wasn’t as big as it is today as a media. Posters were stuck up everywhere as visual aids to catch passers attention. The photographs on the posters showed hierarchy and 100% commitment from the leaders so the people would feel comfortable in following them and their beliefs. Gustav Klutniss was a creator of some of these posters; the scale he used showed Lenin had the most power as he would be the biggest image of the collage or montage, these would be printed images used by the Soviet Union for propaganda. Aleksander Mikhailo Rodchenko used the same technique of using scale to show authority but used an exaggerated perspective of looking up, by using this angle it enforces the difference between the power and weakness of the people who are looking up to the leaders. This style was called ‘Belly button photography’ as they can now use the camera in different ways and angles to show the feelings and dominance of the authoritative figure and collages do this well. El Lissitzky made ‘the constructor’ where he manipulated photographs and layered different images. The exhibition poster in Zurich had two young people sharing the same eye which showed they shared the same view for what was approaching as they were looking out of frame towards the right so are looking positively to the future. All of this set the scene for the 20^th century as a ‘grand narrative’ where people were coming together to the future in a Utopia; however, this is balanced by a Dystopia. Hannah Hoch was part of the Berlin Sada group; she created her piece called ‘cut with a kitchen knife’ in 1920. This montage shows how machines need cogs to work like imagery is a piece of visual conversation so needs all different concepts and images working together so it makes sense.

Decisive movement

                Photography was now being used to capture fleeting moments in time which hadn’t been photographed like this before. Henri Cartier-Bresson took opportunist photographs where he’d stay in one place waiting for somebody to pass by so he could capture the picture we was looking for or things would just happen and it would be a happy coincidence he was there to shoot it but his most famous photos are where all the elements are tied together. He used a Lucia camera which were cheap, light and easy to use but could still achieve his style and technique of a perfect decisive moment in time. Robert Capa’s piece ‘Loyalist Militanman at the moment of death’ was taken in 1936 but created many arguments to whether or not it was real or just a still of a moment in time; the man is in mi-fall and neither dead or alive but is always preserved in that moment.

Photography: the new object

                Photographers began to take photographs of objects that were machine made; by using light, contrast and shadow was fascinating and abstract. Paul Strand used this style in posters and this started commercial photography because of the use of textures, shapes, forms and lines which were modernist ideas and also changed to sculptural possibilities, for example, a toilet can look like a pepper and a pepper like a human body. Photography also became a means of documenting big things and as a tool to reform. There was a drought in South America and photographers like Walker Evens, part of ‘the farm security administration’, documented the poor travelling to the West away from poverty these are now used for records and other historical use.

foreign travellers

Fredrick Scott Archer was an Englishman who invented the ‘Wet Collodian Process’ in 1851 this was a faster process than the kalotype earlier invented by Fox Talbot and also allowed photographers to use this process indoors. I consisted of different steps:

1)      Solution of Collodian, soluble iodide.

2)      Pour on to a glass plate.

3)      In a darkroom soak in silver nitrate.

4)      Expose it whilst it’s still wet.

5)      Develop in pyrogallic acid solution.

6)      Fix in strong solution of sodium thiosulphate or potassium cyanide.

7)      Other variations include using black velvet, Amber type or black japanned metal instead of glass.

To take photographs outside of landscapes the photographer would have people to carry around a portable darkroom with him to process the photographs as they had to be quick in developing them to keep them wet. In 1851 was the first exhibition at the Crystal Palace and Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837 so photography was needed to document all of the events that was taking place at this time in history.

                Charles Dodgson or Lewis Carroll was a photographer and a writer. Carroll is the name of the author of ‘Alice in wonderland’ as he was both a writer and photographer he could intertwine these hobbies into one by taking a picture of a ragged Alice Liddell the subject of his stories. In these tales he uses photography to explain the happenings that Alice counters; for example that “pictures are more important than words”, he talks about the hole the rabbit jumps through as though it was the aperture on a camera lens where the world stepped into is upside down and the speed of the rabbit that Alice nearly missed with her eyes is parallel to the shutter speed of a camera to capture the rabbit in motion.  

                Andre Adolphe- Eugene Disden in 1854, created ‘Carte- de- visite’ which were essentially calling cards where people could leave them like social networking. These were several prints on 1 glass plate positioned into little photos so people could choose the ones they fell portrayed them well and how they wanted other people to see them; these were affordable so middle classes could get them but also Queen Victoria used this to have herself photographed whilst mourning Prince Albert; this was the first time ordinary people could purchase a photograph for 1 penny and see her for the first time. At that time every country has a history of photography but not all were documented so this was the beginning of documenting history.

                Nadar took photographs of celebrities, this was a first. Sara Bernhardt was a singer and an actress and got her photograph taken by Nadar; the aims for these types of photos were to promote themselves in a way they want to be portrayed. This photograph is quite riskay with her shoulder bare and she is looking out of the frame which shows longing and reflective emotions but also it gives the viewer permission to look at her as an object with a voyeuristic eye. Gaspard Mix Tournachon photographed extravagant things from the rich people to out of hot air balloons; by having people looking straight down the camera gives a scarier feeling of closeness right to the audience. Baudelaire was photographed by Nadar in the romantic period, 1950’s, this was taken with the notion of Shakespeare rather than Ancient Greek, what it is like to be a human and the emotions we posses.

                The census of photographers had changed so much in a short space of time. In London in 1841 there were only 3 professional establishments, in 1851 there were 51 photographers, then in 1861 there were recorded to have 2,5634 photographers on London; this doesn’t include amateurs and people helping the photographers in trade. This explosion was due to the ‘Wet Collodian Process’ and how it was easier and faster to produce photographs.

                J.F.A Claudet made ‘the Geography lesson’ in 1851 using a “Stereoscopic daguerreotype” which is a box that is held up to the artists eyes to create a 3D effect as it shows two pictures slightly to one side of each other. Frith took photographs of the world the British Empire own and rule, for example Egypt, to learn and travel, to collect and exploit natural resources of everyday life throughout the Empire. Roger Fenton took photographs of soldiers in the Crimea war in 1855, these were seen as heroic as most people died of starvation or frostbite. Fenton’s photographs didn’t depict the war correctly as the British government selected the photos so it wouldn’t scare anyone at home with the horrors and so turn against them, the photographs deceived the public.

                Roger Fenton also set up photographs; “The Shadow of death” is a famous one where he had placed most of the cannons on the path and rearranged them to be seen and deceived people so it looked worse than it was. Photography at that time was seen as it couldn’t lie and was a truthful, scientific mechanical device but the photographers could manipulate the scene before they took the photograph.

                Henry Peach Robinson took several different composites and put them together to create a full and busy picture. He used natural light outside or North facing indoor studio to take photographs inside. At the time when Robinson was taking photographs ‘The Big Stink’ was happening, this was when the river Thames smelt so bad due to the sewage going into it, they even had to move the Houses of Parliament. People would drink the water then fall ill with Cholera; this was documented with his photographs like “fading away” when he had people to pose as though they were on their death bed using this technique. In 1851 they began to solve the problem; Joseph Baseljet crated the sewage system by using Mater which hardens when it’s wet. However, the death rate stayed the same so the argument that the disease was water borne got taken over by the air borne argument; it was discovered that the tide was bringing back the dirty water because the sewage pipes weren’t long enough to fully leave the sewage into the sea but when this problem was solved the disease became less of the cause of death. In the Victorian period photographs of dead children and people because it was a common sight. Oscar Gustav Rejlander is similar to Robinson where he takes different photographs then block out the figures he doesn’t want or haven’t come out correctly and print down the ones he wants. His work reflects morality and religion “The two ways of life” is his most famous work in 1857.

     

Spiritual photography became popular and in 1845 John Adams Whipple who was a hypnotist who would hypnotise people and take photographs of them posing whilst praying or with his hand over their heads to provide an electrical pulse. William Mumler claimed to photograph dead loved ones; by taking multiple exposures or getting people to stand in the background created the feeling and it was believable that the dead were there. He was taken to court but lost because of this and deceiving people who thought their dead family where there and wanting them to see them.

Before Photography

• The enlightenment was a philosophical and cultural movement of the 18^th century.  Enlightenment means “a time of illumination. Bold new ideas were developed. It emphasized the use of Reason over the traditional religious interpretation offered by the bible. Joesph Wright of Derby( 1766) challenged religion and beliefs with his paintings and has been acclaimed "the first British painter to express the Industrial Revolution".

• We looked at his painting"A Philosopher Lectuirng on the Orrey" in which a lamp replaces the sun. The painting represents the birth of experimentation. It shows a Philosopher giving a demonstration to a small audience of different ages. There are people in deep thought and people writing notes, representing education and science. The sun also is a metaphor for knowledge.

• ·         One of the most revolutionary ideas of the scientific revolution was Galileo’s theory that the Sun was the centre of the universe, not the Earth as had previously been thought. Before the Enlightenment it was believed that the earth was the centre of the universe, this theory was known as Geocentricism. Galileo said that the sun was the centre of the universe this is known as heliocentricism. The Church disliked this idea because it went against what the bible taught and due to the power of the Catholic Church at that time, Galileo was kept under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

·         Galileo’s discovery could not have been made without the invention of the telescope. The telescope was invented by Johannes Lippershey in 1608, he was a lensmaker  He was born in western Germany, but moved to the Netherlands in 1594. He created the first designs for the first practical telescope . However there are some debate as to who invented the telescope. The credit of the invention has been claimed on behalf of three individuals, Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Jansen and Jacob Metius. Some telescopes and spyglasses may have been created earlier but Lippershey is believed to be the first to do it, a few weeks before Jacob Metius.  

• This painting is called "An experiment on a bird in an airpump". The painting shows people of all ages again surrounding an experiment that is taking place. They are testing whether the bird will leave if all of the air is sucked out. So they are learning about science and gasses.

• Classisism harked back  to Ancient Greek and Roman sources.
• The age of reason rejected the supernatural and focussed instead of nature as experience by humans (humanism) Religion dogma was rejected.

• I was shown Joseph Haydn's symphony "Le Matin", which is a piece of classical music.

George Brander Table camera obscura,1769

• The Camera Obscura is a optical device that projects its surroundings onto a screen. It was one of the inventions that led to photography and the camera. Camera obscura also means dark room.

• Jan Vermeer( 1632-1675) Soldier and a Laughing girl 1658. "The music lesson" The painting looks like a photograph, the angle and the detail is very accurate

• .Johannes lippershey (1570-1619) dutch lens maker, invention of the telescope.

• Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1765-1833) "view from the window at le gras" first man to fix photographic image.
• Louis jacques mande Daguerre (1787-1851) developed the Daguerreotype method.

Daguerreotype method 

• Using piece of copper plate, polished highly
• Fumes of iodine vapor
• Expose for 15-60 minutes
• Develop from a mercury heat bath
• Fix in sodium chloride

Modernism

Futurism, constructivism Russian revolution, soviet union 1917

• Gustav Klutis was an artist and is accociated with the constructivism movement. Best known for his political posters which made pioneering use of photo montage. Klutis worked with a variety of experimental media. He liked to use propaganda as a sign or revolutionary background image. His first project was in 1922 was a series of semi-portable mulitimedia agiprop kiosks to be installed on the streets of moscow, intergreting "radio-orators", film screens, and newsprint displays, he also worked in sculpture, produced exhibition installations illustrations and ephemera.

• Alexsander Mikhuilovich. 1891-1956

• Sigmund Freud

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is about Gregor Samsa who wakes up to find himself transformed into a large insect. 

Form and function in Germany

• Metropolis was a german expressionist film by Frtitz Lang and is science fiction. Made in Germany during the Weimar period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia. It was filmed in 1925 and i think is very modern for the time.

Art Deco

• Hannah Hock is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photo montage.

•  Laszlo Moholy Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as wellas professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of technology and industry into the arts.

The Decisive moment

• Henri Cartier Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of photojournalism. One of the first photographers to work in 35mm lens. He believed in not editing a photograph.

"To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy."

America wakes up and looks upwards.

• Charlie Chaplin modern times 1936

• Paul Strand
• Walker Evans
• Gordan Parks
• Dorothea lange 

Foreign Travellers and English naturalists

• Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre was a french artist and physicist recognized for his invention of the daguerrotype process. 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. 
•   "Fossils and Shells" is a Daguerrotype by Louis Jacques Mande and shows a collection of shells, at the time Victorians were obsessed with collected things.

• Frederick scott archer invented the photographic collodion process. The collodion process was introduced in the 1850s and by then had replaced the daguerrotype because it was much faster. In the 1880s the collodion process was replaced by gelatin dry plates with a photographic emulsion of silver.

• Charles Dodgson ( Lewis Carrol ) was a photographer and writer. In the picture below is a girl called Alice Liddell who inspired Alice in Wonderland in 1859. Alice Liddel was photographed by Charles Dodgson all her life.

• Sarah  Bernhardt ,This portrait taken 1865 by Nadar. The actress Sarah Bernhardt posed for Nadar when she was 20, she eventually became a celebrity.

Romantic period census of photographers

• Duchenne de Boulogne ,The human mechanism. Duchenne was a French neurologist and wanted to determine how the muscles in the human face produce facial expressions which he believed to be directly linked to the soul of man. He is known, in particular  for the way he triggered muscular contractions with electrical probes, recording the resulting distorted and often grotesque expressions with the recently invented camera and published his findings in the "Mechanism of Human Physiognomy."

• Roger Fenton "The Valley of the shadow death" 1855, Roger Fenton was a war photographer at the time. However in the photograph below he set up the scene with all the canon balls to make it look more dramatic.

• John adams whipple was a hypnotist. (spirit photography) He was an American inventor and early photogtapher. He was the first in the united States to manufacture the chemicals used for daguerreotypes. He was a prize winner for his extrordinary early photographs of the moon.

• William Murmer was an American spirit photographer who worked in New York. His first spirit photograph was a self portrait which was developed to apparantly show his deceased cousin. Mumler then left his job as a jeweller, instead opting to work as a full time photographer, taking advantage of people who had lost relatives in the American Civil War.
• Thomas Annan was a Scottish photographer, notable for the first to record the poor housing conditions of the poor.