Sandra Maxwell

Sandra Maxwell

Mrs. Linville

February 10, 2015

Photography

The Beginning of Photography

How it began – Photography has almost two hundred years of history. “Photography is the use of light to create a permanent image.” When light is reflected off of an object’s surface, the light is captured by a camera and put onto a light-sensitive surface, and a record is made. Photography first industrialized in the 1800’s. The Greek’s actually started the concept of the camera. The Greek’s called it “camera obscura”.

It was not discovered at just one time or by a single person. The idea came up from many and many generations. People wanted a way to get pictures without having to go through an artist which took a long time. Nicephore Niepce is credited as the inventor of photography. He’s also known as a pioneer in that field. The date of his photographic experiments are unknown. He developed heliography which he used to make the earliest known surviving photograph from nature. In 1826 he used a primitive camera to produce the oldest surviving photograph of a real-world engine.

Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura. He used paper/white leather treated with silver nitrate. He was successful when taking the shadows of objects placed on the surface in straight sunlight. It was reported in 1802 that the images formed have been found too faint to produce an effect on the nitrate of silver. The shadows darkened everywhere. Wedgwood abandoned his experiments due to failing health. In 1816 Nicephore used paper covered with silver chloride and succeeded in photographing the images made in a small camera. The images were negatives and were not permanent. The oldest surviving permanent photograph by Nicephore was made on a polished sheet of pewter and the light sensitive substance was a thin coat of bitumen.

In 1839 Louis-Jacques Mande Daguerre and Niepce’s work morphed into making direct positive image on a silver plate. That resulted in the possibility of multiplicity of photographs accessibility and availability. The French government played a big role in publicizing photography. The French government bought it from Daguerre. Only the middle class at this time had access to photography. In 1840, Henry Talbot enabled negative-positive process of photography. He was able to produce multiple copies of images. Availability was taken out of the advantaged reach of middle class and placed in the public domain.

“Photography, unlike painting, does not only address and represent its object and does not only resemble it; it is also a part of the object, its direct extension.” Photography is a means for capturing reality. You can’t exactly hold reality, but you can hold a picture. Photography lets you remember the past. It’s precious.

Sources

http://akvis.com/en/articles/photo-history/beginning.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography

http://www.britannica.com/technology/photography

Sandra Maxwell

Mrs. Linville

March 17, 2016

Photography

The Beginning of Digital Photography

In 1957-1975 digital photography and the beginning of digital cameras was advancing. This was around the time when technology was advancing tremendously. It became the beginning of the short history of digital photography.

In 1961 Eugene F. Lally began working on a way to use mosaic photo sensor to capture digital images. The year 1969 was significantly importantly in the history of digital photography. George Smith and Willard Boyle developed the charge coupled device and demonstrated it. The image sensor is the solid state device. It converts light into electric signals. It was the major piece of technology to begin digital photography. The CCD image sensors are actually still widely used today.

Then in 1970, George and Willard built the first solid state video camera. In 1975, Bell Laboratories demonstrated the first CCD video camera with enough resolution to use for broad cast television. Also in 1975 there was another great accomplishment. Bryce Bayer invented the Bayer Color Filter Array that allowed a single CCD or CMOS image sensor to capture color images.

In 1990, Kodak developed the Photo CD system. It was the first worldwide standard for defining color in the digital environment of computers. That wasn’t the only that that was significant about 1990. In 1990 Logitech presented the Dycam Model and Fotoman digital cameras. It has a 1 MB of internal memory that could store up to 32 pictures. It also came with a cable to download the photos to a computer. It actually sold for $995.00.

Throughout the years digital photography has come a long way. A huge thank you to technology. We now have color, memory storage, and special effects that let us create some powerful images.

Work Cited Page

http://www.practicalphotographytips.com/Photography-Basics/digital-photography-timeline.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography

http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/history-of-digital-photography-early-days.html

Sandra Maxwell

Mrs. Linville

4/8/16

Photography

The History of the Migrant Mother

The History of the Migrant Mother is a very well-known photo. The photo is of a mother and her children. The photograph is in black and white. The mother looks very distraught and her two children are standing behind her with their faces covered up in their mother. The children’s hair is messy and there close look to be ripped up and torn.

The photo was taken during the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange was the one who took the photo. Dorthea Lange was an influential American documentary photographer and photo journalist. She is best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration. All of her photo’s humanized the costs of the Great Depression. Her work influenced the expansion of documentary photography.

Dorthea took a job as a photographer for an agency that helped poor families relocate. She was the in Nipomo, California. In Nipomo there was a campsite full of out-of-work pea pickers. The crop was destroyed by the freezing rain. She asked people if she could take pictures of them. She didn’t ask her name. She was 32 years old. Her family lived on frozen veggies from the fields. The children actually killed birds.

In 1978, a reporter found the Migrant mother at a trailer park in Modesto, California. They found out that her name was Florence Owens Thompson. She was 75 years old when they found her. She didn’t want her kids name in the photo, because she didn’t want to embarrass them. Her husband died from tuberculosis. Thompson worked all kinds of different jobs to try and support her family. For a good amount of time her and her children live under a bridge.

Migrant Mother became the iconic photo of the Depression. It was very familiar. At the time the United States was filled with families like Florence Thompson. The families had nothing. They didn’t have any work. A lot of the families were without husbands and fathers. They were left out on their own. It’s amazing how photography can tell such a big story and get people to listen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/kansascity_201307F03.html