Photography: The
word came into existence by combining the Greek word "Photos"
meaning Light and "Graphein" meaning to draw, together meaning
"drawing with light". Photography from the very beginning captured
our imagination. The popularity of photography came
about quite quickly with the Daguerreotype cameras in the mid
1800's. There were as many as 77 photography shops in New
York City by 1850. This new technology was expensive and
difficult to use thus keeping it at a distance from most. In
1871 a new process was developed, a dry process of film
development. This made it more accessible by removing the need for a darkroom at
the scene. Exposure times were reduced from the half hour
range to the few second range by the 1850's, but that is still a
long time for portraiture and, as well, this makes spontaneous images
very difficult.
It wasn't until the late 1800's and early
1900's when George Eastman introduced the Kodak Brownie camera
that the gear became accessible to the masses. This
revolutionized photography by using celluloid roll type film and
an inexpensive camera. This new technology allowed you to
take your pictures, turn in the camera with the
film still inside and have it developed at a camera shop, thus
eliminating the need of having to know your way around a
darkroom. From there the 35mm film cameras came about with
quality lenses. And now, with digital cameras and computers we have complete
control over the process with no middleman if we so choose, no
chemicals, small lightweight gear, our own high quality
printers, and immediate results. The photography medium
has come very far. Below is a timeline of some of the
significant events in the life of photography.
_____ YouTube Video: Masters of Photography
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_____ YouTube Video: The Collodion Process
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____ Key developments
timeline ____
1500's: Camera Obscura by Leonardo Davinci.
Dark room with a pinhole, a lens added later.
1700's: Chemicals like silver chloride and others developed.
1827: 1st photograph by Joseph Niepce in France. 8hr exposure. Led to Daguerreotype.
1839: Daguerreotype. Metal plates covered in silver halide immersed in
salt. 1/2 hr exposures.
1839: Sir John Herschel calls it "photography". 1st time the term was
used publicly.
1851: Frederick Archer, Collodion Process. Few second exposures &
glass plates, video above.
1871: Dr. Richard Maddux, Gelatin plates led to dry process. Before,
darkroom needed with you.
1889: George Eastman introduces the Box camera with roll film made of
celluloid.
1900: Kodak "Brownie" camera introduced.
1907: Lumierre brothers in France introduce color commercial film.
1914: Oscar Barnack of Leitz Co. intro's camera with 35mm
film dimensions & sprocket holes
1917: Nippon Kogaku begins (known today as Nikon).
1924: Leitz produces a high quality 35mm camera called "Leica".
1930: The first commercially available flash bulb.
1932: F64 group begins. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, & others.
1934: Fuji photo company begins.
1936: Kodachrome film begins development.
1948: Hasselblad introduces 1st commercially available medium format
SLR camera.
1949: Zeiss Co. intro's Contax S camera with a non-reversed
image in a pentaprism viewfinder.
1959: Nikon introduces the first of the legendary F series 35mm cameras.
1963: Polaroid instant film begins. Kodak introduces the instamatic
camera.
1964: TTL, Through The Lens metering first introduced.
1985: Minolta makes 1st auto-focus camera system known as The
Maxxum.
1986: Kodak develops the first Mega pixel sensor, a 1.4 mega pixel
sensor.
1991: Kodak introduces 1st Pro Digital SLR system - Nikon F
series camera with 1.3mp sensor.
_____ YouTube Video: Henri Cartier Bresson
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_____ Photographer's of Historical Interest
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Andre Kertesz, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams,
Edward Weston,
Henri Cartier Bresson, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea
Lange, Walker Evans,
Margaret Bourke White, Eugene Smith, Edward S.
Curtis, Robert Capa. Elliott Erwitt,
and many more