The Start of Photography

Photography: The Start 

(Eastman Kodak Advertisement for Brownie Camera, c. 1900) 
Photography is something that always amazes people; it's something that brings people together through capturing a single moment in time. Which can only be relived by viewing the photo. When this all began 121 years ago in the 1900s when the Kodak Brownie Camera was released, for the middle-class. Although photography is older than you think, one of the first cameras made was in 1000 AD called the pinhole camera. Later on, through time photography progressed, and during the 1830s, a man named Nicephore Niepce found a way to create a photograph. Through a material that would burn once sunlight hit it. From there he worked on improving the camera. Then during the 1900s, the Kodak Brownie camera was released.

Allowing amateurs and those with enough money to buy a camera, that got the job done. When artists got the opportunity of using a camera they were quick to catch on, to its importance in their field of work. Cameras were not only useful to capture photos of anything and everything such as composition pieces, people, and subject matter. Early photography was a game-changer for many things, for all people.


Cameras were so well known and used that they almost took over painting entirely for the amount of extra detail when a photo was taken. While in painting many details can be created, but sometimes, getting those fine details is very hard. Through discovering, how many details a camera creates changed everything. The view on painting styles and techniques was dominated by the fact of how easy taking a photograph was. Except some people at first, didn't view this as art just for the fact of how easy it was to create a photo; though through time, that point of view changed. The great artist Alfred Stieglitz went against that, once he began tinkering with how photos were made. Then Alfred Stieglitz created low-contrast, warm-tones images like the Terminal (smarthistory.org). After that views on painting began to change, in a way that did not bring these painting artists down but rather pushed these artists to become even greater and more imaginative than before.


Photography changed many things, from being an object used to capture life as it's happening, to becoming a great game-changer for artists. In which they used photography to their advantage as well as those who paint and create physical things. The realization of using the camera to progress art; was a huge deal that made many opening for those who took their chance to create something amazing.   


(Portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1989, Alfred Stieglitz)


(Dancing trees, 1922, Alfred Stieglitz) 





Sources:

Dr. Juliana Kreinik, "An Introduction to Photography in the Early 20th Century," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed April 4, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/an-introduction-to-photography-in-the-early-20th-century/. 


Finch, Garry. "A Brief History Of The Camera." Photography Basics. Photography Basics, September 12, 2014. https://www.photography-basics.com/history-of-the-camera/. 

"Nicephorus Niepce." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., March 3, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicephore-Niepce. 



Comments

  1. Jake GarciaApril 5, 2021 at 11:41 AM

    Great analysis David! Photography has always been an interesting form of art for me and I love everything about it. I think you did a nice job explaining the history of the art in a simple yet captivating way. I was able to read all the way to the end without losing interest. I would have loved to see some sort of representation of the artist's work, but other than that this was great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Caira LessickApril 7, 2021 at 11:19 AM

    You did an excellent job at describing the history of photography. I like that you included that cameras pushed painters to become even more imaginative. I never knew this, however, it makes a lot of sense. Although your blog is really informative, I agree with Jake and think that some examples of early photography should be shown. I think that would be really interesting to see.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ashley MApril 7, 2021 at 3:23 PM

    I agree with Jake that this was a very captivating read. I know that you like to work in an anime-like style when you're creating so I assumed that you might be seeking a career in animation. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on stop-motion animation as a medium rather than the 3D digital that is so popular now. I find it interesting that people thought that photography could replace painting. I personally find photorealistic art boring. It is the human element with all our perfections that make art worth viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. YasmineApril 7, 2021 at 7:50 PM

    I think it's great that you included the history included with photography. Including the struggles for photographers to be noticed is great. It certainly couldn't have been an easy feat to be included when people didn't view photography as a form of art.

    ReplyDelete

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