History of Photography: An introduction

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHYan introduction

Tina Konradsen GRA1

QUESTION 1                     Pick three events in the timeline from this week's lesson History of Photography: An Introduction, and find photographs of the event on the Internet or in the library and write a paragraph explaining the event in more detail. Include your photographs in the description.

1. THE FIRST NEGATIVEIt was after reading the early report’s of Daguerre’s invention (the daguerreotype - the first complete practical photographic process) published in 1839, a British scientist and inventor, Henry Fox Talbot, started working on perfecting his own photographic process, as he had managed to create stabilized photographic negatives on paper in 1835. In 1839 he attained a key improvement from a friend of his, a polymath scientist, who had previously shown that hyposulfite of soda (known as sodium thiosulfate) would dissolve silver salts. In the early silver chloride «sensitive paper» experiments Talbot did, the required camera exposures would be of an hour or more. Talbot invented a process that used the principle of chemical development of a faint or invisible "latent" image, which reduced the exposure time to only a few minutes. This was done by coating the paper exposed inside the camera with a coating of silver iodide, which developed into a translucent negative image. The daguerreotype could only be copied by rephotographing with a camera, but with the process Talbot invented, the calotype, the negative could be used to make a large number of positive prints by simple contact printing. Because of the translucent paper negative, the finish product lacked fine clarity and it couldn’t rival the clarity and sharpness achieved with the daguerreotype, but it was seen as a positive attribute for portraits as it softened the appearance of the human face. The adoption of the process was greatly limited, as Talbot patented the process and in addition he spent many years pressing lawsuits against alleged intruders. Talbot earned himself some ill will, as he tried to enforce a very broad interpretation of his patent. The photographers were using the related glass-based processes later introduced by other inventors, but he was defeated in the end. The silver iodide negative process developed by Talbot is the basic technology behind chemical film cameras today.

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Apparently, this picture of the window in the South Gallery of Lacock Abbey, is the oldest photographic negative in existence.

History of Photography: An introduction

2. WET PLATE NEGATIVESThe invention of wet plate negatives, called the collodion process, happened in 1851 almost simultaneously by Frederick Scott Archer and Gustave Le Gray. It is a process where that produced negative image on a transparent support (glass). Many photographers and experimenters refined or varied the process in the years following, and by the end of the 1850s this process had almost entirely replaced the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype. The collodion process produces a grainless glass negative capable of making sharp prints on salt or albumen paper. It was Frederick Scott Archer that early on noticed that if an under exposed negative was held against a dark background, it appeared as a positive image. The collodion process combined desirable qualities of the calotype and the daguerreotype, as the photographer was able to make theoretically unlimited numbers of prints from a single negative (calotype), and create a sharpness and clarity that could not be achieved with paper negatives. Another advantage was that the customers received their finished photographs in just a few minutes because the process could be carried out quickly. Put up against the daguerreotype, the collodion process had advantages being a relative inexpensive process, and polishing equipment and fuming equipment needed for the daguerreotype could be dispensed with entirely. As the support for the images was glass, it was far less expensive then silver-plated copper, and more durable than paper negatives. Although, the collodion process had some disadvantages too it as well, as the entire process from coating to developing had to be done before the plate dried. This gave the photographer no more than 10 minutes complete everything, and therefore the wet plates was inconvenient for field use, as it would require a portable darkroom. The photographer would also experience that the plate dripped of silver nitrate solution, which caused stains and troublesome build-ups inside the camera and on the plate holders. In addition, the silver nitrate bath would gradually become saturated with alcohol, ether, iodide and bromide salts, dust and various organic matter. This resulted in the plates losing their effectiveness, and the plates would fail to produce an image. Like the preceding photographic processes, the collodion process was sensitive only to blue light, which made warm colours appear dark and cool colours uniformly light. It was impossible to render a sky with clouds, as the spectrum og white cloud contains about as much blue as the sky. Lemon and tomatoes appeared a shiny black, and a blue and white tablecloth appeared plain white. The collodion process dominated photography until the introduction of the dry plate in the 1880s. Even though the sitters for the photographs for the collodion photographs might have been wearing bright yellow or pink, but it appeared much darker on the photography.

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Here is an example of a wet plate photograph.

History of Photography: An introduction

3. DRY PLATE NEGATIVESThe collodion process was largely replaced by gelatine dry plates during the 1880s. It was invented in 1871 by Dr. Richard L. Maddox, and in 1879 it was so well introduced that the first dry plate factory was established. Basically, the dry plates were glass negative plates with a photographic emulsion of silver halides suspended in gelatine. Because of this new process, the dry gelatine could be made much more sensitive, greatly reducing exposure time, as well as being more convenient over all. The dry plate was very sensitive to touch and mechanical friction, and were not much more sensitive to light than collodion emulsions. In 1873, Charles Harper Bennett discovered a method of hardening the emulsion which made it more resistant to friction, and in 1878 Bennett discovered that by prolonged heating, the sensitivity of the emulsion could be greatly increased. The following year, in 1879, George Eastman developed a machine to coat plates, and he opened the Eastman Film and Dry Plate Company, reducing the cost of photography. Because much of the complex chemistry work centralized into a factory, the new process allowed photographers to expand their businesses as it was a much more simplified process. In addition, the dry plate process absorbed light quickly, and the hand-held camera was a fact.

QUESTION 2                 Research, written and practical assignment (3 hours)Go to the library or search on the Internet and find a photograph from the 19th century (taken before 1900). Write a short “think piece” about this photograph. You are free to select any image you would like to write about, as long as the photograph was taken during the 19th century. Examine the photograph carefully and write about what you see and what the photograph makes you think about. Some (but not all) things you could consider are:

• What does the photograph tell you about the photographer?• What does it tell you about the subject of the image?• Does the technical quality of the image (or lack thereof) help or hinder the success

of the photograph?• Where did the photographer stand when he or she took this picture?• How does his or her camera position or angle affect the outcome of the image?• Why does this picture interest you?

In short, tell me what you think about the image in your own words. This assignment is to be written in a word processor (doc, docx or pdf) and uploaded to your WordPress blog. The image you are writing about should be included as an embedded image in your paper.

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An example of a dry plate photograph.

History of Photography: An introduction

For the second question, I chose this picture of two sailors heading down the river Thames in London, taken in 1876 by photographer John Thomson. The picture is called «Silent Highway».

This photograph is showing two sailors working on a barge heading town the Thames. I think the photographer wanted to capture the hard-working men and their struggle - capturing their hard and tough life. In the book «Street Life in London» written by John Thomson and Adolphe Smith in 1877, it is made known that the men working on the Thames were rough, but poorly educated, which was a natural consequence of their calling. They were never stationary in one place, and it was therefore difficult for them to secure education for their children. To attend regular school would be impossible unless the child left its parents altogether. For that reason, there was a lot of men who couldn’t read at all. At the barges, they were cramped up in small cabins, and the barges were often over-crowded, as well as the work was though. They did although have some positive sides to their work, as their occupation allowed the men working on the barges to enjoy plenty of fresh air, along with invigorating exercise. This was a big counteract compared to their occasional confinement in small cabins «unfit for human habitation», as it is described in «Street Life in London».

I believe that «Silent Highway» tells us that the photographer shows respect to the hard-working men on the barges, wanting to «display» them. Taking pictures was something special in 1876 and the people with access to a camera usually didn’t just take a picture of something random or casual. I think that the photographer wanted to capture the important, but hard and burdensome work they carried out, acknowledging the men and the work they did on the barges.

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History of Photography: An introduction

I feel like the tones in the picture, which looks like sepia, really reinforces the «meaning» of the picture. The two sailors in the picture are some of the darkest areas of the picture, which makes them become more «in focus» when one considers the entire picture as a whole. The focus on the sailors and the barge is also enhanced as the background is looking more «pale» and diffuse than the two men and the barge they are working on. I also believe that the reason the men are so dark, especially in the facial region, might be because the photographer wanted to make them a bit more «anonymous». This picture caught my interest because I think it is a very powerful and «real» picture. I like the different tones in the picture, and I felt my attention really was drawn to the two men. I also think the photographer did a great job capturing the «essence» and feeling of the life of the men working on the barges in 1876.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204508/Images-history-Rarely-seen-photographs-bring-1800s-London-life.html

http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:doq917suy

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

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

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

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/history/history-colloidon-process

Lesson text: History of Photography (noroff.no)

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