Photography originated from the Greek word photos meaning light and graphein meaning to draw. The scientist known as Sir John F.W first used the word in 1939. It was a method where images were recorded using the action of light with a sensitive material. Alhazen (Ibn-Haytham) who lived in the middle ages came up with the first pinhole camera. The camera was called Camera Obscura. The inventors using the camera were able to explain why cameras were upside down. Aristotle made the first noted and observed the first optic laws which, made cameras possible. In 300 BC, Aristotle questioned the reason for the sun making an image that is circular upon shining through a square hole.
In 1927, on a summer day, Joseph Nicephore was able to make the first Photographic image using the Camera Obscura. Before Nicephore could make the first image using Camera Obscura, people used the camera to view drawings and not to make photographs. Joseph Nicephoreallowed light to draw images. Nicephore put an engraving on a metal plate that had bitumen as a coating material through exposure to light was able to draw pictures(Newhall,24). This principle led to photography as most of the scientists could draw their knowledge using this principle of Nicephore. Nicephore’s knowledge of photography was crucial as it influenced the later photograhers who ventured into the fill of photography. The current photographers draw their knowledge using this principle of using light to make images appear on a background. Light strikes on the surface and leave marks on the surface. After mounting bitumen to coat, an engraved material Joseph came up with a camera. Although his camera used some basic material which resulted in substandard image, the image gave clue on how to make a better camera.
The earliest cameras made by the scientist Nicephore were very crude and necessitated further research to be done so as to come up with a concrete camera which could produce high definition photographs. Due to crudeness of Nicephores’ camera, Louis Danguerre further modified and developed Camera Obscura and came up with Danguerreotype (Newhall, 56).This produced the photograph within a short period. The mounted material required to be exposed to the light for just a few minutes and the photograph could be produced. The image that was produced was of high definition as it had fine and precise details. In 1939, this photography was commercially produced. The same year was then referred to as a year of practical photography.
Henry Fox Tablot later came out with collotype negative and salt print process that competed with the first photographic process(Frizot,45). The main difference was that collotype and salt print photographs were finely produced. As a research on photography continued to be carried out, the time of light exposure was reduced from minutes and further to seconds and eventually to microseconds.
Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera frequently featured Edward Jean Steichen. Steichen and Stieglitz jointly opened a gallery of photographs that was used as a photo-session center. The center eventually came to be known as 291 after its used address. Steichen’s photos appeared the magazines of Art et Decration in the year 1911. In those years, Steichen was regarded and respected as the highest paid photographer worldwide. In 1944 after directing the documentary known as the Fighting Lady, he won an Academic award in 1945 for the best Documentary during that time. Aftermath of Second World War, Steichen was promoted to be the Director of the photography department at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art up to 1965. While he was the director of the Museum, he impacted so much on the exhibitions. He came up with the Family of Man after assemblingdifferent exhibits. The exhibitions were seen by about nine million people (Brandow, 789).
Steichen’s work impacted many people during his time of art. The nine million people who visited the museum were eager to learn the artwork. Many photographers who later came up based their work on Steichen’s photography. Historically, these photographers were at one time disregarded by the society, they were seen as unimportant people in the society but later people realized that they played crucial roles in their lives. The skills of these artists were used to teach the later generation of the artists. The artists respected their culture, and they came together to form a collective group of artists. Unlike Steichen, Steiglitz majored on a photographic exhibition while Steichen majored on Photographic production and exhibition(Brandow, 834).
The photographers' artistic work was crucial. They formed base for the present photo-journalism. The journalists have their knowledge of photography from these photographers. The modern photo-journalism is the modification of the pioneer’s photographers. They apply the use of light to produce the image that eventually becomes a photograph. However, with the use of computer, the photographic work has been redefined. The object no longer needs more than one minute to be exposed to light. They are just exposed to light for micro-seconds. The revolution of the traditional photographers has led to modern photo-journalism.
World’s largest surviving camera which was used by the traditional photographers
Works Cited
Brandow, Todd, Edward Steichen, and William A. Ewing. Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography. Minneapolis: Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, 2008.
Frizot, Michel. A New History of Photography. Köln: Könemann, 1998.
Mills, G H. S. Modern Photography. London: Studio Ltd, 1931.
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1982.
Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984.
