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The Camera Obscura was a dark box or room with no windows, with the exception of a tiny lens that projected the image upside-down on the opposite wall. However the image would be upside-down and wouldn't be really clear, but it was the only thing at the time and it helped the artists. The artist would sketch what he or she would see and then later make it into a painting.
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Daguerro
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Named after Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, the Daguerro Type was the first form of photography. The image was made on a permanent iron plate, that was covered in a chemical reaction between silver, iodine, a mercury vapour, and then "fixed" with a salt solution. The image was more clearer then the Camera Obscura, unfortunately you could only have one photo and couldn't reproduce the image for more copies.
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Calotype /
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Created by William Henery Fox Talbot in the 1830s, the Calotype/Talbotype had a negative photo turn out on the piece of paper treated with silver on it. Another piece of paper would be placed on top of the negative picture and expose it to a really bright light to turn the negative image into a positive image. From there, you were able to create multiple copies, unfortunately every time the photo was created as another copy, the photo wouldn't be as clear as the original. |
Collodian
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Created by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, the Collodian Wetplate would turn out a clear photo, and when making multiple copies the copies would also be clear. A clean glass plate, evenly coated with collodian, after that the plate had to be dipped in a silver nitrate solution, the plate would then be inserted into the camera then be exposed to light. Then the plate had to be developed immediately and be allowed time to dry. However there is a downfall to this technique, if the plate dried before the process was complete, the emulsion would harden and the photo would be ruined. |
Dorothea Lange |
Born of second generation German immigrants, on May 26, 1895. She had one sibling, a younger brother named Martin. During her childhood she had two unfortunate events happen to her, one where her father left when she was 12, and the other was her contraction of polio when she was 7 years old, leaving her with a weakened right leg and a permanent limp. Her career started when graduated from the Wadleigh High School for Girls and was educated in photography at Columbia University in New York City. She was informally apprenticed in many New York photography studio, one time she was the apprentice of the famous photographer Arnold Genthe.
In a couple of years she successfully opened a Portrait Studio in Berkeley, which is where she lived for the rest of her life. |
In 1920, she married a western painter named Maynard Dixon. Together they had two children that were boys, Daniel, born in 1925, and John, born in 1930. During the Great Depression, Dorothea turned her camera from her studio to the streets, by doing this she caught the eyes of local photographers that led to her being employed with the federal Resettlement Administration (RA).
Unfortunately in December 1935, then she married economist Paul Schuster Taylor, Professor of Economics. One of her most known works today is the Migrant Mother (the image below).
Unfortunately in December 1935, then she married economist Paul Schuster Taylor, Professor of Economics. One of her most known works today is the Migrant Mother (the image below).
Lewis Hine
Lewis' occupation was a sociologist. At one point in time he started taking photos of children working long hours in labour work. Eventually these pictures got in the newspaper and people were horrified of what they saw; children working in coal mines and factories bare foot. To make sure this never happened again they stopped child labour. He lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was born on September 26, 1874. Hine was a sociologist teacher at one point and encouraged his students to have photography as a medium.
Mathew Brady
Mathew was given permission to take photos of the Civil War battlefields. This battle is a tragic time in American history. Born on May 18, 1822 in Ireland, Bradly was one of the earliest photographers in American history. He studied under inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, who worked with the daguerreotype technique in America. Brady opened his own studio in New York in 1844, and photographed Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, and other famous celebrities. When the Civil War started, he took interest in war photography. Thousands of war scenes were captured, as well as portraits of generals and politicians on both sides of the conflict, though most of these were taken by his assistants, rather than by Brady himself. After the war, Brady thought the government would buy his work, unfortunately they didn`t and his fortunes declined rapidly, then he died of debt on January 15, 1896.
Eadweard Muybridge
Muybridge was the one who created the "zoopraxiscope," which allowed pictures to look like there moving. This was used to understand human kinetics and animal movement. Born on April 9, 1830, At age 20 in his life, he emigrated to America as a bookseller, first to New York, and then to San Francisco. On a return trip to England in 1860, he suffered serious head injuries in a stagecoach crash in Texas. While recovering in England, he learned photography, while also learning about the wet plate process. He went back to San Francisco in 1867, and in 1868 his large photographs of Yosemite Valley made him world-famous today. Interesting fact, In 1874 Muybridge shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife's lover, but was sentenced in a jury trial on the grounds of justifiable homicide. He travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition in 1875.