AWQ4MI Mrs. Kalinowski
Ancient Beginnings…Ancient Beginnings… “Photography” is Greek
(‘phosgraphein’) Phos/Photo = ‘light’ Graphein/Graphy = ‘writing’
5th century BCE Chinese Philosopher, Mo Ti Observes illuminated image
passing through a small hole
330 BCE Greek Philosopher, Aristotle Observes an image of the sun
reflected on the ground during an eclipse
Light from a solar eclipse passing through small gaps in tree branches that act as ‘lenses’
***The earliest “photograph”
Writing with Light
Solar Eclipse: The moon covers the sun
Streams of light pass through small ‘gaps’ in trees
The light reflects the sun’s image on the ground
Multiple crescents reflected on pavement
Writing with Light
Camera ObscuraCamera Obscura 14th-16th centuries Renaissance Era
science, experimentation, observation out ruled ‘belief’ and ‘magic’
Desire to document & represent the world in a rational, logical way
1490: Da Vinci writes about camera obscura
‘Pinhole Camera’
“Camera” = room (in Spanish)
“Obscura” = dark
Camera ObscuraCamera Obscura‘Pinhole Camera’
Light passes through a small hole and reflects an inverted image
‘Photos’ resembled drawings in linear perspective
HeliographHeliograph Pewter plate
coated with bitumen of Judae (black, toxic residue)
Plate placed in camera obscura with pinhole directed at city scene
Extended exposure/processing time (8 hours!)
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce [1765-1833]
View from His Window at Le Gras, 1826
‘nee-epps’
DaguerreotypeDaguerreotype Highly
polished silver plates placed in camera obscura
Exposed to light/scene for 20min.
Treated with heated mercury vapor, then table salt
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre [1789-1851]
Still Life in the Artist’s Studio, 1837
DaguerreotypeDaguerreotypeLouis Jacques Mandé Daguerre [1789-1851]
CalotypeCalotype Sheet covered in salt and iodine exposed to an image/light
Brushed with gallic acid in a dark room
‘negative’ image formed
‘negative’ printed onto salted paper for a ‘reverse’, positive print (reproducible)
William Henry Fox Talbot [1800-1877]
Courtyard Scene, 1844
Collodion/Wet-Plate Collodion/Wet-Plate ProcessProcess
Similar process to Calotype, but with glass
glass coated with iodized collodion
Glass exposed while wet
Created finely-detailed negatives in seconds
Reproducible as positive images at a faster rate than paper
Frederick Scott Archer [1813-1857]
Sparrow’s House, Ipswich, Suffock, 1857
Collodion/Wet-Plate Collodion/Wet-Plate ProcessProcess
Frederick Scott Archer [1813-1857]
Carte-de-VisiteCarte-de-Visite Spin-off of
collodion process
Multi-lens camera (called ‘tubes’) made multiple exposures on glass wet plate
Exposures were cut apart for single photos/shots
Andre Disdéri [1819-1890]
Napoleon III was on a military campaign against Austria and stopped to have Disdéri make a ‘visiting card’ of him in Paris*Disdéri became instantly famous, the riches photographer in the world!
Napoleon III, May 1859