The Technical Evolution fo PHotography in the 19th Century

- photography first emerged in the 19th century in Western Europe from exploration of the properties and effects of light
- process of optics and chemisty, desire to make accurate pictorial records
- first processes relatively limited
- rapidly improved by better lenses, camera design and chemical innovation
- gelatin emulsion technology brought a new era of photoraphy
- industry rew
- more people could make more photographs
- freed from tripod
- colour and motion photography were possible
- developments make it necessary to deconstruct and reassemble that history of photograhpy to include origins, progress and transformation of elecronic imaging
- as well as recording, reproduction, and information technologies

Concept and First Attempts
- observation of light sensitive substances
- camera obscura predate 1800
- photos, graphos, "light drawing"
- if light or some other invisable wavelength of energy is not used to make the final picture by chemical means it can't be defined as a photograph
- the term 'photograph' was first used in 1833 by Anoine H. R. Florence
- Sir John Herschel used the term in 1839
- first light sensitive images recorded by Thomas Wedgwood
- Sir Humphrey Davy published the results and observations in 1802
- made images on paper and white leather coated with silver nitrate
- laid materials on glass on the sensitive material and exposed to sunlight
- that darkened the silver
- to try and keep image they washed the exposed material- did not work
- too slow of a process
- these ideas already discovered years earlier by others
- their work combined photo chemical doubt

Joseph Nicephore Niepce
- began experimenting using paper sensitized with silver chloride
- 1816 printed out negative images on paper using camera obscura with nitric acid
- moved to asphaltum
- asphalt dried, plates covered with object and exposed to light
- unexposed areas were dissolved, hardened exposed areas remained intact, creating negative image
- placed waxed engravings in contat with these sevsitvei plates
- plate then etched with acid, used as a conventional etching plate for printing in a press
- heliographs, helios graphos= "sun drawing"
-heliograph with a thinner asphalt, plate was exposed in camera facing out a window
- "View from the Window at Le Gras"
- two days of exposure to record outline of the horizon
- both negative and positive, and permanent

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre
- Niepce and Daguerre entered partnership in 1829
- light darkened polished silver that was previously exposed to idodine fumes
- used rosin instead of asphalt on silver plates
- slow, but images were superior to heliographs
- exposing sivler plates fumed with idodine in back of camera obscura
- beautiful images, but not permanent

Daguerreotype
- 1833 Niepce died
- Daguerre discovered silver idodide plate required on fraction of exposure time, revealed by exposing plate to mercury fumes
- exposure required minutes instead of hours
- image was positive and negative

William Henry Fox Talbot
- experiments with silver chloride in 1834
- way of making unexposed areas of his images less sensitive
- strong solution of sodium chloride and dilute potassium idodide
- 1839 positive photogenic drawings were colourful
- very slwo

Bayard, Ponton, Herschel
- light bleaching of exposed silver chloride paper with a solution of potassium iodide
- permanently fixed with hypo
- Ponton found paper soaked in saturated solution of potassium bichromate was sensitive to light
- washed water, had permanance
- not strong enough for print, not fast enough for camera
- Ponton's work lead Talbot to discover the hardening effects of gelatin treated with chromium compounds
- Herschel made hypo fixed silver carbonate negatives on paper
- similar and slow as the photogenic drawing

The Improved Daguerreotype
- 1839 was too slwo for portature
- limited to still-life and landscapes
- two improvements: bromine fumes
- 1840: combine chlorine, bromin and iodide fumes used to produce daguerreotype plates
- faster lens in 1840 by Max Petzval
- allowed shorter exposures
- Petzval lens was designed specifically for portratiure
- basis for all portraits for next 70 years
- 1840's protraits made in studios under a skylight
-1840 gold toning by Hippolyte Fizeau
- adding gold chloride to hypo
- known as gilding
- extended range of tones and made the image highligh tless susceptible to abrasion

Calotype
- 1841 Talbot changed his formula to use silver iodide
- exposed to damp- required a fraction of the time
- calotype required at least a minute of exposure in full sunlight
- negatives retouched with graphite or inks to prevent transmission of light
- made positive prints, printing in sun onto plain silver chloride paper
- 1844 published first installment of book "Pencil of Nature"
- Calotypes made by a small number of photographers in 1840's and early 1850's
- famous examples being documentary images of architecture by French and English photographers
- improved variant calotype called waxed- paper process, introduced by Gustave Le Gray in 1851
- waxed paper process eveolved because French papers were not ideally for calotypes
- waxing paper prior to iodizing resulting in better resolution, paper completely dry
- perfect for travelling

Business of Photography
- 1840's daguerreotype being used commericailly
- images small, direct positives

Negatives on Glass
- 1847 new negative process producing niepceotype, published by Able Niepce de Saint Victor
- development of dry plates was identical to calotype, but needed more time
- exposures were longer
- results worth the effort through
- resolution nearly grainless

Wet Plate Process
- 1848 Archer found a way to improve calotype
- collodion means "to stick"
- when poured on glass, collodion dried to a think, clear plastic film
- coating glass plate with iodized collodion
- collodion sensitized
- place plate in silver nitrate
- exposure times were reducted by half the time
- collodion negatives were used to make slated paper prints

The Art of Photography
- 1860's photographic journals talked about the art of photography
- critics didn't take photography seriously
- solar enlargements printed on salf and albumen paper 1860's- 1870's
- calling card
- 1860's larger cabinet card phography
- larger framed prints at portralit
- smaller portrait formats- working photographers

Collodion Variants and the Postive Processes
- exposures of plates in studio were faster than exposures for daguerreotype
- cheaper, easier to view
- image making technique same
- 1854 Cutting award for method of sealing these positive images on glass with balsam
- called "ambrotype"

Collodion Variants and the Negative Process
- possible without darkroom
- various syrups to keep the sensitive plate damp
- five times slower
- only for landscape, seldom used

Concerns of Permanency
- carbon printing process by Alphonse Poiteuin
- slat printing procss by Sutton and Blanquart-Evrard
- solar enlarging from collodion negative
- carbon process based on light sensitivity of pigmented gelatin treated with potassium bichromate
- tedious to make for one
- better used for mass production, not for studio portrait
- cyanotype by Herschel in 1841, was reasonably permanent, but images were blue

Gelatin Emulsions and the Modern Era
- invention of emulsion plates began with collidion emulsion in 1850's
- 1865 Simpson printed images on paper coated wiht collodion chloride emulsion
- collodion emulsion for negative plates based on bromides instead of iodides
- nearly as sensitive as wet collodion plates
- processed with alkaline developer
- Harrison and Maddox added silver nitrarte to warm gelatin solution with cadmium bromide and coated glass plates
- expose plates to camera
- slower than wet collodion process
- first serious attempt at gelatin emulsion
- published in 1871
- John Burgess used pyro developer in an alkaline state
- allowed gelatin emulsion to dry
- cut into small pieces, washed in cool water
- dried in darkness
- stored and rehydrated
- gelatin emulsion plates hard to sell to professional photographers
- longer emulsion was heated, more sensitive it became
- called ripening by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan 1871 and then allowed to set to a firm jelly
- 1880 Photographers Association of America investigate the new technology of gelatin plates

The Genius of Photography- "Fixing the Shadows" and "We Are Family"

Art or Science?

     The way I see photography is that it is valuable for both art and science. If we didn't have science we would have probably never been able to take a photography, or it would have taken a lot longer to develop the process. Photography can be used in many helpful ways through science, but also for art.

     Photography as art, makes statements, shows artist expression, and allows freedom to show whatever the artists wants. It is a hobby, and many people love to take photographs just for the art of it, or to document a time in their lives.

     I don't believe that you could choose a side for photography to be on. It couldn't just be for science or just be for art. Photography has to be for both.

Who's Looking at the Family?

This reading was about the evolution of photography of family photos. The types for example in the past there was a lot of family photos showing the families wealth, and as photography grew it became more accessible to everyone. This meant that the family photos were also changing, more showing what was going on in their lives. There was more to due with showing different kinds of families and also just a snap shot of a time in someones life, not necessarily a whole family photograph.

I think it is interesting because I've never thought of it that way, but now when I look at it, I see how much it has changed. Today it is more about just a time and a place, not the whole family, or showing your wealth.

My photo is more just a moment in time. We are not positioned properly, and no one is dressed up, it was just a time when everyone was there. It's very casual and everyone just looks happy.

Past Perfect

       I’m a bit on the fence about his argument in Past Perfect. Although I agree that history is important I don’t think that you necessarily need to know it. For example, I know a lot about art history of painting, but nothing of the history of photography, I would like to learn but I don’t think that I’m doing all that bad in photography. I agree that knowing the past can help with the future of photography and what you do with your work and recreating techniques that they used. For example, when Alexia Sinclair came and spoke to us she spoke about how all her art history of painters has influenced and been reflected in her work today, whether it just be similar colour schemes. At the same time I believe that photography is just getting out there and experimenting as much as it is about knowing all the history of it.

Old Family Photo

Since I don’t have any photos with me, I’m going to try my best to describe one.

            In my photo, it’s all my family that are the most important and involved in my life. There’s my Mum, her parents, my Papa and Grandma, my little sister, Jam, my baby brother, TJ, and my Nana and Grandpa. We are all sitting around the fireplace with big smiles on all our faces because although it looks like just an ordinary family photo, this was being taken because this was the day my Mum received the money she had won playing the lottery. I like this picture and it was one of the first ones that came to my mind because it is a time in our life when my Mum was truly happy. Also because it was taken in the house my parents built themselves. Although we’ve moved out now, when I look at this photo when first comes to my mind is, home. We don’t live there anymore, but that will always be my home, and home was always the best when all those people were over for Christmas or our birthdays.