Why do people take pictures?
The first photograph took 8 hours to expose.
What was the purpose of taking this photograph?
The Camera Obscura - is this science or art?
The Daguerreotype – the first photographic process that was commercially
viable – earlier techniques took too long and were not good for taking
people’s portraits.
The main reason for all of these photographs was the desire to
improve upon or invent new ways of making pictures, or better yet, to
preserve time.
In 1839,
Robert Cornelius,
a Dutch chemist who
immigrated to
Philadelphia,
took a daguerreotype
portrait of himself outside
of his family’s store and
made history:
he made the world’s first
human photograph!
More history
Dorothy Catherine Draper sister of NYU professor John
Draper and model for the first
daguerreotype portrait of a
woman in the United States in
1839.
She was the first woman to be
photographed with her eyes
open!
Yet another reason for taking
pictures, to record or create
portraits.
Fine Art
Photography
At the time the previous pictures were taken, they were the highest form
of picture making technology available.
The image here is a pinhole photograph (on film) – using the same concept
as the camera obscura – on a much smaller scale – a pinhole camera
now is the lowest form of technology available.
But both served the same purpose, to make an image and to document a time
or place- or person….although now, pinhole photography is considered more
of an art form than ever before.
Justin Quinnell - taking the pinhole camera to extremes --- now it’s about how
LITTLE do we need to make a picture!
The reason for using this low form of technology has changed – now
artists use it to create fine art – rather than for scientific reasons.
Documentary
& Photo
Journalism
One of the most famous
documentary photographs of
all time:
Migrant Mother, Nipomo,
California, photograph by
Dorothea Lange, 1936; in
the Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
By Dorthea Lange
Documentary Photography raises social &
global awareness…
What do you notice about COMPOSITION, even though
these are DOCUMENTARY photographs?
"What is the difference between a documentary photographer and a
photojournalist?“
• Documentary photographers tend to stick with a particular subject for a length of
time doing nothing else.
• Their focus and attention is narrower than a typical photojournalist.
• The photojournalist tells stories wherever he finds them and probably goes into an
area for a few hours, a week, maybe a month and then moves on to the next story.
• The photojournalist is concerned with bringing the story to a wide public audience.
• A documentary photographer wants to record something for prosperity or
sometimes a specific audience.
• Documentary photographers usually take images for publication, but sometimes
only for an exhibition in an art gallery or other public forum..
Even a candid shot like
this is a form of photo
journalistic photography
How do you know that
the photographer
thought about
composition when
taking this photo?
What other choices did
the photographer make
with this photograph?
Portrait/Event
Photographer
Helps people to preserve
memories, documents
events.
How do “portraits” taken of your
family differ from “snapshots” ?
Advertising/
Commercial
Photography
Photos are taken for
advertisement – again –
composition is always the
most important aspect.
Light Box
Photography
What does this do to
the object you are
photographing?
Fashion Photography is a type of Advertising…
Fashion photography also combines fine
art with advertising
What is the goal
of FASHION
PHOTOGRAPHY
?
Choose props that
HIGHLIGHT the
objects you are
shooting.
Remember what
you know about
Depth of Field
Action or
Sports
Photography is a very
popular field and reason
people shoot photos.
This is a famous shot of
Muhammad Ali winning a
boxing match!
What camera setting do
Sports photographers
NEED to adjust?
Since you do not have to be an artist or a scientist to take photos,
and nearly everyone has a camera, photography has become the
most widely used art medium.
1. You’ll begin to see the world Differently - with a camera in your pocket or
bag you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to use it and when you
start looking at the world in that way you’ll start to see if differently.
2. You’ll take more pictures - it sounds obvious - and it is - but the result of
more pictures is that you’ll improve your averages of taking a good one!
3. You’ll be more likely to get out of Auto mode - the more you use your
camera and see your results the more you’ll find yourself wanting to
stretch yourself out of auto mode into using the full potential of your
camera.
4. You’ll get to know your camera - the more you use your camera the more
familiar you’ll become with it and what it’s capable of. I find that after an
intense week with my camera that changing settings becomes second
nature and much faster.
5. You’ll miss less ‘Kodak moments’ - you don’t realize just how many
opportunities you miss to capture moments photographically until you
start carrying your camera around.