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on metal in whereas previously talbot had needed a camera exposure of one hour to produce a portrait by inch negative, he now found that one minute was sufficient developing the latent image. Had put photography on paper on a par with the daguerreotype talbot named his improved negative process the calotype from the greek meaning beautiful picture and protected his rights by patent the first and most aesthetically satisfying use made of this improved process was in the work of david octavius hill a scottish landscape painter and his partner robert adamson an edinburgh. Photographer in hill decided to, paint a group portrait of the ministers who in that year formed the free church of scotland there were more than figures to be painted sir david drawing brewster who knew of talbot's process from the inventor himself suggested to hill that he make use of this new technique hill then enlisted the aid of adamson and together they made hundreds of photographs not only of the members of the church meeting but also of people from all walks of, life although their sitters were posed outdoors in glaring sunlight and had to endure exposures of upward of a minute hill and adamson managed to retain spontaneity hill's vision was dominated by the painting style of the period in lighting and posing particularly in. The placement of the hands many of the calotypes are strikingly reminiscent of canvases by sir henry raeburn and other contemporary artists indeed william etty a royal academician copied in oils the calotype hill and adamson made of him in and exhibited it as a self portrait in addition to, their formal portraiture the partners made a series of photographs of fishermen. And their wives. At newhaven in edinburgh and architectural studies the potential of the calotype for recording great monuments of architecture was shown by a number of frenchmen many of whom were trained as painters in the s they. Began to photograph institute historical buildings for the government working with cameras, making photographs as large as by inches henri le secq charles marville and charles nègre produced remarkable calotypes of the cathedrals of notre dame in paris chartres and amiens as well as other structures that were being restored after centuries of neglect an establishment was set up in lille fr by louis désiré blanquart evrard for bulk printing these paper negatives among the products of this firm was a superb volume of photographs by the parisian writer maxime du camp taken during his travels with the writer gustave flaubert in egypt palestine and syria from to arts and crafts development and use of the collodion process photography was revolutionized. In by the introduction of the collodion process for making glass negatives this new technique invented by the english sculptor frederick scott archer was times faster than all previous methods and was moreover free from patent restrictions the glass plate negatives recorded detail in a way that rivaled the daguerreotype and from them paper prints could be made the process had one serious drawback the photographer had to sensitize his plate almost immediately before, exposure and expose it and process it while the coating was moist. Collodion is a solution of nitrocellulose guncotton in alcohol and ether when the solvents evaporate a clear, plasticlike film is formed since it is illustrations then impervious to water the chemicals used for developing the, exposed silver halides and removing the unexposed salts cannot penetrate to. Them despite the drawback that the photographer had to have a complete darkroom outfit with him always the collodion process was almost, at once universally adopted it, reigned supreme for more than years and greatly increased the popularity of photography some of the most remarkable, photographs of all time were produced by this wet. Plate process. At first the positive prints made from the glass plate negatives were produced by talbot's salt paper method but from the mid s on they were made on albumen paper a slow printing out paper i e paper that produces a visible image on direct exposure without chemical development that had been coated? With egg white before being sensitized the egg white gave the paper. A glossy surface that improved the picture albumen paper was introduced in by blanquart evrard and remained in general use until world war i the new collodion process was also used to produce imitation daguerreotypes called positives on glass or ambrotypes they were simply underexposed or bleached. Negatives that appeared positive with a dark coating or backing in posing and lighting these popular portraits were identical to daguerreotypes they were of the same standard sizes and they were enclosed in the same type of case they did not approach the. Brilliancy of the daguerreotype however tintypes first known as ferrotypes or melainotypes were cheap variations of the ambrotype instead of glass the collodion emulsion was coated on thin iron sheets enameled black at first they were presented in cases surrounded by narrow gilt frames. But by the s this elaborate presentation had been abandoned and, the metal sheets were simply inserted in paper envelopes each with a cutout window the size of the image easy to make inexpensive, to purchase tintypes. Remained a kind of folk art through the th century poses were often informal if not humorous portraiture a new style of portrait introduced in paris by andré adolphe eugène disdéri in was universally popular, from onward it. Came to be called the carte de visite reproductions because the size of the mounted photograph four by inches corresponded to that of a calling card disdéri used a four lens camera to produce eight negatives on a single glass plate each picture? Could be separately posed or several exposures could be made at once the principal advantage of the system was its economy to make eight portraits the photographer needed to sensitize only a single sheet of glass and make one print, which he then cut up into separate pictures at first cartes de visite almost invariably showed, the subjects standing backgrounds which had usually been plain in the days of the daguerreotype became ornate furniture and such architectural fragments as papier mâché columns and arches were introduced and heavy fringed velvet drapes were hung within range. Of the camera with the advent of the. Cabinet size by four inches picture in the baroque tendencies of the photographer became yet more audacious so that in a photographer wrote one good plain, background disrobed of, castles piazzas. Columns curtains and what not well worked will suit every condition of life it was at this period, that retouching the lithograph use of handwork on the negative was introduced as was the practice. Of painting, over the. Photograph in oil colours in contrast to the excessive reliance on accessories and retouching shown by the popular portrait photographers of europe and america the work of two frenchmen and one englishwoman stands apart in their portraiture they reached a level unsurpassed since the daguerreotypes of southworth and hawes and the calotypes of hill and adamson these photographers were gaspard félix tournachon a, parisian writer editor and caricaturist who used the pseudonym of nadar étienne carjat likewise a parisian caricaturist and julia margaret cameron, wife of an eminent british jurist nadar took up photography, in as a means of making studies of the features of prominent frenchmen for inclusion in a large caricature lithograph the panthéon nadar he posed his, sitters against plain backgrounds and bathed them with diffused daylight which brought out every detail of face and dress he knew most of them and the powers of observation he had developed as a caricaturist led him to recognize their salient features which he recorded directly without the exaggeration that he put in his drawings when nadar's photographs. Were first exhibited they won great praise in the gazette des beaux arts then the leading art magazine in france nadar was a colourful man who had a passion for balloons he combined his interests by taking a met, series of aerial photographs which inspired the french artist honoré daumier to produce a cartoon bearing, the, mocking title nadar élevant la photographie à la hauteur, de l'art nadar raising photography to the height of. Art carjat's portraits more intense perhaps than nadar's have the dignity and distinction, of those of his contemporary and rival cameron, took up photography as a pastime in awkward as it was she used the, wet plate process and began to take portraits. Of such celebrated. Victorians of her acquaintance as alfred tennyson george frederick. Watts thomas carlyle charles darwin and sir john f, w herschel a number, of her portraits were shown at the paris international exhibition of cameron used a lens of the extreme focal length, of inches to obtain large close ups this lens required such long exposures that the subjects frequently moved the lack of optical definition plus this accidental blurring was universally criticized yet the very power of, her work won her international praise this can only be explained by the intensity, of her vision when. I have had. These men before my camera she wrote about her portraits of great men my whole soul has endeavoured to do its duty toward them in recording faithfully the greatness of the inner man as well as the features of the outer man the photograph, thus obtained has almost been the, embodiment of a prayer besides these memorable portraits cameron produced a large number of sculptures, allegorical studies of children and young women in costume acting out biblical scenes or themes based on the poetry landscapes, of her hero tennyson in making these pictures—which today seem weak and sentimental—she was much. Influenced by the pre raphaelite painters and the photographic work of oscar g rejlander and henry peach robinson see below leaders in the production of photographs that emulated paintings influence of painting consideration of, photography as an aesthetic medium was given impetus by the formation of photographic societies post-surrealism made up of both professionals and amateurs who had been attracted to the museum of modern camera by the popularity of, the collodion process in the photographic society parent of the present royal photographic society. Was formed in london and in the following year, the société française de photographie was founded in paris at body the first meeting of the photographic society the president sir charles eastlake who was then also president of the royal academy invited the miniature painter sir william newton to. Read a paper upon photography in an artistic view journal of the photographic society i his argument was that photographs could be useful to the painter so long as they were taken in accordance as far as it is possible with the acknowledged principles of, fine art one. Way by which the photographer could make his photo results more like works of art newton suggested was to throw the, subject slightly out, of focus he also recommended, liberal retouching an outcome of the urge to create photographs that would fit a priori. Concepts of what art should be was the practice of combining several negatives to make one print in order to achieve painterly compositions of subjects too complicated to be photographed in a straightforward manner a famous example was by oscar g rejlander a swede who had studied art in rome and was practicing photography in england he used negatives to produce a, by, inch print titled the two ways of life showing in allegory as obvious as it was sentimental, that the way of the blessed led through good works and the way of the damned through vice rejlander, who described the technique in detail in photographic journals stated that his purpose was to prove to artists the, aesthetic possibilities of photography which they had generally denied the photograph was shown in the manchester art treasures exhibition of and was purchased by queen victoria for prince albert rejlander's technique stimulated henry peach robinson a, professional photographer who had been trained as an artist to produce similar combination prints he achieved fame with a five negative print fading away produced in the subject a dying girl was considered by critics as too painful, a subject to be represented by photography perhaps the implied authenticity of the camera bothered them for painters had long presented subjects of a far more, painful nature robinson became a most articulate member of the photographic society and his teaching was even more influential than his photography in appeared the first of many editions and translations of his book pictorial effect in photography from an outmoded. Handbook on painting robinson borrowed compositional formulas the use of which he claimed would bring artistic success the importance of balance was stressed and the opposition of light against, dark was made clear the fault of the book lay not only in the assumption that rules set up for one art form could be applied to another but also in its intellectual and academic approach kunst to art robinson's work paintings. Is weak and artificial, by present standards of taste not only did he practice combination. Printing when it was not technically necessary but he, preferred to work in the studio against painted backdrops and with props of natural objects even foliage mounted on casters when he did photograph the real world he. Took models. With him dressing them up to play the part of country girls so long as photographers maintained that the way to art was by the emulation of painting critics were reluctant, to admit the new medium to an independent aesthetic position portraits when done as sensitively and as directly as those produced by hill and adamson nadar and cameron won the praise of art critics but sentimental genre scenes posed and arranged for, the camera lacked the sharp objective truth that is a characteristic of photography other photographers not concerned about producing art for exhibition were making photographs of the world and man's. Activities with such extraordinary perception and understanding of the medium that often their work surpassed more consciously artistic works these men took their cameras to battlefields and to faraway places often at the risk of their lives combat photography. In roger fenton sailed from london to the crimea to photograph the war he was sent to provide visual evidence countering the caustic written reports dispatched by william russell war correspondent for the clip times of london criticizing military mismanagement and the inadequate unsanitary living conditions of the soldiers fenton had to, develop his wet plates in a horse. Drawn van that had been converted into a! Darkroom it was visible for. Miles in the bare landscape and a few times attracted, enemy fire despite the difficulty during his four month stay fenton produced photographs the first large scale camera documentation of a war when the. Civil war broke out in the united states mathew brady the new york daguerreotypist and portraitist who had been among the. First to adopt the wet plate process conceived the bold plan of making a photographic record of the hostilities when president lincoln, told him the government could not finance such an undertaking he invested his own savings in the project. Expecting to recover his outlay by. Selling thousands of prints brady and his photographers—notably alexander gardner and timothy h o'sullivan who left his employ in the midst of hostilities—produced an amazing record of the battlefield at his new york gallery brady showed pictures of the dead at antietam the new york times reported on oct mr brady has done, something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of, war if he has not brought bodies and laid them on our dooryards and along the streets he has done something very, like it it seems somewhat singular that the same sun that looked? Down on the faces of the design slain blistering them blotting out from the bodies all semblance to humanity and hastening corruption should have thus caught their features upon canvas and given them perpetuity for ever but it is, so long prized for their value as canvas historical documents the civil war photographs are now valued for their aesthetic qualities as well unfortunately for brady immediately after the war they were seen as unnecessary reminders of hardship and conflict unable to sell the prints as he had. Planned brady died embittered in a, charity hospital in new york city fenton's crimean war photographs had similarly, lost their audience! As soon as the peace treaty was signed nevertheless. Entrepreneurs hoping to sell prints or, commemorative albums continued to, finance the photographic documentation of the more important conflicts of the late th century the south african boer war and the russo japanese war were also covered by photographers engaged by newspapers and by. Three american mass producers of stereographs landscape, photography, during the collodion period scores of photographers journeyed to the far corners of the world producing memorable travel views. Despite the trying conditions of, the wet plate process among the most successful was the englishman francis frith the most active of several european photographers working in the middle east in the late s he. Took hundreds of fine pictures of monuments along the nile from cairo to abu simbel as well as in syria and palestine samuel bourne felice beato john thomson and other british amateurs traveled to asia bringing, back to england lively images of the nature people and customs of india china and japan other. British photographers concentrated. On europe charles clifford recorded the landscape and architecture of spain robert macpherson that of rome and thomas annan of glasgow and george washington wilson of aberdeen the wildness, castles and abbeys of scotland the. Bisson brothers louis, auguste and auguste rosalie gustave le gray, and edouard denis baldus depicted the landscape and architecture of france in the united states carleton e watkins and the english born eadweard muybridge both won recognition for their scenic views of yosemite the columbia river alaska and other wilderness regions of north america landscape photography was usually intended for publication in books or. As portfolios of prints to be sold to collectors but in the united states photographers were often important members of government surveys and were also commissioned. By railroad companies to make publicity pictures of track laying bridge building and spectacular scenery through which the new lines ran, of the photographers of the american frontier two stand out timothy h o'sullivan of civil war fame and william henry jackson o'sullivan's photographs of the southwest are of great beauty particularly his views of indian cliff dwellings in the canyon de chelly in arizona made in jackson self trained as a painter in vermont crossed the plains as a wagon, driver. In he opened a photographic gallery in omaha neb the union pacific railroad was under construction and he received an order to produce stereographs the excellence, of his work led f v hayden a geologist to hire him to photograph the yellowstone as part of hayden's government financed expedition there in the photographs jackson took were exhibition influential in the decision by congress to create yellowstone national park later in he recorded the immensity of the western landscape using large glass plates stereoscopic photography many of the landscape photographers also took stereographs these double pictures taken after with twin lens cameras produce. A remarkable effect of three dimensions when viewed through a stereoscope. Stereography first described in by the english physicist charles wheatstone is uniquely photographic since no artist could draw two scenes in exact perspective from viewpoints separated only inches—the normal distance between painting human eyes wheatstone's mirror institute stereoscope however was not practical for use with photographs and the invention languished until the scottish scientist sir david brewster designed a simplified viewing instrument which was exhibited at the great exhibition! In. The crystal palace london queen, victoria, was entranced by the stereo daguerreotypes she saw there and with the, introduction of the collodion process which simplified exposure and printing techniques three dimensional photography became a popular craze in the london stereoscopic company was. Formed their. Chief photographer was william england whose lively street scenes of new york city in rainy weather and views of niagara falls. Taken in were the wonders of the day the instantaneous street scenes which showed pedestrians and vehicles stopped in their tracks were made possible met. Because the small size of the stereo camera reduced exposure times to less than half a second to minimize, movement street views were usually. Taken from a first floor window. With the camera focused directly down the. Street such views later inspired several impressionists to paint similar street scenes between and about a stereo viewer was as ubiquitous in british and american homes where a simplified and. Cheap hand viewer was introduced by, oliver wendell holmes the american physician was a great lover of photography as the television, set is today millions of stereographs were circulated in the years before newspaper reproduction of photographs and their impact was enormous development of the dry plate in the s many. Attempts were made to find a dry substitute for. Wet collodion so that plates could be prepared well in advance and developed long after exposure the suggestion casually made in by richard leach maddox an english physician to suspend silver bromide in a gelatin emulsion led in to the introduction of factory produced dry plates. Coated with gelatin containing silver salts an event that marked the beginning of the modern era of photography shop gelatin, plates were. About times more sensitive than collodion plates the increased speed freed the camera from the tripod and a great variety of small hand cameras that allowed photographers painter to take instantaneous snapshots became available at relatively low cost of these the most popular was the kodak camera. Introduced by george eastman in its simplicity greatly speeded the growth of amateur photography in place of glass plates it contained a roll of, negative material sufficient for. Taking circular pictures each roughly inches in diameter after exposing the last negative the entire camera was sent to one of the eastman factories rochester n y or harrow middlesex where the roll was processed and printed you press the button we do the rest was eastman's description of the kodak system, at first eastman's so called american film was used in the camera this film was paper based and the. Gelatin. Layer containing the image was stripped away after development and fixing and transferred to a transparent support in it was replaced by film on a transparent plastic base of nitrocellulose that had been developed by the reverend hannibal goodwin of newark n j in photography of movement a few years before the introduction of the dry plate the world was amazed at the. Photographs of horses taken by eadweard muybridge in california using a series of to cameras ranged side by side opposite a reflecting screen, with their shutters released by the breaking of threads as the horse dashed by, muybridge galery fine prints printssecured sets of sequence photographs of successive phases of the walk the trot and the gallop when the pictures were published internationally in the popular and scientific press they were so different from the traditional hand drawn representation, of a horse's steps that it was, difficult to believe that they were accurate, to prove that his photographs were correct muybridge threw them upon a screen one after the other with a lantern slide projector he had built for the purpose. The result was the world's. First motion picture presentation this memorable event took place, at the san! Francisco art association. In muybridge's early studies were taken with wet plates with, the new gelatin, plates he was able to improve his technique greatly and in – at the invitation of the university of pennsylvania he produced sequence photographs of many kinds of animals as well as men and women engaged in a wide variety of o brother where thou. Activities muybridge's photographic analysis of movement led the french physiologist étienne jules marey to. Develop chronophotography. Whereas muybridge had employed a battery of, cameras to. Record detailed separate images of successive stages of movement marey used only one recording an entire sequence of movement on a single, plate with marey's method, the images of various phases of motion sometimes overlapped but it was easier to see and understand the flow of movement marey was also able to record higher speeds at shorter intervals than muybridge both his and muybridge's work greatly contributed to the field of motion study and to the development of the motion picture, naturalistic photography contributions of emerson in the late th century the growing number of amateur photographers used. The camera to capture daily occurrences and important moments in their lives but the members of the societies and clubs concerned with photography as an art became more and more divorced from matters of ordinary life subjects in the so called art. Photographs were artificially composed in, the studio. In imitation of th century dutch paintings photographers strove to master complicated printing methods allowing manual interference photographing everyday life was considered mere record making or, documentation landscape pictures the strength of british photographers in past decades found little favour when similar beliefs prevailed in french academic painting. Years. Previously, the french realist painter gustave courbet was prompted to call for. A return to nature so now peter henry emerson physician by profession and an ardent. Amateur photographer attacked the artificiality of the photographs generally accepted as outstanding examples of. The artistic use of the camera emerson's passionate plea for the return to natural subjects was indeed salutary but of greater importance was his. Advice that photographers should respect the photographic process, and limit their controls to those that were inherent in his book naturalistic photography emerson further developed his theories some of which he later |