By : Avinav Mahanta, G.U
In simple words, a photograph can be defined as a picturesque portrait of an object reflected on the lens of a camera which immortalises a certain happening or event in particular. Originating from a pair of Greek words- photos (light) and graphos (drawing), photography can be commented as the science which relates to the action of light on sensitive bodies in the production of pictures.
Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communication, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution. Photos can be regarded as replica for commemorating the past.
The beauty of photography was known long back by the people but the problem was with printing them because there was no arrangement of preserving light. Camera Obscura (Latin word which means ‘Dark Room’) had been used by the people to process pictures before the dawn of photography established its authority and perfection.
The word ‘photography’ was first coined by Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. The first photo picture was taken in 1825 by French inventor Nicephore Niepce which depicted a view from a window at Le Gras, his overview of the buildings and surrounding countryside of his estate at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.
The first color photograph was taken in 1861 by physicist James Clerk Maxwell using the ‘three-color-separation’ principle. Auto chrome, the first commercially successful color process was introduced by Lumiere Brothers in 1907, where auto chrome plates incorporated a mosaic color filter layer, made of dried grains of potato starch, which allowed the three color components to e recorded as adjacent microscopic image fragments.
Beginning of a new era-
Modern Photography:
- Ø Louis Daguerre was the inventor of the first practical process of photography. Daguerre’s process ‘fixed’ the images onto a sheet of silver-plated copper. He polished the silver and coated it in iodine, creating a surface that was sensitive to light. Then, he put the plate in a camera and exposed it for a few minutes. After the image was painted by light, Daguerre bathed the plate in a solution of silver chloride. This process created a lasting image, one that would not change if exposed to light.
- Ø The inventor of the first negative from which multiple positive prints were made was Henry Fox Talbot, an English botanist and mathematician and a contemporary of Daguerre.
- Ø Tintypes were another medium that heralded the birth of photography, patented in 1856 by Hamilton Smith, where a thin sheet of iron was used to provide a base for light-sensitive material which yielded a positive image.
- Ø Frederick Scoff Archer, an English sculptor, invented the ‘wet plate negative’. He used a viscous solution of collodion to coat glass with light-sensitive silver salts. Since, it was glass, hence the wet plate created a more stable and detailed negative.
- Ø In 1889, George Eastman invented film with a base that was flexible, unbreakable, and could be rolled. Emulsions coated on a cellulose nitrate film base, such as Eastman’s, made the mass-produced box camera a reality.
Camera:
Camera is a lightproof object, with a lens that captures incoming light and directs the light and resulting image towards film (optical camera) or the imaging device (digital camera). Camera technology is based on the law of Optics discovered by Aristotle.
Daguerreotype cameras: The earliest cameras used in the daguerreotype process were made by opticians and instrument makers, or sometimes even by the photographers themselves. The most popular cameras utilized a sliding-box design. The lens was placed in the front box. A second, slightly smaller box, slid into the back of the larger box. The focus was controlled by sliding the rear box forward or backwards. A laterally reversed image would be obtained unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism to correct this effect. When the sensitized plate was placed in the camera, the lens cap would be removed to start the exposure.
Box camera: George Eastman, a dry plate manufacturer from Rochester, New York, invented the Kodak camera. Eastman’s first simple camera in 1888 was a wooden, light-tight box with a simple lens and shutter that was factory-filled with film. The photographer pushed a button to produce a negative. Once the film was used up, the photographer mailed the camera with the film still in it to the Kodak factory where the film was removed from the camera, processed, and printed. The camera was then reloaded with film and returned.
Polaroid or instant photos: Polaroid photography was invented by Edwin Herbert Land. Land was the American inventor and physicist whose one-step process for developing and printing photos created instant photography. The first Polaroid camera was sold to the public in November, 1948.
Famous personalities associated with photography:
Alfred Stieglitz: American photographer and promoter of modern art, Alfred Stieglitz can be counted among those persons who has influenced photography as a passion and culture among the people. Stieglitz outside photography is widely known for his passion for avant-garde. He, along with F.Holland Day led the first photography art movement- Photo Secession whose primary task was to show that photography was not only about the subject of the picture, but also the manipulation by the photographer that led to the subject being portrayed.
Felix Nadar: Felix Nadar (a pseudonym for Gaspard-Felix Tournachon) was a famous French caricaturist, journalist and photographer. He is mostly famous for pioneering the use of artificial lightning in photography. Also, he is credited for having published the first ever photo interview in 1886.
Henri-Cartier-Bresson: French photographer, Henri-Cartier-Bresson is believed to the father of photojournalism. He is mainly remembered for creating the ‘street-photography’ type of photojournalism.
Above mentioned are some of the renowned personalities in the world of photography. Their unique way of looking and examining their value and beauty has put gas on the modern day photography.
Photography, by nature is very inspiring for mankind. It envisages the thoughts and viewpoints that a person nurtures in his mind. Lastly, it’s worth saying that it is not the lens, but the eyes of the person which results in the bringing out the scenic beauty in an object.
