| Photography |
I took a camera into my hands for the first time, and the results came back from a lab somewhere in town...and there they were 12 lovely pictures of all my dolls...having lunch! Young children, teens and adults, all love to take pictures of favourite places, people, events and moments to help them record and share their memories with others. Every young person nowadays owns some form of camera equipment. For me photography has turned into a career.
This course will run segments to improve your picture taking.
First a little history about photography which has exploded into everyone's availability
The word photography comes from combining the Greek words "photos" which means light, with the word "graphein" which means to draw. Sir John Herschel first used this term in 1839 when he combined the two Greek words, and the result was an instant and unqualified success.
The first "fixed image" photograph was taken in 1827 by two French inventors by the names of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre.
Originally the two were working together but Niépce died unexpectedly shortly after the first fixed image was captured. Daguerre worked for several years to develop a method of capturing the fixed image picture for long periods of time as the original photographs required long periods of exposure time and the images rapidly faded. The first modern photograph was named after Daguerre, and was known as the dageurreotype. In 1839 Daguerre, working with Niépce's son, sold the process of daguerrotypes to the French government. The French government then published a manual on the subject and the process become very popular all across Europe. What I wouldn't give to own one of those precious images now! They will be worth a small fortune. Any art work is perceived as an art form. Photography has of late developed into an art form. Photography is not just taking photos. Many of us aspire to taking of work that may one day be a part of a heritage we leave behind us.
Photography requires two different processes. The first one is the actual capture of the image using a device such as a camera. The second process is transferring the image onto a medium and preserving it. The second process was by far the most challenging, as the various chemicals tended to cause images to fade somewhat or to disappear entirely with time. It wasn't until 1871 when Dr. Richard Maddox invented a way of using a dry developing processing using gelatin that photography become practical and more economical than the original wet developing processes. To further make the process available to a wide number of people the use of thin strips of celluloid could be used to capture images in a simple and relatively inexpensive box camera. The first box cameras and celluloid film was marketed by George Eastman in 1884.
Photography became amazingly popular both in Europe and America. This was one of the few trends that were affordable to both working people and the upper class. In London in 1857 there were over 147 different photography studios. One picture would cost approximately one guinea at that time, which was almost equal to a week's income. Within just a few years the cost of a photograph would drop down to just a few shillings.
There were many inventions that led to the increase in popularity of the hobby. Most photographers agree that the commercially produced cameras were the single biggest drive to popularize the art form. Instant cameras and commercial film development at reasonable prices also helped cameras become a part of almost every household. Currently digital photography, disposable cameras and even camera phones continue to make photography part of our lives.
With the advent of the computer and digital cameras, we now have a whole new slant on picture-taking and everyone can now take photos. However, many of us just take pictures. What I would like to do is improve your ability to take a really well constructed photo.Future issues will provide lessons in setting up a photo from a-z NEXT ISSUE....MTH landscapes