11^thC Ð 16^thC The Camera obscura was developed allowing artists to hand trace the images it projected

 

1558                     Giovanni Battista della Porta illustrated camera principles in his book "Natural Magic".

 

1568                     Daniello Barbaro fitted the  camera obscura with a lens and a changeable opening to sharpen the  image.

 

1666                     Issac Newton Demonstrated that light is the source of colour. He used a prism to split sunlight into its constituent colours and another to recombine them to make white light.

 

1725                     Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that the change in color of a mixture of silver nitrate and chalk, in sunlight, was caused by light, not heat.

 

1758                     Dolland Developed the Achromatic telescope lens. This improved the camera obscura image. 

 

1801                     Thomas Young Suggested that the retina at the back of the eye contains three types of colour sensitive  receptor, one sensitive to blue light, one to green and one to red. The brain interprets various combinations of these colours to form any other colour in the visible spectrum.

 

1802:                    Thomas Wedgewood is the first person to attempt to record the camera image by means of the action of light  (he is successful in recording the image in organic substances such as the darkening silver nitrate on white leather or paper when exposed however he is unable to find a way to make these images permanent or ÒstopÓ the darkening permanently)

 

1816                     Joseph Nicephore Niepce made a crude photographic camera from a jewel box and a simple lens. With it he made a negative image. 

 

1817 (approx)    Niepce is the first to successfully fix the cameraÕs image (based on evidence in letters written by him at that time) interested in improving the process used for lithography (to replace the heavy, cumbersome stones used with metal plates). He was weak at drawing his own pictures he hoped inventing a process to fix camera obscura images would alleviate this need and free him to create images to use for his lithographic device invention work.  He designed his cameras hoping to create an Òartificial eyeÓ.

 

1819                     Sir John F Herschel, an astronomer and scientist noticed that the hyposulphite of soda dissolved in silver salts (at this time as a mere observation of the properties of these substances, and perhaps had no idea of how this might be useful)

 

1827                     Date creation the only example of NiepceÕs photographic work, ÒheliographyÓ as he called it still in existence today (an eight hour exposure of a view of a building and the landscape surrounding it).

 

                              Niepce visited the painter Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre who was also trying to figure out how to capture the camera image Òby the spontaneous action of lightÓ.  (as a scenic painter, he was already very familiar with the camera obscura)

 

1829                     Niepce and Daguerre sign a ten year agreement to work in partnership developing their new recording medium

 

1833                     Niepce dies and Daguerre continues his work alone (although NiepceÕs heirs are still legally connected to Daguerre as partners they contribute nothing to DaguerreÕs research and development)

 

                              William Henry Fox Talbot almost accidentally discovers a photographic system working independently in England (he too was frustrated by his inability to draw well and used the camera obscura.  As he imagined how nice it would be if the camera obscuraÕs images could be Òimprinted durably and remain fixed on the paperÓ.  He experiments and creates a negative image using sodium chloride and silver nitrate).

 

1835                     Talbot describes in his notebook how a positive image might be made from a negative if the ÒpaperÓ the negative was recorded on was transparent and as fixed (so it was rendered insensitive to the further action of light)

 

1837                     First Daguerrotype shared with the world (still exists today, signed and dated in the collection of the Societe Francaise de Photographie in Paris).  These pictures were described as Òimages that paint themselvesÓ and Òbeautiful drawingsÓ with a high range of highlights, shadows, and half tones.  Òa dead spider, taken through the solar microscope, has such fine detail in the drawing that you could study its anatomy with our without a magnifying glass, as in natureÉ Travellers, you will son be able, perhaps at the cost of some hundreds of francs, to acquire the apparatus invented by M. Daguerre and be able tto bring back to France the most beautiful monuments and scenes of the whole world...Ó (Gazette de France January 6 1839).  The Daguerrotype process is kept secret.

 

Talbot is astonished to hear about the Daguerrotype process created for the same purpose as his during approximately the same time period.

 

1839                     Talbot shared samples of his work with the Royal Institute in London (pushed to do so at this time because of the Daguerrotypes), and he too keeps his process secret.

 

1840                     First lens designed specifically for photographic purposes by Petzval

 

January               Herschel (while trying to figure out what Talbot and DaguerreÕs secret processes might be, knowing they required sensitive paper, a perfect camera, and a Òmeans of arresting the further actionÓ successfully fixes sensitized paper using his 1819 discovery of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in silver salts.  (this chemichal is still used today called sodium thiosulfate or ÒhypoÓ)

 

February             Herschel shares this technique with Talbot.  Once published, Daguerre began using it too, and almost all subsequent photographic processes rely on this discovery.

 

                              Herschel coins the term ÒphotographyÓ (replacing Talbots Òphotogenic drawing) and ÒpositiveÓ and ÒnegativeÓ (replacing TalbotÕs Òreversed copyÓ and Òre-reversed copyÓ).

 

April                      Ackerman & Co., (the leading print seller and purveyor of ÒColours and Requisites for DrawingÓ advertised a ÒPhotogenic Drawing BoxÓ (was not called a camera) complete with chemichals for sensitizing paper and an instruction booklet for making prints.

 

                              Magazine of Science published copies of 3 Òphotogenic drawingsÓ made on wood blocks using TalbotÕs process and then carved out by hand (this technique that eliminated the need for a skilled draftsman to draw on the blocks did not go into wide use until the 1860Õs).

 

May                       Mungo Ponton (Scottish) demonstrated how he used potassium bichromate to sensitize his papers (instead of silver salt which was more expensive) and the ability to control the sensitivity of the paper according to how much of the chemichal was mixed with water before being spread on the paper.

 

August                 A bill was passed in France to make the technical details of DaguerreÕs process public in France.  Official, genuine ÒDaguerrotype apparatusesÓ went on sale internationally (but Daguerre applied for and got a patent for his process in England.

 

                              Other claimants (from countries around the world) scrambled to prove they too had made independent photographic discoveries, saying theirs pre-dated DaguerreÕs and TalbotÕs:

 

                              Hercules Florence (a Frenchman living in Brazil) claimed he had made photographics with a camera and by contact printing as early as 1832 and provided notebooks from 1833 to 1837 which clearly documented his technique and had indedpendently used the word ÒphotographieÓ to describe what he had done.

 

                              Hans Thoger Winther (a Norwegian lawyer, proprietor of a lithographic printing shop, and book publisher) claimed he had the idea of fixing camera images as early as 1826 and had succeeded in making direct positives before the disclosure of DaguerreÕs process

 

                              Hippolyte Bayard exhibited 30 photos in Paris on July 14 1839 (using silver chloride paper, light, potassium iodide, and camera exposure) but his exhibition was completely overlooked as everyone was only paying attention to the work of Daguerre, and Bayard received no government support or fame as Daguerre had.

 

The length of exposure was too long for natural portraits, and the eyes of the subject had to be kept closed in order for them to be still enough for ten to twenty minutes in bright sunlight (the time and amount of light needed for exposure)É. Or bright sunlight was reflected into the faces of the subjects for eight minutes, blinding them and causing tears to trickle down their cheeks Òheroics were demandedÓ of the subject of portraits.

 

By the end of 1840 a lens 22x faster than the original was created (f 3.6 instead of f 16), the light sensitivity of the plates was increased dramatically (4 minute exposures became 25 second exposures), the tones of of the daguerrotype were enriched by guilding the plate.

 

Portrait studios opened everywhere following these developments. Almost anyone could learn how to take daguerrotypes and set up a business within two weeks of  technical training and practice.

 

In America, many of the tedious preparation rituals were mechanized using machines to speed up and make the process more convenient

 

1841                     Talbot announced an improvement in his photogenic drawing process: the Calotype (beautiful picture), which developed a latent image (instead of waiting for the image to appear on the sensitized surface during exposure). It created negatives which were then used to make positives. He patented this on Feb 8 1841

 

                              The first stereographs (stereo vision photographs) were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Science in Brussels

 

1843                     Talbot set up a photofinishing lab for calotype negatives in Reading, England

 

                              David Octavious Hill used the calotype to aid in his portrait painting

 

1840-1844               114 Travel views were issued in Paris.  Daguerrotypes taken across Europe, the Middle East, and America  were traced and transferred to copper plates for printing (with figures of people drawn in as the process took needed so much time for exposure that people did not appear in street scenes and this distressed the public looking at the pictures).

 

1850                     Levi L. Hill publicly announced his success in fixing the colours of nature on daguerrotype plates, however he would not release his secret to the public, not even for $100,000.  Later, it was discovered he had not properly figured out how to achieve colour, and from time to time, other daguerrotypists would find they had accidentally somehow recorded colour images as well, but most faded.

 

1851                     Frederick Scott Archer invented a new process (unpatented thus making it free for anyone to take photographs) allowed negatives to be made using glass coated with silver salts and collodion.

 

                              These plates could be prepared up to months ahead of shooting (unlike earlier processes which had to be prepared on the spot and used immediately), however they were not very ÒfastÓ (light sensitive) and required 3 hour exposures in bright light at f 72 until Felice Beato reduced the time to four seconds using gallic acid on the plates.

 

1852                     Talbot relaxed his controlling grip on the callotype (re: both amateur and professional photographers having to pay him £100- £150 a year license fee to use his process).  From then on, he only retained control over professionals taking photos for profit

 

                              Talbot filed a lawsuit re: the collodion process being an infringement of his process (the same development chemichal was used) against a professional photographer who had not paid him a license fee.  He lost the lawsuit although he was awarded the status as the first and true inventor of the calotype process

 

1853                     The Photographic Society of London (later the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain) was founded for amateur and professional photographers who were interested in shooting fine art images.  Most of these images were meant to be allegories, and photographers found inspiration in paintings (while some painters used photographs of models for their paintings).  Large format prints were made when the image was printed from many negatives carefully masked together.   Landscapes were very hard to do because the latitude of the film was so limited and the film itself was only sensitive to the blue part of the spectrum (orthochromatic).

 

1854                     ÒAmbrotypeÓ prints (name coined), Òtin typeÓ wet plate processes gain popularity (paralleling the daguerrotypes),

 

carte-de-visite technique (3^rd generation) collodion photo deals death blow to daguerrotype images, leads to the birth of the family photo album (these prints were quite small, full figure, and not much attention was paid to aesthetics, lighting, posing, etc.). 

 

The more serious photographers worked in large format photography while the amateurs used very small formats

 

1855                     People of almost all social classes could afford to have their daguerrotype portraits recorded Ð not just the rich.

 

State of MassachusettsÕs statistic: 403,626 daguerrotypes had been taken in that year (June 1 1854 - June 1 1855).  Daguerrotypes were much more popular overall in the U.S. than Europe and declined in use later.

 

                              New York Gallery (studio) boasted a daily production of 300-1000 daguerrotype portraits (assembly line type factories were set up where the photographers never left the cameras, and a steady stream of people would sit down, be recorded, and then collect their photo 15 minutes later)

 

In America, as competition increased with more and more daguerrotype ÒgalleriesÓ or studios opening up, the price of having oneÕs daguerrotype taken dropped dramatically in a very short time e.g. from $2.50 for a small one to as low as $0.12 each or converted to 2005 values, from approx $60.00 for a 1/8 size print to $2.50) although most of these were cheap and unsatisfactory in quality and customers were frequently disappointed

 

                              Photography was the Òmirror with a memoryÓ by Oliver Wendell Holmes (American Physician, man of letters and amateur daguerrotype photographer)

 

Family photos were especially in demand due to the very high mortality rate of children, and many photos were taken of people just after they died to immortalize them. ÒSecure the shadow Ôere the substance fade/Let Nature imitate what Nature madeÓ was the couplet used extensively to adverstise this service

 

The controversy over image retouching begins when Franz Hanfstaengle (leading portrait photographer of Germany) showed a re-touched negative with a print made from it before re-touching.

 

Roger Fenton shot the Crimean war, the worldÕs first ever war photographs

 

1856                     The decline of the Daguerrotype: 606 images were displayed in the annual Photographic Society of London exhibition, but only 3 were Daguerrotypes.  (they were too expensive, fragile, could not be readily duplicated)

 

                              Adolphe Louis Poitevin won Honore dÕAlbert, Duc de Luyes contests re: processes to create a permanent photographic print that wouldnÕt fade (carbon print) and a way to print photographs using printerÕs ink (collotype print)

 

                              Nadar (a leading large format portraitist who previously a second rate painter who was one of the first to use electric light to illuminate his portraits and became one of the most important photographers of his day) wrote: ÒPhotography isÉ as science that attracted the greatest intellects, an art that excites the most astute minds Ð and one that can be practiced by an imbecileÉ photographic theory can be taught in an hour, the basic technique in a day.  But what cannot be taught is the feeling for lightÉ nor can one be taught how to grasp the personality of the sitter (re: producing Òan intimate likenessÓ as opposed to Òa banal portraitÓ.

 

                              The top portrait photographs were produced by teams (who worked under the umbrella name of the studio), not individuals.  The name of the studio became the trademark of the photo. The photographer was more like a film director or modern art director of commercial photos leading the team with his vision while a cameraman operated the camera (strictly as a technician?), and others were responsible for painting the backdrops, dressing the set, processing the negative, making the prints, re-touching them, etc.

 

1857                     600 photographic prints displayed at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, affirming photographyÕs growing importance in the art world

 

1858                     Fading Away by Henry Peach Robinson a very controversial fine art photo, an acted out scene depicting a girl who was made to look Ònear deathÓ surrounded by her family was deemed to be in poor taste.  The scene was felt to be in poor taste because it was a photograph and thus assumed to be literally depicting reality (it would not have been read this way as a painting)

 

                              First Aerial photograph recorded by Nadar from a balloon

 

1859                     The French Society of Photography finally succeeded in convincing the Ministry of Fine Arts to allow them to have an exhibition at the Palace of the Champs Elysees at the time of the annual painting Salon. It was still seen by art critics however as the ÒserventÓ of the sciences and arts like printing or short-hand

 

                              The First photographs in which natural action (e.g. strollers on a street) was captured with regular assurance (meaning easily on a regular basis instead of rarely to never)

 

1861                     Brady began shooting his famous Civil War photos (at much personal risk) which inspired many many others to start shooting this war (and subsequent wars)

 

                              James Clerk Maxwell reproduced a colored ribbon by the three color additive process.

 

1863                     Previous theories of manÕs stride and positioning while walking used in drawing and painting and science turned upside down by photographic evidence of how things really were when Oliver Wendell Holmes examined streetscapes with frozen figures mid-stride (all in various stages of walking) in them

                             

1864                     The profession ÒdaguerrotypistÓ no longer appeared in the San Francisco business directories.  The best photographers in America were former daguerrotypists.

 

                              Technology advanced to allow for shooting of dry plates.  They also no longer needed to be shot immediately on the spot.  This allowed them to be manufactured (photographers no longer needed to make their own plates) and sold.

 

                              Ready-sensitized printing papers released almost simultaneously with manufactured dry plates.

 

1866                     Hugo Adolph Steinheil (Munich) and John Henry Dallmeyer (London) independently and simultaneously developed almost identical lenses with corrected spherical aberration (a problem all previous lenses had throwing the corners out focus, loss of definition), and less astigmatism. DallmeyerÕs ÒRapid RectilinearÓ lens became a generic name for all lenses of this type until the anastigmat replaced it in 1893

 

                              Antony Samuel Adam-Salomon (sculpture turned top portrait photographer)Õs work inspires Alphonese de Lamartine  (who once called photography Òa plagiarism of natureÓ) confessed:

                             

                              ÒAfter admiring the portraits caught in a burst of sunlight by Adam Salomon, the sensitive sculptor who has given up painting, we no longer claim that photography is a trade Ð it is an art, it is more than an art, it is a solar phenomenon, where the artist collaborates with the sun.Ó

 

                              Retouching becomes more and more common as sitters in portraits want blemishes hidden, features softened, wrinkles smoothed away etc.

 

                              Specialists in publicity portraits of actors emerged as the demand for this type of image increased, and actors posed Òin characterÓ and Òon setÓ for these images.

 

                              Exposures were previously done by removing a lens cap from in front of the camera. Shorter exposures meant the need for very precise shutters that could expose for fractions of a second.

                             

1871                     Paris police begin using photographs as a way to record evidence at crime scenes

 

                              Eadweard MuybridgeÕs famous photographs showing how a horse really galloped further proves the inadequacy of the human vision when it comes to analyzing moving things1

 

1876                     Vero Charles Driffield and Ferdinand Hurter work to do away with Òrules of thumbÓ re: plate sensitivity for light and exposure times, and develop a means scientifically rating the density of the plate (how much sensitive emulsion was on it) and in-turn what the ideal exposures would be (previously one had to guess and hope for the best).

 

1854                     ÒAmbrotypeÓ prints (name coined), Òtin typeÓ wet plate processes gain popularity (paralleling the daguerrotypes),

 

carte-de-visite technique (3^rd generation) collodion photo deals death blow to daguerrotype images, leads to the birth of the family photo album (these prints were quite small, full figure, and not much attention was paid to aesthetics, lighting, posing, etc.). 

 

The more serious photographers worked in large format photography while the amateurs used very small formats

 

1869                     Charles Piazzi Smyth exhibited prints (enlargements from negatives) taken over the past decade to the Edinburgh Photographic Society: 8X10 prints using Òpoor manÓÕs negatives.  His prints retained an amazing clarity and amount of detail.  They also enabled cropping both to recompose the subject and to not be restricted to the standard sizes and shapes of negatives etc.  Beginners could also easily improve the compositon of their prints (previously it was unthinkable to mask off any part of the image)

 

1878                     Animated photos start to be viewed in the zoetrope and similar devices (animations using successive images or drawings based on or inspired by MybridgeÕs work)

 

                              Photographs (animals and especially the human figure in motion doing various things) taken for artists (painters etc.) to use as reference. Many of these photos shocked the world (artists in particular).

 

1879                     Gelatin emulsions went into widespread use Ð no smell, plates did not have to be made by the photographers, no longer a need for a portable darkroom in the field, plates held their light sensitivity for months and no longer had to be developed immediately.

 

                              Paper sensitive enough to be exposed successfully using an electric light bulb were created which in-turn allowed for enlargement of negatives and bulk printing of negatives in quantities never before realized

 

1880Õs                 Hand cameras (that did not require a tripod) became widely available. They were mass produced and there was a bewildering variety to choose from.  They dramatically increased the potential output of images of photographers.

                              The halftone plate was invented and made possible and revolutionized the pictorial magazines.  Photographs could be reproduced very economically

 

 Dry plates and flexible film sensitive to all colours of the spectrum (panchromatic instead of must orthochromatic) were becoming available.

 

Photography was ÒfastÓ, speedy compared to the illustrative techniques of the past  ÒThe old techniques are surpassed as much by todayÕs as the stagecoach by the railroad.

 

1888                     The most famous early hand camera, the ÒKodakÓ invented and manufactured by George Eastman (a box camera that used roll film long enough for 100 circular exposures Ð initially paper coated in light sensitive gelatin, the paper stripped from the base after processing) ÒYou click the button we do the restÓ. (the cameras were sold for $25 including processing and printing of all good photos)

 

                              Casual use of cameras by untrained photographers became widespread.  Photography was brought into the reach of all human beings, and its power to share oneÕs travels even years after the fact and experiences was incomparable to anything that had previously existed.

 

                              The term ÒSnapshotsÓ was born (from an expression used by hunters to describe shooting a firearm from the hip without taking careful aim)

 

                              Jacob A. RiisÕs photos of the Lower East Side published in the New York Sun exposed the poverty and misery there. He was one of the first photographers to use a ÒflashÓ technology to illuminate his subjects.

 

                              First issue of National Geographic published and sent to 200 charter members of the society

 

1889                     Documentary photography (as a conscious photographic pursuit) can be said to have been born when The British Journal of Photography urged the formation of a vast archive of photographs Òcontaining a record as complete as could be madeÉ. Of the present state of the worldÓ

 

1890Õs                 Alfred StieglitzÕs pictorial photography started up the American pictorial movement and his influence as the vice president of the newly formed Camera Club of New York (working to push photography in America to artistic heights etc. like in Europe)

 

1890                     Illustrated American the first picture magazine deliberately planned to use photographs goes to press in February. This is possible because of the perfection of the halftone printing process in the latter 1880Õs

 

1891                     Transparent film on a clear base of nitrocellulose was introduced (eliminated the need for paper negatives, and eventually, glass negatives)             

 

                              Gabriel Lippmann discovers a way to make direct positive colour photographs, however the process was not very practical and is now obsolete.

                             

1892                     Julies Carpentier (who built the Cinematographe for the Lumieres) designed the Photo-Jumelle twin lens reflex camera.  It was a precision camera with fixed focus lenses, built to exacting specs.  It had a tolerance of 1/100mm (a degree of precision unheard of in the camera industry of the day).  This camera was widely imitated and became a classic camera type.

 

                              This was the first hand camera made for artists who wanted more creative control over their pictures (the consumer box camera allowed almost none).    Photographers were now free to take Òaction shotsÓ previously impossible with view cameras.

 

                              Parallax issues prompted the invention of the single lens reflex camera in the latter part of the decade.

 

                              Halftone printing processes evolved enabling photojournalism to be born (previously, photos printed via handmade wood engravings of their content; the actual photos could not be reproduced)

 

1895                     Lumiere Brothers successfully project the first motion picture film as a Òmagic lanternÓ type presentation (followed by Edison in America and the explosion of the motion picture film medium)

 

1896                     The first X-Ray photo is taken when Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen noticed that a bit of barium platinocyanide emitted a fluorescent glow. He then laid a photographic plate behind his wifeÕs hand. Previously, physicians were unable to look inside a personÕs body without making an incision. Roentgen was the recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901

 

1900Õs                 Painters were freed from the need to produce representational pictures (thus cubism and abstract art were born), and now Òstraight photographyÓ was being born (photographs meant to look like photographs and not emulate paintings or drawings, that are not re-touched etc. going back to the early daguerrotype days).  Acceptance of ÒstraightÓ photography as an art form was a huge step. Stieglitz moved on to create Òstraight photographsÓ

 

                              Lewis W. Hine was working on his remarkable series of photographs of immigrants arriving in New YorkÕs Elllis Island and into the tenements and sweatshops where they lived and worked.  As a sociologist, the camera was a powerful tool for his research and communication with others.  He essentially followed in RiisÕs footsteps, and realized the power of the subjectivity of his photographs.

 

                              He photographed children working in factories showing their size relative to the machines.  These images were the first to be labeled a photo story where the photographs were not secondary to or illustrative of the writerÕs text; they were of equal importance.

 

1900                     The Browning (Brownie) is the first mass marketed camera

                             

1903                     The American Graflex SLR camera (followed by the British Soho Reflex in 1906) became the standard hand camera of pictorial photographers for the first two decades of the century.

 

1907                     StieglitzÕs The Steerage (famous photo) created not by waiting endlessly for the right moment, but by recognizing a moment and grabbing it (the beginnings of what later became Òdecisive momentÓ photography).  The subjects were able to show themselves in their own substance or personality as revealed by the play of light and shade around them (i.e. not presented in a contrived ÒinterpretationÓ on the part of the photographer)

 

1910Õs                 Scientific photography influences painting e.g. DuchampÕs famous Nude Descending a Staircase was inspired by the multimple exposure high speed photographs taken by Etienne Jules Marey for his physiological studies.  Futurists were also very influenced by this type of photography.

 

1910                     August Sander (a German professional portrait photographer) began photographing people of all social classes and professions (a beginning of documentary portraiture) with the aim of creating a Òsocial atlasÓ.

 

1911                     Edward Steichen began taking fashion photographs for Art et Decoration