EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY
The word photography comes from the Greek word φῶς and γραφή that together combined mean writing with light. Many techniques and methods were used and still used to make a photography. Long before the first photographs were made, Chinese philosopher Mo Diand and Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.
- Camera obscura is an optical device , the ancestor of photography and photographic camera. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. The light passes through the hole and strikes the surface inside, where it reproduces, inverted the external image, but with the colour and structure preserved. In the 16th Century, camera obscuras became a very important tool for artists who used them to create drawings with perfect perspective and accurate detail. Portable camera obscuras were made for this purpose. In Victorian times, much larger public camera obscuras became popular.
- Camera lucida is an optical device commonly used by artists for drawing.
Daguerreotype : in 1833, Daguerre focused on the light-sensitive properties of silver salts, which had previously been demonstrated by Johahn Heinrich Schulz and others. During the process which was named after Daguerredaugerreotype, he exposed a thin silver-plated copper sheet to the vapor given off by iodine crystals, producing a coating of light-sensitive silver iodide on the surface. The plate was then exposed in the camera. Initially, this process, too, required a very long exposure to produce a distinct image, but Daguerre made the crucial discovery that an invisibly faint "latent" image created by a much shorter exposure could be chemically "developed" into a visible image.
Calotype : In the mean while a few hundred miles away in England, Henry Fox Tablot had succeeded in producing a "sensitive paper" impregnated with silver chloride and capturing small camera images , though he did not publicise it until January 1839.The Calotype was the first negative-positive photographic process and it still remain the basis of todays photographs. Although it lacked the quality and the accurancy of Daguerreotype, it exploded because from a single negative image could be taken infinite number of copies.
Photography and Industrial Revolution : In the late 19th century, when Industrialisation started from America and very fast spread to Europe, child labor became a very large part of factories.While many opposed it, a few photographers had the courage to enter factories and take pictures of the life in a factory and reveal them to the public so anyone to be able to know the truth behind the massive production of everyday goods. Although many people flocked to cities during the Industrial Revolution, many others traveled to corners of the world to photograph what the see. Below you can see some pictures of children under the age of 15 that worked in factories. The environment was horrible and the work conditions even more. Children were forced to work for 12 and more hours for a few cents and some bread that sometimes they did not give it to them if the had caused problems. And all that : to live with their family in poverty and wretchedness. Sometimes they suffered illnesses in the factories and because of the luck of medical help they would die.
Hand-colouring of photographs : Hand Colouring the method of adding colour to a black and white photography. The purpose of this technique was either to toned the realism of the photo or to serve the artistic needs. Hand-colouring is also known as hand painting or overpainting.
The artist, typically were using watercolours, oil and other paints or dyes which applied to the image surface using brushes and fingers. The hand-coloured photographs became very famous,like a new trend in the mid- to late-19th century before the invention of digital photography and some firms specialised in the mass produce of hand-coloured photographs.
The artist, typically were using watercolours, oil and other paints or dyes which applied to the image surface using brushes and fingers. The hand-coloured photographs became very famous,like a new trend in the mid- to late-19th century before the invention of digital photography and some firms specialised in the mass produce of hand-coloured photographs.
Digital Camera : In 1957, a new type of camera invented by a team led by Russel Kirsch in the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The digital camera was based on an existing technology, that was able to transfer the photo taken into digital computer technology. One of the first photographs scanned was a picture of Kirsch's infant son Walden. Although the resolution was not high( 176x176 pixels) it was a start for the revolution of the camera and the development of them.
FAMILY PHOTO ANALYSIS
For this task we had to find an old family picture and compare it with a a new one.
This is a picture of my grandparents, form my mother's side, wedding . My grandmother Vassilia, and my grandfather Gregorios, were married in 1963 in my grandmother's village, Tsaritsan,i in Greece. They were both 29-year-old and they met each other 3 years before their marriage.
As we can see the models are standing and the groom holds the bride. Next to the couple stands the maid of honor who was a close friend of my grandmother. My grandmother wears a white typical wedding dress of that period and my grandfather wears a black wedding suit Although it is the happiest day of their lives both of them (I am excepting the best woman) are serious and maybe anxious. The wedding took place in the greatest church of the village and all the residents were at the ceremony. Their wedding was the event of the month. Those days, although people did not earn much money they used to save some for such occasions. The wedding dress and the suit are both silk which was a very expensive fabric to buy those days. The dress covers the whole body depicting the trend of that era. My grandparents were not rich but they earned enough money to live with comfort. At that time women and men did not have the same rights. Most families were traditional, having the wife staying at home kept busy with the housekeeping and the children, while the man was the one who brought money at home. My grandparents were not a traditional family, both of them had a proper job, but my grandfather had the first saying in the family. The certain photo was taken with a film camera and as we can see it is a black and white one, not very sharp, and the characteristics are not very clear. At the weddings photographers did not use to take many photos, due to the cost of the films. Later the couple would decide which ones they wanted to have developed. |
This is a picture from my mother's wedding. At that time she had dyed her hair fire red as you can see. The one on the right is her sister, my aunt Georgia. They both hold my cousin Celia. The wedding took place in a very old ,small church located on a big rock at the centre of Athens opposite of Parthenon. Although the church was small there were many friends and family members at the ceremony.
As anyone can see from the expressions of their faces the three of them are very happy, especially my mother. Her dress is made of silk just like my grandmother's was. According to the tradition in Greece, my father's mother Ifigenia bought the fabric and my mother's mother made the dress. My aunt is wearing a fire red dress made by a famous Athenian designer and my cousin who is at a very young age wears a cute white dress, also silk and handmade. She also wears a chaplet made of fresh flowers on her head. In these two wedding photos both of the brides are holding a bouquet of flowers. As you may see I am not in any of these photos because at that time I was not born yet. The photo was taken outdoors in the garden of the church. It is a frontal portrait taken by a professional photographer same as my grandmother's wedding photo was. This is not a whole body picture though, but an above legs photo taken especially not to reveal the wedding and the dresses but to capture the expressions and the feelings of the people who are in this picture. Both my parents come from middle class families. My mum and dad are not a traditional couple. They both are well educated and share the same rights and obligations. We are what they call a modern family. That means that both parents do work to earn money while they are also responsible for the house-making and the raising of their children. The quality of the picture is pleasantly nice, the colours are sharp and bright and the characteristics of their faces are clear. This picture was taken with a professional coloured film camera. Both photos were taken in the 20th century but the last one was taken thirty two years later. Although in the middle 90's technology was advanced enough, it was not as advanced as it is nowadays. In this era photography technology is on its way to change from analogical to digital following the overall technological explosion of the 20th century. |
PATTERN AND STUCTURE
Pattern and Structures are all over around us. In our first lesson in A Level Photography our assignment was to focus on capturing items around the school that display interesting patterns and structures. The items could be in nature such as plants leaves or man made objects or in the school building. The key factor was to display interesting shapes and patterns. I focused on taking pictures of things i usually see every day in the school or in the streets on my way for school.
SLR FILM CAMERA
In this lesson we learned about the film camera and we were thought how to use it. First of all a film camera is a camera that exposes photographic film to light for a few seconds in order to take the picture. It was invented in the late 1800s and since then it is used for a variety of types of photos, artistic and professional. The film that is used in the film camera is a chemical emulsion on a plastic substrate that is photosensitive. When exposed, the scenery is created within the chemical layer of the material.
That is how a film camera looks like :
That is how a film camera looks like :
Our task was to go around and take pictures and experiment with the film cameras that the school provided us. I focused on things i see every day and things in the school environment. Some of them as you can see are a bit dark because i used a smaller shutter speed and the result was the film to be exposed more and so be darker. Below are some examples of my work.
After we took the photos the second and most important step is to develop the film and then print it.
The chemicals we use to process and develop the film are :
- Developer
- Stop Bath
- Rapid fixer
- Hypo Clearing Agent (HCA)
- Photo Flo
PHOTOGRAMS
A photogram is a picture created usually of the shadows of objects without a camera or negative, only with light, Basically for the process we use light-sensitive materials and the chemicals that develop the images.For our assignment we had to collect small objects from our house or our neighbourhood and bring them to the classroom. Them we put placed them over a photo sensitive paper and exposed them for a few seconds. As you can see the thicker the object is the brighter it because not much light passes through it and so the paper is not much exposed.
PINHOLE CAMERA
WHAT IS A PINHOLE CAMERA
- A pinhole camera works on the same principles as camera obscura: a simple optical imaging device in the shape of a closed box . In one of its sides is a small hole through which the light passes and creates an image of the outside space on the opposite side of the box.
- In one of our first lessons our assignment was to create our one hand made pinhole camera and then take picture of objects and structures we liked in the school building. After we took each picture with the pinhole camera we were going into the dark room and processed them with chemicals to make the final outcome.
Pinhole Photos Examples
These are some selfies i took with the pinhole camera. As many people say we are the selfie generation so i decided to stand true to this statement and and a selfie. The left one is the positive one and after as you can see i reversed it in to negative. As you can see its very clear and the characteristics of my face are very clear. That day the sky was cloudy so i had to expose the photographic paper a bit more to have this result. The exposure is about 18-20 seconds.
SLR DIGITAL CAMERA
The digital camera is a camera that transforms digital videos and images digitally and stories them for future use. In this lesson we learned how to use a digital camera and how to take pictures with them. Although most of us are familiar with digital cameras there are some things like shutter speed and aperture that i did not know and many other people, and you can use to have the desirable outcome.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the the measurement of time that the cameras shutter remains open. Its measured in fractions of seconds and the faster the shutter speed the more details the picture will have. If the shutter speed is low the picture will be blurry and unstable. The shutter speed as well as the aperture priority affect the amount of light that reaches the sensor with the result of a darker or brighter picture. Below are some examples of my work where i experiment with my digital camera the shutter speed.
The Balloon Experiment
For this experiment i filled about ten balloon with water and then while my father was holding them i tried to capture them the time the balloon crushed. Only a few of my picture though were successful and i uploaded them below.