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Essays on history of photography
Essays on history of photography
Essays on history of photography
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Alfred Stieglitz
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Alfred Stieglitz was an influential photographer who spent his life fighting for the recognition of photography as a valid art form. He was a pioneering photographer, editor and gallery owner who played pivotal role in defining and shaping modernism in the United States. (Lowe 23). He took pictures in a time when photography was considered as only a scientific curiosity and not an art. As the controversy over the art value of photography became widespread, Stieglitz began to fight for the recognition of his chosen
medium. This battle would last his whole life.
Edward Stieglitz, father of Alfred, was born in Germany in 1833. He grew up on a farm, loved nature, and was an artist at heart. Legend has it that, independent and strong willed, Edward Stieglitz ran away from home at the age of sixteen because his mother insisted on upon starching his shirt after he had begged her not to (Lowe 23). Edward would later meet Hedwig Warner and they would have their first son, Alfred. Alfred was the first of six born to his dad Edward and mom Hedwig. As a child Alfred was remembered as a boy with thick black hair, large dark eyes, pale fine skin,
a delicately modeled mouth with a strong chin (Peterson 34). In 1871 the
Stieglitz family lived at 14 East 60th street in Manhattan. No buildings stood
between Central Park and the Stieglitz family home. As Stieglitz got older
he started to show interest in photography, posting every photo he could
find on his bedroom wall. It wasn't until he got older that his photography
curiosity begin to take charge of his life.
Stieglitz formally started photography at the age of nineteen, during his first
years at the Berlin Polytechnic School. At this time photography was in its
infancy as an art form. Alfred learned the fine arts of photography by
watching a local photographer in Berlin working in the store's dark room.
After making a few pictures of his room and himself, he enrolled in a
photochemistry course. This is where his photography career would begin.
His earliest public recognition came from England and Germany. It began in
1887 when Stieglitz won the first of his many first prizes in a competition.
The judge who gave him the award was Dr. P.H. Emerson, then the most
widely known English advocate of photography as an art (Doty 23). Dr.
Emerson later wrot...
... middle of paper ...
...raphers.
At the turn of the century, a new class of creative individuals, called painter-
photographer emerged. This group fulfilled Stieglitz' s dream for pictorial
photography. Its presence provided the movement with individuals who
were trained in the established arts and who legitimized the
artistic claims of pictorial photography by the fact that they were willing to
use the photographic medium. The very term painter photographer was
made up in reference to Frank Eugene who worked simultaneously with
Stieglitz in media for a decade. Eugene attended a German fine arts
academy, and painted theatrical portraits of the United States. In 1889 he
mounted a solo exhibition of pictorial photographs at the Camera Club of
New York, which, pointedly, was reviewed in Camera Notes as painting
photography (Norman 23).
In conclusion Stieglitz's fight for photography developed into new ideas for
future generations. He continued to make his own experiments and to
defend the work of others also breaking new ground. The magazines he
edited, like the galleries he founded, swiftly became dynamic points of
contact between artist and public and a battleground for new ideas.
For Emerson, the reticent beauty of nature was the motivator. To him, photography should be recognized because its still-life beauty was able to persuade the public’s appreciation of the life and nourishment
Gary Winogrand’s photography career began when a friend introduced him to it in 1948 while taking painting classes at Columbia University. After Winogrand’s first exposure to the darkroom, he abandoned painting and “never looked back.” Winogrand became extremely emerged in photography and felt that nothing else in life mattered. He dropped out of college to pursue his passion. Earning an average of ninety cents per week, he had a difficult yet determined beginning. Winogrand did not concern himself with issues that were affecting society and therefore did not always appeal to the mass public. Winogrand’s long and successfully debatable career experienced many turns and obstacle that ultimately led him to become one of the most noted photographers of the late twentieth century.
In The Photographer’s Eyes, John Szarkowski focused on issues that encompass the art of photography. The five issues are: The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time, and the Vantage Point. “These issues do not define discrete categories of work; on the contrary they should be regarded as interdependent aspects of a single problem…”
Susan Sontag said photographs sends across the harmlessness and helplessness of the human life steering into their own ruin. Furthermore the bond connecting photography with departure from life tortures the human race. (Sontag 1977:64)
Corruption and abuse have been cancerous hallmarks of Haiti’s political system and leaders. Until recently, power switched hands quickly and brutally as dictators faced assassinations, coups, and international interference. The instability of political roulette has made it difficult to accomplish or establish any social, economic, or environmental plans or policies. Racism is a rampant residual from the colonial era. Wealth and power are controlled by the mulatto elite and little concern or regard is shown for the poor. Few social programs have been created to assist the poor as resources are diverted away from communities and into the hungry pockets of the corrupt. Differences in languages and religions also echo the past. The ruling class speaks French and is predominately Roman Catholic while the majority of Haitians speak the slave language of Creole and practice the voudon (voodoo) religion. The focus of power resides in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Rural communities are ignored and struggle to survive by farming. During the colonial era, much of Haiti’s land was deforested to accommodate sprawling plantations. Wood is also used in the building of homes and as a primary fuel. The removal of trees caused severe erosion and the loss of the nutrient topsoil which washed into the ocean, impacting marine life and fishing. Farmers have moved to Port-au-Prince to seek employment. The desperate
Some of Sontag’s comments relate to Barthes and Benjamin. Modernism was a term that they used to alter and hide the social and nature uses of photography. Sontag relates to Barthes by how photography is always most often a representation of something. That of which has to do with ethics. Along with how photography is growing and becoming more industrial with technology.
The world has many photographers that anyone can look at. You can call me an amateur or say I don’t really understand the art but when I look at most of the pictures available, and I have looked at thousands lately, I don’t see anything different in the style of photography. I just see pictures. I see pictures of beautiful subjects and pictures of ugly subjects. I never really thought about the difference being the photographer instead of the subject, until I saw Elliott Erwitt.
Even after the plentiful aid that Haiti has received, it is still currently struggling to rebuild itself, hurricane Sandy also set this back with food shortages and cholera outbreaks. It is one of the extreme cases of relying on aid. Corruption takes place in this as all the aid does not reach the people, around 75% of the aid money has been said to be distributed to non-governmental organizations, as a result, many people still live In poverty to this day and some still in tents. Many areas still need to be rebuilt. There are problems in the sanitation and water also. The aid money was not used wisely and due to this the people of Haiti is struggling. (Haiti One Year Later, Pagget, Haiti Continues to Struggle).
"A photograph is not merely a substitute for a glance. It is a sharpened vision. It is the revelation of new and important facts." ("Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History."). Sid Grossman, a Photo League photographer expressed this sentiment, summarizing the role photography had on America in the 1940’s and 50’s. During this era, photojournalism climaxed, causing photographers to join the bandwagon or react against it. The question of whether photography can be art was settled a long time ago. Most major museums now have photography departments, and the photographs procure pretty hefty prices. The question of whether photojournalism or documentary photography can be art is now the question at hand. Art collectors are constantly looking to be surprised; today they are excited by images first seen in last week’s newspapers as photojournalism revels in the new status as art “du jour” or “reportage art”.
When looking at the influence of the reign of Queen Victoria it is almost impossible not to look at the birth of photography. In a book written by Getty Museum Curator Anne Lyden, Victoria’s influence on photography is looked at intently, from her first time encounter with the new technology to her famous Diamond Jubilee portrait. Victoria was able to use this new technology from a young age in a way that it would take years to become main-stream. That photography was not just an artistic medium but was an instrument of propaganda. (Lyden, 2014)
In this country, we do not currently have federal laws regulating street sex work. However, forty-nine states have laws on the books that identify street and in...
...These residents are drawn by the increasing demand for service-oriented businesses ranging from restaurants to law firms and by the employment that is preserved in sectors like manufacturing. The report also finds that immigrants are boosting civic engagement through participating in their communities and in the military while creating American jobs through entrepreneurship. The Brookings Institution recently described the 10 traits of globally fluent metropolitan areas, one of which is “opportunity and appeal to the world,” where metro areas are “magnets to attract global investment, new businesses, skilled workers, entrepreneurs, immigrants, foreign students, tourists, and/or business travelers from around the world.” See The Brookings Institute, is looking at this from virtue ethics view, when what is better for the greater good when it comes to the individual.
Tagg, John. 1988. The Burden of Representation. Essays on Photographies and Histories. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
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This scenario is played out every single minute in the United States. Potentially highly qualified individuals are immediately dismissed because of their past mistakes. That is why it is imperative for the United States Legislature to pass a law that would prohibit potential employers from asking an applicant about their convictions until after the initial application process.