Believe it or not, there was once a time when cameras didn’t exist. The technology that today we take for granted, was once the most greatest and inspiring invention ever made. Before the camera, the only way people were able to have a personal photograph of themselves done was to hire a professional painter to paint them while they posed for hours at a time. It was a tedious task but one that had to be done, and at the time it was the only way a person could have something to show for how they looked in the past. Of course hired painters were only for the wealthy and famous, there was no way a common man could ever document himself and his family through a portrait of themselves. Photography has changed and developed in so many ways since it was first created in the early 1800s and has become a widely well known and respected art form of freezing an image or a moment in time to create beautiful and timeless photographs. From the pin-hole to the digital camera, photography has only become easier for people to use, and taking photographs has become a past time. These days’ people take hundreds of photos at a time, since they now have the ability to view and delete, and re-take any photos they don’t like. However looking back, before the technological aspect of the camera was put together, throughout the photographic timeline, there are many different photographers who have skilfully captured so many special moments, and displayed them in the most creative ways.
One of those famous photographers now classified as a master of the art form, was Gyula Halász also known in the world of photography as Brassaї. Gyula Halász was born in September 1899 in Brasso, Hungary, now known as Romania to a Hungarian father and Armenian mother. In h...
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... taken in the moment, all natural, no posing allowed. The only type of photograph he cared for was the motionless pictures, not ones that were taken over and over of the same scene, but he felt that the photos he took would be better if they seemed more accidental, they would be more original and his. His inspiration was the public, and the way they presented themselves to the world. When he set up to take a picture in a cafe, he would wait for people to stop posing the way they felt they should for the camera, but instead waited for them to forget he was there and take the picture of the face they showed the world.
Brassaї had a way of seeing things for the way they are instead of the way other people want them to be seen. People were just people nothing more and nothing less were expected of them because they were beautiful to him just the way they are.
He wore a white button up shirt with black dress pants, a tie, and spotlessly clean shoes. His face lit up as he was looking through the pictures he just took. He faced his camera screen towards me. On the screen I saw silhouettes of people and sailboats with their reflection glistening on the water, as if it was a mirror. After viewing his photographs, you could tell that Paris has a very unique perspective on the world.
During this time he photographed members of high society such as Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn as well as members of the royal family including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. His work portrayed elegance and grace, which he achieved by creat...
Photography has been around for nearly 200 years and has advanced dramatically with the new technology. In 1826, when the first photograph was taken photography was a very basic art form, but soon after photographers figured out how to manipulate their photos. In today’s society, it is almost unheard of to look at photographs that are raw and unedited, but has it always been this way? Dating back to the first photograph in 1826 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, photography seemed to be raw, but only a few decades after those photographers discovered they could alter their photos to make them more appealing (“Harry Ransom Center”). Over the past 200 years photos of all different subjects have been manipulated through history and technology seems to be the culprit.
The essay How You See Yourself by Nicholas Mirzoeff discusses the evolution of art. The author discusses the use of art to represent changing identities over the years including cultural practices and societal expectations. The selfie, according to Nicholas Mirzoeff’s essay, is the equivalent of a self-portrait in the previous centuries preceding the technological development required for the present day selfie. The essay explores the different periods and the significance of art, particularly self-portraits, the selfies of the time, and their development over time. The author focuses on different themes including heroism, gender definition, and the focus of an image. Mirzoeff effectively provides examples illustrating and reinforcing the themes he highlights in his essay.
Masters. With his small hand camera he unobtrusively photographed people’s lives around the world. He was solely responsible for bridging the gap between photojournalism and art. He has published more than a dozen books of his work. The greatest museums in the world have shown his work.
Demachy was a Pictorialist photographer who’s photography work was quite diverse, by demonstrating unique art such as street scene and portraits and figure studies moreover focusing artistic quality, emotional impact of the image rather than what is actually in front of the camera and m as well as writing books regarding Pictorialism photography (Robert Leggat 1995).
...e and now. By depicting himself in his work it’s as if he is saying this is who I am, take it or leave it, or in his own words “If you want to see me, you will see me as I am, and that self is thoroughly an artist, I will take on no second self that poses generically to keep with some tradition.” (Source?)
...el through time and show newer generations of the events of the past and the rich history of a particular country. With the use of all the technology over the years, photography has now become a major part of everyday life and the photographer behind the camera.
As seen in paintings of battle scenes and portraits of wealthy Renaissance aristocracy, people have always strived to preserve and document their existence. The creation of photography was merely the logical continuum of human nature’s innate desire to preserve the past, as well as a necessary reaction to a world in a stage of dramatic and irreversible change. It is not a coincidence that photography arose in major industrial cities towards the end of the nineteenth century.
Photography is a part of almost everyone's everyday life whether it is through a smartphone, laptop, or professional camera. Before the late 1800s, though, even a simple picture was not possible. Although many people worked hard and put their ideas and inventions of new cameras in the world, Louis Daguerre is among one of the most important. Michael Hart, in his book, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, ranks Daguerre as the 47th most influential person in the world. This ranking is appropriate because of the many ways his invention influenced today's world. His technique was practical and widely used in the 1800s. Although his methods are different
Born to Nettie Lee Smith and Bill Smith on December 18, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas was William Eugene Smith, who would later revolutionize photography. His mother Nettie was into photography, taking photos of her family, especially her two sons as they grew up, photographing events of their lives (Hughes 2). Photography had been a part of Smith’s life since he was young. At first it started out always being photographed by his mother, and then turned into taking photographs along with his friend Pete, as he got older. They often practiced developing photos in Nettie’s kitchen, and he later began to create albums with his photographs. His photographs diff...
Jose de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, in the year 1746, in Fuendetodos, a small village in northern Spain. At the age of fourteen he became an apprentice for a local artist, Jose Luzan. Later he traveled to Madrid where he took interest in the last of the great Venetian painters. After attempting and failing to enroll in the Royal Academy of San Fernando, Goya then traveled to Rome, Italy. Then on to Sagossa in 1771 where he painted fresco in several local churches, establishing a reputation.
When going for a walk, a person takes in the beauty around them. On this particular day, the refulgent sun is extra bright, making the sky a perfect blue. White, puffy clouds fill the sky, slowing moving at their own pace. The wind is peacefully calm, making the trees stand tall and proud. There is no humidity in the air. As this person walks down the road, they see a deer with her two fawns. The moment is absolutely beautiful. Moments like this happen only once in a great while, making us wanting to stay in the particular moment forever. Unfortunately, time moves on, but only if there were some way to capture the day’s magnificence. Thanks to Joseph Niépce, we can now capture these moments and others that take our breath away. The invention of the camera and its many makeovers has changed the art of photography.
Camera History.The first camera like devices can be seen as far back as Ancient Greece and China. This piece of early technology was called the Obscura, the invention of this was an important part in developing cameras and photography. A camera Obscura is a dark closed space that is shaped like a box with a hole on the other side of it. The light that comes through the tiny hole projects an image that meets the wall of the box. The image was then drawn by an artist; however, the image was projected upside down.
Photography has created an outlet for the masses to story tell. It has a way of speaking without words like most art forms and is a manner of expression in itself. To eradicate photography from humans would be equivalent to taking away a limb from humankind. Our society has grown an immense amount of dependency on it. Photography has become almost a daily menial task such as brushing your teeth; where we must take pictures of the things we deem important or equally unimportant, even more so with the invention of social media outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat, where photography is the main source of communication between people who use them. Susan Sontag offers the basis of what taking pictures can undertake in both our daily lives and moments that are not part of our daily lives, such as travel. Traveling to places where one is not accustomed can flare pent up anxiety. A way to subdue that anxiety could be through taking pictures, since it’s the only factor that we have total control over in a space where we don’t have much, or, any control of our surrounding environment. On the other hand, taking photos can also be a tool of power in the same sense as it allows for it to be a defense against anxiety. With the camera in our hands, we have the power to decide who, what, where, when, and why we take a picture. This in turn also gives the person who took the picture power over those who later analyze the photos, letting them decide the meaning of the photo individually, despite the intended or true meaning.