The beginning of photography history

The Spirit of Photography is one of my masterpieces in the history of photography. It is an extension of the BBC documentary of the same name. Compared with other history books, it has a light angle, instead of plunging into photography, it starts with the relationship between photography and technology, politics and economy, and puts the development of photography in the background of social times and human survival (as can be seen from its subtitle: how photography has changed our lives). In addition, the part of this book about modern and contemporary photography is a little richer than other photography history books, which is one of the reasons why I chose it as a self-study textbook of photography history.

The first chapter mainly talks about the development of photography in the hundred years from the invention of photography in 1839 to the end of modernism photography in 1930.

1, three methods

The history of photography began in 1839, but it is still inconclusive who invented photography first. It can be roughly divided into two parts-French Daguerre and British Talbot, who invented two kinds of photography in 1839 respectively.

Daguerre silver plate method has only one image at a time, which cannot be copied, but the image is clear and detailed.

Talbot's silver iodide method can print photos repeatedly every time you get a paper negative, but the image is blurred.

18 years later, 1857, a man named archer combined the advantages of these two methods and invented the wet glass printing method, also called "collodion method". Get a negative every time you shoot, and you can print and print photos repeatedly, and the images are clear. Very close to our current understanding of photography.

2. Two roads

Daguerre's silver plate method and Talbot's silver iodide method have divided two paths for the development of photography aesthetics-clear mechanical eyes and hazy picturesque beauty.

From the perspective of imaging, Daguerre's silver plate method is the most important feature and advantage that distinguishes photography from other imaging arts.

However, Talbot's silver iodide method has blurred images, but it has developed a kind of "hazy beauty" and a kind of "picturesque" aesthetics from this shortcoming. There is a tendency to be divorced from reality from subject matter and technique. Close to painting tradition, romance, obscurity, moral implication, religious theme, etc.

3, it is widely used

The wet printing method of glass invented by 1857 mentioned above combines two most important advantages of photography: clear imaging and repeatable printing. The combination of these two important attributes promotes the wider application of photography. Roger Fenton used it to record wars, Gustav Le Gray used it to photograph seascapes, and other scientists used it to study mental illness and criminals (later became pseudoscience), so portrait business cards became widely popular.

Wet printing of glass was popular for less than 30 years, until george eastman obtained the patent of "dry printing" in 1880. Photographers no longer need to take pictures in "darkroom" tents.

Not everyone has heard of the name george eastman, but everyone knows the Kodak Company he founded later. 1888, "Kodak 1" entered the market. This is a "portable" camera, which looks like a small Mu box. Only 20 dollars, factory pre-installed 100 negatives. After shooting, send it back to Kodak to be developed into photos. You must have heard the classic slogan "Just press the shutter and leave the rest to us".

This small camera can be said to have changed the direction of photography history and pointed out the most important driving force for the development of photography aesthetics. The next note continues to complete the rest of the first chapter of "The Spirit of Photography": moving towards daily photography.