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History of Photography Timeline |
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 (3rd 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 (3rd 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
1913 Stieglitz waxed his prints for a Òglossy surfaceÓ, something
that was earlier considered to be ÒunartisticÓ.
Alvin Langdon Coburn starts shooting abstract photos (strange perspectives used e.g. birdÕs
eye views looking straight down from many feet up), and then created
an optical devise based on the kaliedescope to create his images
Vogue magazine began publishing fashion photographs by Baron Andolphe de Meyer. He founded
a style in which the elegance of fashions is displayed with photographic
feeling for textures.
1915 Andrew Kertesz was
one of the first photographers to start taking sensitive, unposed photographs
of people in their surroundings
1916 Pictorial Photographers of America founded
1918 Christian SchadÕs Dadaist
abstractions made photographically without a camera
1920Õs StieglitzÕs ÒequivalentsÓ are the first photographic
abstraction photos (mostly of the sky and clouds, also a meadow glistening
with raindrops, a womanÕs hands pressed palm to palm between her knees). The camera is able to Òsieze upon the
familiarÓ and Òendow it with new meanings, with special significance,
with the imprint of a personality.Ó
Photographers begain to experiment with Òcanted anglesÓ and playing
with perspective looking up and down at buildings or using strange angles
in general to record scenes (ones we would normally never view the world
from)
Double exposures also experimented with (e.g. Alexander RodchenkoÕs Portrait of Alexander 1924)
Experimentation with the negative image (printed using ÒsolarizationÓ
to create an Òedge reversalÓ effect. ÒThe unreality of the negative throws emphasis upon shapes and
contours not usually seen.
Texture is created in the normally transparent gelatin emulsion
of the film but subjecting it to rapid temperature
changes causing reticulation,
a net like structure, or the gelatin is melted so the image droops and
sags.
Photographs are pasted together to form striking collages (coined from the French verb coller meaning Òto glueÓ.). During the Third Reich, Heartfield used collage (photomontage)
to make biting political statements
Photographs and text started being used together extensively
in magazines (especially initially in Germany). In this decade and the 1930Õs, The way photographs and text were
integrated with each other came to be called photojournalism. The minature cameras with
high speed lenses were designed to create images that brought the viewer
into the scene.
1921 Man Ray (an American
Painter in Paris) and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (a Hungarian painter working in Berlin) begin to create their rayographs and photograms
1923 Edward Steichen joined the staff of Conde Naste. He shot fashion photographs and portraits
of celebrities that were published regularly in Vogue and Vanity Fair.
1924 The Ernox (the Ermanox) camera with an incredibly fast lens of f.2 came onto the
market allowing widespread Òexisting lightÓ photography. Lens speeds soon increased to f 1.5 and shutter speeds on these
cameras were as fast as 1/1000 of a second
First Leica put
on the market with a 50mm f3.5 lens. Shortly afterward a model that allowed the lens to be easily
changed while shooting
1925 The flashbulb is patented by Paul Vierkotter to replace flash powder (noisy and smoky
stuff)
1926 National Geographic staff photographer Charles Martin
and scientist W.H. Longley make first natural-color underwater pictures.
1928 Erich Salomon (of Berlin)
is the first to capitalize on this ÒmiraculousÓ camera (the Leica) by using it to capture natural, unposed candid photographs (the term coined by an English editor) of important dignitaries and
statesmen without the distraction and inconvenience of a blinding flash
and acrid smoke. Previously, all portraits of this type
had been posed.
1929 Rollieflex introduced. It used larger film than the Leica with
12 2.25Ó square exposures on each roll. It was a smaller and more compact revival of the twin lens reflex
camera of the 1890Õs
The
flashbulb is perfected by J. Ostermeier. It is almost immediately adopted by photojournalists
1930Õs Ansel Adams (arguably the greatest Òstraight photographerÓ
of all time, or at least its greatest pioneer) begins to devote all
his time to photography. His prints were made to be reproduced using
the halftone process
Adams invents the Òzone systemÓ for calculating exposures, and
to master the photographic medium through the interrelation of the sensitivity
of the negative material, the amount of exposure, the brightness of
the subject, and development variables chosen.
This (combined with the use of a light meter) eliminates guesswork
on the part of the photographer re: exposures.
Weegee (New York news photographer) used flash photography
to create images that reach into the field of social caricature.
Bernice Abbot begins
setting out to capture portraits of New York City (its spirit, its essence).
The ÒdarknessÓ of the Depression greatly influenced the work
of artists. ÒDocumentaryÓ motion picture filmmaking became common: contrasting
entertainment productions, these films were rooted in real problems
and real situations with real participants. It was vehemently defended as Ònot artÓ because art was thought
to be something beautiful. Documentary was Òanti-aestheticÓ
Photographers started using their still cameras to record the
world in a similar way.
Stefan Lorant pioneered
the photo essay in European picture magazines, and later in America
ÒA sign photographed as an object carries more impact than the literal transcription
of the words it bearsÓ. Ð Beaumont
Newhall, The History of Photography on the topic of Documentary photography.
The
portrait studio (in a fixed location) becomes obsolete and photographers
(including Yosef Karsh) travel with their lights and large format cameras
to shoot portraits on location in the homes and offices etc. of their
subjects.
1930 Melville Bell Grosvenor makes first published natural-color
aerial photographs for National Geographic
1931 Hine photographed the construction
of the Empire State Building risking his own life, documenting the workers
risking their lives.
1932 Zeiss Ikon released the Contax camera to compete with the Leica. It was a ragefinder with through the
viewfinder focusing.
Photojournalists
were the first to widely use these cameras. They freed the photographer even further re: recording strange
angles and segments of the flow of life
The
first photoelectric cell light meter is introduced
Henri Cartier-Bresson buys his first Leica
1933 Henri Cartier-BressonÕs work was first shown in the Julien
Levy Gallery in NYC. It was initially called Òantigraphic photographyÓ. They were so spontaneous they seemed accidental. He showed the Òunreality of realityÓ. He was able to capture the split second when the subject revealed
itself most fleetingly but deeply
The great early period of European photojournalism collapsed
under Hitler.
1934 Fuji Photo Film founded.
1935 The U.S. government turned to documentary photographers
for help fighting the Depression. The Farm Security Administration enlisted photographers to
document their activities and the lives and situations of the dust bowl
farmers. Walker Evans is one of the first photographers to be hired for this
purpose. Dorothea Lange followed, moved by the poverty and breadlines she saw
outside her San Francisco studio. These images alerted the FSA to her skills and landed her an
invitation to join the project.
1936 The first issue of Life Magazine appears on newsstands (a publication designed
to Òharness
the optical consciousness of our timeÓ). This magazine differed
from past photography magazines in how the photos were carefully chosen
and sequenced by the editorsÉ it was about the Òmind guided cameraÓ. Issues are published weekly
The most dramatic and telling photographs of World War II were
made by magazine photographers or under their influence. Life ran a school for army photographers and
sent its own photographers to the front.
Kodachrome, the first multi-layered colour film is developed by
Kodak
1937 Margaret Bourek-White of time magazine is one of the first photographers to make use of the
multiple sync flash technique. Photographers had true and complete control
over the lighting in their shots for the first time (to sculpt their
subjects or only illuminate certain things or generate enough light
for comfortable, posed photographs).
The first major disaster was captured by photography as it happened: The Hindenberg Zeppelin was photographed as it burst
into flames, photos that are still very moving and memorable today.
Chester Carlson invents "electron photography,"
which later comes to be known as xerography,
or simply photocopying.
1938 Electronic flash technology
is born (replacing flashbulbs that can only be used once) when Harold
E. Edgerton of MIT invented the gas filled tube
Images recorded with these ÒstrobesÓ forever fixed image
forms never detected by unaided human eye (e.g. EdgertonÕs A Drum Majorette at the Belmont, Massachussetts,
High School Twirling a Baton 1948)
Fuji is manufacturing cameras and lenses (in addition to film)
1941 Kodacolor negative film introduced
1945 Nikon F SLR introduced
followed by the Contax S SLR
First photo of an atomic mushroom cloud released to the public by the US Air Force. Nothing like it had ever
been seen before. It was
shocking because of the broader perspective of the damage inflicted
by the war.
1946 Zoomar introduces the zoom lens, the invention of American Frank Back.
1947 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David Seymour
start the photographer-owned Magnum picture agency
1948 Hasselblad offers the first medium format SLR camera
Pentax in Japan introduces the automatic diaphragm
(post WWII)
1949 East German Zeiss develops the Contax S, first SLR with an unreversed image in a pentaprism
viewfinder
1950Õs Richard Avedon shoots
his trademark portraits of people with stark white backgrounds
Television changes the way information is transmitted. Documentary (films & photography) begins to lose its impetus in
an organizational sense and becomes muddled and merged with photojournalism,
especially the factual reports broadcast by television. ÒrealisticÓ, ÒhistoricalÓ and ÒfactualÓ
are terms used to substitute for documentary, but doc is about a deeply
subjective & respectful interpretation.
1951 David Douglas DuncanÕs
book This is War! Containing
images of the Korean war was published.
1953 (December) First issue of Playboy magazine published (undated because Heffner never believed heÕd be allowed
to publish another). Never before had nude pictures been successfully
sent through the mail as a mainstream commercial venture. The Marilyn
Monroe photos, which appeared in playboy's first issue, had existed long before hefner got his hands on them, but nobody
had dared challenge the
powerful U.S. post office and its anti-obscenity regulations.
1954 Eastman introduces the first high speed Tri-X film
First issue of Sports Illustrated appears on newsstands in August
1955 Robert Frank travels
the US on a Guggenheim scholarship to photograph post-war America and
Americans. With a 35mm camera he documents outings,
parades, automobiles, filling stations, billboards, roadside bars, the
lonely desert highway. The images are bleak, showing very little to
celebrate. They are loose
and contrast with the balanced and elegant images of Cartier-Bresson.
Frank wanted to create images that reflected stark realism however unpleasant
or uncommon.
1957 Lennart Nilsson begins
using an endoscope to photograph the inside of the human body. His most provocative image was the first ever photograph of a
human fetus in the womb. At first, no one was able to believe this image
was a real photograph. Once
proven and published in life magazine it becomes the image of choice
for Òpro-lifersÓ in the abortion debate.
1959 Nikon F introduced
Color photographs begin to regularly appear on the cover of National
Geographic
1960Õs Diane Arbus begins
photographing portraits of freaks and people from the fringes of society. This work was recognized in the 1970Õs as work representing
the ÒnewÓ documentary style
Duane Michels rejects
the Òstraight photographicÓ styles popularized by Ansel Adams and Robert
Frank and uses photography to interpret the world in a unique surreal
way, as a means of expression of his feelings about the world instead
of documentation of it. He creates art for his own exploration,
not to shock audiencies, please critics or for consumerism.
Robert Heinecken (referred to as a ÒphotographistÓ as opposed to a photographer) began to use photography's
"illusion of reality" to address Issues related to the popular
media, consumerism, common sexual concerns of the 1960s, and the Vietnam
War. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp and John Heartfield, his collages
juxtaposing disparate photographs from fashion and popular magazines
made extraordinary, satirical statements about the values of contemporary
society and the messages being pumped-out to the masses. He is quoted
as saying: ÒMany pictures turn out to be limp translations of the known
world instead of vital objects which create an intrinsic world of their
own. There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making
a photographÓ. He has taught
many students and pushed them to push the boundaries of photography.
He is one of the pioneers of digital photographic manipulation.
Jerry Uelsmann the master of photo montage creates fantastically impossible
surreal images by seamlessly combining elements from various negatives
onto one print. His goal
is to constantly amaze himself. His creative technique is Òpost-visualizationÓ, meaning a willingness
to revisualize the final image at any point in the creative process.
1960 EG&G develops the first extreme depth underwater
camera for the US Navy
1963 Land introduced the Polaroid color camera. Color photographs were developed in 50 seconds.
Kodak introduces the Instamatic line, the first point-and-shoot
cameras.
1962 National Geographic publishes its first all-colour issue in February
1966 Larry Burrows was
the first important photographer to photograph an entire war in colour
(as he photographed the Vietnam war).
1967 Debut of Rolling Stone magazine (and in-turn, the beginnings of the Òcelebrity
photographerÓ e.g. Annie Leibovitch, photographers and photojournalists who not only shoot
celebrities, but become celebrities in their own right).
1968 The Earthrise photograph by astronaut William Anders inspired
contemplation of our fragile existence and our place in the universe.
The term Òspaceship earthÓ was coined, and Earth Day (and related movements/events
to conserve resources etc.) was born. The late adventure photographer
Galen Rowell called it Òthe most influential environmental photograph
ever taken.Ó
Sonia Landy Sheridan is one of the first to exploit the creative potential of black and
white photocopy machines. Just as exposure, processing temperature and other
variables affect photographic images, light source, dyes, electrostatics,
magnetics and other factors affect photocopier output. As she began
taking copiers apart, exploring how they made images and identifying
the ones most useful to artists, Sonia Sheridan discovered still-imaging,
graphic capabilities that went far beyond their original purpose. For
Sheridan and her students at the Art Institute of Chicago, photocopiers
eventually became just one device in a larger system of image-making
tools that would include video, computers and sound.
1969 The Vietnam war was brought closer to civilians than
any other conflict before it by courageous photographers and TV cameramen. This was the most graphic photographic
representation of the horrors of war (the wounded, the dying, and the
dead) in history.
George Smith and Willard
Boyle invented the charge-coupled
device (CCD), the image sensor
thatÕs the heart of all digital
cameras, at Bell Labs. Smith and Boyle were attempting to create a new
kind of semiconductor memory
for computers. At the same time they were looking for a way to develop a solid-state camera for use in video
phones. It took just an
hour for them to sketch out the CCDÕs basic structure, define the concept of its operation, and outline the applications
for which it would be best
suited.
The Internet is created
as ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the U.S. Department
of Defense. The network was designed to break information into separate
packets and send the packets over various routes from computer to computer,
rerouting the information as necessary to circumvent the breakdown or
failure of parts of the system. In the first year, there were four host
computers connecting Stanford, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, and the University
of Utah.
1970Õs Robert Mappelthorpe begins shooting flowers, portraits, and nudes exploring his homosexuality
in a very controversial way. He was sometimes even banned from exhibitions
Robert Adams (no
relation to Ansel) and Lewis Baltz begin to record the devastating imprint of man on our planet through
ironic but beautiful landscapes (no doubt inspired by the 1968 earthrise
photo)
1970 Smith and Boyle built the CCD into the world's first solid-state video camera.
1972 110-format cameras introduced by Kodak with a 13x17mm
frame
Nick UT shoots his
iconic Pullitzer Prize winning photograh of Kim Phuc running through
napalm dropped by the US army
Life magazine
ceases publication
1973 C-41 color negative process introduced, replacing C-22
1974 The first imaging CCD was manufactured by Fairchild Electronics with a format of 100x100 pixels
1975 Nicholas Nixon takes his first annual photograph of his
wife and her sisters: "The Brown
Sisters"
The first
CCD TV cameras were ready
for use in commercial broadcasts
The first
CCD flatbed scanner was introduced
by Kurzweil Computer Products using the first CCD integrated chip, a 500 sensor linear array from Fairchild.
1976 Major amendments to U.S. copyright law as it applies
to photographs and other intellectual property.
1978 Life magazine
returns as a monthly publication
1980Õs A system called DX coding was introduced for 35mm films. The cassettes have
an auto-sensing code printed on them which enable certain cameras to
automatically set the film speed, this information can also be
used by processing laboratories.
Barbara Kruger appropriates
existing photographs, adds on contradictory or ambiguous comments, advertising
slogans or fragments of vaguely familiar popular wisdom then displays
the works in giant sizes (8Õx12Õ or more)
Musical Bands begin
imposing Òfirst three songs onlyÓ rules on credentialed concert photographers
as common practice (previously, credentialed photographers were permitted
to shoot the entire show if they chose).
1980 Sony demonstrates the first consumer video camcorder
1981 Sony demonstrates Mavica "still video" camera which recorded images as magnetic impulses
on a compact two-inch still-video floppy disk.
The images were captured on the disk by using two CCD (charge-coupled device) chips. One chip
stored luminance information
and the other separately recorded the chrominance information. This
camera provided a 720,000-pixel image. The images could be stored on the floppy disk either in Frame or Field mode. When
the photographer selected
the Frame mode, the sensor recorded each picture on two tracks. Up to 25 images could be recorded on each disk.
The internet expands further as several academic institutions formed BITNET,
a wide-area network to serve [102] the academic community.
1983 Kodak introduces Disc camera, using an 8x11mm frame (the same as in the Minox spy
camera). In one way or another, these Disc cameras formed the basis
for digital imaging as
they are not entirely considered as conventional film-based cameras.
1984 Canon demonstrated the first Òdigital stillÓ camera
Steve
McCurry shoots his iconic photo of the ÒAfghan girlÓ which is
published on the cover of National Geographic. She becomes one of the most famous faces in the world, but
no one knows her name or anything about her (and she had no idea any
of this is happening). He
unsuccessfully searches for her on subsequent trips to Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
On
the impact of this image: ÒClearly she has become a symbol that National Geographic
has used to illustrate the circumstances of refugees like her, and many
people have inquired about her," he said. "She stood for an
entire group of refugees, not just Afghan refugees. She has helped us
with our mission of educating people about other cultures and regionsÑand
she's helping us again by drawing attention to the lives of Afghan women
and girls in general.Ó Ð Boyd Matson, host of
the National Geographic Television show
1985 Minolta markets the world's first autofocus SLR system
(called "Maxxum" in the US). This is a significant advancement that starts a new debate over
whether it is still necessary to be skilled in the mechanics of photography
(f stops and depth of field, shutter speed, focusing skills etc.) now
that cameras are equipt to do all the technical thinking for us, freeing
us to concentrate on our creativity and vision.
1986 Fuji introduces the Quicksnap, a disposable camera that
revisits the original Kodak principle: the user sends the camera into
the manufacturer, which then develops the film.
Kodak invents the world's first megapixel
sensor,
capable of recording 1.4 million
pixels that could produce a 5 x 7-inch digital output in print.
1990 Adobe releases Photoshop 1.0, an image manipulation program for Apple Macintosh computers
John Lund is one of the first commercial photographers to us Photoshop
and fully integrate digital imaging into his work.
Kodak DCS 120 is the first ever professional digital SLR camera with
a resolution of 1.3 MP. It featured ISO speeds of 100, 200, 400, 800,* and 1600* in color or ISO 200, 400, 800,
1600* and 3200* in B&W. It had no LCD screen, and a separate (and
very bulky) unit had to be purchased in order to view the images on
site. It was astronomically
priced at over $25,000 US and its usefulness was limited. A few photographers made the mistake of trading in their old
film cameras at this (and other premature stages Ð pre D1X/1Ds) and
financially ruined themselves. These sky high priced early pro SLRs became Òworthless paperweightsÓ
within an alarmingly short time.
Kodak
announced the development of its Photo CD system. The system provided an advantage of enabling digitized
images for playing on television screens, and the company proposed a
worldwide standard for defining color in the digital environment of
computers and computer
peripherals. This has in a way led to many possibilities in commercial
applications for digital imaging.
The internet evolves
further: After ARPANet and
various other networks had connected over 300,000 host computers, ARPANet
was decommissioned as a project of the Department of Defense and allowed
to develop as a civilian enterprise. The World was the first commercial
service provider for the Internet, allowing individual subscribers to connect their computers to the
system by telephone dial-up.
1993 NCSA releases the first
WWW browser
Apple Quicktake digital camera announced (developed jointly with Kodak).
It was the first consumer level digital camera It boasts 640x480 (0.3 MP) resolution, a built-in flash,
and could store 8 photos in its internal memory. It connected to an
Apple Macintosh computer via a serial cable. It was Ònot intended to
replace filmÓ and is notorious for devouring AA battery power quickly.
1992 Kodak releases Photo CD, the first method available to the public for storing digital images
JPEG,
a compression becomes standard for storing and sending photographic
images over the Internet, is described in a paper published in "IEEE
Transactions on Consumer Electronics."
The number of host computers connected to the internet
surpasses one million
1994 Netscape introduces their WWW browser called Navigator
1995 Kodak announces the release of their fourth generation
professional digital SLR, the DCS 460,
a 6.2 megapixel camera with an ISO sensitivity of 80. It used the N90s (Nikon) body as a base. Its original list price: $12,000 US
1996 The short-lived APS format film was introduced
Microsoft releases their WWW browser called Internet Explorer
Working conditions
for photojournalists (pay,
benefits, job security etc.) continue to erode.
From the digitaljournalist.com: ÒIn
order to ÒsaveÓ the Jersey Journal (a dying local publication ignored by new demographic of nouveau rich
moving into the community, the Newspaper Guild (the paper is the last
Guild shop in New Jersey) accepted demands from the owners, Advance
Publications, that it redefine its position on interns: hiring entry-level
reporters at low salaries with no benefits.
The pay scale for those new recruits was $362.32 a week, or about $217
less than they would receive as starting reporters. The gap between
the intern pay scale and the top-level newspeople was over $400 per
week. In addition, the interns faced a nine-month "tryout"
period before being considered for a staff position. Then, facing another
six-month probationary period until they were entitled to a beginning
reporter salary of $534.86.Ó
1997 Pentax introduces 645N, the world's first autofocus medium format film
SLR
Digimarc introduces its digital watermarking system to track
and protect photographic images (jpegs) on the internet.
1998
The first consumer level megapixel
cameras are introduced
Kodak DCS 520 professional digital SLR released using a Canon body and (for the
first time in a pro digital SLR?) an LCD allowing the user to view photos
immediately after they are taken.
The United States of America has nearly 50 Million internet users.
Sonny
Bono Term Extension Act brought
the statutory term of copyrighted works in the U.S.A. to life plus seventy
years for works by known individual authors, and up to 120 years from
creation for "works made for hire" -- works created by employees
in the course of their employment.
Digital
Millenium Act introduced addressing
new needs for protection of intellectual property in the digital age
Picture Desk International (a stock agency run by photographers) is founded by a group of experienced
independent news photographers who felt that the traditional agencies
and wire services no longer provided a secure or professional environment
for independent photojournalists and documentary photographers.
1999 Seth Resnick founds E.P. (Editorial Photographers), an organization
and online (internet) community for freelance editorial photographers.
The message board on Yahoo! Groups became active on April 11th.
By 2004 membership grows to almost 4,000 photographers worldwide
EPUK (Editoral
Photographers for the the United Kingdom and Ireland) is founded on
Yahoo! Groups on November 22nd
Nikon announces
the release of the D1,
its first professional digital SLR camera. It was a milestone camera because it was the first digital pro
SLR to be built solely by a major camera manufacturer (as opposed to
the earlier cameras made by Kodak using other manufacturersÕ bodies)
The camera has a resolution of 2.74 megapixels and has an ISO sensitivity
of 200, 400, 800, and 1600. A new era in photography begins with the
release of this camera. Its
initial release price is $5,500 US
Kodak releases the DCS 660, a 6.3 megapixel professional SLR based
on the Nikon F5 body. It has an ISO rating of 80 and 200. Its initial
list price is $9,000 US
2000 Fuji releases the S1 professional/pro-sumer SLR digital camera
based on the Nikon F60 body (a prosumer level body). It boasts 6.13 MP. The starting list price was $4,000
Life Magazine ceases
publication
The worldÕs first camera phone released by Sharp (the J-SH04) in November:
ÒThe J-SH04 was the industry's
first mobile phone to feature an integrated 110,000-pixel CMOS image
sensor for taking digital photos. It was followed by the industry's
first application of a 65,536-color semi-transmissive TFT LCD on a flip
type phone (J-SH05). Both models were supplied to J-Phone Co. Ltd.,
and raised Sharp's presence in the mobile phone market". [Sharp Company
Profile]
There are an estimated 133+ million internet users in North America,
228 million in the rest of the world.
2001 9/11 Captured on film, digital, and videotape
as the planes crash into and destroy the World Trade Centre, people
jump from top floors of the buildings to their deaths and a few thousand
in total are killed in the wreckage
Canon releases the EOS 1D, its first digital SLR camera. It has 4.48
MP, a firewire connection, and a max shutter speed of 1/6000th of a second. The starting list price is $7,000
Nikon D1X is released. It is a 5.47MP camera with ISO options of 125-800. It becomes one of two cameras of choice for photojournalists
(its direct competition is the Canon EOS 1D). Its top speed is 3 fps.
Nikon D1H is
released. It is a 2.26MP camera (with the same resolution as the D1 but a larger buffer, better
LCD, selectable colour space, one button image playback) designed for
sports and action shooters who need a high fps camera (top speeds reach
5 fps for up to 40 consecutive buffered shots) for recording action
Placement of restrictions on freelance photographers (shooting celebrities) becomes prohibitively tight, with
a majority of major musical acts requiring photographers sign away
all rights to the images they create of them before granting credentials
to shoot their concerts. These contracts are not new, however they
are more common and demand more rights/place more restrictions than
ever before.
2002 Digital SLRs
almost completely replace 35mm cameras in Western dailly news coverage.
Lieca releases
the 4.1 MP Digilux 1 rangefinder camera, a compact camera designed for
reportage.
Fuji Finepix S2 is released with a 6.1MP 3rd generation CCD sensor based
on the N80 body (a higher level prosumer Nikon body than the N60 used
in the S1).
Steve McCurryÕs ÒAfghan GirlÓ Sharbat Gula is found at last, and she is photographed her for a second
time (by a female associate producer of National Geographic because
her face must be hidden from men behind a veil) 18 years after the first
image was created. Shortly
after this photo was recorded she and her family purposely vanished
so they can live in peace and privacy.
The D100 is NikonÕs first pro-sumer digital SLR
American scientists at Washington University in St. Louis create
ÒLewisÓ, a robot programmed to wander a location taking wedding photos
and other event type photographs
The Jersey Journal (which forced photographers to take massive poverty inducing pay
cuts to work there in order to ÒsaveÓ itself in 1996) goes under.
2003 More than 80% of Canon and NikonÕs camera
sales are of digital cameras. NikonÕs 35mm SLR sales shrunk by 25%. Rumors circulate that Nikon
will soon stop developing new compact 35mm film camera models.
Raw film sales drop from 5%-20% (differing
from country to country) worldwide with slide films showing the largest
drop.
Ilford filed for bankruptcy protection for the their B&W film division late this summer.
Photo/Video blogging services from mobile phones introduced: ÒA couple of companies
are offering next generation photoblogging services, allowing for audio/video/picture
and text posting from a cell phone. US Text messaging service Tellshare has launched, mLogs (cf company press
release) and blog.textsolutions.com offers a similar service in the UK, for the time being available only
through the Orange operator (cf Smart Mobs).Ó
Short
Films (videos) designed to play on cell phones The
Raindance Film Festival in London is showcasing 15-second films made
especially for mobile phones according to The Guardian via Moco News: "Movies
made for mobile phones will feature as part of the 11th Raindance festival,
beginning in London tomorrow.Ten short films, commissioned especially,
and loaded on to Nokia 3650s (which enjoy a short video capability)
will be on display in cinema foyers before each festival screening.
The 10 films are finalists in Nokia Shorts,
a competition that generated more than 150 entries from budding film-makers.Ó
Nikon D2H released in November. It has a brand new Nikon
designed 4.1 million pixel 'JFET sensor' and is capable of capturing eight frames per second for up to 40 frames (five seconds of
continuous shooting at 8 fps). The D2H also adds a whole lot more including
a new eleven area AF module (Multi-Cam 2000), 37 ms shutter lag and
just 80 ms viewfinder blackout,
a new ambient external WB sensor, an orientation sensor, RAW + JPEG format, a huge 2.5" 211,000 pixel LCD
monitor, a new lightweight
Lithium-Ion battery (with detailed in-camera readout) and USB 2.0. The other 'big news' about the D2H system is the
new WT-1 802.11b wireless
transmission add-on which allows you to FTP images back to a server as you shoot them*.
2004 Sales of new point and shoot cameras are 90% digital. Nikon completely stops new production of point
and shoot 35mm film cameras.
ÒThe average sale price of a point and shoot digital camera
is already less than US$200, so further price drops wonÕt gather much
additional unit volume. Whether it be 5, 6, 7, 8, or more megapixels,
these cameras already do pretty much what the majority of folk need
them to do.Ó Thom Hogan (from his 2005 predictions)
Digital SLRs are still in the ÒadoptionÓ phase where market saturation
points have not been reached (many SLR photographers are still shooting
film).
E.P. releases
the Digital Manifesto in an attempt to help photographers cope with the changes in costs of
doing business and pricing structures while shooting in the digital
age
New York City proposes a ban on photography in its subways citing post 9/11 security
concerns
John Oswald exhibits
his time-based instandstillnessence at the Edward Day gallery in Toronto. It can be described as an Òultra slow
motion movieÓ. Oswald (who
does not consider himself a photographer) shot it with a point and shoot
digital camera and lit his models with a simple strobe setup. The models were passers-by accosted from the street. The finished piece was projected over
15 feet high and 40 feet wide on the gallery walls with a temporal duration
of 30 minutes. Figures
(some fully clothed, some nude, some clothed but transparent so a nude
pose showed underneath) fade in and out. He intended it as a bridge between the traditional disciplines
of painting, photography, film, and video.
October: Samsung introduces the worldÕs first megapixel camera
phone. the
SCH-S250. A spokesman for the company said "the picture quality
is good enough to compare with five megapixel digital cameras",
but we'll reserve judgement on that one. It has a 92MB internal memory
as well as an MP3 player. Samsung, the world's third largest handset
maker, said the camera module was jointly developed with Japanese company
Asahi Pentax.
The massive Tsunami on December 26th is the most devastating natural disaster to ever be captured
photographically (still and video). Amateur
photographers looking for Òtrophy shotsÓ fly into Indonesia and other
affected areas for a few hours to shoot the devasation before leaving
for home or a more hospitable destination.
Digital photography and the internet are used to help family
and friends identify and recover tens of thousands of corpses found
in the aftermath.
Life magazine is resurrected for the second time, returning as
a weekly
New York Times requires freelancers to sign contracts for the first time in its
history. The contracts
are ugly, work for hire (rights grabbing terms) that also try to put
the entire burden of liability for lawsuits of any kind over the use
of the photographerÕs photographs on the photographer. The contract also demands photographers abstain from admitting
who they shot/are shooting for if the paper requests it. This creates a huge stir in the photographic community.
2005 Malaysian police sollicits camera phone shots and
videos from citizen reporters: The Penang police of Malaysia is solliciting
camera phone shots and videos from citizen reports in order to help
fight crime, reports the New Straits
Times. "From tomorrow, people
in the state can send MMS and text messges to the police. State police chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Christopher Wan
Soo Kee said the newly introduced MMS service was an extension of the
SMS service implemented last October. ÒWe have found the SMS to be an
effective means of submitting information to the police. This is why
we have introduced the MMS service now,Õ he told a Press conference
at the state police contingent headquarters here."
(from http://www.nst.com)
Nikon D2X released: shoots up to 12MP images (gives about half the equivalent resolution
of a traditional 35mm film negative). It shoots full frame//full chip at 5 FPS and 8 fps in a cropped
sensor mode. It has a true
RGB histogram, but the ISO sensitivities are only from 100 to 800 (although
there are noisy pushed Ò1600Ó and Ò3200Ó H modes. The photographer can record voice memos with the built in microphone. Starting list price is $5,000 US.
ÒGiven the onerous contracts currently circulated by the
newspapers, magazines and wire services it is virtually impossible to
make a meaningful living as an editorial photographer in Canada. Our
future "history" will be recorded by pet photographers and
the wives of US vice presidents.Ó Ted Andkilde, President of PictureDesk International
March: Samsung introduces
the worldÕs first 7 megapixel camera phone. It is also the first camera phone to offer controls
such as manual focus, AE lock, shutter priority, and the ability to
use wide angle and telephoto converter lenses.
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