Summery | Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) was a photographer in California. Lange worked on FSA photograph project during the Depression.

Lange speaks of her decision of photography as a career; working in commercial photography; the development of her individual style; the organization of the Farm Security Administration and her association with it; camaraderie among the FSA staff; Roy Stryker's influence and guidance and political abilities; the subjects of photographs and their reactions to being photographed; the people she encountered and her feelings about them, including migratory workers and Dust Bowl farmers; opinions of her colleagues; what made the FSA a success; trends in the field of photography and photojournalism and its future.

The FSA built a remarkable collection of more than 80,000 photographs of America during the Depression because they hired great photographers and a great administrator to lead them. Like many governmental agencies, the FSA set up a publicity department to help explain to the public and Congress what its programs were trying to accomplish and the problems it was trying to solve.

She recalls Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon and Paul Vanderbilt.
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

This transcript is in the public domain and may be used without permission. Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Dorothea Lange, 1964 May 22, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Artists

Joseph Nicephore Niépce - The First Photographer in History 

18th century - Joseph Nicephore Niépce (1765-1833)

Being French he was well known to be the father of photography. Being the first and only person back in the days to produce the first photograph. Lithography was were Niepce had his heart and passion set. Not having any knowledge in drawing, he commissioned his son to draw his works. Sadly his son was sent to war, and could no longer draw. Therefore Niepce invented photography. 

Starting  his researches in 1814 he then started calling his work as Heliographs. Following his discoveries he travelled to England promoting his invention via the Royal Society of Photography. But the Societies rules did not allow any invention publication without disclosing the information regarding The formula produced. 

Returning to France in 1829, he later Met and teamed up with Louis Daguerre. 

 

  Joseph Nicephore Niépce 2013 [ online ] - Available at   http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/niepce.html - [ Accessed on 30 November 2013 ] 

William Pumphrey (1817 – 1905)

Pumphrey was a Quaker and started out as a science teacher at Bootham School, York. He bought his licence from Samuel Walker, York's first practising photographer, in July 1849, and ran his business there until 1854. Throughout this time he frequently lectured on scientific and kindred subjects; indeed, he continued to lecture - including to Bootham boys - even after taking up his post as superintendent of a private lunatic asylum in York. He was fond of travel, bringing home many photographs of the scenery of Switzerland and elsewhere, which he took pleasure in showing to his friends with the magic lantern.

In 1866 he organised an exhibition of Yorkshire Fine Art and Industry, in the grounds of Bootham Park Hospital, in which he entered two revolving stereoscopes, each containing 50 of his stereo views.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pumphrey

Glossary | Photography Technical Terms

Depth of Field :

Is the guage of measuring the zone or distance over which any object in front of the lens will appear in pure sharpness.Situated both in front and behind the plane of best focus . Being effected by main three parameters being Lens aperture, Lens focal Length , and image magnification.
 Digital Photography an Introduction 2007 - By Tom Ang - DK Publishers 



Aperture: 
The lens opening in the camera that allows light to come onto the sensor. It is controlled by which we call an f-stop which the smaller the number the narrow the aperture and the lager the depth of field. Cambridge in Colour, 2014, Tutorials: Camera Exposure [online] Available at: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm (Accessed on 28th January 2014)


EXPOSURE:


The exposure is the lenght of time that an image is exposed to light in order to be recorded on a camera sensor or 35mm film. The exposure is adjusted  accordinly to the effect desired, or the type of image being recodred. The 3 main adjustments for a correct exposure are made in the Shutter Speed, Apreture and ISO.

Composition:

is made up of; colour, light, line, space & mass, scale and texture. It is what makes up a photograph, how aesthetically pleasing the composition is.


CAMERA OBSCURA:

The camera obscura consists in a device (Box) that projects an image onto a bigger screen; artists used it as an aid for the accurate painting of a scene. It was on of the first inventions that triggered the road to photography and the camera its self.

The Magic Mirror of Life, 2008. What is a camera obscura?. [online] 
Available at: < http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html> 
[Accessed 26 December 2013].


Golden Spiral :

Also known as the rule of thirds, these are harmonious proportions, that photographers instinctively use to make pictures look good. 

Digital photography an introduction - By Tom Ang 2007 - DK publishers 


ETHNOGRAPHY :

The term Ethnography is the scientific study and proof of various communities with their own customs, habits and differences. As early as in the 1850s photography was used to document such exotic places and savagery, with the intention for both study and resale. These ethnographic images are of a great value to the anthropology world for the study of mankind.

Primary Source :

A primary source can also be referred to as an original source or even evidence. It is the original source of information about the topic, someone with direct knowledge on the subject is also considered a primary source.  

Primary source at yale 2014 - Primary Sources - online - available at http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html - Last accessed 28/01/2014



Secondary Source : 

Secondary source would be taken from documents or recordings that relate or discuss information originally presented elsewhere.Normally it is an analysis, or interpretation of the original source.

Exhibitions

Malta-based photographer Ritty Tacsum, exhibited a new series of work at Lily Agius Gallery, in October 2014. The collection featured the young photographer’s iconic architectural landscapes, haunting multiple exposures, deceptively simple patterned compositions and figures and nudes , which the photographer is know for.

I particularly like Ritty Tacsum's work, she has a strange twist to her work and sees things in a different light. Many people had commented on her work being 'disturbed' and 'wrong' but in my opinion she is daring to do something people aren't daring to do. 

Last year as a class we had gone to another of her exhibitions which made me excited to hear she had another one this year 

What makes up a Photograph?

Every photograph, intentionally or not, contains one or more of these element, which are known as the elements of design. All of these elements have a huge impact on a photo, especially the line, texture, and colour. 


Lines
Lines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or curved. Lines can be short or tall, can be thick or thin. Lines can lead you away, or move you forward in an image. A line's emotional effect on an image cannot be overlooked. They sometimes feel restful, soothing, rigid, active, guiding, or threatening.

Shapes
Shape is the principal element of identification. The most important thing to keep in mind when shape is the essential element in an image is that it is best defined when the subject is frontlit or backlit. For that shape to be successfully identifiable, it needs to be in strong contrast with its surroundings so that it is detached from the clutter around it.

Form
Form is basically a three-dimensional shape, and is best accentuated by side lighting since it casts soft elegant shadows, and the difference between light and shadows gives a better illustration of the depth of an object and amplifies the sensual understanding of its meaning and message.

Texture 
The challenge of seeing and capturing texture is mostly based on one element. Texture can be accentuated by the side light of early sunny mornings or early evenings, or by overhead light when the sun is vertical and high in the sky.

Pattern
Patterns, both natural and man-made, bring a sense of visual rhythm and harmony to photographs that, like a series of repeating notes in a melody, capture the imagination. Patterns appear whenever strong graphic elements—lines, colors, shapes, or forms—repeat themselves.

Colour 
Vibrant contrasts, particularly among bright primary colors (reds, yellows, and blues), are especially effective in creating dynamic designs. Such contrasts excite the eye, making it jump from one color to the next. In the shot of buoys, for example, the photographer has eliminated all extraneous information so the clash between colors is the predominant design element. Gentler combinations of pastels can create a lighthearted or romantic mood, while earthy tones offer a more natural or organic feel.

History of Photography

We owe the name "Photography" to Sir John Herschel, who first used the term in 1839, the year the photographic process became public.


Claud Glass

Named after artist Claude Lorraine, this small, blackened pocket mirror reduced the tonal values of whatever landscapes you pointed it at, while its convex shape simultaneously brought more of the scene into a single focal point.

Pantograph 

The pantograph as originally made to trace original art and then scale it up or down in size. One arm of the pantograph contained a smaller pointer, while the other help a drawing implement and by moving the pointer over a diagram, a copy of the diagram was draw on another piece of paper. 

Physionotrace

The first system invented to produce multiple copies of a portrait. Invented in 1786 by Gilles Louis Chrétien (1774-1811). In his apparatus a profile cast by a lamp onto a glass plate was traced by an operator using a pointer connected, by a system of levers like a pantograph, to an engraving tool moving over a copper plate.

Camera Obscura

The camera obscura had been in existence for at least four hundred years, but its use was limited to its purpose as an aid to drawing. It was discovered that if a room was completely darkened, with a single hole in one wall, an inverted image would be seen on the opposite wall. A person inside of the room could then trace this image, which was upside-down. The earliest record of the uses of a camera obscura can be found in the writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who may have used it as an aid to understanding perspective. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a table-top model was developed. By adding a focused lens and a mirror, it was possible for a person outside of the box to trace the image which was reflected through it.

Camera Lucida


A camera lucida is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists. The camera lucida performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing.

Formal and Contextual Aspects of Photography

Formal analysis is an important technique to organise visual information. In other words, it is a strategy used to translate what you see into written words. This strategy can apply to any work of art, from any period in history, whether a photograph, sculpture, painting or cultural artefact.

Photography as an art form has been the subject of much debate since the time when photography was presented to the world. The technology for ‘light writing’ was varied and changed quickly throughout the history of photography.

Paul Strand “urged photographers to be lifelong students of the changing technical dimensions of the medium , its history, and it s contemporary expression.”