Timeline: The Early Years of Photography -
The Renaissance: During the 16th century, the representation and exploration of the reality of nature through art and photography, was becoming increasingly more popular. One artist who was very well known for his scientific approaches to art and drawing was Leonardo Da Vinci. An example of this is the Turin Shroud, which some say is actually a portrait of Da Vinci; made by covering the cloth with silver salts and exposing it to sunlight. |
Pictorialism:
Pictorialists started off by using techniques such as smearing Vaseline on their lenses, scratching their negatives in the darkroom, or painting chemicals on their prints to imitate brushstrokes. They aimed to make photography a handmade process, like other arts at the time; paintings and drawings etc. Pictorialists also focused more on expressing feelings and emotions, and conveying beauty rather than fact. An example of a Pictorialist was Edward Steichen; his image 'Woods Interior' 1898 is shown on the right. |
Photo Succession:
This was a movement founded by Edward Stieglitz in 1902. It still included elements of pictorialism, but photographers wanted the 'mechanical origins' to be apparent. This photographic movement began in New York, and in 1903, an art/photography journal called 'Camera Work' is founded in the US. Then, in 1905, Stieglitz opens 'Little Galleries of the Photo-Succession' in New York. An example of the secessionism style can be seen above, which is an image by Alvin Langdon Coburn; taken in 1912. |
The end of Secessionism:
After World War One, the leisurely life that many had enjoyed before the war, had ended. Stieglitz now felt that photographic work was lacking the same creativity it once had; and 'Camera Works' was including less and less artistic photography. It was being replaced by more candid images, by photographers such as Paul Strand. An example of his work can be seen above, which is called 'Blind Woman, New York' - from 1907. |
Straight photography: Change and revolution had begun in 1915, impacting art and photography, as well as politics and other forms of art - including ballet. Paul Strand had realized that the camera was capable of capturing details and the specific shapes of objects; clearly and in focus. He became a pioneer of this new modern form of photography - which became known as straight photography. Pictures weren't manipulated, and presented reality in a select, specific way, that mimicked the photographers eye. The camera had become 'an instrument of a new kind of vision' - as Edward Strand had said. |
F64: The theme of sharp focused realism that straight photography had created, was adopted by a new generation of photographers - which included Edward Western, Imogen Cunningham and Walker Evans. This was a group of loosely associated Californian photographers, who formed in 1932. They aimed to promote the camera's unique mechanical qualities, and the group emphasized this by naming themselves F64 - which is the smallest camera lens aperture possible - and therefore allows the photographer to capture a high level of detail and depth. F64 used large format view cameras to achieve this style of photograph, and produced images of landscapes, still life's, nude images, and architectural features. |
I chose to document the work of Hine, because the issue of child labor stood out to me as one of the worse social problems seen across the world. Children shouldn't have had to work, and education as well as their wellbeing should of always been prioritized. People in society at the time may not have really known about or understood what child labor ensued, so I think Hine's work was extremely important in shedding light on that. These two images are the most emotive to me, as the one on the left shows many child workers crowded together, and although it seems there are a lot of children in the photograph, the real number of child workers is much more than that. Child labor is not something that affects us in society today, although it does impact other areas of the world. The second image of the girl at the sewing factory also stood out to me, as she seems so small compared to the machinery she helps to operate, and she seems very isolated. She had no choice but to work in harsh environments and conditions, and although we can learn about child labor from this image, we can't truly understand it.
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