Photographic Timeline
It always helps to know the history of whatever your studying- that's no exception for photography! Familiarising yourself with key dates and influential trends is important if you want to take your own inspired photographs.
1000AD- Invention of the Pinhole camera by Alhazen, the "camera obscura." This is a simple camera with no lens,which does not let any light in except for the 'pinhole.' Light passes through this hole and projects an inverted image onto the opposite side of the box. Because of the very small aperture, this image is turned upsidown (inverted) and acts similar to the human eye.As this camera requires a lengthy exposre it's shutter may be manually operated by a flap which covers and reveals the pinhole. One of the limitations of the camera obscura is that no permanent image could be recorded at this date, as it was simply an image ref
This camera has proven extremely useful, and developed versions of it are even used today in solarography, which is the recording of the movement of the sun.
This camera has proven extremely useful, and developed versions of it are even used today in solarography, which is the recording of the movement of the sun.
1600-Giambattista della Porta improved upon the camera obscura, by adding a telescope lens and significantly increasing the size of the pinhole. This improved the brightness and clarity of the image, making the early camera obscura useful for artists as they could draw the images reflected, also people viewed it for pleasure purposes.
1727- Professor J. Schulze mixed chalk, nitric acid and silver. He noticed darkening on part of the container which was exposed to sunlight, this was the accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound.
1800- Thomas Wedgewood creates "sun pictures." This was done by putting opaque objects on leather treated with silver nitrate.
1827-Joseph Nicephore Niepce created the first ever recorded photograph- well, first ever permanent photograph. This was known as a Heliograph, or more commonly 'sun prints', as the light drew out the image. After placing an engraving onto a metal plate coated in bitumen, Niepce exposed it to light. The light was blocked by the shadowy areas, but the white enabled light to react with the chemicals on the plate.
Niepce's photograph required eight hours of exposure to create, hence why both sides of the roof is exposed as the sunlight travelled in this time from one side of the image to the other.
Niepce's photograph required eight hours of exposure to create, hence why both sides of the roof is exposed as the sunlight travelled in this time from one side of the image to the other.
1834- Henry Fox Talbot invented the first negative photo- in which multiple positive prints were made from. He sensitized paper to light with a silver salt solution, and then it was exposed to light to create the image. The main subject of the photograph was exposed into shades of grey and the background was black, this was the negative image. He made contact prints from the negative images, which reversed this to create an exposed, more detailed photograph. By 1841 he had called this the process of "Calotype"- which is Greek for beautiful which he preffered the sound of.
1837- Louis daguerrerre created images on silver-plated copper coated with silver iodide and developed with warm
mercury. French citizens used the "Daguerretype" process, which kick started the use of photography in society and made it more accesable to the public.
1877- Eadward Muybridge settled the debate of whether horses hooves ever leave the ground at the same time, through timed photography.
1880- Dry plates are commercialized and mass sold. George eastman set up "East man dry plate company" In New York. The first Half-tone photograph appeared in The New York Graphic newspaper.
1890- "Straight" photography movement
in the late 1800's, photographers edged towards more 'untouched' photographs which were true to life. Many believed that photographs should be an account of the truth- rather then an art form. Peter Henry Emerson was a leading believer in this movement.
in the late 1800's, photographers edged towards more 'untouched' photographs which were true to life. Many believed that photographs should be an account of the truth- rather then an art form. Peter Henry Emerson was a leading believer in this movement.
1885-20th century Pictorialism is the movement, which had dominated photography during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to a style where the photographer manipulates their images, bringing them away from straightforward photographs and creating something original. This movement occurred due to the accusation that photography was simply a recording of reality. Many amateur photographers flourished through the 20th century due to this movement; they were the ones who were not afraid to break the rules previously set by photographers and organisations such as the "Royal photographic society" who had firm beliefs that photography should be more 'straight'. Interesting printing techniques were used to make photographs more artistic and less 'perfect', they were often out of sharp focus and had an interesting colour tone, which often meant they were mistaken as paintings or drawings.
1900- Kodak developed there first camera, with a 20ft roll of paper. However they then produced improved cameras such as the Kodak Brownie (shown in the image) this was more practical as it had a smaller roll of film rather then paper. This futher commercialized photography and it was now more accesable to people then ever.
1910- Cubsim was the movement just before WW1 which was characterised by a reduction of the image to geometrical forms and multiple viewpoints. It was pioneered by artists such as Pablo Picasso and gained a lot of popularity once artists such as Man Ray made surrealism popular.
1917-Nippon Kogaku (which later became Nikon) was established in Tokyo. The first camera they created was the Nikon 1. Clearly, this reinvented the look of camera's and they became far more hand held and portable.
1920- Dadaism After the negative response to the war, Dadaism began as an art movement. It was created by a group of artists, and it rejected reason and logic prizing rationality, nonsense, and intuition. A variation of revolutionary techniques such as collage, photo montage and assemblage were used to create pieces of art and photography that represented what Dadaism was about.
For instance, it was ordinary for a Dadaism artist to comprise a piece of art out of train tickets, war objects and even trash. They would 'assemble' these items in a fashion that was believed to represent the World at the time- in chaos.
For instance, it was ordinary for a Dadaism artist to comprise a piece of art out of train tickets, war objects and even trash. They would 'assemble' these items in a fashion that was believed to represent the World at the time- in chaos.
1921- Man Ray begins making photograms, or so he called them "rayographs" by placing objects on photographic paper and exposing the shadows that were cast from a light bulb. He often used "solarisation" to create the surreal effects shown in his image, which is demonstrated in many of his portrait shots,his work is stylish and unique in the sense that he combined his art skills with his eye for photography in order to create something abstract. He worked with magazines such as vogue, and became one of the first renowned surrealist photographers.
Man Ray was one of the photographers which kick started the surrealism movement, he broke the preconceived "rules" of art and photography and formed a new style which involved nudity, obscure poses, controversial ideas etc.
Man Ray was one of the photographers which kick started the surrealism movement, he broke the preconceived "rules" of art and photography and formed a new style which involved nudity, obscure poses, controversial ideas etc.
1920's- Surrealism movements: The use of such procedures as double exposure, combination printing, montage, and solarization dramatically evoked the union of dream and reality. The surrealism movement erased the boundaries and limitations of previous photography, artists now reached new heights of creativity and could create something formed in their imagination, resembling a piece of art.
1925- photojournalism began as cameras became more hand held and portable. There was a far more relaxed street style to photography; with influences from Henri Carter Bression and Berenice Abbott as they documented urban places such as New York city.
1928-Albert Renger-Patzch published The World is Beatiful which focused on close up photography and emphasizes the beauty of man made and natural things.
1920's-1930's-The F.64 group. These were a group of people who shared the same photographic style, such as straighter photographs depicting true life how it looks. This was an alternative to the surrealism style. General characteristics of work produced by these photographers include a sharpness, along with a natural subject captured in its real beauty. A famous member is photographer Ansel Adams.
fHenri Cartier-Bresson begins a 60 year career photographing people. Some of his most famous images, are the ones which capture candid moments or movement of real life. For example, his image of a bike riding past the famous twisted stairs is an inspirational photograph which has been used up to this day for studies and aspiring photographers as the composition and elements within the photograph are very well executed.
1934- Fuji photo film founded. By 1938, they had begun to make cameras and lenses in addition to film.
1936- the development of Kodachrome went underway, it was the first colour multi-layer film. After world war 2, futher development of the multi-layer colour film came about which consisted of a blue sensitive yellow layer, a green sensitive magneta layer, and a red sensitive cyan layer.
This led to the war being covered in magazines such as Life in 1936.
1950- popart uses commercial art and popular culture. Pop art is said to be a reaction to the abstract and surreal art movement, as it tears down the barriers between fine art and abstract art. Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein were key artists during this movement.
1963- Polaroid created the first colour instant film. With the ability to print your own personal colour photos right before your eyes without the strenuous processes of development, this brought about a sudden boom of photography within younger people and those who couldn't afford top cameras.
1990- Photoshop 1.0 was released, Thomas and John Knoll were the people responsible for the original developments of photo shop. Adobe agreed in 1988 to purchase the license to distribute the programme.
The handling of colour slowly improved with each release from Adobe, and Photoshop quickly became the industry standard in digital colour editing. At the time Photoshop 1.0 was released, digital retouching on high systems such as the SciTex cost around $300 an hour for basic photo retouching. This meant that although photo shop too can be quite costly, it was now more attainable which meant the standards of photography as a whole began to increase in quality and digital manipulation was easier then ever.
2000- The first ever camera phone was introduced in Japan by sharp/J-phone. This was a huge break through as people who had a phone now had a camera with them at all times, which led on to the world of sharing everything we see through social networks and messaging. A moment is never missed, which meant ordinary people could capture footage which could be used in a newspaper or the news just because they were at the right place in the right time.
2001- Polaroid goes bankrupt due to the modern technology produced by canon, Nikon, olympus etc. The need for instant colour photographs was no more a large demand as high quality printing facilities are available for pennies.
2001- present- A photographic revolution. Digital equipment moves forward leaps and bounds; many photographers make the switch from film based to digital cameras due to the higher pixel quality and ability to capture images in low light conditions. More and more photographs are taken, many people now carry a form of camera around with them (wether it be there camera phone or iPod) and the ability to share them with the world instantly makes photography more accessible then ever before.
1936- the development of Kodachrome went underway, it was the first colour multi-layer film. After world war 2, futher development of the multi-layer colour film came about which consisted of a blue sensitive yellow layer, a green sensitive magneta layer, and a red sensitive cyan layer.
This led to the war being covered in magazines such as Life in 1936.
1950- popart uses commercial art and popular culture. Pop art is said to be a reaction to the abstract and surreal art movement, as it tears down the barriers between fine art and abstract art. Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein were key artists during this movement.
1963- Polaroid created the first colour instant film. With the ability to print your own personal colour photos right before your eyes without the strenuous processes of development, this brought about a sudden boom of photography within younger people and those who couldn't afford top cameras.
1990- Photoshop 1.0 was released, Thomas and John Knoll were the people responsible for the original developments of photo shop. Adobe agreed in 1988 to purchase the license to distribute the programme.
The handling of colour slowly improved with each release from Adobe, and Photoshop quickly became the industry standard in digital colour editing. At the time Photoshop 1.0 was released, digital retouching on high systems such as the SciTex cost around $300 an hour for basic photo retouching. This meant that although photo shop too can be quite costly, it was now more attainable which meant the standards of photography as a whole began to increase in quality and digital manipulation was easier then ever.
2000- The first ever camera phone was introduced in Japan by sharp/J-phone. This was a huge break through as people who had a phone now had a camera with them at all times, which led on to the world of sharing everything we see through social networks and messaging. A moment is never missed, which meant ordinary people could capture footage which could be used in a newspaper or the news just because they were at the right place in the right time.
2001- Polaroid goes bankrupt due to the modern technology produced by canon, Nikon, olympus etc. The need for instant colour photographs was no more a large demand as high quality printing facilities are available for pennies.
2001- present- A photographic revolution. Digital equipment moves forward leaps and bounds; many photographers make the switch from film based to digital cameras due to the higher pixel quality and ability to capture images in low light conditions. More and more photographs are taken, many people now carry a form of camera around with them (wether it be there camera phone or iPod) and the ability to share them with the world instantly makes photography more accessible then ever before.