Visual Communication 1

Visual Communication in Applied Photography

Camera Obscure
Photography first started out with camera obscure which was a method using a black space and a hole which allowed light into the area, this projected a upside down image onto one of the walls in the black space meaning the artist could trace the image which was shown. This method was first used in 1604.

Louis Daguerre
Louis Daguerre is the inventor of the Daguerreotype, the 

daguerreotype was one of the first ways to capture a still image it did this by creating an image on a piece of silver-plated copper plate which had to be polished, after this it was exposed to iodine vapors in a box camera then exposed to mercury fumes, once this had been done it was secured by salt water or “hypo”. Louis Daguerre invented and first used the Daguerreotype in 1839 and within 20 years gained a lot of popularity.

Henry Fox Talbot

Henry Fox Talbot was a British inventor and photographer born on the 11th of February 1800. Henry Fox Talbot is the inventor which invented the salted paper and calotype processes. when on his honey moon Henry Fox Talbot invented the salt paper process, he did this by first creating a silver image on paper, once this was done he found out that it only gave a faint metallic silver image, he later on discovered that if the paper is first covered in salt then silver nitrate solution he could get a much stronger image. During the calotype process a sheet of paper which is covered in silver chloride is exposed to light in a camera obscura, the places which are hit by light become dark creating a negative effect. the big thing about the calotype process is the discovery of gallic acid which developed the photos much faster.

The Kodak Brownie camera
Kodak first invented and introduced there Brownie camera in February of 1900, the camera cost $1 and a roll of film cost 15 cents, this made photography a reasonably priced hobby for virtually everyone instead of just the rich and well off. the Camera first started off as a leatherette covered card box which had a wooden film carrier, the original camera had no filter just a V sighting line at the top of it, it had a detachable film winding key and also introduced the 2 1/4" square format.

Edward Curtis

Edward Curtis was an american photographer born on February the 16th 1868, hes most famous for his photographs and work with native Americans and the American West. the actual project he is most famous for is 'The North American Indian' this was a project he carried out from 1907-1930, during this time 20 volumes of narrative text and photographs were produced.

 

Lewis Hine 

Lewis Hine was a american photographer born on the 26th of September 1874, in OshKosh Wisconsin. Lewis Hines first pieces of work was photographing immigrants on Ellis island and in tenements and sweatshops. After this he was hired by the National Child labour Committee to record and expose child labor, to this day this is what he is most famous and well known for. for this project he photographed children who were being forced to work in many different conditions and jobs for example field and farm work, seafood workers, factories, miners but most famously The Mill.

 

Eugene Atget

Eugene Atget was a french photographer born on the 12th of February 1857, he was a pioneer of documentary photography. the work and photographs he is most well known for is architectural and street photography in Paris before it was destroyed in WW2. because of his photos and work which included pairs he became one of the most famous people in documentary photography.

 

Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz was born on the 2nd of july, 1894, he was born in Budapest, Hungry. after getting injured in WW2 he moved to Paris to work as a freelance photographer, after this he moved to New York to work as a magazine photographer. in Paris and New York is where Andre took some of his most famous photos, he was famous in the New York because of his work with magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, he was found by these magazines from his work he did in Paris with nudes in the mens magazine Le Sourire (The Smile).
 

Robert Frank 
Robert frank was a Swiss born photographer and filmmaker, he grew up with WW2 going on. he moved to America in 1947 to focus on his photography. while in America he worked on his most famous project the Americans, during this project he went round America taking photos exposing and showing the public what America was actually like without the media getting involved, because it was exposing America for how it really was when it first came out the project was heavily criticized.