Photograph by: George Davison Image Source: Wikimedia Commons The year was 1890 when George Davison, one of the significant figures in the development of pictorial photography, was awarded a medal at the Photographic Society of Great Britain’s annual exhibition. The image, titled An Old Farmstead (later renamed The Onion Field), was one of the first impressionist… Continue reading The Triumph of Davison’s Painterly Aesthetics
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The Overlooked Legacy of a Visionary
Photograph by: Oscar Gustave Rejlander Image Source: Wikimedia Commons The debate about the role of photography is as old as the medium itself. Some think of it strictly for documentation purposes, while others have worked arduously to prove it as an important art form. Oscar Gustave Rejlander, one of the pioneers of art photography and… Continue reading The Overlooked Legacy of a Visionary
A Pioneer’s Love for Botany
Photograph by: William Henry Fox Talbot Image Source: Metropolitan Museum courtesy the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936 Did you know that William Henry Fox Talbot had a great love for botany? It was his interest in the subject that perhaps led to the invention of the calotype process. Talbot’s first photographs or “photogenic drawings”, as… Continue reading A Pioneer’s Love for Botany
A Missed Chance
In 1988, the creators of Photoshop approached Nikon to offer the rights to buy the program. They turned it down because they believed that they were not a software company.
The Strange Case of a Street Fair Booth
Photograph by: Eugène Atget Image Source: J. Paul Getty Museum Amongst the many Parisian scenes that caught the perceptive eyes of Eugène Atget, storefront displays were one of his favourites. This image, titled Fête du Trône/Boutique de foire (Street Fair Booth), is one of the many photographs he made of the seasonal street fairs of… Continue reading The Strange Case of a Street Fair Booth
An Inspiring Beginning
The first underwater colour photograph was made off the Florida Keys in the Gulf of Mexico (1926) by Dr William Longley and National Geographic staff photographer Charles Martin.
The 176-Year-Old History of Food
Photograph by: William Henry Fox Talbot Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Did you know that food photography is as old as the history of the medium? Six years after the invention of the daguerreotype process, William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the salted paper and calotype process, made the first picture of food—A Fruit Piece—in 1845.… Continue reading The 176-Year-Old History of Food
The First Underwater Photograph
William Thompson, a natural historian from Dorset, was the first person to make a photograph underwater. It can be argued though that his attempt wasn’t entirely successful. In February 1856, Thompson and a friend rowed out into Weymouth Bay to conduct an experiment. On shore, a portable dark room tent had been used to prepare… Continue reading The First Underwater Photograph
The Anatomy of Stillness
To keep people from moving during lengthy exposures, photographers devised a method where metal clamps would be attached to the subjects head to keep them still.
One of the Earliest Nature Conservationists
Photograph by: Carleton E. Watkins Image Source: The J. Paul Getty Museum Over six decades prior to Ansel Adams’ first of many visits to Yosemite, that changed how people perceived nature and the environment, Carleton E. Watkins made his journey through the scenic and treacherous valley, creating some of the first photographs of the uncharted… Continue reading One of the Earliest Nature Conservationists