Notes on Photography Video

Photos have become fundamental to how we view ourselves and also an era.

• They can force people to take action
• They can also save lives.

The Brownie

• Very popular and sold a quarter of a million cameras in its first year in the market.
• was a popular camera choice for 80 yearas
• Good for the working class citizens who could afford to purchase these cameras.
• changed the nature of portraiture
• became more casual and captured a people's lives outside of a studio.

Postcards

• People were able to transfer their photos onto postcards free of charge
• Newspapers later on were able to use the pictures off of the postcards to present a visual to go along with the news.
• National Geographic used pictures in the magazine to go from a dying label to extremely popular
• They pioneered the use of printing color photos.

Edward Curtis

• made a documentary of Native Americans
• picutures were used to glamourize the Native Americans
• not showing them in their natural state
• carried a bag of props with him to dress up the people if they did not have the appearance he was aiming for.

Basic photography became to easy and it eventually blurred the line of amateur and professional; to the point were people would not consider photography an art.

• Steiglitz wanted photos to  be recognized as an art
• he started to manipulate photos in the darkroom to look like paintings

Lewis Hine

• educated the public about social issue in the U.S (child labor) through his photography.
• There is a power in photos  that when viewed can hit a person straight in the heart, making them want to take action against whatever injustice they are bearing witness to.

Paul Strand

• 1915 showed his photos to Stieglitz who then said Strand had created a new type of modern photography, named straight photography.
• took very abstract pictures.

Straight Photography

• take pictures of things the way they are and not manipulate them in the darkroom.
• There is an emphasis on selection and framing of the photo and everything is in sharp focus.

 Camera became an important weapon of war.

• Government used it as propaganda
• Censorship, where only photos were shown that would raise the public's morale for the war.

Daily News

• First newspaper to sell itself based on their photos.