Architectural Photographs
All
the photographs below are for sale.
MODERN
CHURCH TOWER
by
A.K. Hayward 0.490 x 0.360
BOLTON
ABBEY
by
Anon 0.190 x 0.280
STRASBURG
CATHEDRAL
by
Anon 0.260 x 0.210
JAMIEGES
ABBEY
by
Anon 0.280 x 0.220
HEIDELBERG
CASTLE
by
Anon 0.220 x 0.280
FOUNTAINS
ABBEY (From the West)
by
Anon 0.190 x 0.290
TONBRIDGE
CASTLE
by
Anon 0.190 x 0.290
BAYEAUX
CATHEDRAL
by
N.P. Facy 0.340 x 0.400
TUMMEL
GARRY DAM
by
Anon 0.310 x 0.380
REYNOLDS
METAL BUILDING, DETROIT, MICHIGAN architect MINORU YAMASAKI
by
Anon 0.250 x 0.200
I
have a group of 9 images if this building
ABSTRACT
1
by
Gordon Bird 0.500 x 0.480
I
have a collection of over 80 abstract photographs by this
artist
ABSTRACT
2
By
Gordon Bird 0.500 x 0.480
I
have a collection of over 80 abstract photographs by this
artist
Photography is the process of making pictures
by means of the action of light. Light patterns reflected
or emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium
or storage chip through a timed exposure. The process is done
through mechanical, chemical or digital devices known as cameras.
Photography
The word comes from the Greek words phos ("light"),
and graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or
graphê, together meaning "drawing with light"
or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing."
Traditionally the product of photography has been called a
photograph. The term photo is an abbreviation; many people
also call them pictures. In digital photography, the term
image has begun to replace photograph. (The term image is
traditional in geometric optics.
Photographic image-forming devices
Most commonly a camera or camera obscura is the image forming
device and photographic film or a digital storage card is
the recording medium, although other methods are available.
For instance, the photocopy or xerography machine forms permanent
images but uses the transfer of static electrical charges
rather than photographic film, hence the term electrophotography.
The rayographs published by Man Ray in 1922 are images produced
by the shadows of objects cast on the photographic paper,
without the use of a camera. Objects can be placed directly
on the glass of a scanner to produce pictures digitally.
Photographers control the camera to expose the light recording
material (usually film or a charge-coupled device) to the
required amount of light. After processing, this produces
an image whose contents are acceptably sharp, bright and composed
to achieve the objective of taking the photograph.
The controls include:
Focus
Aperture of the lens (amount of light allowed to pass through
the lens)
Duration of exposure (or shutter speed)
Focal length and type of lens (telephoto, macro, wide angle,
or zoom)
Sensitivity of the medium to light intensity and color/wavelength
Filters, scrims, or other special effects that may be placed
between the subject and the light recording material, either
in front of or behind the lens
The nature of the light recording material itself, for example
its resolution as measured in pixels or "grains"
of silver halide,
The controls are inter-related, as the total amount of light
reaching the film plane (the "exposure") changes
proportionately with the duration of exposure, aperture of
the lens, and focal length of the lens (which changes as the
lens is focused, or if it is "zoomed"). Changing
any of these will, therefore, alter the exposure. Many cameras
will automatically adjust the aperture of the lens to account
for changes in focus, and some will do so for changes in zoom
as well.
The duration of an exposure is referred to as the "shutter
speed," often even in cameras that don't have a physical
shutter, and is typically measured in fractions of a second.
The aperture is expressed by an f-number or f-stop (derived
from focal ratio), which is proportional to the ratio of the
focal length to the diameter of the aperture. If the f-number
is decreased by a factor of , the aperture diameter is increased
by the same factor, and its area is increased by a factor
of 2. The f-stops that might be found on a typical lens include
2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, where going up "one stop"
doubles the amount of light reaching the film, and "stopping
down" one stop halves the amount of light.
To achieve a given exposure, various combinations of shutter
speed and aperture could be used. For example, f/8 at 1/125th
of a second and f/4 at 1/500th of a second yield the same
amount of light. However, the combination chosen impacts the
final result. In addition to the subject or camera movement
that might vary depending on the shutter speed, the aperture
(and focal length of the lens) determine the "depth of
field," which refers to the range of distances from the
lens that will be considered in acceptable focus. For example,
using a long lens and a large aperture (f/2.8, for example),
such as might be used with a large format camera, a subject's
eyes might be in sharp focus while the tip of the nose is
noticeably blurred. If the aperture is made smaller (f/22),
or a shorter lens is used, then both the subject's eyes and
nose can be brought into focus at the same time. If a very
small aperture is used, such as a pinhole, then a very wide
range of distance can be brought into focus at once.
Image capture is only part of the image forming process. Regardless
of the light recording material used, some sort of process
or processes must be employed to render the "latent image"
captured by the camera into the final photographic work. This
process consists of two steps, development, and printing.
For people who do not do their own printing, these two steps
are often considered the same step, "getting the pictures
developed" is thought of as analgous to "getting
the pictures printed", but they are separate steps.
During the printing process, additional modifications can
be made to the print via several controls. Many of these controls
are analogous to controls during the time of capturing the
image, and some of them are exclusive to the printing process.
Most of these controls have equivalent concepts in the digital
world, but in some cases the effect is not exactly the same.
This difference between digital and film is especially pronounced
for the dodging and burning controls.
Chemicals and Process used during film development
Duration of exposure (equivalent to shutter speed)
Printing Aperture (equivalent to aperture, but has no effect
on depth of field)
Contrast
Dodging (Localized reduction in duration of exposure, resulting
in a lighter areas)
Burning (Localized increase in duration of exposure, resulting
in darker areas) Paper Quality (Gloss, Matte, Etc)
Uses of photography
Photography can be classified under imaging technology and
has gained the interest of scientists and artists from its
inception. Scientists have used its capacity to make accurate
recordings, such as Eadweard Muybridge in his study of human
and animal locomotion (1887). Artists have been equally interested
by this aspect but have also tried to explore other avenues
than the photo-mechanical representation of reality, such
as the pictorialist movement. Military, police and security
forces use photography for surveillance, recognition and data
storage. Photography is used to preserve memories of favourites
and as a source of entertainment.
History of photography
Chemical photography
For centuries images have been projected onto surfaces. The
camera obscura and the camera lucida were used by artists
to trace scenes as early as the 16th century. These early
cameras did not fix an image in time; they only projected
what passed through an opening in the wall of a darkened room
onto a surface. In effect, the entire room was turned into
a large pinhole camera. Indeed, the phrase camera obscura
literally means "darkened room," and it is after
these darkened rooms that all modern cameras have been named.
The first photograph is considered to be an image produced
in 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce
on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative
called bitumen of Judea. It was produced with a camera, and
required an eight hour exposure in bright sunshine. However
this process turned out to be a dead end and Niépce
began experimenting with silver compounds based on a Johann
Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk
mixture darkens when exposed to light.
Niépce, in Chalon-sur-Saône, and the artist Louis
Daguerre, in Paris, refined the existing silver process in
a partnership. In 1833 Niépce died of a stroke, leaving
his notes to Daguerre. While he had no scientific background,
Daguerre made two pivotal contributions to the process. He
discovered that by exposing the silver first to iodine vapour,
before exposure to light, and then to mercury fumes after
the photograph was taken, a latent image could be formed and
made visible. By then bathing the plate in a salt bath the
image could be fixed. In 1839 Daguerre announced that he had
invented a process using silver on a copper plate called the
Daguerreotype. A similar process is still used today for Polaroids.
The French government bought the patent and immediately made
it public domain.
Across the English Channel, William Fox Talbot had earlier
discovered another means to fix a silver process image but
had kept it secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention
Talbot refined his process, so that it might be fast enough
to take photographs of people as Daguerre had done and by
1840 he had invented the calotype process. He coated paper
sheets with silver chloride to create an intermediate negative
image. Unlike a daguerreotype a calotype negative could be
used to reproduce positive prints, like most chemical films
do today. Talbot patented this process which greatly limited
its adoption. He spent the rest of his life in lawsuits defending
the patent until he gave up on photography altogether. But
later this process was refined by George Eastman and is today
the basic technology used by chemical film cameras. Hippolyte
Bayard had also developed a method of photography but delayed
announcing it, and so was not recognized as its inventor.
In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented the collodion process.
It was this process that was used by the photographer and
renowned children's author, Lewis Carroll.
Slovene Janez Puhar invented the technical procedure for making
photographs on glass in 1841. The invention was recognized
on July 17th 1852 in Paris by the Académie Nationale
Agricole, Manufacturière et Commerciale.
Popularization
The Daguerreotype proved popular in responding to the demand
for portraiture emerging from the middle classes during the
Industrial Revolution. This demand, that could not be met
in volume and in cost by oil painting, may well have been
the push for the development of photography. However daguerreotypes,
while beautiful, were fragile and difficult to copy. A single
photograph taken in a portrait studio could cost US$1000 in
2006 dollars. Photographers also encouraged chemists to refine
the process of making many copies cheaply, which eventually
led them back to Talbot's process. Ultimately, the modern
photographic process came about from a series of refinements
and improvements in the first 20 years. In 1884 George Eastman,
of Rochester, New York, developed dry gel on paper, or film,
to replace the photographic plate so that a photographer no
longer needed to carry boxes of plates and toxic chemicals
around. In July of 1888 Eastman's Kodak camera went on the
market with the slogan "You press the button, we do the
rest". Now anyone could take a photograph and leave the
complex parts of the process to others. Photography became
available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction
of Kodak Brownie. Since then color film has become standard,
as well as automatic focus and automatic exposure. Digital
recording of images is becoming increasingly common, as digital
cameras allow instant previews on LCD screens and the resolution
of top of the range models has exceeded high quality 35mm
film while lower resolution models have become affordable.
For the enthusiast photographer processing black and white
film, little has changed since the introduction of the 35mm
film Leica camera in 1925.
Economic history
In the nineteenth century, photography developed rapidly as
a commercial service. End-user supplies of photographic equipment
accounted for only about 20% of industry revenue.
Given the development of new digital technologies for creating
and sharing images, and of new communications devices, e.g.
camera phones, understanding the economics of image use are
becoming increasingly important for understanding the evolution
of the communications industry as a whole.
Resources
Jenkins, Reese V. Images & Enterprise: Technology and
the American Photographic Industry 1839-1925. Baltimore, The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. The book provides an
overview of the economics of photography and the development
of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Photography types
Colour photography
Color photography was explored throughout the 1800s. Initial
experiments in color could not fix the photograph and prevent
the color from fading. The first permanent color photo was
taken in 1861 by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
One of the early methods of taking color photos was to use
three cameras. Each camera would have a color filter in front
of the lens. This technique provides the photographer with
the three basic channels required to recreate a color image
in a darkroom or processing plant. Russian photographer Sergei
Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii developed another technique,
with three color plates taken in quick succession.
Practical application of the technique was held back by the
very limited color response of early film; however, in the
early 1900s, following the work of photo-chemists such as
H. W. Vogel, emulsions with adequate sensitivity to green
and red light at last became available.
The first color film, Autochrome, invented by the French Lumière
brothers, reached the market in 1907. It was based on a 'screen-plate'
filter made of dyed dots of potato starch, and was the only
color film on the market until German Agfa introduced the
similar Agfacolor in 1932. In 1935, American Kodak introduced
the first modern ('integrated tri-pack') color film, Kodachrome,
based on three colored emulsions. This was followed in 1936
by Agfa's Agfacolor Neue. Unlike the Kodachrome tri-pack process
the colour couplers in Agfacolor Neue were integral with the
emulsion layers, which greatly simplified the film processing.
Most modern color films, except Kodachrome, are based on the
Agfacolor Neue technology. Instant color film was introduced
by Polaroid in 1963.
As an interesting side note, the inventors of Kodachrome,
Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky Jr. were both accomplished
musicians. Godowsky was the brother-in-law of George Gershwin
and his father was Leopold Godowsky, one of the world's greatest
pianists.
Color photography may form images as a positive transparency,
intended for use in a slide projector or as color negatives,
intended for use in creating positive color enlargements on
specially coated paper. The latter is now the most common
form of film (non-digital) color photography owing to the
introduction of automated photoprinting equipment.
Digital photography
Having fun with photography: manipulation
of the scanned print in a graphics program puts these two
brave people on top of an Austrian cable car. Click on the
picture to see the three pictures used.
Traditional photography was a considerable burden for photographers
working at remote locations (such as press correspondents)
without access to processing facilities. With increased competition
from television there was pressure to deliver their images
to newspapers with greater speed. Photo-journalists at remote
locations would carry a miniature photo lab with them and
some means of transmitting their images down the telephone
line. In 1981 Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use
a CCD for imaging, and which required no film -- the Sony
Mavica. While the Mavica did save images to disk, the images
themselves were displayed on television, and therefore the
camera could not be considered fully digital. In 1990, Kodak
unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital
camera. Its cost precluded any use other than photojournalism
and professional applications, but commercial digital photography
was born.
Digital photography uses an electronic sensor such as a charge-coupled
device to record the image as a piece of electronic data rather
than as chemical changes on film. Some other devices, such
as cell phones, now include digital photography features.
Although not viewed by all photographers as true photography,
digital photography in fact meets all requirements to be called
such. Even though there are no chemical processes, a digital
camera captures a frame of whatever it happens to be pointed
at, which can be viewed later. In 10 years, digital point
and shoot cameras have become widespread consumer products.
These digital cameras now outsell film cameras, and many include
features not found in film cameras such as the ability to
shoot video and record audio.
Kodak announced in January 2004 that it would no longer produce
reloadable 35mm cameras after the end of that year. This was
interpreted as a sign of the end of film photography. However,
Kodak was at that time a minor player on the reloadable film
cameras market. In January 2006 Nikon followed suit and announced
that they will stop the production of all but two models of
their film cameras, they will continue to produce the low-end
Nikon FM10, and the high-end Nikon F6. On May 25, 2006 Canon
announced they will stop developing new film SLR cameras.
The price of 35mm and APS compact cameras have dropped, probably
due to direct competition from digital and the resulting growth
of the offer of second-hand film cameras.
Ethical concerns arise when discussing digital photography.
Many photojournalists have moral reasonings not to crop photos
and are forbidden from combining elements of multiple photos
to make "illustrations," passing them as real photographs
(for example, the photo above of the two men on the cable
car). Many courts will not accept digital photographs as evidence
as they are easily modified. Today's technology have made
picture editing relatively easy for even the novice photographer.
While photography editing software may raise ethical issues,
even beginners can easily edit color, contrast, exposure and
sharpness with the click of a mouse, whereas those same procedures
would have taken an extensive amount of time in a traditional
darkroom.
Digital versus film
There is debate over which of the two formats, digital or
film, is superior. It cannot be said that either of the formats
is superior to the other in every way. Rather, each of the
formats has its own specific advantages. This section discusses
those points.
Quality
There are numerous measures which can be used to assess the
quality of still photographs. The most discussed of these
is spatial resolution, i.e. the number of separate points
in the photograph. This is measured by how many millions of
picture cells make up the photo.
The comparison of resolution between film and digital photography
is complex. Measuring the resolution of both film and digital
photographs depends on numerous issues. For film, this issue
depends on the size of film used (35mm, Medium format or Large
format), the speed of the film used and the quality of lenses
in the camera. Additionally, since film is an analogue medium,
it does not have pixels so its resolution measured in pixels
can only be an estimate.
Similarly, digital cameras rarely perform to their stated
megapixel count. Other factors are important in digital camera
resolution such as the actual number of pixels used to store
the image, the effect of the Bayer pattern of sensor filters
on the digital sensor and the image processing algorithm used
to interpolate sensor pixels to image pixels. In addition,
digital sensors are generally arranged in a rectangular pattern,
making images susceptible to moire pattern artifacts, whereas
film is immune to such effects due to the random orientation
of grains.
Estimates of the resolution of a photograph taken with a 35mm
film camera vary. However, there exist many estimates around
12 Megapixels (4K). It is possible for more resolution to
be recorded if, for example, a finer-grain film is used or
less resolution to be recorded with poor quality optics or
low light levels. This would place 35mm film cameras roughly
equivalent with top-of-the-range digital cameras (as of 2006).
However, while 35mm is the standard format for consumer cameras,
many professional film cameras use Medium format or Large
format films which, due to the size of the film used, can
boast resolution many times greater than the current top-of-the-range
digital cameras. For example, it is estimated that a medium
format film photograph can record around 50 Megapixels, while
a Large format films can record around 200 Megapixels (4x5
inch) which would equate to around 800 Megapixels on the largest
common film format, 8x10 inch.
The resolution of modern black and white slow speed film,
exposed through a high quality prime lens working at its optimum
aperture yields usable detail at a scanned file size of greater
than 30 megapixels. With consumer 35mm color negative film
an effective resolution of over 12 megapixels is achievable
and in an inexpensive 35mm point and shoot camera a resolution
of over 8 megapixels may be achieved.
When deciding between film and digital and between different
types of camera, it is necessary to take into account the
medium which will be used for display. For instance, if a
photograph will only be viewed on a television or computer
display (which can resolve only about 2 Megapixels and 1.3
Megapixels, respectively, as of 2006), then the resolution
provided by a low-end digital cameras may be sufficient. For
standard 4x6 inch prints, it is debatable whether there will
be any perceived quality difference between digital and film.
If the medium is a large billboard, then it is likely that
the extra resolution of a medium or large format will be necessary.
For larger prints, the extra resolution of a good 35mm film
photograph may be desirable.
It should be noted that a special case exists for long exposure
photography - Currently available technology contributes random
noise to the images taken by digital cameras, produced by
thermal noise and manufacturing defects. For very long exposures
it is necessary to operate the detector at low temperatures
to avoid noise impacting the final image. Film grain is not
affected by exposure time, although the apparent speed of
the film does change with longer exposures.
Convenience and Flexibility
This has been one of the major drivers of the widespread adoption
of digital cameras. Before the advent of digital cameras,
once a photograph was taken, the roll of film would need to
be finished and sent off to a lab to be developed. Only once
the film was returned was it possible to see the photograph.
However, most digital cameras incorporate an LCD screen which
allows the photograph to be viewed immediately after it has
been taken. This allows the photographer to delete unrequired
photographs and offers an immediate opportunity to re-take.
When a user desires prints, it is only necessary to print
the good photographs.
Another major advantage of digital technology is that photographs
can be conveniently moved to a personal computer for modification.
Many digital cameras are capable of storing pictures in a
RAW format which stores the output from the sensor directly
rather than processing it immediately to an image. When combined
with suitable software, such as dcraw, this allows the user
to configure certain parameters of the taken photograph (such
as sharpness or colour) before it is "developed"
into a final image. More sophisticated users may choose to
manipulate or alter the actual content of the recorded image.
Film photographs may be digitised in a process known as scanning.
They may then be manipulated as digital photographs.
Price
The two formats (film and digital) have different emphases
as regards pricing. With digital photography, cameras tend
to be significantly more expensive than film ones, comparing
like for like. This is offset by the fact that taking photographs
is effectively cost-free. Photographs can be taken freely
and copies distributed over the internet free of charge.
This should be contrasted with film photography where good-quality
cameras tend to be less complicated and, therefore, less expensive.
But this is at the expense of ongoing costs both in terms
of film and processing costs. In particular, film cameras
offer no chance to review photographs immediately after they
are shot, and all photos taken must be processed before knowing
anything about the quality of the final photograph.
There are costs associated with digital photography. Digital
cameras use batteries, some of which are proprietary and quite
expensive. While they are rechargable, they do degrade over
time and must be periodically replaced. Although there is
no film in digital cameras, there is the requirement to store
the images on memory cards or microdrives which also have
limited life. Additionally, some provision for storage of
the digital image must be made. In general this would be either
an optical disc produced by a shop or photofinisher, or by
the photographer on a computer system. If physical prints
are to be made they can either be purchased from a photofinisher,
or produced by the photographer.
The price differential between the two formats is often dictated
by the intent of the photographer and the purpose of his or
her work.
Robustness
Nonetheless film still has advantages over digital, at least
with current technology. One of the main advantages is its
latitude, that is, the ability to produce a good image from
over- or underexposed negatives. Digital images which are
slightly overexposed can lose all data in the highlights,
and underexposed digital will lose significant shadow detail.
Film, on the other hand, can be greatly over- or underexposed
and still be able to produce a normal image. This is especially
true with black and white film.
Dust on the image plane is a constant issue for photographers.
Digital cameras are especially prone to dust problems because
the sensor is static, whereas film is always being replaced.
For digital SLRs the presence of dust is often difficult to
rectify. With film cameras dust is easy to manage through
the use of good technique and clean handling methods. Some
digital SLRs however, have rectification mechanisms which
detect the dust particles on the image sensor and selectively
ignore them to a certain degree therefore making them more
manageble.
Archiving
When choosing between film and digital formats, it is necessary
to consider the suitability of each as an archival medium.
Films and prints processed and stored in ideal conditions
have demonstrated an ability to remain substantially unchanged
for more than 100 years. Gold or platinum toned prints probably
have a lifespan limited only by the lifespan of the base material,
probably many hundreds of years.
The archival potential of digital photographs is less well
understood since digital media have existed for only the last
50 years. There exist three problems which must be overcome
for archival usage: physical stability of the recording medium,
future readability of the storage medium and future readability
of the file formats used for storage.
Many digital media are not capable of storing data for prolonged
periods of time. For example, magnetic disks and tapes may
lose their data after twenty years, flash memory cards even
less. Good quality optical media may be the most durable storage
media for digital data.
It is important to consider the future readability of storage
media. Assuming the storage media can continue to hold data
for prolonged periods of time, the short lifespan of digital
technologies often causes the drives to read media to become
unavailable. For example, the first 5¼-inch Floppy
disks were first made available in 1976. However, the drives
to read them are already extremely rare just 30 years later.
It must also be considered whether there still exists software
which can decode the data. For example, many modern digital
cameras save photographs in JPEG format. This format has existed
for only around 15 years. Whether it will still be readable
in a century is unknown.
Most professional cameras can save in a RAW image format,
the future of which is much more uncertain. Some of these
formats contain proprietary data which is encrypted or protected
by patents, and could be abandoned by their makers at any
time for simple economic reasons. This could make it difficult
to read these 'raw' files in the future, unless the camera
makers were to release information on the file formats.
However, digital archives have several methods of overcoming
such obstacles. In order to counteract the file format problems,
many organizations prefer to choose an open and popular file
format. Doing so increases the chance that software will exist
to decode the file in the future.
Additionally many organisations take an active approach to
archiving rather than relying on formats being readable decades
later. This takes advantage of the ability to make perfect
copies of digital media. So, for example, rather than leaving
data on a format which may potentially become unreadable or
unsupported, the information can typically be copied to newer
media without loss of quality. This is only possible with
digital media.
Integrity
Film produces a first generation image, which contains only
the information admitted through the aperture of the camera.
Film "sees" in color, in a specific spectral band
such as Orthochromatic, or in broad Panchromatic sensitivity.
Differences in Development technique can produce subtle changes
in the finished Negative or Positive, but once this process
is complete it is considered permanent.
Film images are very difficult to fabricate, thus in law enforcement
and in cases where the authenticity of an image is important
(Passport/Visa photographs), film provides greater security
over digital, which has the disadvantage that photographs
can be conveniently moved to a personal computer for modification.
Photography styles
Commercial photography
The commercial photographic world can be broken down to:
Advertising photography: photographs made to illustrate a
service or product. These images are generally done with an
advertising agency, design firm or with an in-house corporate
design team.
Editorial photography: photographs made to illustrate a story
or idea within the context of a magazine. These are usually
assigned by the magazine.
Photojournalism: this can be considered a subset of editorial
photography. Photographs made in this context are accepted
as a truthful documentation of a news story.
Portrait and wedding photography: photographs made and sold
directly to the end user of the images.
Fine art photography: photographs made to fulfill a vision,
and reproduced to be sold directly to the customer.
The market for photographic services demonstrates the aphorism
"one picture is worth a thousand words," which has
an interesting basis in the history of photography. Magazines
and newspapers, companies putting up Web sites, advertising
agencies and other groups pay for photography.
Many people take photographs for self-fulfillment or for commercial
purposes. Organizations with a budget and a need for photography
have several options: they can assign a member of the organization,
hire someone, run a public competition, or obtain rights to
stock photographs.
Photography as an art form
During the twentieth century, both fine art photography and
documentary photography became accepted by the English-speaking
art world and the gallery system. In the United States, a
small handful of curators spent their lives advocating to
put photography in such a system, with Alfred Stieglitz, Edward
Steichen, John Szarkowski, and Hugh Edwards the most prominent
among them.
The aesthetics of photography is a matter that continues to
be discussed regularly, especially in artistic circles. Many
artists argued that photography was the mechanical reproduction
of an image. If photography is authentically art, then photography
in the context of art would need redefinition, such as determining
what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer.
The controversy began with the earliest images "written
with light": Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre,
and others among the very earliest photographers were met
with acclaim, but some questioned if it met the definitions
and purposes of art.
Clive Bell in his classic essay "Art" states that
only one thing can distinguish art from what is not art: "significant
form." Bell wrote: "There must be some one quality
without which a work of art cannot exist; possessing which,
in the least degree, no work is altogether worthless. What
is this quality? What quality is shared by all objects that
provoke our aesthetic emotions? What quality is common to
Sta. Sophia and the windows at Chartres, Mexican sculpture,
a Persian bowl, Chinese carpets, Giotto's frescoes at Padua,
and the masterpieces of Poussin, Piero della Francesca, and
Cezanne? Only one answer seems possible - significant form.
In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain
forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions."
Aesthetic realism and photography
Others have since examined if this criterion be applied to
photography. This question has been examined by the aesthetic
realism understanding of beauty.
A form of art in photography is that of portrait photography.
A portrait is the rendering of someone's likeness. A portrait
photographer not only wants to capture the true likeness,
but also the personality of the individual. The photographer
needs to be proficient not only in the workings and setting
of the camera, but also needs to understand form and lighting.
Great lighting and positioning can make someone appear at
their best form if used correctly.
VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH DEALERS
SIDEROTYPE
Gold Printing Services: The new chrysotype process is an
archival method of producing photographic images and/or text
on handmade paper, with no fading or deterioration over hundreds
of years.
We can produce a new chrysotype print from any existing image
or text, in muted shades of black, blue, green, violet, red
or pink. Special applications include artists' portfolios,
gallery exhibitions, sacred texts and document/photograph
archives.
ALLSWORTH
BOOKS
Allsworth Rare Books was established in 2002 by Jenny Allsworth,
after ten years' experience working at major London booksellers
(Bernard Quaritch Ltd., Henry Sotheran Ltd. and Bernard Shapero).
We specialise in fine travel books and nineteenth century
photographs, with a particular emphasis on Africa and the
Far East.
PIERRE
SPAKE
This site will offer for sale 19th century Photographs, and
Books, Manuscripts, Ephemera from all dates.
Now you have found me - sorry there is not that much to see
at present. This site is due for a major injection of stock
- but not quite yet. Bookmark and come back soon.
ART
75
PHOTOGRAPHIES XIXs et XXs and VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS 19th &
20th century
LINUS
CARR
Linus Carr : Art Image Culture selling vintage photographs,
original film, documents, art, ethnography
PAUL
FRECKER
The internet has become an important medium in which to buy
and sell photographic images. However, a scan can only give
a potential buyer an idea of whether or not an image is appealing.
It cannot compare with the experience of seeing and handling
the actual photograph. A photograph is an object and it has
a physical presence which is not conveyed on a website. For
this reason, no sales are final, and if you find that your
new acquisition does not match your expectations when it arrives,
I offer a full, unconditional refund, less the cost of postage.
ORDINARY
LIGHT
Our aim is to explore the history of photography in all its
facets without segregation of high prices and occasional high
brow posturing. We are always looking for photographs that
do not necessarily cater to a well-developed bank account.
We believe that the photography in all its forms should be
democratic and accessible to the small collector as well as
the fine art collector. We try to reflect this ideology by
buying and selling photographs that have a particular affliction
to the history of the medium. We do not shun expensive and
well -known maker photographs either. We would like our potential
audience to be wide ranging. As collectors of snapshots and
other related photographic vernacular, we see the importance
of the small things and perhaps things looked over. That is
not say that we will not post more expensive pieces, it simply
means that we will continue to sell all formats and distinctions
of the photographic medium.
IAN
SUMNER PHOTOGRAPHY
Please take a look around my website, view my services and
a small sample from my portfolio. If you have any questions
about you have seen or read then please get in touch.
I am always interested in purchasing photographs, albums and
good quality photographic books. You can meet me at the regular
London Photograph Fair held at the Bonnington Hotel, Bloomsbury,
in February, May, September and November each year.
WOODSTONE
ANTIQUES
Woodstone Antiques and Collectables, selling Vintage Photographica,
Optical Toys, Magic Lanterns, Stereo, Scientific, Bakelite
and Unusual Items.
VERDEAU
PHOTO
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