Prof. Boerner's Explorations

Edited by Gerald Boerner

     
Commentary:

During the early history of photography, American photographers lagged only slightly behind their counterparts on the continent, especially France. Louis Daguerre developed his polished plate process, the Daguerreotype, in 1839. Félix Nadar took the first aerial photo from a balloon in1858, but James Wallace Black of Boston took his first U.S. aerial photograph from a balloon in the early 1860s. Photography studios popped upon across the east coast of this country while many itinerant photographers roamed the rural west.

The American Civil War provided one of the first real opportunities for field, documentary photography. Names like Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardener, and Timothy O’Sullivan are closely associated with this documentation of the carnage of major Civil War battles. Balloons were used to survey the battlefields to monitor troop movements, and James Wallace Black boarded a balloon over the city of Boston to photograph several of the neighborhoods. The world has not been the same since.

We need to credit these early practitioners of photography for their pioneering work with the primitive cameras, slow recording media, and development with dangerous chemicals. But now it’s time to examine the work of James Wallace Black, one of the pioneers in this exciting field… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 1495 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to Photography:

“A lot of people think that when you have grand scenery, such as you have in Yosemite, that photography must be easy.”
— Galen Rowell

“A new era in the physiological investigation of linguistic sounds was opened up by X-ray photography.”
— Roman Jakobson

“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.”
— Henri Cartier-Bresson continue reading…

Edited by Gerald Boerner

     

Commentary:

Building on the work of Joseph Niépce, Louis Daguerre developed a photographic process that was capable of capturing reality and saving it as a photograph. In the beginning of the photographic technology, the Daguerreotype was the process of preference for portraits. For the first time the average worker was able to obtain a picture of family members and loved ones without incurring the cost and time it took for a painted portrait.

The industrial revolution produced changes in society that provided the common person with a wage for the first time. These remembrances in the form of daguerreotypes provided a way of documenting peoples’ lives. True, these images were not easy to duplicate (if at all), but they were more than anything that was available to the general population previously.

In addition, there were a handful of daguerreotypists who were able to capture beautiful landscapes. While these latter photographers were not as plentiful as those making portraits, they produced some very memorable images.

This technology lasted from 1839 through the mid-1850s when other technologies became available. None the less, we have Niépce and Daguerre to thank for these amazing images. GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2555 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to DAGUERREOTYPE:

“The first mentioned is the good old daguerreotype, with its perfection, its beauty, its accuracy, and its prompt execution. It has never been excelled by any production of the camera.”
— Abraham Bogardus

“Good artists hate good photographs, where every object on the field is reproduced with wonderful distinctness; but will go into raptures over an under-timed one, in which the high lights break weirdly out from broad masses of shadow; or an over-timed one wherein light and atmosphere have saturated everything to grayness.”
— Harry L.A. Culmer

“They are documents, “family memories”, nothing more. They were made in the days before “artistic photographs,” and “light effects,” and theatrical “posing.” The photographers of daguerreotypes had not yet been classified “artists” sporting the classic floating tie and the rumpled and dirty hair.”
— Peter C. Bunnell

continue reading…

Edited by Gerald Boerner

     

Commentary:

Building on the work of Joseph Niépce, Louis Daguerre developed a photographic process that was capable of capturing reality and saving it as a photograph. In the beginning of the photographic technology, the Daguerreotype was the process of preference for portraits. For the first time the average worker was able to obtain a picture of family members and loved ones without incurring the cost and time it took for a painted portrait.

The industrial revolution produced changes in society that provided the common person with a wage for the first time. These remembrances in the form of daguerreotypes provided a way of documenting peoples’ lives. True, these images were not easy to duplicate (if at all), but they were more than anything that was available to the general population previously.

In addition, there were a handful of daguerreotypists who were able to capture beautiful landscapes. While these latter photographers were not as plentiful as those making portraits, they produced some very memorable images.

This technology lasted from 1839 through the mid-1850s when other technologies became available. None the less, we have Niépce and Daguerre to thank for these amazing images. GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 2555 Words ]
    

Quotations Related to DAGUERREOTYPE:

“The first mentioned is the good old daguerreotype, with its perfection, its beauty, its accuracy, and its prompt execution. It has never been excelled by any production of the camera.”
— Abraham Bogardus

“Good artists hate good photographs, where every object on the field is reproduced with wonderful distinctness; but will go into raptures over an under-timed one, in which the high lights break weirdly out from broad masses of shadow; or an over-timed one wherein light and atmosphere have saturated everything to grayness.”
— Harry L.A. Culmer

“They are documents, “family memories”, nothing more. They were made in the days before “artistic photographs,” and “light effects,” and theatrical “posing.” The photographers of daguerreotypes had not yet been classified “artists” sporting the classic floating tie and the rumpled and dirty hair.”
— Peter C. Bunnell

continue reading…