History of Photography Camera Obscura Latin for dark

History of Photography

Camera Obscura Latin for “dark room”

Camera Obscura Free standing camera obscura building, UNC Campus The Camera Obscura was made portable in the 1660’s

Early Prints • 1725 – Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered silver chloride and silver nitrate darken in the presence of light but if the mixture was disturbed, the images would disintegrate. • 1777 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, inspired by Schulze’s discoveries, found that ammonia would dissolve the silver chloride, leaving the image permanently intact. • From these two discoveries, the basic chemistry of photography was developed – exposing silver chloride to produce an image and “fixing” it with ammonia.

First Permanent Camera Image, 1827 Joseph Nicephore Niepce – emulsion (light sensitive varnish) technique

Photography Goes Public • Frederick Scott Archer introduced the collodian wet-plate process which made printing high quality images in multiple copies available to the public. • Cameras were set up in studios and loaded onto carts to photograph portraits, landscapes and battles. Tourists collected inexpensive prints of local attractions called cartes-de-vicite, by the thousands. • The stereoscopic camera (which produced a 3 D effect by combining two images) was introduced in 1849. By 1860, no parlor was considered complete without a stereo viewer and a stack of slides to entertain guests.

Products of Photography • Photographs became a quick means of visual proof or documentation of events – documentary photography. • At the start of the Civil War, a successful portrait photographer, Mathew Brady, asked President Lincoln for permission to carry his camera onto the battlefields. His photographs of the war provided for the first time a visual documentation of the horrors of war.

Products of Photography • During the mid-1800 s, photography books were being published documenting the harsh conditions of life in the streets, factories, mines and slums of England the United States. • Lewis Hine, a sociologist, produced powerful photographs of many of these conditions. Lewis Hine, Powerhouse Mechanic

“You press the button; we do the rest. ” • George Eastman introduced the first Kodak camera in 1888. It was pre-loaded with enough film to take 100 photographs. • The first mass-marketed Kodak camera was introduced in 1900, known as the Brownie.

Photography Advancements Timeline • 1902 – Alfred Steiglitz began to publish Camera Work, the first magazine dedicated to artistic approaches to photography. • 1937 – The SLR (single lens reflex) camera was introduced to the U. S. by Exacta. • 1938 – Automatic exposure initiated by Kodak with its 6 -20 camera. • 1939 – Electronic flash developed by Harold Edgerton. • 1947 – First Polaroid camera developed by Edwin Land.

Photography Advancements Continued • 1954 – First high-speed film, Tri-X, comes onto market. • 1959 – Development of the first zoom lens, Zoomar 36 -82. • 1966 – Konica introduces first professional quality automatic exposure camera. • 1972 – Polaroid adds color to its instant camera. • 1985 – Minolta introduces the first professional quality automatic focus camera, the Maxxum.

Photography Advancements Continued • 1987 – Canon debuts first “Commercial Still Video” system. • 1990 – Photoshop licensed to Adobe. • 1991 – Kodak launches Photo CD system and digital camera.

Photography Advancements Continued • 1994 - Olympus introduces the Deltis VC-1100, the world’s first digital camera capable of uploading photos using a modem to another camera or computer- for only $4000! • 1995 - Ricoh releases the RDC-1 the first digital camera that could also take movies with sound (all 10 seconds worth!) LCD’s and image stabilization technology was also invented

Photography Advancements Continued • 1998: Sony used Info Lithium batteries (to know how much battery life you had) • 1999: Nikon released the Nikon D 1 which was the first DSLR (digital single lens reflex camera) • 2000: higher megapixels (5 - wow!) and fully automatic DSLR cameras • 2001: Sony “Night Shot”- ability to shoot at night without a flash

Photography Advancements Continued • 2006 - Nikon discontinued most of its film cameras and its large format lenses to focus on digital models. • 2010 - Sony introduces the NEX-VG 10 icon the first consumer camcorder • 2010 - Instagram created by Mike Systrom & Mike Krieger • 2010 - German Andreas Gursky sold most expensive photograph 3. 8 million Euros!

Photography Advancements Continued • 2012 - Eastman Kodak company goes bankrupt • 2012 - Facebook bought Instragram • 2012 - Photographs from the Mars Rover • 2014 - MIT begins teaching Photography courses • 2014 - Australian Peter Ilk sells a photo for $6. 5 million