Wednesday's Babble || Reader, I quit the beer blog
Reader, I quit the beer blog.
I have abandoned the original theme of The Brewery Babble in exchange for photography. I have owned my own photography business for the past four years and it has become one of my biggest passions in life. There is something magical about capturing a moment in time, in being able to look at a photograph and see the past coming to life.
Photography literally changed the world upon its invention. Before the first photograph was taken by a camera in 1826, there were paintings and sculptures and drawings—but there was no completely true-to-life way to document people, places, or things. For example, think of King Richard III. He was known as the ‘hunchback king' and many people believe he was grossly deformed, partly due to Shakespeare's description of the king in his play. Court paintings from the time, as seen below, don't show anything outlandishly wrong with the king. Court paintings were often perfected versions of people—have you ever seen acne on a medieval king's portrait painting? How about a painting of a king mid-blink?
Because Richard III's skull has been found, technology has allowed for a reconstruction model of his face (see below). The painting is similar to the reconstruction, but it demonstrates how paintings could perfect aspects of the subject. Similarly, photography allows a certain amount of 'photo-fibbing' as well. The painting of Richard shows him at an angle, almost a profile shot. As can be seen from the reconstruction, Richard's face looked a bit unsymmetrical from the front. Although this could be hidden in both a photograph or a painting, it would have taken hours upon hours of a painter's time to paint an entirely new portrait of Richard from the front. Photography allowed historical figures, and every person on Earth, to be physically recorded abundantly in history in a multitude of different angles and positions.
When I am taking photographs of people, it is with the knowledge that I am documenting them as they currently are—for the rest of time, that photo will be a piece of concrete evidence as to what those people looked like. I took family photographs this past Saturday at a pumpkin patch. So, the photos I took of a family are always going to be dated 10.14.17. There is no other moment in time that will have the exact same circumstances. There is something powerful in knowing that.
Of course, Photoshop is a force to contend with now, too. Photographs have the ability to be altered, but as can be seen below, I use a portion of Photoshop called Lightroom. I only alter the lighting and colors in a photo: the people themselves stay the same. This new technology allows photographs to be changed: so what is more trustworthy, a painting from the 15th century or a picture in 2017? That's for you to decide based on the situation.
Photographers do more than document people. Most large businesses have a photographer on staff to take photos of products for marketing purposes, take photos for employee identification, and to design websites/work as a graphic designer. When my internship starts in January, I will be using my photography/graphic design skills to create engaging, positive posts for a winery.
Remember when I said photography changed the world? Photography's history began with Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, who was a professional scene painter for a theater in Paris. An early form of the camera existed in the 1830s, when Daguerre was painting, but it was not able to create a solid image that did not fade away. Eventually, through experimentation, Daguerre found that a latent image appeared on the early-camera's image plate. By adding affect exposure to iodized silver he found it could be "developed and made visible by exposure to mercury vapor" (History of Photography). In 1837, Daguerre was able to create a long-lasting image by adding a table salt to the solution the photo developed in. This is the basis of creating a camera that produced permanent images.
Recently, photography has become even more popular. A lot of jobs require employees with knowledge of photography. For so many professions just knowing the basics of photography can improve your attractiveness to employers.
Every time I take a photo, I am continuing what Daguerre started: I am recording history.
I have abandoned the original theme of The Brewery Babble in exchange for photography. I have owned my own photography business for the past four years and it has become one of my biggest passions in life. There is something magical about capturing a moment in time, in being able to look at a photograph and see the past coming to life.
Photography literally changed the world upon its invention. Before the first photograph was taken by a camera in 1826, there were paintings and sculptures and drawings—but there was no completely true-to-life way to document people, places, or things. For example, think of King Richard III. He was known as the ‘hunchback king' and many people believe he was grossly deformed, partly due to Shakespeare's description of the king in his play. Court paintings from the time, as seen below, don't show anything outlandishly wrong with the king. Court paintings were often perfected versions of people—have you ever seen acne on a medieval king's portrait painting? How about a painting of a king mid-blink?
 |
| https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Richard_of_England_cropped.jpg |
Because Richard III's skull has been found, technology has allowed for a reconstruction model of his face (see below). The painting is similar to the reconstruction, but it demonstrates how paintings could perfect aspects of the subject. Similarly, photography allows a certain amount of 'photo-fibbing' as well. The painting of Richard shows him at an angle, almost a profile shot. As can be seen from the reconstruction, Richard's face looked a bit unsymmetrical from the front. Although this could be hidden in both a photograph or a painting, it would have taken hours upon hours of a painter's time to paint an entirely new portrait of Richard from the front. Photography allowed historical figures, and every person on Earth, to be physically recorded abundantly in history in a multitude of different angles and positions.
 |
| https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-study-finds-that-king-richard-iii-was-buried-in-a-hurry-79909330/ |
When I am taking photographs of people, it is with the knowledge that I am documenting them as they currently are—for the rest of time, that photo will be a piece of concrete evidence as to what those people looked like. I took family photographs this past Saturday at a pumpkin patch. So, the photos I took of a family are always going to be dated 10.14.17. There is no other moment in time that will have the exact same circumstances. There is something powerful in knowing that.
Of course, Photoshop is a force to contend with now, too. Photographs have the ability to be altered, but as can be seen below, I use a portion of Photoshop called Lightroom. I only alter the lighting and colors in a photo: the people themselves stay the same. This new technology allows photographs to be changed: so what is more trustworthy, a painting from the 15th century or a picture in 2017? That's for you to decide based on the situation.
Photographers do more than document people. Most large businesses have a photographer on staff to take photos of products for marketing purposes, take photos for employee identification, and to design websites/work as a graphic designer. When my internship starts in January, I will be using my photography/graphic design skills to create engaging, positive posts for a winery.
Remember when I said photography changed the world? Photography's history began with Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, who was a professional scene painter for a theater in Paris. An early form of the camera existed in the 1830s, when Daguerre was painting, but it was not able to create a solid image that did not fade away. Eventually, through experimentation, Daguerre found that a latent image appeared on the early-camera's image plate. By adding affect exposure to iodized silver he found it could be "developed and made visible by exposure to mercury vapor" (History of Photography). In 1837, Daguerre was able to create a long-lasting image by adding a table salt to the solution the photo developed in. This is the basis of creating a camera that produced permanent images.
Recently, photography has become even more popular. A lot of jobs require employees with knowledge of photography. For so many professions just knowing the basics of photography can improve your attractiveness to employers.
Every time I take a photo, I am continuing what Daguerre started: I am recording history.
"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving." - Ansel Adams
I remember learning about Richard III in my Shakespeare class, and our teacher had us watch a PBS video about scientists' discovery that Richard III had scoliosis instead of being a hunchback. The PBS video had a man with scoliosis demonstrate how Richard III was able to fight and ride horses despite his handicap. While the painting of Richard III is probably idealized (especially when compared to the reconstructed model), Richard III’s deformity wasn’t nearly as gruesome as Shakespeare made it seem. A CNN article said that his torso would be shorter than usual and his right shoulder would have been higher than the left, but that these abnormal features could have been hidden with custom made clothing and armor.
ReplyDeleteCNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/29/health/richard-iii-spine-scoliosis/index.html
I'm honestly surprised and excited by how many job descriptions ask for photography skills; even writing jobs want applicants to have photography/videography skills. Capturing moments with photography has become an integral part of our daily lives, we take pictures to prove we've been places, met people, and to share our everyday life with family, friends, and total strangers. Even our jobs want us to take in every moment with a camera in hand to share an ideal image of the company with its customers. I think photography shows how people are more human than paintings ever could; photography captures flaws and the reality of an event while paintings can hide these if the painter desires. Flaws can be hidden with Photoshop or creative angles, but it takes a special eye and skill sets to do it in a not-completely-obvious way. I'm so thankful for the invention of the camera and I can't wait to see more content on your blog pertaining to photography!
ReplyDeleteMy dad loves photography, which we've talked about outside of class. I did some more research on Daguerre because how he discovered photography sounded kind of strange. I learned that with his discovery, exposure time was reduced from eight hours to thirty minutes. Can you imagine trying to capture something that requires an exposure time of thirty minutes? I can't.
ReplyDeleteMy dad stopped on a highway in Hawaii because he liked the sunset. He wouldn't have been able to capture the sunset the way he liked it if photography had not advanced.
You used an example of a family that happened to contain a child. Those photographs would have been impossible since no child can sit for thirty minutes perfectly still. It makes me wonder what kind of objects were photographed.
That's actually a really good point.. could you imagine trying to make a 2 year old sit still for 8 hours? Unless they were sleeping, it would be virtually impossible.
Delete