Invention or Discovery?
This weeks lecture was very successful in providing insight into just how revolutionary the discovery of the understanding of light was in the history of humanity and technology, and how integral the invention of photo-sensitive materials was for historical documentation and the addition of the medium to the world of art.
Each of these slides was selected because they each altered the manner in which we as humans perceive and understand the world as it is, rather than what we understand it to be via our own projection of ourselves onto it.
Understanding the idea, vehicle, penetration, and recording of information constructed a new foundation for what knowledge and photography is to me. These ideas apply to the camera obscura, the ideation and communication of philosophies, and even the conception and evolution of life on earth.
Moving forward, I came to sympathize with and be grateful for past photographers like Daguerre, and his philosophy on the availability of photographic techniques, while understanding the ideologies of people like Talbot whilst disagreeing with the capitalistic notion of the Calotype.
Finally, the realization of the potential of photography made a large mark initially on the scientific community, then, nearly a century later, on the artistic community.
This image is among my favorite of the presentation because of the ideas and philosophies it represents. The idea of a photograph as a window is, at the same time, so accurate and inaccurate. This idea can be examined from many different angles, but I will simplify down to the accuracy and inaccuracy of perspective and objectivity vs. subjectivity.
All photography has a perspective much like the vantage point of a window. Photography is a way of viewing the world that only gives access to information within that viewport or vantage-point, often restricted by the angle of view or focal length of the lens. These windows remove the viewer from the moment, it places a barrier between the viewer and the subject which enables and often provokes observation over interaction. It changes the way we perceive because we are removed from the present. Similar to that is the idea of the eyes as windows and the observer inside of the head as the viewer. If we view our own eyes as the window, it creates another universe inside of our heads which looks onto the external universe with an observational perspective. This then implies that there is a universe that exists inside of ourselves and our consciousness which then observes and attempts to understand the universe outside of ourselves. That idea transitions us into the dichotomy of objectivity and subjectivity.
All photographers are obsessed with the non-existent idea of the objective image- an image in which no inherent perspective, ideologies, beliefs, or projections of the photographer exist. All images are therefor subjective because the image-capturer is unable to record an image without making the decision of what to include and what to exclude from the composition, what angle to use, how to caption, how to create a series of images, and all of what it means to make a photograph. Even the idea of an artificial intelligence as a photographer still has some sort of training in data sets constructed by humans from individual perspectives. The windows we look out of and observe from are inherently subjective and simply cannot be avoided.
Side note: I recently read that Beyoncé’s 2018 Vouge cover was photographed by Tyler Mitchell- the first black artist’s photography that Vouge has every used on the cover in their 126 years of establishment. Beyoncé commented in the article
Until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like.
Beyoncé – Vogue US September 2018, Tyler Mitchell
Image of the week
untitled (self-portrait: foot), Caleb Theil (2021), Silver Gelatin Print
The Terminal (1893), Alfred Stieglitz,
Georgia O’Keefe- Neck, Alfred Stieglitz, 1921
I love Stieglitz’s work because of its ability to transport viewers back in time to the moments he decided to capture. This work in particular provokes so many different senses with the nostalgic sepia look, the freezing-cold snow on the ground, the long period-coats and the drawn-out foggy breath of the horses. He had such a wonderful, artistic eye while practicing a medium that wouldn’t be recognized as an artistic medium for decades after he would pass away.
Eugène Atget, Fête des Invalides,1898
Atget served as an influencer to some of my favorite photographers of all time. I may not know much about his work specifically, but from the way I’ve heard other artists describe the contribution and inspiration they derive from his work pushed me to add his name to my on-going list of artists-to-research.
Henri Cartier-Bresson Crowds gathered between Birla House and the cremation grounds on the Jumna River, during Gandhi’s funeral. Delhi, India. 1948. © Henri Cartier-Bresson | Magnum Photos
Henri Cartier-Bresson Gandhi’s body at Birla House, the day after his assassination. Delhi, India. 1948. © Henri Cartier-Bresson | Magnum Photos
Cartier-Bresson is and will always be one of the most influential photographers of all time. The perspective he managed to shoot from along with the way he looked at and understood the world has baffled and humbled photographers for nearly two centuries.
Lastly, and probably most relevant, is the work of Anna Atkins. Atkins was a scientist and illustrator who was unimpressed by the imperfect rendering and distribution of scientific texts along with accurate depictions of various botanical species. So, Atkins began developing a process to accurately (and incredibly beautifully) render Cyanotype contact-prints of various species of plants to be published in scientific texts. She self-published the first book to include cyanotype photographs in 1843 titled Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions.
sources
https://www.vogue.com/article/tyler-mitchell-beyonce-photographer-vogue-september-issue
https://www.tylermitchell.co/photography/beyonce
https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/religion/henri-cartier-bresson-india-death-gandhi/
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/271615
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/anna-atkins-cyanotypes-the-first-book-of-photographs.html
https://www.alternativephotography.com/cyanotype-history-john-herschels-invention/#:~:text=John%20Hershel's%20cyanotype%20print%20'Lady,soda%20as%20early%20as%201839.
