ARTH1100 History of Photography

While looking at the photo’s one gets a sense of worry without even knowing that the era they were taking in was during the depression. Each photo describes a different story in the facial expression. I believe this is incredible, I love the secrecy of the pictures and the way the camera had to adjust to the person versus having the person pose and be well aware that they are being photographed. It is incredible how train rides can be like a psychiatrist session. It gives you time to reflect on your day or make your plans, catch up on your reading or for the first time just be able to sit and not do anything. All those expression are portrayed in these photos.

I have recently came across this article that shows some of the earliest color photographs of New York.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036932/New-York-City-photos-Charles-W-Cushman-reveal-1940s-life-Big-Apple.html

They were made in 1941-42 by Charles Weever Cushman on, at that time, a very expensive color Kodak film. I found these really amazing. So sharp and detailed that even many today’s digital cameras would have hard time capturing. Even more interesting is the fact that these were shot at the time of the WWII… They may be the only color photos I’ve seen from that period. They really illustrate how fast photography has advanced through history since its invention.

To me, they almost look weird because I really expect to see these kinds of scenes in not too sharp black and white photos.

Throughout the film one could see some practices of early photography. For instance the filmmaker created depth in the beginning seconds of the film by seating everyone at an angle where one could see the stairs, causing the view to look up. By creating a background landscape the filmmaker portrayed a sense of character as well as time period. By dressing up the actors with long robes, hats, and umbrellas for cans shows to me the wealth status, one of them even being a judge with a wig, which becomes relevant to the trip to the moon because it could not have been cheap in reality. Giving the moon a face and landing in its eye shows disrespect. These could all be similarities between photographic camera and film camera because if the film had still shots and not running the view could still receive a sense of character. The difference being that without action in a film camera the overall theme or moral may not be portrayed where as if action was shown through a photographic camera could come off cheesy.