TIMBERWOLF PHOTOGRAPHY, Web Assignment

WEB ASSIGNMENT #2 - SEPT. 25

1. What is a daguerrotype? What did the surface of a daguerrotype resemble? When were they prominent? What photographic process did the daguerrotype replace?

2. What is an "albumen" print? What was the main "ingredient" of the albumen process? When did the albumen process die out?

3. What is a "stereograph?" When were they popular?

4. What is a "carte de visite?" What were they used for?

5. Who were Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner? They both are notable for what type of photography? When were they active? Post two noteworthy photographs for each photographer.

Answers:

1. The daguerrotype is the first successful photographic process, taken and developed by  Louis Daguerre together with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. And it is similar to the work from Niépce, who took the first photographic image and invented the obscura camera. In 1839 they were published by the French Academy of Science, that is the year Photography was born. This kind of photo process replaced using the obscura camera.

L'Atelier de l'artiste. An 1837 daguerreotype by Daguerre, the first completed, full process.

2. It was the first paper based photographic print on a negative, invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard. The main "ingredient" was albumen from egg whites. During the 19th century other methods became more useful and popular.

The Hypaethral Temple, Philae, byFrancis Frith, 1857

3. Stereographs (or Stereograms) are two images made from different point of views that are side by side.

4. The "carte de visite" are small photographs on a card and it shows a portrait. It was used to collect them or share your own with friends. It got quickly very popular, to do that.

 Example:

5. Alexander Gardner and Matthew Brady were both photographers who first took pictures of the soldiers, at the beginning of the Civil War. Soldiers took portraits to leave them for their families. After the war began both decided to follow the conflict in the countries, so they both took their equipment (darkroom) with them. They were active at the Civil Wars time 1861 and before that Brady already took pictures.

                 Alexander Gardner                                                           Matthew Brady

                 

Nicéphore Niépce

Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor, most known for the first taken permanent photograph.

He and his brother, Claude Niépce, also have found the "Pyréolophore". That is a internal combustion engine, which runs on controlled dust explosions. He took his first photograph  in 1822 from Pope Pius Vll, but later it got destroyed, because he tried to duplicate it.

Joseph  Nicéphore Niépce, 1759

View from the window at Le Gras, 1826

In 1826 he took this permanent photograph, viewing out of his window.
It is the first image, which survived. The image is called "Le Gras" and was taken in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes. It took 8 hours to expose and shows buildings on both sides. Niépce took this image with a camera obscura, which was focused on a sheet 20 x 25 cm oil treated bitumen (Asphalt). The camera obscura is kind of a dark tuberous which has a small hole, where light can come through. The oil treated bitumen- sheet catches the light and prints it upside- down.
The image is kept at the University of Texas in Austin, today.