Photography became a reality in 1839, following work by William Hyde Wollaston on the camera obscura; investigations of silver salts by chemist Johann Heinrich Schulze (1687--1744) and Thomas Wedgwood (1771--1805); lens design by French optician Charles Chevalier (1804--59); early images from Nicéphore Niepce; and the discovery of hypo as a fixer by Sir John Herschel, who suggested the terms "photography', "negative', and "positive'.
The successful processes of the early 1800s were the daguerreotype of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre and the later calotype of William Henry Fox Talbot. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer (1813--57) invented the superior wet plate (collodion) process. However, plates had to be sensitized and processed at the time of exposure until Richard Leach Maddox (1816--1902) devised dry plates. Subsequently, plates were manufactured, marking the beginning of the photographic industry.
Colour photography was not initially possible, as early processes recorded only blue light. In 1873, German chemist Hermann Wilhelm Vogel introduced orthochromatic plates, sensitized to green light using dyes. Panchromatic (red) sensitivity followed later. In 1871, James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated photographic colour reproduction by projection of three images. In 1869, French scientist Louis Duclos du Hauron published theoretical details of possible colour materials. In 1891, Gabriel Lippmann devised a system of colour photography which, while impractical, found use decades later in holography. Otherwise, photographs were tinted or toned to become coloured. In 1906, Auguste and Louis Lumière introduced Autochrome plates, the first practical colour materials.
Early processes lacked sensitivity and were unreliable. To rationalize manufacture, chemists Ferdinand Hurter (1844--98) and Vero Charles Driffield (1848--1915) systematically investigated photographic materials and devised a system to measure film speed. Another photoscientist, Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, made significant contributions, as did Michael Faraday, and astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819--1900).
Photography flourished with technical advances, artistic exploration of the new medium, and applications in objective recording. Improved lenses included the fast portrait lens of Josef Max Petzval (1807--91), the telephoto of Thomas Dallmeyer (1859--1906), and the triplet of Harold Dennis Taylor (1862--1943). Early lenses gave poor images, remedied by the introduction, in 1886, of new types of optical glass, after research in Jena by Carl Zeiss and Ernst Abbe. By the 1900s, equipment and materials were reliable, and photography possible with hand-held cameras. Tone reproduction was acceptable and enlargement was routine.
Initially, photography was costly and difficult until American entrepreneur, George Eastman, introduced his Kodak camera in 1888, which incorporated preloaded roll film for factory processing. A particular Victorian enthusiasm was for stereoscopic photography, following a theory published by Sir David Brewster in 1858 and popularized by stereo viewers devised by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Photography in England was initially restricted by patents, but licence holders Antoine Jean François Claudet (1797--1867) and Richard Beard (1802--85) promoted portraiture successfully. Claudet contributed significantly to improvements in photography. Talbot published in 1844 The Pencil of Nature, the first book illustrated by photographs. Other examples of outstanding early photography came from David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson in Scotland; Albert Sands Southworth (1811--94) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808--91) in the USA; Herman Krone (1827--1916) in Dresden, and Gustave Le Gray (1820--82) in France. An important portraitist was Julia Margaret Cameron who took definitive images of Sir John Herschel and Lord Tennyson. Popular portraiture flourished with the popularity of the carte de visite, a small photographic portrait on a card, introduced by André Adolphe Eugène Disderi (1819--90).
Photography also recorded landscapes, culture and customs, art, architecture, travel, conflicts, and scientific subjects. A photograph was taken of the Moon by John William Draper as early as 1840. From 1872, Eadweard Muybridge studied human and animal locomotion by successive exposures. This precursor to cinematography was later perfected by Thomas Alva Edison, the Lumières, and others. To obtain commercial pictures, photographers roamed the world, resulting in outstanding work from Francis Frith (1822--99), Samuel Bourne (1834--1912), and John Thomson (1837--72). In the USA, scenery was recorded by William Henry Jackson (1843--1942) and Timothy O'Sullivan (1840--82). Working alone in Paris, Jean-Auguste Atget (1857--1927) recorded the city and environs in a masterly manner. War photography began during the American Civil War and the Crimean War, recorded by Matthew Brady and Roger Fenton respectively.
The dual use of photography as an art medium and as a means of objective record, led to artist-photographers forming the Photo Secessionists in the USA, and The Linked Ring in Europe. Their work was characterized by soft focus and derivative processes, influenced by the Impressionist School. Photographers of note are Gertrude Kasebier (1852--1934), Clarence Hudson White (1871--1927), Paul Strand, Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882--1966), Fred Holland Day (1864--1910), Edward Steichen, and Frederick H Evans. Alfred Stieglitz was the arbiter of taste and publisher of the seminal journal Camera Work. Their ideas came to represent pictorial photography in later decades.
World War 1 gave impetus to improvements in photography, especially for applications such as photoreconnaissance and mapping from aerial photographs. Cameras became reduced in size, resulting in the Leica of 1924, designed by Oscar Barnack (1879--1936) in Germany. Film and lenses were improved to utilize small formats, prompted by the needs of the new movie industry. Fast lenses were designed by Horace William Lee (1889--1976). The technique of available-light photography was pioneered by Erich Salomon (1886--1944). Panchromatic film became freely available, and Kodachrome was sold by Eastman Kodak from 1936. It was the result of research work by Leopold Mannes (1899--1964) and Leopold Godowsky (1900--83), encouraged by scientist Charles Edward Kenneth Mees (1882--1960), who supervised research at Kodak.
The 1920s and "30s produced several photographic trends. Most families owned a box camera, and this triggered the formation of the photo-finishing industry for their processing needs. In the USA the f/64 Group of 1930, whose founders included Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, produced highly detailed, sharp images of scenic subjects. Their work is still a source of inspiration. Likewise, the formation of the Farm Security Administration in 1937, with photographic manager Roy Stryker (1893--1976), produced searing images of depression and drought in the work of Arthur Rothstein (1915--85), Walker Evans, and Dorothea Lange, among others.
In Europe the Bauhaus School was founded in 1919 by artists who aspired to explore new forms of design for contemporary use. Photographic experimentation was extended by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy into photograms and photo-montage, which were later used to devastating effect by John Heartfield. Exploration of abstract form without a camera revived Talbot's photogenic drawing and inspired the photograms of Man Ray. Abstract treatment of subjects produced novel images using techniques such as pseudo-solarization.
Mass circulation magazines including Life and Picture Post were founded. These pioneered the picture story and photo reportage, with work from Bert Hardy, Kurt Hutton (1893--1960), and Felix Man (1893--1985). The photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson is particularly representative of 35mm "candid photography' and the "decisive moment', but the work of Margaret Bourke-White, André (1894--1985), and Robert Frank is also significant in this genre.
World War 2 and subsequent conflicts again catalysed developments in photographic technology, and emphasized the propaganda value of photography. The skills of combat photographers were refined. Such photographers include David Douglas Duncan (1916-- ), Larry Burrows (1926--71), and Don McCullin (1935-- ). Robert Capa produced memorable images, and, with Cartier-Bresson and others, he later founded the influential Magnum picture agency.
The flash photo and Speed Graphic camera symbolized the hard, realistic approach of the American newspaper photographer, of which "Weegee' (Arthur Fellig, 1899--1968) was the archetype. Flashbulbs were replaced in the 1960s by the electronic flash, as pioneered by Harold Edgerton. Most cameras now have an integral or attachable flash unit for convenience. Flash served also to extend human visual perception of events and subjects, as did the use of infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
Rapid processing of photographs was due to Edwin Land, who produced, in 1947, the first "instant print' process using self-developing materials. From the 1970s, innovative cameras from Japan replaced the products from Germany, leading to the dominance of the 35mm single-lens-reflex camera. This type now offers automation of all functions, with the convenience of built-in zoom lenses and the availability of rapid colour processing from minilabs.
The simplification of technique has coincided with the introduction of new forms of imagery and the potential for experimentation. The genres of photography, for example, portraits, fashion and culture, landscapes, the built environment, the nude, conflict, sport, reportage, colour imagery, and experimental work have been extended by the work of Bill Brandt, Cecil Beaton, Minor White, Jerry Uelsmann (1934-- ), Lord Snowdon, David Bailey, Harry Callahan (1912-- ), Robert Mapplethorpe (1946--89), William Eggleston (1939-- ), and numerous others. Perhaps as a reaction to the automation and electronic aspects of contemporary photography, some photographers have a more contemplative approach, using large format cameras, the skills of hand printing, and older processes so that their photography still retains contact with its origins.
Sidney Ray, University of Westminster
