Introduction to the History of Photography

William Henry Fox Talbot The Haystack  April 1844 salted paper print Printed by Nicolaas Henneman 19 x 22.9 cm; image: 16.4 x 21 cm Purchased 1975 National Gallery of Canada (no. 33487.31)  source: National Gallery of Canada plate from THE PENCIL OF NATURE , London, 1844 by Fox Talbot read it here: Project Gutenberg download it here

[Windmills, Montmartre], 1839 Hippolyte Bayard (French, 1801–1887) Direct positive print 3 3/8 x 3 15/16 in. (8.5 x 10 cm) Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005 (2005.100.32) source: Metmuseum  Hippolyte Bayard French, 1847 Salt print 6 1/2 x 4 13/16 in. source: Getty Hippolyte Bayard: Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man, 1840 (Direct Positive Print) 1840 Hippolyte Bayard ’s (20 January 1807 – 14 May 1887) role as a pioneer of photography, both as a photographer and as inventor, was overshadowed by Daguerre’ s support by the scientific establishment of his time and by the French government’s monetary rewards for his public disclosure of the Daguerreotype process.  Bayard’s commentary of “protest” on his situation as a “forgotten” photographer and pioneer of photography is expressed in one of his most famous and intriguing images the Self-portrait as a drowned man - drowned by indifference and neglect, as he writes to explain the p...

The concept of the photographic latent image is characterized by B. Newhall as: " a relatively week light signal is amplified enormously by development" (1) The action of light in the sensitized plate, paper or film is just the initial stage towards the formation of the photographic image, a process that must be complemented by development. The concept, according to Newhall, was announced by Talbot in 1841. Previously, Talbot allowed the action of light to be prolonged until the image appeared. The new procedure greatly reduced the necessary exposure time. The idea that a feeble image can be "increased, brought out, and strengthened" after the completion of the exposure process, was part of the daguerreotype process, as Talbot himself noted in an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, after Daguerre´s disclosure of his invention. (2) It was in fact the pioneer discovery of Niépce in the 1820s. (3) The pictures from the Salomon Andree ...

Sketch of Lake Como - Talbot - 1833 Drawing created using a Camera Lucida source: http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_p/1_photographers_talbot_smm_sketch.htm "(In) October, 1833, I was amusing myself on the lovely shores of the Lake of Como in Italy, taking sketches with a Camera Lucida, or rather, I should say, attempting to make them; but with the smallest possible amount of success... After various fruitless attempts I laid aside the instrument and came to the conclusion that its use required a previous knowledge of drawing which unfortunately I did not possess. I then thought of trying again a method which I had tried many years before. This method was to take a Camera Obscura and to throw the image of the objects on a piece of paper in its focus - fairy pictures, creations of a moment, and destined as rapidly to fade away... It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me... how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint...

W. Fox Talbot The Open Door Salt print from a calotype negative, April 1844. 18.8 x 23.1 cm. source: http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/resources/opendoor.html " The Open Door reveals a telling interest in the artistic treatment of the mundane." The image's "picturesque dimension suggests the inventor's familiarity with examples of Dutch genre painting of the 17 th century" Rosenblum , Naomi - World History of Photography, 1997 ( page 31) It is interesting to note that , as Rosenblum herself explains, "soft definition", that is the "blurry" or "fuzzy" characteristics of the calotype image, contrasted the calotype print to the finesse of detail and sharpness of the daguerreotype. Talbot in fact referred to the effects of his early "photogenic drawings" as " Rembrandtish " ( Rosenblum , page 29) Although the negative-positive method of Talbot would point the way to future developments of photography, the qua...

Portrait of William Henry Fox Talbot, Ivan Szabo salt print from a glass negative, mid 1850s. 13.3 x 10.7 cm. source: http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/resources/portrait2.html " William Henry Fox Talbot (February 11, 1800 – September 17, 1877) was the inventor of the negative/positive photographic process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries". William Fox Talbot -Wikipedia article A different evaluation of the role of Talbot in the development of photography is proposed by R. Derek Wood: "Talbot’s part in the birth of photography in 1839 has generally been overrated in England" . He writes: "Talbot laid considerable emphasis upon sensitization with silver iodide/gallic acid mixture before exposure. As late as 1844 he still seemed to place importance on this pre–exposure wash with gallic acid “to bring out the picture”. [31] The words “latent” and “develop” certainly appear in his first account of the calotype process, but how...