Antoine Hercule Romuald Florence

Antoine H.R Florence (1804-1879) was a French/Brazilian inventor and painter. As a child he was interested in drawing and the sciences and in fact at the age of just 14 he was already working as a calligrapher and draftsman in Monaco. After a few years of working on board of warships and merchant ships, he set sail to Brazil with the crew of the French warship: "Marie Thereze". He then arrived in the port of Rio de Janeiro on the 1st May, 1824. Since he already possessed great painting and draftsman skills, shortly after arriving he got a job in a women's fashion shop and then eventually as a lithographer in a printing shop (owned by Pierre Plancher, who was his compatriot).

When Florence met Joaquim Correa De Mello, who was a scientist, the two became great friends whilst they also shared similar interests in science. Dr. de Mello started to assist Florence as he began to experiment with several types of printing methods. As his experiments continued, he began to notice that certain types of dyes were very sensitive to light. By use of the sunlight, Florence was able to darken the silver nitrate (which he received from Dr. de Mello) in order to produce images. It was at this time that the term: "Photographie" (painting with light) was coined.

Antoine Florence

 References:

Historic Camera, 2012, "Hercules Florence".[online]
Available at: http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=2180&
[Accessed - 25th October, 2013]

Wikipedia.org [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9rcules_Florence
[Accessed - 25th October, 2013]

The Competition: Daguerre VS Talbot

On the 7th of January, 1839, Louis Daguerre stunned his native country (France) by unleashing his creation upon the people. Daguerre presented and demonstrated his work to the "Acadmie De Sciences" in Paris. All were in awe at the "miraculous discovery" and thus, news of the Daguerreotype quickly spread.

As the Daguerreotype spread and finally reached Talbot in Great Britain, Talbot was shocked to find out that someone else in another country had been working on, what he thought to be, a similar project. At first he thought that both his process and Daguerre's were alike but after a more in depth analysis he found them to be quite different. Within roughly a fortnight (25th January, 1839), Talbot unveiled his work to the "Royal Society" in London.

Once Daguerre introduced his findings to the "Acadmie De Sciences", he received an annual income because he agreed to "sell" his idea to the French government (so that they could in turn offer this revolutionary invention the world).

On the other hand, once Talbot introduced his work, he unfortunately did not receive the same amount of recognition as did Daguerre. Since Talbott was a businessman he decided to run his own show and thus would sell licenses for his "product".

Although the Daguerreotype was the first method that any one had ever witnessed (when Daguerre launched his method), it was in fact Talbot's method (The Calotype) that succeeded due to the fact that, by use of negatives, any photographer/business could reproduce as many copies as they wished. Subsequently, since the Daguerreotype was rarely used by photographers, it eventually died out as a commercial process by the year 1865.

References:

1) Bellis,M, 2013, "History of Photography and the Camera". [online]
Available - http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

2)Wikipedia.org [online] Available - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

3) Wikipedia.org [online] Available - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) was a British inventor but also the creator of "The Calotype". His journey into photography began with earlier studies and in depth research about optics. It was by means of his research that he later developed "The Calotype". 

Talbot also used similar elements and compounds for his images. He used silver iodine, which itself is a very sensitive element, and exposed it to light. By doing so, the element decomposed to silver which left iodine as a single element. Since silver oxide is black, Talbot knew that the resulting image would be visible. He then used Potassium Bromide in order to stabilize the silver oxide. 

Talbot proceeded to experiment with salted paper, in which the sensitive element was silver chloride (when salt reacts with silver nitrate). This time when he exposed it to light, he noticed that silver chloride decomposed which left silver as the single element whilst chlorine just evaporated. Talbot then stabilized the silver oxide on the paper with hyposulphite of soda (photographic fixer). He started to notice that during long exposures of direct sunlight, the paper itself would become quite hot in temperature, this in turn allowed Talbot to create a "negative image" on the silver iodine form which positives could be printed out (onto silver chloride paper).

Unlike the Daguerrotype, Talbot's images contained muted tones and his invention also yielded the possibility of multiple copies (through use of negatives).

Below is a great demonstration/process of how a Calotype can be created (as explained above).

The Calotype Process - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD30ajWuHUI

References:

1) Bellis,M, 2013, "History of Photography and the Camera". [online]
Available - http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

2)Wikipedia.org [online] Available - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

The death of Joseph Niepce and the Introduction of the Daguerreotype

From the years of 1829 right up until his death in 1833, Niepce and Daguerre worked rigorously to develop and improve the version that Niepce had once begun with. When Niepce mysteriously passed away in 1833, Daguerre took it upon himself to keep experimenting and improving what they had both been previously working on. In fact just 3 years later, in 1836, Daguerre developed a latent image that he managed to treat and fix and this resulted in the "Daguerreotype". 

By studying the light sensitive properties of silver salts he came to a conclusion that these silver salts would be perfect to use in order to reduce exposure time. He experimented by 'fixing' the images onto a sheet of silver-plated copper, polishing the silver itself and then glazing it with Iodine, which resulted in a surface that became light sensitive. Once this process was done, he then put the plate in a camera and exposed it, but this time only for a few minutes. Once the image had been properly exposed, he then soaked the plate in silver chloride. In doing all of this, Daguerre was able to achieve what he had been dreaming of: A lasting image, and one that would not fade away and that would not change if it were to be exposed to light.

One of Daguerre's first Daguerreotype images: "Boulevard Du Temple"

The Daguerreotype had distinctive characteristics that truly made unique. Daguerre's photographic images were extremely precise, sharp and rich in detail and this was one of the main things that really attracted people to have their "picture taken". The only downside of the Daguerreotype is that it could not be reproduced (only one image) and although at the time no one knew it was possible, this flaw would later prove to be a great downfall. 

Below is a link to a very interesting video that I stumbled upon while conducting research about "The Daguerreotype".

[The Daguerreotype process - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmm90yhhuJM]

References:

1) Bellis,M, 2013, "History of Photography and the Camera". [online]
Available - http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

2)Wikipedia.org [online] Available - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

The introduction of Louis Daguerre

Louis Daguerre

Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) was a French artist and physicist who is most commonly known for his invention of the "Daguerreotype". Round about the same time when Niepce had been experimenting with photography, Daguerre was also keen on the idea. The only problem that Daguerre had was that he was not able (by himself) to reduce exposure time rapidly and therefore in 1829 he formed what would turn out to be one of the best and wisest partnerships of all time. By joining forces, Niepce and Daguerre collaborated with one another and experimented with different photosensitive materials to conjure images that were created using the camera obscura.

Niepce (left) with Daguerre (right)

References:

1) Bellis,M, 2013, "History of Photography and the Camera".[online]
Available - http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

2)Wikipedia.org [online] Available - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre

[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

The Creation of Photography

Several centuries later, after the pinhole camera had been used thousands of times and improved upon as well, French inventor: "Joseph Nicephore Niepce" (1765-1833) created the first Photographic Image by using the "Camera Obscura". Before Niepce people just used it for viewing/drawing purposes and not to create photographs. Niepce used "Heliographs" (an invention that let light 'paint a picture') as a prototype which would later be the foundation on which Niepce would generate his first photograph.

Joseph Niepce

Joseph Niepce's first attempt at creating a photographic image (1822) was done by using an engraving which he positioned onto a metal plate that was treated with bitumen and then exposed to light. The darker areas of the engraving did not permit light to penetrate it, however the lighter areas allowed light to interact with the chemicals that the plate had been doused with. Niepce then used a solvent, in which he put the metal plate, that allowed an image to be seen. The downfall of his whole experiment was that even after eight hours of exposure (that was needed for a photographic image to be seen), it would slowly start to fade away until nothing remained.

His first photographic image that was recorded was an engraving of Pope Pius VII, which can be seen below:

References:
Mary Bellis: "History of Photography and the Camera", 2013. [online] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm
[Accessed 23rd October, 2013]

Early ideas which are relevant to photography

It all began with a simple idea. What if we one could capture what they saw in front of them and display it onto a surface or object ? Well much before the modern invention of the camera, one man in particular who went by the name of: "Alhazen (Ibn Al - Haytham)", invented what we all know nowadays as the "Pinhole Camera" (also known as the ''Camera Obscura''). This man was of great importance and provided a vast knowledge on the subject of optics. In fact in the time of approximately 1000 AD he was able to explain why images where inverted.

Although it was not "Alhazen" himself who first pondered on the idea of pinhole camera possibility, he was the first to create one. In fact this goes way back to the time before Jesus Christ (BC), when Aristotle questioned the idea that the sun could produce a circular image when its rays shone through a square hole.

Alhazen

References:
Bellis,M, 2013, "History of Photography and the Camera". [online] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm
[Accessed 22nd October, 2013]

The first step is always the hardest.

Hi all,

This is officially my first time blogging. I have been asked to do so due to a school brief that I am doing. Throughout my journey I shall be discussing many topics/sub topics which are interrelated with contextual and cultural referencing (in art and design).

By means of this blog I aim to not only complete the task that has been set before me but to also relish change and take on a new challenge, especially because I have never really blogged or done anything of the sort before.

So to all that read this blog, may you learn as I am learning and enjoy as I am about to as well.

Peace,

Z