The Most Influential Women in Photography History
As with many fields, photography has not always given women their due. But in truth, photography would not be what it is today without the pioneering work of countless women.
The Very First Pets Ever To Be Photographed
For nearly as long as there have been cameras, there have been photos of pets, some of which date back to the early 1800s.
Vintage Video Shows What It Was Like Being a Pro Photographer in 1946
Camera technology has evolved dramatically since the advent of photography and as a result, being a professional photographer has significantly changed too. A vintage video created by Vocational Guidance Films, Inc. in 1946 shows what being a professional photographer used to be like.
This Photo from 1840 is One of the Earliest Portraits Taken in America
Some of the earliest photographic portraits taken in America were recently discovered in an unheated shed on Long Island. The historically significant find contains photographs from some of the first experiments with the daguerreotype process.
How Richard Nixon ‘Stole’ This Photo and Twisted It Into a Campaign Slogan
American people standing up to the Soviets! America needs Nixon! These were some of the tag lines attached to this photo during Nixon’s presidential campaign in 1960. But behind every picture, there is a story. And this is one of those photos where the story is just as good as the picture.
Take a 40-Minute Tour Through the History of Photography
Great Britain's Royal Institution has put together a fascinating "tour through the history of photography." Using his own camera collection as a jumping off point, chemist Andrew Szydlo takes you through a sort of "crash course" on the history of photography in 41 minutes.
The High Cost of Perfection
Walking past booth after booth at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York, I often heard camera company presenters explaining to their uncomfortably-seated, yet nonetheless-enraptured, audiences how they shot the “perfect” photo.
A Sketch History of Early Color Photography
I ran across yet another case of Holy Cow Look At These Russian Photos, in which the photographs of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky were showcased. In 1902, Prokudin-Gorsky learned the method of shooting three negatives (color separations) and then projecting them in registration through filters to produce projected color images.
X-Ray Photos Reveal the Evolution of Cameras
Fossils can tell us a lot about the history of living things. Photographer Kent Krugh is creating a "fossil record" of sorts for cameras. His project Speciation is a series of X-ray photos of cameras that provides a brief history of photography, as told through the evolution of the camera.
New Online Archive Lets You Explore the First 100 Years of European Photos
Europeana.eu has launched a searchable online gallery of more than 2 million historical photographs, which catalog the first 100 years of photography in Europe.
Photo Professor Turns His Classroom Into a Giant Camera Obscura
A photography professor in Oklahoma recently had an awesome idea for teaching his students about the beginnings of photography: he turned his classroom into a giant camera obscura.
Ultra Rare Photo of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inauguration Sells for $27,500
This historic photograph was captured in 1861, on a day when the United States teetered on the brink of Civil War and Abraham Lincoln was being sworn in as the country's 16th president. And yesterday, one of the few prints of the photo in existence sold for a whopping $27,500.
How Ansel Adams Wrote Pictorialism Out of Photography History
We all have a blind spot, both literally and metaphorically. Ansel Adams had one so big and powerful that he, Beaumont Newhall, and a few others “disappeared” some very important and wonderful photographers from the history of photography. And in doing so they also helped “disappear” an important movement in photography, one called Pictorialism.
This is the World’s First Underwater Portrait, Taken in 1899
It's been called the first underwater photograph and the first underwater self-portrait, but it doesn't seem to be either of those things. No, but this photo by diver and photography pioneer Louis Marie Auguste Boutan, taken in 1899, does seem to be the world's first underwater portrait.
The History of Photography in Just 5 Minutes
Want a crash course on the history of photography? COOPH just published this …
Polaroid’s History of Innovation, War, and Lawsuits
Ronald K. Fierstein is a man who has had a front row seat to the evolution of photography as we know it. He's a lawyer who helped represent Polaroid during its lengthy legal battle with Eastman Kodak over patents.
Fierstein has written a new book that sheds light on the life and career of Polaroid founder Edwin Land, the "original Steve Jobs" (Jobs revered Land and modeled his career after his). It's titled A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War.
A Poster That Shows 100 Groundbreaking Cameras in the History of Photography
A neat piece of photo-related home (or studio) decor: Brooklyn-based poster printer Pop Chart Lab has created a beautiful new poster called "A Visual Compendium of Cameras" that offers a brief visual history of photography.
An Animated History of Photography from Camera Obscura to Camera Phones
If you've never heard a basic overview of the history of photography, then this cute little animated video from TED-Ed is here for you. It covers everything from the invention of the camera obscura, to the battle between the calotype and the daguerreotype, to the rise of portable cameras.
A Brief History of the Chemical Processes Used in Photography Over the Years
Photography isn't even 200-years-old yet, but there have already been over 150 different chemical processes developed over its relatively short lifetime. In this interesting 5-minute video titled "A Brief History of Photography: Innovations in Chemistry," photo conservation scientist Art Kaplan of the Getty Conservation Institute quickly introduces some of the groundbreaking processes that have made a significant impact on the history of photography -- processes such as the daguerreotype, ambrotype and tintype.
History of Imaging: A Brief Look at Photography’s Roots
In Episode 1 of the Framed Network series Film, hosts and photographers Tanja …
A Brief Tour of the Eastman House’s Vintage Camera Warehouse
The George Eastman House in Rochester, NY is the world’s oldest museum dedicated …