What was photography like during the Civil War?
During the Civil War, the process of taking photographs was complex and time-consuming. Photographers mixed their own chemicals and prepared their own wet plate glass negatives. The negatives had to be prepared, exposed, and developed within minutes, before the emulsion dried.
What was the straight photography movement about?
When it comes to Straight Photography, some photographers considered photography to be art in and of itself, without any manipulation. They believed that pictures could be considered art even though they did not resemble paintings or drawings.
What influenced straight photography?
Photography’s power to mirror reality shaped the Straight approach to create an ideal, yet honest picture. The influence of American Straight photography can be found as late as the 1970s in the work of Czech photographer Josef Sudek.
What type of photography was born during the Civil War?
The first was portraiture, which is, by far and away, was the most common form of photography during the war. The second was the photography of battlefields, camps, outdoor group scenes, forts and landscapes – the documentary photography of the Civil War —most commonly marketed at the time as stereoscopic views.
Did they have photos in the Civil War?
While photographs of earlier conflicts do exist, the American Civil War is considered the first major conflict to be extensively photographed. Not only did intrepid photographers venture onto the fields of battle, but those very images were then widely displayed and sold in ever larger quantities nationwide.
Why did Adams pursue straight photography?
Adams began to pursue “straight photography,” in which the clarity of the lens was emphasized, and the final print gave no appearance of being manipulated in the camera or the darkroom. San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum promptly gave f/64 an exhibition and, in that same year, gave Adams his first one-man museum show.
When did straight photography begin?
The new movement spread in the 1950s as the West Coast artists championed the use of natural environmental forms and clarity of detail—very novel concepts at the time. Artists of The West Coast Photographic Movement embraced and developed Straight photography in the 1930s.
When did photography start in the Civil War?
Photojournalism, or documentary photography, first emerged as a field during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.
Which photographers are well known for images of the Civil War?
Civil War Photographers
- Mathew Brady. Mathew Brady’s legacy is synonymous with the photographic legacy of the Civil War.
- Alexander Gardner. Alexander Gardner owned one of the few galleries which rivaled Mathew Brady’s in illustrious clientele and prestige.
- Timothy O’Sullivan.
How did photographers take pictures during the Civil War?
The photographer began the process of taking a photograph by positioning and focusing the camera. Then, he mixed the collodion in preparation for the wet-plate process. Developing plate glass image demonstration with the Center for Civil War Photography.
Where did the concept of straight photography come from?
So, Straight photography developed in the work of Strand within the artistic milieu of Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in New York, a place attentive to the avant-garde movement of Cubism. By the end of World War I, Straight photography became standard practice in the fields of advertising, design, and journalism in the United States.
What did the West Coast photographers believe in?
The West Coast photographers, known as Group f/64, advocated what they called “pure” photography. As Edward Weston described, they believed in the “innate honesty” of the camera, which, “should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself.”
Who was the most influential photographer of the 1930’s?
The most influential of these photographers was Ansel Adams. Adam’s photographs from the late 1920s and 1930s suggest the sculptural work to come in the 1940s.