Joseph Nicephore Niepce was a disciplined French scientist who spent over 13 years of his life trying to capture a moment, to make a photograph, that could be saved and kept for the future. This photograph was taken from the window of his studio in Gras, and is known as the first permanent photograph. Its title is explanitory: "The Courtyard."
When Jacques Louis Mande Daguerre took this photograph on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris in 1838, it had a surprising detail. On the corner there was a man getting his shoe shined. Because he was standing very still during a long exposure - probably minutes - he showed up in the picture. Everyone else was moving too fast to be recorded. This photo is known as the first photo taken that shows a man in it.
Hippolyte Bayard was an unlucky player in the race to invent photography. As it played out in history, it was Niepce, primarily Daguerre, and Talbot who took the lead in the race. Like a true artist, Bayard dealt with his disappointment by setting up this portrait of himself using the metaphor of a drowned man...
Muybridge was an Englishman who came to California during the westward movement in the US. The story has it that he had a bet going with Leland Stanford that when a horse ran at full gallop it had all four legs off the ground. To prove his point, he set up a series of cameras with a trip wire that triggered the shutter as the horse ran around a racetrack. He proved his point, but the real winner here was the motion picture industry in California. Still images, when put together sequentially, are the basis of creating moving pictures.
Cameron took this photo when Alice, otherwise known as THE ALICE of Alice in Wonderland. Alice was a neigborhood friend of Cameron and she took numerous photographs of Alice throughout her life. What does this portrait say about the teenage Alice?
Ansel Adams began photographing in Yosemite National Park in his 13th year of age. He revisited there often up until the year of his death. Yosemite was the central theme of his photography, trully Adams' own "SPECIAL PLACE".
Jessie LeMieux won first place in Arts Alive (2205) for this photo of her little sister. How did Jessie show the unique and special qualites of Maddy?
What can you tell about the person in this photograph? Why would Sally Mann take a photograph like this without showing the face of the girl?
The subject of many of Sally Mann's photographs are her own family. Study this photograph for clues that help you understand what she is saying about this photograph.
