Photography

Hope Johnson
Mr. Beckmann
English 1
Nov-Dec 2010
 Photography

Introduction- Photography is a form of art requiring skill and

training

I. Photography

a. The every-day uses of photography

i. Advertising

ii. Travel

iii. Satellite

iv. News

v. Crime-scene

b. Photographic Themes

i. Nature

ii. Emotions

iii. Portraits

c. Famous Photographers

i. Eadweard Muybridge

ii. Dorothea Lange

Conclusion- Photography is a form of art that has many aspects, and

when considered seriously, requires much skill.

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Hope Johnson

English 1

Mr. Beckmann

Nov-Dec 2010

Photography

What is photography? Do people use it in everyday life? Are

there different types of photography? There are many questions to

ask when it comes to photography. They can all be answered quite

easily. Essentially, photography is a form of art requiring skill

and training. It is a very well rounded subject, having many

themes and categories. However, when seriously considered, it

does require skill and a good eye for art.

Photography

Photography, in Greek means: to draw with light. Introduced

and invented in 1839, photography has been a revolutionary part

of life. According to Webster’s Dictionary, photography is

“the process or art of producing images of objects onsensitized s

urfaces by the chemical action of light or of otherforms of 
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radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays.” Photography

is also useful in day-to-day life.

The every-day uses of photography

Photography is not only used as an entertainment, but also

as a tool used in every day life. Advertising, travel, satellite,

news, and crime-scene are some of the many ways photography is

used (Kids Discover, 2).

Advertising pictures are used in commercialism. They

introduce products that help to better our way of life. Sometimes

it’s in the form of commercials on T.V., using moving pictures to

attract us to the things they sell us. Sometimes it’s in

brochures attempting to sell us an enrollment in their college or

university. Other times, it’s used to try to gain charity in

places like Haiti. Those pictures are known as travel photos.

Travel photos, such as the ones in National Geographic

magazine, or AFAR use photos of people and places outside of

America’s everyday norm to show what life is like in other

places. Sometimes they are used to stir up awareness for the less

fortunate. Other times, they are used to spark interest in a new

vacation spot on the beach. Travel photos are only one way

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to show places around the world. The other, are known as

satellite images.

Satellite images are used to show what is going on in the

world, but in a different perspective than travel photos.

Satellite images are taken from outer space. Meteorologists use

satellite images to predict the weather patterns, and to maybe

warn people of a coming tornado in Kansas, or possibly a harsh

typhoon in India. News of the weather is not the only thing

pictures are good for.

Another type of everyday-photography is on our lawn every

Sunday morning, and on our T.V’s every day at 6:00. Pictures are

also put in Newspapers and on our local News channels to keep us

aware of the events happening around the world. Sometimes, that

news is right around the corner. Sometimes is good news, and

sometimes is bad. The bad news is what is known as crime-scene

photographs.

Crime-scene pictures aren’t put up to scare us, but to

keep us aware of the things going on in the city around us. Its

to encourage us to watch out for criminals, but also to inspire

us to be cautious as we walk around town doing everyday things.

Photographic themes

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 As well as the types of photography previously stated, used

in the world every day, there are types of photography known as

true art. These types of photography take much skill and training

to produce quality photos. Nature, portraits, and emotions are

only three of the many themes of photography.

Nature is a very delicate form of photography. Angles and

lighting are all very important aspects of photographing nature.

When photographing something such as a mountain, it is important

to get the whole mountain, attempting to capture the vastness of

them, instead of just getting a tiny snippet of it. Animals are

also a part of nature. When photographing animals, especially

small quick ones, it is important to come on their terms. That

could mean sneaking on your tip-toes to quietly snap the picture,

or crawling on your hands and knees, careful not to crunch a leaf

or break a twig.

Capturing emotions within the confines of a camera, while

looking easy, is very detailed. Henri Cartier-Bresson, in his

photograph of the Bargeman on the Seine River (The Great Themes,

11) could have just put the family together and told them to

smile. Instead, he put them all in their perfect spot in order to

get the viewer to decide and figure out the emotions displayed on

the page. The bargeman’s mother and wife are seen holding their

child and smiling with pride at their husband,

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father, and son: the bargeman. The bargeman, however, has his

back to the camera, but his emotion is portrayed by minute

details in his stance. Indentions in the cheek show he is

smiling, and his hands-on-hips posture indicates pride. What he

is prideful of, however, is left to the viewer’s imagination.

Portrait photography is another detailed type of

photography. Photography is a lot about capturing the character

of the subject. Character revelation is very important to

portraits, so exact physical portrayal is not as important to the

portraitists. When it comes to the lighting and position of the

subject, lighting is very important. Most portraitists prefer

light from outside to diffuse into the room. It creates a natural

looking picture, instead of a fluorescent, or unrealistic type of

lighting.

Famous Photographers

Other than Henri Cartier-Bresson, there are many famous and

influential photographers. Eadweard Muybridge and Dorothea Lange

are only two of the many photographers in the world.

Eadweard Muybridge was the earliest photographer and he

quickly climbed the ladder of fame to become the most popular

photographer of that era. He became famous by doing a project for

the governor of California. The governor wanted to see if a

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horse left the ground at all when it galloped. After that, he did

a lot of moving-picture photography. He also focused on still

photography and landscape. Eadweard Muybridge was born in

Kingston upon Thames, England, in April 1830. During his life,

Eadweard spent most of his time in the United States. While

there, he invented a device called the “Zoopraxiscope”. This

projects a motion picture off of the film strips used to take

pictures. He was a very revolutionary photographer, just like

Dorothea Lange.

Dorothea Lange was very influential during the Great

Depression. At the age of 7, Dorothea was diagnosed with Polio,

but over came it later in her life. Dorothea went to Photography

school in New York City. There, her focus was on portrait

photography, and she kept with that through the majority of her

life. During the Great Depression, she documented the struggles

and hardships of the working class who were most impacted by the

downfall of the economy. It is rumored that her picture Migrant

Mother was what got the government involved in trying to get the

economy back on track. After documenting the Great Depression,

she went on to document the way the Japanese-Americans were being

treated in the internment camps during World War II. Dorothea

Lange is known as the most influential photographer of all time.

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 Photography has many aspects, and helps improve life in many

different ways. When it is considered seriously, it requires much

skill and more often than not, training of eye-hand-coordination.

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Works Cited

“Category: Famous Photographers.” Digital Photography. N.p., n.d.

Web. 15 Nov. 2010. http://www.sandrophoto.com/category/

famous-photographers/.

“Drawing with Light.” KIDS Discover July 2000: 2. Print

The Editors of Time-Life Books. The Art of Photography. New York:

Time-Life Books, 1971. Print.

The Editors of Time-Life Books. The Great Themes. New York: Time-Life

Books, 1971. Print.

“Photography.” Dictionary.com. Ask Jeeves, 2010. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

<http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/photography>.