The documentary Genius of Photography along with “After Photography” show the power of photography to influence, its constant changing with technology and culture, pushing our modern consumerism, and its phenomenal power to transform its subject.
Of the three parts of the documentary we watched they showed the evolution of the medium, representative photographers of such change, how it has become such a widely accepted art form.
The first part: Fixing Shadows
1. Explained the beginnings of photography-opened with an amazing pin-hole room projecting a beautiful cityscape onto the inside.
a. Two inventors in early 19th century
i. Jerry Spagnoli created the daguerreotype that produces a single non-reproducible positive image
ii. William Talbot created the first reproducible negative-beginning of what is still used today
b. Photography very quickly came into use as a way to photography portraits of wealthy aristocrats and family photos
2. Interviewed a series of museum curators and artists
a. Explained photography’s unique ability to transform the world it captures by placing a frame around it and fragmenting it
b. It’s art is the photographers ability to change the subject they describe
The Second part: We Are Family
1. Explained how 20th century photographers modernized photography as an appreciated art form by focusing on the self in their work
a. Sally Mann explained that she had to be shooting what she loved, her family, to capture such an emotional impact
b. Nan Goldin’s work was characterized by her complete emersion in the culture she documented
i. This is very different from the famous portrait photographers of the 1800s
While the third part documented the auctioning off of a picture for 3 million dollars and stated that the most expensive photograph sold was for 3.3 million dollars, then interviews an older photographer who explained that this was new. When he started people took his prints, folded them up and tossed them in a pile. Now they are handled with gloves extremely carefully, this change in attitude towards photography is quite astounding.
As the reading “After Photography” stated that by 2010 it is predicted we will produce ½ a trillion images per year. It is quite astounding at this number, the large challenge of seeing those that are unique out of this quantity. It explains how often photography also contribute to the media world, propelling our consumerist society. Creating desires through the image in the viewer, the form a picture can take after its creation depending on its environment and context can have a hugely varying influence on the viewer.
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