the photographic eye

REVISED EDITION THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE Learning to See with a Camera Michael F. O'Brien & Norman Sibley [...]... from ancient mythology The other faction called themselves Naturalists They were led by Peter Henry Emerson and George Davison The Naturalists believed that a photograph should capture nature's own truth They preferred the Barbizon painters, who took their easels out to the forests, fields and streams, and painted them directly The Naturalist photographers did the same with their cameras, specializing... and a crank to wind the film What made this camera special was that it came loaded with enough film for 100 photographs When the film was used up, the entire camera was returned to the Eastman Kodak Company The film was then developed and printed, and the camera was reloaded and returned, ready for another 100 photos Eastman's slogan was "You press the button; we do the rest." (The name "Kodak," incidentally,... event By the late 1800s, photographers were striving to elevate their craft into a recognized art They did this by imitating the content and visual effects of paintings Stieglitz'great achievement was to bring photography full circle: he merged its artistic potential with its ability to produce a factual 18 The Photographic Eye Alfred Stieglitz, The Rag Picker, New York, 1895 record He returned to the straightforward... foremost, he was perhaps the most accomplished black photographer in history, and is certainly the best known today His record of Harlem in the 1920s is unsurpassed, in both quantity and quality But he was unique in other ways as well Stylistically, he employed both stark realism and dreamy romanticism Technically, he produced v 20 The Photographic Eye "straight" prints in the style of the Photo Secessionists... Alfred Eisenstat, Margaret Bourke-White and other photographers on Life's staff quickly became famous as they recorded the world's events with their cameras By the end of the 1930s, all the basic ingredients that continue to define photography were in place: Photography was increasingly ac- 1937 1938 1939 1947 1954 The SLR (single lens reflex) camera introduced to the U.S by Exacta Automatic exposure initiated... who take 26 The Photographic Eye Wedding photography requires technical accuracy, good social skills and and the ability to quickly arrange natural poses for individuals and large groups Photograph by Donald Butler pictures for pleasure Even many of the best-known art photographers pay their bills by doing commercial photography or other work on the side Unfortunately, being "good" or even "the best"... War II, most notably the horrors discovered when the Allies liberated the concentration camps She photographed the grandeur and starvation of India in the late 1940s, black South African Miners in 1950, and the Korean War in 1952 By the mid-1950s, Bourke-White was suffering from Parkinson's Disease, which progressively reduces the body's ability to control its movements She left the staff of Life in... artifact from the Stone Age Not everyone needs the same kind of tool —whether that tool is a camera or a musical instrument A concert violinist may require the best 35 violin money can buy, but a blues singer may make fine music with an old beat-up guitar Similarly, some of the world's best photographers use the latest "high-tech" cameras; others use antiques held together with rubber bands and tape The right... by many professionals They require you to load and wind the film, select the shutter speed, set the aperture, and focus Automatic cameras will do some or all of these things for you The big advantage of a manual camera is that you always control what it is doing You make the decisions, and the camera does what you Automatic cameras are especially useful for "grab shots," when there's no time to fiddle... specializing in peaceful scenes of country life They were also increasingly fond of using soft focus (blurred edges) in their photographs Despite the differences between them, both the Pictorialists and the Naturalists believed that a work of art ought to express a "correct sentiment" and that it ought to be decorat i v e — p r e t t y This is what most set them apart from the "practical" photographers, like . They preferred the Bar- bizon painters, who took their easels out to the forests, fields and streams, and painted them directly. The Nat- uralist photographers did the same with their cameras,. When the film was used up, the entire camera was returned to the Eastman Kodak Company. The film was then devel- oped and printed, and the camera was reloaded and returned, ready for another. Stieglitz, The Rag Picker, New York, 1895. 18 The Photographic Eye Alfred Stieglitz, The 'Flat Iron', 1902. Alfred Stieglitz, Sun Rays-Paula-Berlin, 1889. When he returned to the U.S. at the age