What is photography?

What is photography?

Where did it all start?

Photography all started in 1822 when it was invented but it was only in 1826 whenJoseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first photo even though it got lost it still holds the title for the oldest photo.

First Photo
first ever photo taken.

Photography is the art of light and how the use of light can form an image you are able to create it with recording light, digitally with a sensor or chemically (on film which gets chemically developed).

Intro to The Art of Light Painting – TAO LP 0
light photography
Analog Nikon camera with a roll of film beside it
film camera and film canisters

Photography is highly mobile as you can take a photo at any time and at any place,

They can move over in time and have different meanings and concepts behind each photo.

With photography it is unpredictable, and you will never know the outcome of a photo until you take it, each photo tells a different story, and each story is also different as each person has a different perception of the image. In photography no two photos are the same.

no two photos are the same

A photo is instantly there, it can be difficult to understand causing it to be mysterious. You are able to give a photo a story by accompanying it with other photos or describing the photo whilst photographers may give background information about the photo, they are still giving the audience the creative freedom on how they view the photograph, there for you as the audience are able to take charge of the photograph.

Every photo capture someone’s attention for a reason because they relate to it, find it mysterious, are intrigued by it or you simply just like it. You look at an image more than once and each time you look at it more in depth and each time you pick up on the smaller details of the photograph. What a photo captures has the capability to mean something else as the meanings behind photos can be complicated. Photography is used to take advantage of the gift the world has given us; you are able to learn photography and the concepts behind it quickly but it’s mastering the art of photography may take up to a lifetime to learn.

Each photo is taken through the eyes of the photographer there for you see their concept of the world or topic they are taking photographs of, there for some people may find lightning destructive and powerful but other may find it majestical so those photographers may have two very different looking photos due to their opinion on the subject.

A rare lightning storm crackles over Mitchell’s Cove in Santa...
Lightning Statue of Liberty

Photography can be seen as a form as art due to how you are able to manipulate photos into how the photographer wants the audience to view them. The purpose of photography is to communicate and document moments in time.

Artwork by Yves Klein, Harry Shunk, Leap into the Void (Saut Dan Le Vide, Paris), Made of Fotofolio

Yves Klein

This photo uses David Campany’s quote “photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel.” as you as the consumer of the photograph can’t understand why someone would photograph someone jumping off a building but at the same time its fascinating as to why is the man jumping, the photo is able to show a lot of emotion as to how the person might interpret the photo it also conceals how the photo was made and why the photo was made.

you can only find out how and why the image was made if you research it as the photo doesn’t tell the story behind it, the photo it’s self tells a different story.

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