The Genius of Photography Q and A
1.What is photography’s true genius?
Mainly photography is able to intrigue us by showing the secret strangeness that lies between the world of appearances.Photography has delighted us, served us, moved us, outraged us and occasionally dissapointed us.
2.Name a proto-photographer
3.In the 19th century what term was associated with the daguerreotype?
4.What is the vernacular?
5.How do you ‘fix the shadows’?
Henry Fox Talbot fixed the shadows though a camera obscurer with a mouse trap camera that held a negative and holding paper so the paper was only exposed to light for a certain amount of time thus stopping over exposure.
6.What is the ‘Carte De Visite’?
A photograph mounted on card
7.Who was Nadar and why was he so successful?
His real name was Gaspard Felix Tournachon and he photographed famous people as equals. E.g. As themselves standing in his studio showing their authenticity.
Creating an image instead of simply recording it
Photographs to document facts are shot in a consistent and repetitive manner.
2.What was ‘the face of the times’?
A series of photographs by August Sanders taken in 1929. All his models where photographed in their own environments exactly how they wanted to be seen.
3.What magazine did Rodchenko design?
4.What is a photo montage?
Inspired by cinema montage they show photography as mute documentaries, collecting, cutting and sticking bits together to create something else.
5.Why did Eugene Atget use albumen prints in the 1920’s?
He printed outside in the sun because he didn’t know how to do it the modern way
6.What is solarisation and how was it discovered?
Man Ray scattered objects over photograph paper, exposed them briefly and developed. No camera was involved.
7.What was the relationship between Bernice Abbott and Eugene Atget?
Bernice was a young photographer and one of Man Rays assistants and she became the largest collector of Eugene’s work. She also got him to let her take his portrait.
8.Why was Walker Evans fired from the FSA?
He modified and moulded his documentary images meant for propaganda for FSA to fit his personal vision which didn’t conform to the requirements of FSA. He was fired in 1937.
1.What is described as “One of the most familiar concepts in photography”?
2.Should you trust a photograph?
"trusting a photograph was probably a huge mistake from the beginning" However people still believe photographs
3.What was revolutionary about the Leica in 1925?
It was compact, quite and had the latest lenses. Instant photography.
4.What did George Bernard Shaw say about all the paintings of Christ?
" I would exchange every painting of Christ for one snapshot"
5.Why were Tony Vaccaros’ negatives destroyed by the army censors?
They contained decisive moments of dead soldiers that the world and general public where not ready for.
6.Who was Henryk Ross and what was his job?
Propaganda photographer for the Nazi’s, document gods by the inhabitants of Lodz and was involved in identity card design.
7.Which show was a “sticking plaster for the wounds of the war”, how many people saw it and what “cliché” did it end on?
‘Family of Man’ had over 9 million visitors. It ended with the cliché ‘begining of the sentimental journey through life’ portrayed by two children walking out into the light.
8.Why did Joel Meyerowitz photograph ground zero in colour?
Black and white would have kept everything as a tragedy. He wanted to document history and managed to how the destruction and chaos better in colour than most black and whites could
1.Why did Garry Winogrand take photographs?
‘’ to see what the world looked liked photographed’’
2.Why did “citizens evolve from blurs to solid flesh”?
Technology Improved. Taking photographs on the street had to be staged because people moved to fast and we didn’t have short exposure times
3.What was/is the “much misunderstood theory”?
A decisive moment. Photographers start with this theory but are misunderstood. The message is to capture an unexpected moment or interesting event.
4.Who was the godfather of street photography in the USA?
5.Who was Paul Martin and what did he do?
Photographer who took a camera hidden in a paper bag to the seaside.
6.Who said “When I was growing up photographers were either nerds or pornographers”?
7.Why does William Eggleston photograph in colour?
Colour can change an entire image and can bring an image together
8.What is William Eggleston about?
"I am about photographing life today"
1.Who said “ The camera gave me the license to strip away what you want people to know about you, to reveal what you can’t help people knowing about you”, and when was it said?
Dianne Arbus in the early 60’s
2.Do photographers tend to prey on vulnerable people?
Yes, they tend to show a purer emotion.
A boy Dianne Arbus took pictures of playing in central park in 1962.
4.Why do you think Diane Arbus committed suicide?
She took pictures of people who where ‘out of the ordinary’ always looking for something of herself in them. Her work was highly criticized and both this and the fact she never ‘found’ her true self I think led her to commit suicide.
5.Why and how did Larry Clark shoot “Tulsa”?
He shot it like a photojournalist would, documenting his life one picture of violence, sex and drug involvement at a time of his life in Tulsa. He opened up a whole new genre, a personal diary that became public.
6.Try to explain the concept of “confessional photography”, and what is the “impolite genre”?
The truth of real life in a photograph and the misunderstandings of the world impolite genre refer to photographs the viewers may find uncomfortable to look at. They may be rude and descriptive and exposing you to something outside your comfort zone
7.What will Araki not photograph, and why?
Nothing. He shoots everything he wants to remember and he wants to remember everything,
8.What is the premise of Postmodernism?
We are all made up of the myths of the media. We are shown all are lives how people live through media imagery that we take it on as our own.
1.How many photographs are taken in a year?
2.What is Gregory Crewdsons modus operandi?
He does not operate the camera himself but sets the scene for his film. He was his own camera men, art director and actors.
3.Which prints command the highest price & what are they called?
Photographs made by the photographers themselves, closest to the time the photo was actually taken and they are called ‘’Vintage’’
4.What is a Fake photograph? Give an example and explain how & why it is fake.
An example is the powerhouse mechanic. Chemicals where found that could only be dated to 1955 and the photographer died in 1940 .
5.Who is Li Zhensheng and what is he famous for?
He was a Red army soldier and photojournalist. Photographed the chaos of Cultural Revolution in the 60’s and 70’s
6.What is the photographers “holy of holies”?
7.How does Ben Lewis see Jeff Walls photography?
That he did not reinvent photography but took it back to the 19th century
8.Which famous photograph was taken by “Frank Mustard”?
