Chapter 3
Reading Log 3 - Seizing the Light by Robert Hirsch
The man photogaphed above is none other than the creator of the Calotype himself; William Henry Fox Talbot ( try to say that five times in a row.)
Despite the fact that Talbot’s patents were unprofitable nor did he have a pension and honors for his discovery (ouch), he still managed to discover something that later on in his time became quite the “talk of the century.”
Some of the positives about the Calotype:
- it excelled in effect, the emotional atmosphere generated by the photographer, whereas the Daggereotype did not.
- there was a flexibility with Calotypes, which allowed photographers to manipulate the photo before they made the print. They achieved this by retouching with pencil, graphite, watercolor, and India ink.
- it was cheaper to make, easier to use, and provided numerous prints, something that Daguerre couldn’t do.
Despite some of its advantages (including the most important one, creating multiple prints), the Calotype was not so popular in America. Americans heavily favored the Daguerreotypes, since the singular print created so much detail that the Calotype could not replicate. They apparently didn’t like the idea of paying a commercial licensing fee.
Nonetheless, Talbot’s extraordinary creation helped shaped the photography realm across multiple disciplines, to name a few:
- delineation of detail
- expanded tonal range
- print permanence
-Retouching
- and mass production
- power of chiaroscuro
Reading through chapters 2-3 made me realize how spoiled we are to have made such huge strides in our technology development. retouching a post-exposed photo of yourself? We have editing software for that ( some of us may pay too much to use). We have the capability of snapping a photo of the gulf coast sunset, right at the tips of our fingers. It was considered a luxury for wealthy people to even have photographs! All I have to say is, we got it pretty good. Also, I miss my flip phone...those were the good old days.