HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Photos are our viable archive of the past. Without them, daily life would only be recorded in words, and as many believe- a picture is worth a thousand words. Photography was only developed in the 1800s. In the 4th and 5th centuries B.C.E., philosophers like Aristotle mentioned a pinhole camera that would show images in certain ways similar to a modern photograph. Images have been projected onto surfaces for years, yet, only in the 19th century were we actually able to permanently preserve these images.
The first permanent photograph was developed in 1825 by the French inventor, Joseph Nicephore Niepce. His photographs were produced on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea. Niépce’s partner, Louis Daguerre, later discovered that exposing the silver first to iodine vapour before exposure to light, and then to mercury fumes after the photograph was taken, could form a latent image. Daguerre announced that he had invented a process using silver on a copper plate called the daguerreotype. A similar process is still used today for Polaroid photos. In 1832, French-Brazilion painter and inventor Hercules Florence had already created a very similar process, naming it Photographie. The daguerreotype was in popular demand among the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution. People would have photographs of their families taken as keepsakes. In movies and literature, there are victorian photographs of families not smiling. People would tend not to smile because they had to stand and pose for a while while the picture was being taken. Smiling would become tiring after a while.
Throughout the 20th century, photography develops into a moremature process. Color photos and digital photography come about and aid to the quality of photos. What we know today as digital cameras were developed in the 1960s by Willard Boyle and Geaorge E. Smith at AT&T Bell Labs. Since then, more and more improvements have been added to the digital camera. With different models and pixelation- chooosing a camera today is much more of a hassel compared to getting a camera only 100 years ago.

RULE OF THIRDS

The rule of thirds is a nice view of something for some people.

POGUE'S PHOTO-TAKING TIPS

The article, "Pogue’s Photography Tips and Tricks" was very boring. I already know how to use this tips in order to have successful photos. This article is more appropriate for people who do not know how to use a camera. Pogue seems very full of himself in his article because he assumes that he knows everything about taking photos. Most likely, he just accumulated numerous tricks and typed them for an article. In his first "trick", pushing half way down on the button, Pogue states a very obvious clue. Honestly, how can one not push down half way? The button won't permit you to put pressure on it to such an extent until after having gone halfway. His second tip, blurred affect by backing-up and zooming, doesn't work in many situations. If one follows this advice of his, one will end up with a completely clear shot, no blurriness. He suggests that this technique will keep the subject in focus with a blurred background. This could be useful in a soccer game to show movement, cleary showing the player and having a blurry background. In his 5th tip, Pogue suggests using a lampshade socket as a tripod. This is extremely impractical, seeing as most people don't carry around a lampshade when they take pictures of situations at hand.

LINK TO ARTICLE

COAL

These three pictures all have to do with coal, thus, they were included in this photoessay about coal. The first picture shows a man holding some coal. Men mostly work in coal mines because it is dangerous work. The second picture shows a woman buying a coal furnace. She uses coal to heat her house. The last picture shows some advertising for coal. People in the town of Coaldale probably get income from selling coal, so they advertise it. The theme of this photoessay is that coal is still used by many people, even though the majority of Americans rely on electric heat. I am convinced that people in America use coal, because the photos show people using the material.