Topic 1: The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today
By Sangjoon Joo(100645958)
September 25, 2010
1. What are main differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today?
The main difference between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today is that portraits in the early days of photography was privilege to have a portrait which means if you wanted to have a portrait, you would have to be a politician or a person who had a privilege. However, today people can get a portrait whatever they want. The reason is that as the camera is becoming popularization, anyone can get a camera than they enjoy taking the picture. As well as, today people need a portrait to prove or show their identification such as government identification or passport. As a result, in the early day, the portrait was not popular so ordinary people could not take a picture but today taking a picture is a part of our daily life because people might have a camera at least one even cell phone, and taking a picture becomes handy as well.
The similarity between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today is to store events and history which would be social or political issue and personal events or issue. As a result, the main similarity is recording moments which can be public and private histories.
2. Who was the photographer and who was the subject of photographs in the past and today?
I would like to introduce two photographers who are Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre and Roy Arden. The following of description of two photographers’ information has been quoted from the website.
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre is perhaps best known for his contribution to the history of photography. He invented the first p
hotographic process, the daguerréotype in 1839. Daguerre was apprenticed to an architect at the age of sixteen while also training as a draughtsman. He also worked in the studio of the stage designer for the Paris Opera, Ignace-Eugene-Marie Degotti as well as assisting Pierre Prévost in designing panorama paintings for public entertainment.
By Sangjoon Joo(100645958)
September 25, 2010
1. What are main differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today?
The main difference between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today is that portraits in the early days of photography was privilege to have a portrait which means if you wanted to have a portrait, you would have to be a politician or a person who had a privilege. However, today people can get a portrait whatever they want. The reason is that as the camera is becoming popularization, anyone can get a camera than they enjoy taking the picture. As well as, today people need a portrait to prove or show their identification such as government identification or passport. As a result, in the early day, the portrait was not popular so ordinary people could not take a picture but today taking a picture is a part of our daily life because people might have a camera at least one even cell phone, and taking a picture becomes handy as well.
The similarity between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today is to store events and history which would be social or political issue and personal events or issue. As a result, the main similarity is recording moments which can be public and private histories.
2. Who was the photographer and who was the subject of photographs in the past and today?
I would like to introduce two photographers who are Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre and Roy Arden. The following of description of two photographers’ information has been quoted from the website.
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre is perhaps best known for his contribution to the history of photography. He invented the first p
hotographic process, the daguerréotype in 1839. Daguerre was apprenticed to an architect at the age of sixteen while also training as a draughtsman. He also worked in the studio of the stage designer for the Paris Opera, Ignace-Eugene-Marie Degotti as well as assisting Pierre Prévost in designing panorama paintings for public entertainment. 
Over the past two decades, Roy Arden has become one of Canada’s most respected artists. His work has contributed significantly to Vancouver’s reputation as an important centre for contemporary photo-based art. This exhibition presents a mid-career overview of Arden’s multi-faceted practice and the diverse strategies used in his art from the early 1980s to the present. It encompasses the lyrical colour imagery of his early Fragments project, his work with archival images from the late 1980s, as well as the more recent photographs of the contemporary urban environment that register the transformative effects of modernity as revealed through the experience of the everyday landscape. Several video works and a recent web-based project are also presented.
Combining Arden’s activities as a photographer and video artist, as a scavenger-archivist of existing imagery and a producer of original pictures, as well as an acute observer of local detail as it relates to urban life on a global level, the exhibition presents a comprehensive look at Arden’s complex and thematically rich body of work from the past quarter century.
3. What was the impact on technology on the portraits in the past and today?
The main point of the impact on technology on the portraits in the past and today is that technology makes a picture look dig different from the original picture. From the lecture, the one of the most popular photo manipulations is American President Abraham Lincoln’s portraits which the body came from John Calhoun. The main reason to use technology in the past is that according to the lecture, photography is art. However, today people are familiar with using the technology on their photos. The reason is that as the technology of photography is developing, anyone can create or make unique and creative pictures themselves with the simple program. Here is an example of today’s technology on the picture. In the past, people could not recreate or reproduce but today people can do with simply methods.
Sources
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/aotm/displaypicture.asp?venue=&id=12
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_roy_arden.html
http://www.royarden.com/default.shtml
No comments:
Post a Comment