Davison’s photograph is considered to be a Pictorialist image for its softness, meaning is a bit blurred not having contrast such as todays typical landscapes. ‘The blur in Davison’s image was produced using a pin hole camera, which softened edges and imparted a dreamy haze not necessarily presented the time of exposure. Printed as a gravure, a technique favoured by Pictorialist because it suppressed detail, the image seems to have flowed into the fabric of the paper on which is printed’ (Marien, 2014, P P173). The importance of this movement break when commercial producers waned to create soft-focus lenses so that this method could be done straight form the camera such as from amateur users. The pictorial movement also required printing techniques. ‘Pictorialism created international networks of artists and amateurs. The movement was strong in Russia where Sergei Lobovikov (1870-1942) adopted it to render traditional peasant life, not as ethnographic data, but as an expression of nostalgia for nature and simpler times. Like other Pictorialist, Lobovikov worked with gum-bichromate and made platinum prints’ (Marien, 2014, P174). The gum-bichromate consisted in manipulate the image with a brush, this process is done while the image is still wet as if it was painted on a canvas.
‘Despite the blurry image, the woman’s raised hand makes clear that she has endured a life of manual labour. She clutches a bundle of straw gleaned, perhaps, from the field before her’ (Marien, 2014, P175). This movement was created / invented as a photographic artistic way to move away from straight photography, still being able to capture moments and telling a story with a different technique the same way these featured pictorial photographers achieved throughout the years. References: Warner Marien, Mary. Photography A Culture History. 3rd ed. United Kingdom, 2002 Print
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Throughout the history of photography there have been many movements or interpretations, in which historical photographers invented themselves by their imagination and creativity, one such example is Pictorialism.
Pictorialism is a photographic movement which was founded in the late 1860’s, in such simple words to describe Pictorialism is photographic images not being very sharp. It is the imitation of painting in an attempt to raise photography up to the same status as art that characterises the Pictorialist movement (Bull, 2010, P126). Pictorialism’s strongest period was in the mid 1880’s, peaked in the 1900 and persisted into the 1920’s (Marien, 2014, P172). ‘In Pictorialist hands, Emerson’s selective or different focus became a dislike of the distracting details associated with vulgar commercial photography. Pictorialist photographers favoured scenes infused with fog and shadows’ (Marien, 2014, P173). A way of creating such affect is by using fog and shadows, which was a foundation of art photography from science to art. Paradoxically, the anti-industrial, hand-crafted “fuzzygraph” (Marien, 2014, P173). ‘Whereas impressionism, the French art movement of the 1870 -80s aimed at capturing a momentary visual imprint of a scene, impressionistic photography attempted to render a personal response to a subject. Soon the words “poetic,” “art,” “naturalistic,” and “impressionistic” all come to signal Pictorialist photography exemplified by Division’s the onion Field (Marien, 2014, P173). References: Warner Marien, Mary. Photography A Culture History. 3rd ed. United Kingdom, 2002 Print Paul Strand was an influential photographer and early icon of the “straight photography” school. A modernist, Strand was highly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and Charles Sheeler. His work had a huge impact on the f/64 school of photographers (Ansel Adams, Edward Weston etc...). In 1915 he started working with large format cameras (then referred to as “straight photography”). Combining elements of abstraction and reality in his compositions, Strand began to develop his own personal style. Heavily influenced by Stieglitz and Charles Sheeler, his subject matter ranged from architectural pictures, portraits and still life studies. (Marier,2010 p201) Strand took his street photographs with a trick camera that led people to believe he was shooting in the other direction. His portraits of the poor were part of a social reform program, but intended to be matter-of-fact example of life. His audience would not have known about the trick camera, but they would have understood the picture’s ironic slant, namely the contrast between the camera’s clear eye and the woman’s blindness. The key principles and aim of this style were: simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods, by which they meant to avoid the composition of multiple negatives, and other techniques used by Pictorialists, sharpness of image, develop photography as an art form within the confines of the medium and not to adopt the conventions of other art form in order to prove itself. By this the photographer would have the ability to show the world the true image of various matters. Referencing :
"A Brief History Of Photography: Part 12 – Movements: Pictorialism Versus Straight Photography". Not Quite in Focus. Web. 18 Feb. 2017 "Paul Strand | The Art Of Photography". The Art of Photography. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. "Photohistory - Straight Photography". Photohistory.wikispaces.com. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. Practice, RebeccaIshaque, RebeccaIshaque Practice, and View profile. "Pure And Straight Photography". Rebeccaishaquecontextofpractice.blogspot.com.mt. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. ""Queer And Straight Photography" - Christoph Ribbat. | Queer Theory | Photo Manipulation". Scribd. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. Alfred Stieglitz who is considered as art of the straight photography movement shot the image called ‘The steerage’, which is often discussed in the history of photography as one of the avant-garde modernist photographers of the early 20th century (Bull, 2010, P128). The Steerage, became his favorite image (Marien, 2014, P183). When Stieglitz took the image, he himself was on the same ship in the lavish section. During the journey, he discovered the scene at the steerage (Bull, 2010, P128), in which after 35 years he wrote about what happened that day. ‘Stieglitz sees the image as a breakthrough in the progression not just of his own photographs, but also of the medium in general (‘another milestone in photography’). The reason he regards the image as particularly significant and original is that he starts seeing the subject matter as abstract forms and tones (‘I saw a picture of shapes’) (Bull, 2010, P128-129). As one can see the image is very sharp with a nice black and white contrast, this define the movement idea as high quality photos. "A Brief History Of Photography: Part 12 – Movements: Pictorialism Versus Straight Photography". Not Quite in Focus. Web. 11 Feb. 2017
"Paul Strand | The Art Of Photography". The Art of Photography. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. "Photohistory - Straight Photography". Photohistory.wikispaces.com. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. Practice, RebeccaIshaque, RebeccaIshaque Practice, and View profile. "Pure And Straight Photography". Rebeccaishaquecontextofpractice.blogspot.com.mt. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. ""Queer And Straight Photography" - Christoph Ribbat. | Queer Theory | Photo Manipulation". Scribd. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. Photography had been existing for many years, in which various photographers discovered / invented many types of different movements with their ability of being artistic, one such example is straight photography. Pure photography is another word for straight photography and refers to photography that attempts to depict a scene or subject in sharp focus and detail, in accordance with the qualities that distinguish photography from another visual media, particularly painting. Pure and straight photography was a style in the 1900's to the 1930's that overlapped Pictorlialsm moving away from the Pictorialism style. The pure and straight photography was basically that the photograph should look like a photograph and have the characteristics of a photograph. For example it needs to include, all the visual elements of Depth of Field, details in contrast, and no hand manipulations. Narrowing down to what the camera can do, and using the technical elements to make the image interesting. Straight seen as the central concept of camera work between the 1920’s and the 1960’s. Some might argue that straight contrasts the representation of transgender by Straight artists like, Weegee, Liessette Model and Diane Arbus. Unlike Pictorialism, another photographic movement that created imagery which are not very sharp (out of focus). This movement is the opposite, meaning that images are now sharp (in focus) and having contrast. The photograph had to be “straight” and unmanipulated (Bates, 2014, P181). ‘The print had to remain true to the image seen by the photographer at the point of its inception. Stieglitz rejected “fancy” techniques, soft-focus, vignette, and painterly papers, all the paraphernalia of Pictorialism, because it drew attention to the processes of photography was the aesthetic reproduction of beautiful forms, not social “subject matter”’. (Bates, 2014, P181) Referencing :
"A Brief History Of Photography: Part 12 – Movements: Pictorialism Versus Straight Photography". Not Quite in Focus. Web. 4 Feb. 2017 "Paul Strand | The Art Of Photography". The Art of Photography. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. "Photohistory - Straight Photography". Photohistory.wikispaces.com. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. Practice, RebeccaIshaque, RebeccaIshaque Practice, and View profile. "Pure And Straight Photography". Rebeccaishaquecontextofpractice.blogspot.com.mt. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. ""Queer And Straight Photography" - Christoph Ribbat. | Queer Theory | Photo Manipulation". Scribd. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. |
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