The history of camer-less photography.
The first photographs ever made were created without the use of a camera. This display explores the camera-less image from its discovery in the 1850s to the present day. Drawing together unique examples from the V&A, (Victoria and Albert) collection this display showcases the work of the key figures in the history of photography, including Anna Atkins, Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy.
Cyanotypes. |
Research!Anna Atkins was the first photographer to use these types of camera-less photography called cyanotypes this was in 1854. it is made from a complex iron solution with U.V (ultra violet) lights from the sun it works by the U.V. light not being able to pass through a solid object on the photographic paper thus leaving it with a white mark where the light has not passed through and blue where the light has got onto the photographic paper . This particular cyanotypes by Ana Atkins in 1854 was of fern leaves and other plants.
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Rayograms.
Man Ray. 1922.
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This type of camer-less photograph is called a Rayogram it was used by a man in the 20th century by a man called Man Ray. Although it is a photogram, Man ray thought this as a self promotion and confidence boost and named it after himself, hence the term, Rayograms. Coiled paper has been placed on the photographic paper casting shadows which in turn create gradient tones. These types of photographs were made in the 1920's. |
Chemigrams
Johann Schulze. Made a chemigram like image 1725. However it is the Belgian artist pierre cordier (born 1933), however, who has been most responsible for developing and exploring chemigrams. From his early days, in 1956.
Luminograms. |
The chemigram is a combination of both painting and photography, and lies within the general domain of experimentation in the visual arts. It requires the use of materials from silver halide-based photography (light-sensitive paper, developer, and fixer), but it is not a photograph. Like the photogram, the chemigram is made without a camera, yet it is created in full light instead of in the darkness of the darkroom. For this reason it is not "light that writes" (photo graphein in the Greek) but rather "chemistry that writes".
Chemigrams can be made solely with photo paper, developer, and fixer, with results that will somewhat resemble watercolor. The possibilities can be multiplied by using materials from painting (such as varnish, wax, or oil) Ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemigram |
Moholy-Nagy 1922-1946
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The light is modulated by varying the intensity through distance from the photosensitive surface, the power of the light source, or by the use of filters or gels or motion of the light. The paper can itself be shaped to create the desired effects in the final image. Many of László Moholy-Nagy's photograms were luminograms. The image is created by variations in light shape and intensity. They can be created using a small light source, as from a flashlight, that is moved to expose the photosensitive substrate. Moholy-Nagy used this technique to create many of his photograms. Gottfried Jäger (photographic theorist) describes this as "the result of pure light design; the rudimentary expression of an interaction of light and photosensitive material… a kind of self representation of light."
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PHOTOGRAMS
Desmond Henry Archive 1950
cyanotypeslaura denning 2013
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Henry, with his keen interest in Victorian inventions, must have based his experiments on what he had read concerning early photography.After he moved from Leeds to teach Philosophy at Manchester University in 1949, he continued to develop this cameraless photography technique throughout the 1950s. It was artwork based upon these cameraless photograms which helped Henry beat over 1,000 entries in the London Opportunity competition held by Salford Art Gallery in 1961.
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