Photography
Photography, from the Greek photos and graphe, translates to “drawing with light,” and this concept can be seen using different processes. For much of photographic history, cameras have been used for entertainment and historical documentation. Photographs evoke emotion and nostalgia, and also serve as a source of knowledge and information about what life was like in the past or what life is like in places we have never visited.
Photography, arguably one of the most phenomenal inventions of the century, had a profound and far reaching effect on both art and culture, though at first it was viewed not so much as a device of artistry but a document. Portrait photography quickly became a popular way to “document” and translate the natural world onto a two-dimensional space in which to give the subject posterity. The Frenchman, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1787-1851), often recognized as the father of photography, wrestled with the capabilities and possibilities of the photograph. He concerned himself with the relationship between the photographic illusion, which tends to emulate nature while also re-presenting it. While the earliest photographic processes date to 1839, it wasn’t until the 1850s that an inexpensive process to reproduce images and had a shorter developing time allowed for the mass production of images. Through the collodian process, the carte de visite (CDV) and the cabinet card were born during the 1850s. Subsequently, film companies like Eastman Kodak and Polaroid prioritized photographic processes accessible to the home photographer.
Iredell Museums has several common cameras in the permanent collection dating from the early to mid 20th century, from multiple donors.
Photography, arguably one of the most phenomenal inventions of the century, had a profound and far reaching effect on both art and culture, though at first it was viewed not so much as a device of artistry but a document. Portrait photography quickly became a popular way to “document” and translate the natural world onto a two-dimensional space in which to give the subject posterity. The Frenchman, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1787-1851), often recognized as the father of photography, wrestled with the capabilities and possibilities of the photograph. He concerned himself with the relationship between the photographic illusion, which tends to emulate nature while also re-presenting it. While the earliest photographic processes date to 1839, it wasn’t until the 1850s that an inexpensive process to reproduce images and had a shorter developing time allowed for the mass production of images. Through the collodian process, the carte de visite (CDV) and the cabinet card were born during the 1850s. Subsequently, film companies like Eastman Kodak and Polaroid prioritized photographic processes accessible to the home photographer.
Iredell Museums has several common cameras in the permanent collection dating from the early to mid 20th century, from multiple donors.