World Image issue 11 October 2014

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So Who Actually Invented Photography? So who actually invented photography? An interesting thought that, with the onset of digital, may just desire some enlightenment from a different perspective. Looking at the subject in reverse starting with digital, many expound the idea that this is not ‘real’ photography. The extol the virtues of film photography as being the real thing. The first successful attempt at producing a digital image was made by Steven Sasson of Eastman Kodak in 1975 with a resolution of 0.01mp and taking 23 minutes to produce an image. The result of this experiment was that the film camera all but died a death even though it has taken 30 years to accomplish. But for 170 years film photography held its ground. Firstly with Black and White and in the 1960’s with the introduction of colour film to the marketplace. This photographic process using a negative and positive prints was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in England in 1839. Talking to the old hands at photography this was, and still is, considered to be true photography. But when Photography started, the Fox Talbot process had competition from France in a process that used a silver coated copper plate that produced a one off, highly detailed image. According to many books on the subject, this process died out during the 1860’s in favour of the negative/positive option. It might interest some to know that there was still a photography shop in London (I believe in Dagenham) in 1936 using coated copper plates, not to produce the image, but to produce high gloss prints. This same shop used cyanide and egg white somewhere in the processes, but I never found out where. But I digress, In fact we can move further back in history to experiments on the light sensitivity of certain chemicals conducted by Johann Heinrich Schulze of Germany in 1727 as being the first experiments leading to the photographic process. The principles of camera optics go back much further, to the 4th Century BC, with the first form of cameras being the Camera Obscura. Although the Camera Obscura was originally used as a drafting aid, it was quickly taken up by artists for use in painting and drawing. It was later when it was coupled with the plate and film processes of Daguerre and Talbot to record the image, that the foundations were completed for all photography. It is also interesting to note that the camera obscura design has a similar principle to the photographic enlargers used in the darkroom. The mirror having been replaced by the light and negative carrier. Yes, I am aware that this is a simplistic comparison, but it was the same principle that I used in 1964 to build my own enlarger. My first camera was a shoebox that also used the principle of the camera obscura. So it would appear that it was the inventor of the Camera Obscura who unwittingly invented the basic equipment for photography. So we return to William Henry Fox Talbot and Daguerre. There is discussion on who was first, but the fact remains there were two different processes that were fundamentally different in their concepts. Daguerre produced a process to create a single finished image in the same way as an landscape painter. William Henry Fox Talbot produced a system that also produced a single picture, but allowed that picture to be copied many times. Times and processes change, but photography will go on, and I dream of the day when the camera can be replaced with an optic implant that will allow me to record in print the beauty I see with my eye, so that I do not keep missing those special, unrepeatable moments. Website = photosociety.net Page 16 email = magazine@photosociety.net
ON THE BUSES Words and Photography: Kev Sidford You can travel off-road through Mongolia by bus! Well, by ancient Russian four-wheel drive UAZ minibuses, as this group of British students experienced earlier this year. For some people, Mongolia means Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes. For those of us in Europe it is one of the few remaining mysterious, distant lands that we perhaps occasionally see on a TV natural history programme, but can never imagine visiting. Remote, and somewhere that surely you cannot have an off-road adventure? Indeed, for this writer, I would like to stand proud and shout that, like fellow contributor Scott Brady (see page 30), I have competed in the Mongol Rally and raised bucket loads for the local charities. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. However, I did have the good fortune this summer to lead an expedition to three different mountain ranges in Mongolia. By bus. For this trip, the participants all came from King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford and they arrived in Ulaanbaatar looking forward to three weeks of adventurous trekking in the Bulgan and Khanggai Mountains and to ascend the second highest mountain in Mongolia, Ikh Bogd. On our arrival, we caught the overnight train to Erdenet to meet our support crew. This team comprised of three drivers, two guides and two cooks and the adventure trekking began or so we thought… We were presented with our transportation, the Russian UAZ-452, probably the most versatile off-road minibus that has ever graced this planet. UAZ stands for Ulyanovsk Avtombilny Zavod or simply the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant. The first vehicles came off the production line in 1941, but our 452s appeared to be pieced together around about 1966. Our vehicles appeared to be initially configured for military but later converted for civilian use, once the military had finished with them. Over the years, many such vehicles have been sold off and commercial companies now use them to convey adventurers across the diverse landscape that is Mongolia. The vehicle is very basic, looks like a loaf of bread, always breaks down but seems easily repaired. Indeed, it’s one of the few vehicles that still have to be started with a hand crank. Website = photosociety.net Page 17 email = magazine@photosociety.net
Page 1 and 2: The Magazine of the Peoples Photogr
Page 3 and 4: Chairmans Bit - Your Society The Pe
Page 5 and 6: I wanted to write about Costa Rica,
Page 7 and 8: Rainforest have a tendency to be ra
Page 9 and 10: Blog Spot Skills in Photography - I
Page 11 and 12: Who Says I’m Ugly? - Gordon Longm
Page 13 and 14: Transforming Portrait Photography I
Page 15: To create something a little differ
Page 19 and 20: The climate range can be extreme, w
Page 21 and 22: As a leader of expeditions, it is e
Page 23 and 24: There are all the usual settings fo
Page 25 and 26: We as photographers or travellers o
Page 27 and 28: It is the Cat Survival Trust that i
Page 29 and 30: I captured the daytime shot (above)
Page 31 and 32: Cycling in Cuba Tina Andreasson Tin
Page 33 and 34: The Singing Lady begins again Walki
Page 35 and 36: Tour Operators Members who operate,
Page 37: TECHNOLOGY EQUIPPED FOR GRIP MacWet

World Image issue 11 October 2014

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