The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today

Photography is one of the big inventions throughout the history. The first photograph was made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1827. In early days, photographs can be only taken once since they all used films to store the images instead of digital storage. They didn’t reveal the colour therefore all the photographs were white and black. However, what was captured in the picture was true and real because photo editing was very limited and unpopular back in the days. People treasure every moment and every emotion that they captured for the reason that films and cameras were precious.



An old camera in early days








New cameras

   

In today’s society, digital cameras become very common and affordable. Basically everyone has at least one including the ones on cell phones. Moreover, photos can be shared very easily through social networking websites. With the developments of photography technologies and techniques, photos become more colourful and beautiful. High definition, contrasts adjustments, and effects have been a very big revolution of photography. Personally, I believe that the meaning of true photography is to reveal the truth that we capture. With the photo editing technologies, varieties of effects can be added in the picture. Not saying adding effects on the photos is hiding the truth; appropriate uses off effects can emphasize the emotions and meaning of what was captured. However, some people might choose to hide the truth using photo editing software in order to make the pictures more wonderful and prefect. A great and common example is self portraits (as known as profile pictures) on Facebook. Most of the people on Facebook have experienced a big difference between the pictures and the real person (hiding pimples, making eyes bigger, etc...) thanks to the technologies.

Although photography is common today, people don’t tend to treat photography as art, instead, they treat it as part of their life. Either way, photographs are still very wonderful because they keep the moment that we treasure forever.



Family picture back in the days




Family picture today



Can art be mechanically reproduced?

When something is reproduced for so many times is that art?

I don't think art can be reproduced for so many times mechanically. Every creation should be unique and they should be  able to express the emotions and feelings of the original creator. However, not everyone is able to understand their feelings, using abstract art as an example, there is no way to understand the feelings or ideas inside the art if analysis is not applied. From this point of view, it is not art when something is reproduced for many times since art should focus on its originality.As a creation is being produced for so many times by so many artists, it might lose the original feelings and expressions since everyone has different opinions and view on art. Originality of a creation is very important, Monalisa by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is a good example of originality.The original copy is still being treated seriously by applying touch up of color and revarnishing the painting every year. The original portrait of Monalisa has survived for over 500 years and it is displayed behind the security glass in Musée du Louvre in Paris. If the originality is not important, why is Monalisa treated with high security? Why do large companies and firms sue each other for violating copy rights and patents ? Although there is many different versions and copies of Monalisa, they are still not worth as much as the original one. Copies are copies, they can never replace the original one since there is no way to fully understand what the true meanings and stories unless Di Vinci is still alive.

Original

The original copy of Monalisa vs the reproduced versions

What's the importance of the mechanical reproducibility of the art? What was the impact on mechanical reproducibility on the society?

However, using machinery as a tool for art creation is acceptable since it represents another form of art. For example, using machinery to create a statue instead of by hand is more effective. The creator(s) will still be able to create arts as long as it is original. Mechanical reproducibility plays an important role in our society, for example, when genuine money or bank notes were made, security features and identifies such as watermarks, see through numbers and UV are applied. They make the bank notes difficult to copy but easy to identify. In this case, mechanical reproducibility of a bank has a big impact in our society since it prevents us from using fake bank notes.

Is photography art, or contribution to the art? Is it just a tool used by artists?
Of course, photography is considered as art. There is so many different ways to look at one object, for example, half of the water is drunk verse half of the water is still here in the cup. Photographers will use different angles, lighting, effects, etc.. to illustrate different meanings of an object or a motion.

How and why Henry Pitch Robinson created Feading Away? What was the reason?

Henry Pitch Robinson captured this photo by using negative effects. The reason Henry Pitch Robinson created Feading Away is that he wanted to show the sadness of one family. As we see on the photo, a girl is dying and all of her family members are very upset. The father(I believe) is so sad that he does not even want to see his daughter dying. Dying is one of the processes that everyone has to go through life and that is what Henry Pitch Robinson trying to express.

Photography has impacted the world of art and influenced some changes in the area of accessibility to art. If mechanical reproduction created revolution, what is happening now with the digitalization?

Mechanical reproduction created revolution in photography and art. Photo editing is one of common technologies in mechanical reproduction, for example, adding in new object in the photo, adjusting the brightness, and applying new effects to the photos. Adobe Photoshop is one of the well known photo editing software in the world and it is widely used in many fields. Here comes the power of digitalization and photo editing..