Photography = art + science

Fotografie = kunst + wetenschap

摄影 = 艺术 + 科学

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The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. Before photography was developed, people had figured out the basic principles of lenses and the camera. They could project the image on a wall or a piece of paper, but printing was not yet possible.Camera obscura can be seen as a prototype of the modern photo camera.

The first photo picture — as we know it — was taken in 1825 by a French inventor - Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. It records a view from the window at Le Gras. At least eight hours or even several days of exposure in the camera were required and the earliest results were very crude. In 1839, Sir John Herschel came up with a way of making the first glass negative. The same year he coined the term "photography", deriving from the Greek "fos" - meaning "light" - and "grafo" — meaning "to write".

Color photography was explored throughout the 19th century, but didn't become truly commercially viable until the middle of the 20th century. In the mid-20th century, developments made it possible for amateurs to take pictures in natural color as well as in black-and-white. In color photography, electronic sensors or light-sensitive chemicals record color information at the time of exposure.

The commercial introduction of computer-based electronic digital cameras in the 1990s soon revolutionized photography. During the first decade of the 21st century, traditional film-based photochemical methods were increasingly marginalized as the practical advantages of the new technology became widely appreciated and the image quality of moderately priced digital cameras was continually improved. Especially since cameras became a standard feature on smartphones, taking pictures (and instantly publishing them online) has become an ubiquitous everyday practice around the world.

Choose a photo / click a tile to go back

Historical timeline of photography development

~1000

camera obscura

Camera Obscura is used

1685

1st portable camera

First portable camera

1825

first photo

First photograph

1888

1st Kodak camera

Kodak's first commercial camera

1948

1st Polaroid camera

Polaroid's instant image development

1991

1st Kodak digital camera

First professional digital camera

2000

Sharp camera phone

First camera phone

Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many fields of science, manufacturing, and business, as well as its more direct uses for art, film and video production, recreational purposes, hobby, and mass communication.

Technical developments have created a new way of communication. Photographic storytelling has become a new form of art, in which stories, ideas, and viewpoints are conveyed through the medium of photography.

This new storytelling is a great example of how photography is not just the practice of creating visually interesting or stunning pictures, but has become an important way of telling stories, real or fantasized. A lot of photographic storytelling involves capturing shots of interesting scenes and phenomena that cannot easily be explained through words.

These photos either tell the story of an interesting person or persons in an overlooked environment, or occupy a human rights or awareness angle by depicting the plight of people in poverty-stricken or war-torn places.

Famous Asian photographers

Cai Dongdong

Beijing-based artist Cai Dongdong was born in 1978 in Gansu province. At a young age he joined the People’s Liberation Army in China, taking up a role as a portrait photographer for enlisted soldiers. This job became his formal training and led to his career in photography altogether. Cai experimented with creating fragmented realities and formed what he calls ‘photo-sculptures’.

With a tendency of merging photographs from before he was born, he reconstructs the past with the present, creating a certain coexistence between the two. The production of his works falls in line with the idea of Chinese collectivism, a concept in Chinese communist ideology. With this, Cai opens up visual pathways to lost memories. Cai has exhibited internationally, at Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Hillstrom Museum of Art, Saint Peter, and Klein Sun Gallery, New York, NY.

Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh has impressively published twelve books that use photographs as its primary medium. She has also been invited to the Venice Biennale twice. She decided to become a photographer at the age of 18 to escape the many social expectations that were assumed of her and has stated how becoming a photographer was her only was of gaining her freedom.

Singh has used her photography to track social issues in India, from child labor, sex workers, and poverty. The encounters from her photographs are compelling, allowing us a glimpse into a world of adversity many are not familiar with. She has photographed scenes from Old Delhi for The Times and continues to exhibit her works internationally.

Her show at the Hayward Gallery, London, is ‘Dayanita Singh: Go Away Closer’ featured her ‘museums’ - large wooden structures that hold 70 to 140 photographs in various configurations - allowing viewers to engage with her works as an interconnected entity instead of encountering single images at once. This exhibition was the first major UK retrospective of Singh’s work.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

This photographer has been cited over again as one of the most important active artists in the field of photography. A Japanese photographer and architect, he crafts elegant black-and-white images with a 19th Century large-format camera. Sugimoto uses this tool as he sees photography as a way of preserving time. Unlike his contemporaries who work with digital cameras, his patient mode of capturing images creates photographs with a different rhythm and understanding of the world.

This stands especially true in his ‘Theaters’ series. Using old, abandoned theatres as a backdrop, Sugimoto puts a reel of film on. He then opens the shutter of his camera at the start of the film and leaves it open until the end of its projection. What we see is an entire film in a single frame in all its gleaming, motionless beauty.

Sugimoto photographs of places, objects, and figures produce reality instead of captures it. Over the years, he has established himself at the absolute forefront of contemporary photography.