W. Fox Talbot - The Open Door

W. Fox Talbot The Open Door

Salt print from a calotype negative, April 1844. 18.8 x 23.1 cm.
source: http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/resources/opendoor.html

"The Open Door reveals a telling interest in the artistic treatment of the mundane." The image's "picturesque dimension suggests the inventor's familiarity with examples of Dutch genre painting of the 17th century"
Rosenblum, Naomi - World History of Photography, 1997 ( page 31)

It is interesting to note that, as Rosenblum herself explains, "soft definition", that is the "blurry" or "fuzzy" characteristics of the calotype image, contrasted the calotype print to the finesse of detail and sharpness of the daguerreotype. Talbot in fact referred to the effects of his early "photogenic drawings" as "Rembrandtish" (Rosenblum, page 29)

Although the negative-positive method of Talbot would point the way to future developments of photography, the quality of the early calotype images made it difficult to supplant public attachment to the daguerreotype both in Europe and in America.

Comments

Group f/64 Manifesto (1932)

Ansel Adams by Dorothea Lange Group f/64 Manifesto The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image which is an important element in the work of members of this Group. The chief object of the Group is to present in frequent shows what it considers the best contemporary photography of the West; in addition to the showing of the work of its members, it will include prints from other photographers who evidence tendencies in their work similar to that of the Group. Group f/64 is not pretending to cover the entire of photography or to indicate through its selection of members any deprecating opinion of the photographers who are not included in its shows. There are great number of serious workers in photography whose style and technique does not relate to the metier of the Group. Group f/64 limits its members and invitational names to those worke

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946): photography and modernity

The Steerage, 1907 "There were men and women and children on the lower deck of the steerage.... I longed to escape from my surroundings and join them.... A round straw hat, the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning right.... round shapes of iron machinery... I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that, the feeling I had about life..." source: http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/stieglit.htm Portrait of Georgia O' Keefe, 1918

Calotype process

"The calotype negative process was sometimes called the Talbotype , after its inventor. It was not Talbot's first photographic process (introduced in 1839), but it is the one for which he became most known. Henry Talbot devised the calotype in the autumn of 1840, perfected it by the time of its public introduction in mid-1841, and made it the subject of a patent (the patent did not extend to Scotland). The base of a calotype negative, rather than the glass or film to which we have become accustomed, was high quality writing paper. The sheet of paper was carefully selected to have a smooth and uniform texture and, wherever possible, to avoid the watermark. The first stage, conducted in candlelight, was to prepare what Talbot called his iodized paper. The paper was washed over with a solution of silver nitrate and dried by gentle heat. When nearly dr

Introduction to the History of Photography

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