SEASON'S GREETINGS

We wish you a SAY CHEESE Christmas and a Happy SAY CHEESE New Year! Larry Elkins - elkinsphotos.com

ELKINSPHOTOS - YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY SOURCE

STAY INFORMED - Be sure to check out our sister blog site elkinsphotos-bisbee. Also, take a look at my website www.elkinsphotos.com.

EDWEARD MUYBRIDGE - THE WORLD'S FIRST ACTION PHOTOGRAPHER

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - In 1877, photographer Edweard Muybridge was hired by California business tycoon Leland Stanford to establish whether, during a gallop, all four of a horse's hooves leave the ground at the same time. This was a question that was hotly debated at the time among racehorse enthusiasts. Muybridge managed to produce a film negative that did in fact reveal that, during a gallop, all four of the horse's hooves were off the ground at the same time, thus rendering the horse suspended in air for a split second. Larry Elkins - elkinsphotos.com

MEGAPIXEL OR BUST

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - The first one megapixel camera sensor was developed by the Kodak Corp. in 1986. LARRY ELKINS - elkinsphotos.com

THE ONE BUCK CAMERA - THE BROWNIE

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - With the turn of the 20th Century, photography entered a new era with the introduction of the mass produced Brownie camera. The price tag for the common man's camera was $1. LARRY ELKINS - elkinsphotos.com

DIGITAL CAMERA - SIXTIES STYLE

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - When was the first digital photographic camera developed? Was it in the nineties? No. Actually, believe it or not, it was the mid sixties. Hey, man. That's like groovy, man.

THE ROOTS OF NIKON

In 1917, the Nippon Kogaku K.K., a major optical firm was founded in Tokyo, Japan when three smaller firms decided to combine their resources. This company began producing microscopes and binoculars in the 192o's. By the 1930's, the company was producing optical lenses for cameras. Today, the Nikon Corporation is one of the largest camera and lens manufacturers in the world.

EDWARD WESTON PICKED A PEPPER

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - One of the most famous vegetable still lifes of all time is Edward Weston's PEPPER #30 taken in 1930. This black and white photograph is arguably the master photographer's best known work.

ELKINSPHOTOS FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Hi. I'm Larry Elkins, your guide through the history of photography. You can view gallery pages of my photographs at my website www.elkinsphotos.com.

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY CIRCA 1861

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - Most people assume that color photography is a Twentieth Century development. However, the fact is that the first true color photograph was produced in 1861 by Scottish born scientist John Clerk Maxwell.

COMING SOON

COMING SOON - FEATURE POST - A biographical portrait of famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

RIGHT HANDED GUN

Sorry it took so long to get back to the question of why a photograph that showed Billy the Kid as left handed actually proves that Billy was right handed. The photo in question was a tintype which shows the subject reversed left to right. Thus the left handed image proves Billy was right handed.

FILMED IN TECNICOLOR

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - The Technicolor process, used in the making of color motion pictures, was invented in 1932.

ISO OR HIGH-S-O

HISTORY'S TIDBITS - Kodak introduced TMAX 3200 film in 1988. This super high speed negative film literally revolutionized black & white photography.

THE DANGER OF DAGUERREOTYPES

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - Daguerreotypists were at risk for mercury poisoning due to the fact that the ;process of development involved exposing the plate to mercury vapor. All too often, the daguerrotypist would breathe in the toxic fumes,sometimes resulting in death.

THE VIEWMASTER

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - The viewmaster, first introduced in 1939, quickly made even stay at home Americans virtual tourists.

POLAROID INSTANT COLOR FILM

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - In 1963, the Polaroid Corporation introduced the first instant color film.

TTHE LEFT HANDED GUN - GREAT MOVIE BUT LOUSY HISTORY

Actor Paul Newman starred as left handed gunslinger Billy the Kid in the 1958 film The Left Handed Gun. The film's premise was based on the common belief that Billy was left handed. An early photograph of the infamous gunfighter appears to back up the theory that Billy (William Bonny) was a lefty. In truth, the photo proves Billy was right handed. Why? find out in our next post.

THE AMBROTYPE - POSITIVELY NEGATIVE

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - Ambrotypes were an early form of photographic negative that appeared to the viewer as a positive image. A glass plate would be thinly coated with collodion, then dipped into a solution of silver nitrate. One side of the plate was subsequently coated with a thick black varnish. The whitish collodion coated areas paired with the black varnished areas caused the photographic negative to appear as a positive image when viewed by reflected light.

BEFORE THERE WAS PHOTOGRAPHY - THE CAMERA OBSCURA

I'm Larry Elkins (www.elkinsphotos.com). I'll be your guide as we explore the history of photography. I know you've probably heard the riddle about which came first, the chicken or the egg. Well, here's another riddle. Which came first, photography or the camera? The answer is the camera, but not the camera as we know it. The camera obscura, the camera that existed before the invention of photography, was originally a large darkened room, or tent, with a small hole in one wall. As a result of the physical principles of light, an inverted image of the world outside the walls would appear on the wall opposite the one with the hole. This device dates back to at least the Fifth Century A.D. when its use was described by the Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti. The German astromomer Johannes Kepler, in the Seventeenth Century, utilysed a version of the camera obscura as a surveying tool. Eventually the camera obscura evolved into a portable artists' drawing device. The camera obscura was also the ancestor of the modern photographic camera. Thus photography as it exists today owes a debt of gratitude to the tent with a hole in the wall.

GETTING STARTED

COMING SOON - ARTICLES ON THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY