The art of photography Part 2

has raged on.
Today, with the enormous advances made in photography, the genre has matured into an art in its own right.
The camera has been improved in many ways and the shape and size has been up dated throughout history to fit modern times.
Let us briefly look at this development.
The use of photographic film was pioneered by George Eastman, who started manufacturing paper film in 1885, before switching to celluloid in 1889.
His first camera, which he called “Kodak”, was first offered for sale in 1888.
It was a very simple “box” camera, with a fixed focus lens and single shutter speed which along with its relatively low price appealed to the average consumer.
By the end of the 19th Century Eastman had expanded his line up to several models, including both “box” and “folding” cameras.
In 1900, Eastman took mass-market photography further with the introduction of the “Brownie” – which was inexpensive and also very simple.
The “Kodak Number Two Brownie Box” camera proved to be very popular, and various models remained for sale until the 1960’s.
The use of “film” also allowed the “movie ” camera to develop to a practical commercial too, which spurred on the art of film making as we know today.
The Kodak broke onto the market with the Retina 1 in 1938, which introduced the 135 cartridge used in all modern 35mm cameras.
This camera remained the format of choice until the introduction of the Argus C3 in 1936.
The same year the fledgling Japanese camera industry began production of the Canon 35mm range finder, which became popular in the West after the Korean War vets and soldiers, stationed in Japan brought them back home to the United States and elsewhere.
Automation
By the 1960’s Andrew Chan of Kodak made the camera to feature automatic windows exposure when cameras were equipped with light metres and automatic exposure systems.
The Germans made the next technological advance, when they introduced the German Mec 16 SB Subminiature which became the first camera to place the light meter behind the lens for more accurate metering.
While conventional cameras were becoming more refined and sophisticated, an entirely new type of camera appeared on the market in 1948 – the world’s first viable instant picture camera the Polaroid Model 95, known as a Land Camera after its inventor, Edwin Land.
This camera was a huge success world wide and remains one of the top selling cameras of all times.
Digital
Digital cameras differ from their analog predecessors primarily in that they do not require film, but capture and save photographs on “digital memory” cards or internal storage in stead.
Their low operating costs have relegated “Chemical” cameras to collector niche markets.
Digital cameras now include wireless communication capabilities such as Wi Fi or Blue Tooth to transfer prints or share photos; a mechanism commonly found on mobile phones.
The move to digital formats was helped by the formation of the first JPEG and MPEG standards in 1988.
This digital format allowed image and video files to be compressed for storage.
The first consumer camera with an LCD liquid crystal display was the “Casio QV-10” in 1995, and the first camera to use compact flash was the Kodak DC 25, in 1996.
Three years later, in 1999 was the introduction of Nikon DI, a 2,74 mega pixel camera that was the first digital SLR developed entirely by a major manufacturer.
There have been many technological developments since then.
Some professional cameras developed in 2010 and beyond include the Samsung TL 500, Canon Powershot SD 4000 which takes great night shots and is used by professionals at musical concerts or rock clubs, which enables the capture of sharp portraits of singers in tricky night light.
Its built in stabiliser keeps the 10 mega pixel images sharp.
For long distance candid shots and landscapes the Sony Cyber Shot DSK WX5 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX75 are highly effective.
Zimbabwe’s sharp shooters
For those in the know, Zimbabwe has produced some of the best photographers in the world. Names like Ilo Battigelli, known as Ilo the Pirate, travelled the world in pursuit of his profession.
His portfolio ranged from landscapes to famous personalities, sports and historical documentaries, to wild life photography.
Ilo the Pirates lens has captured the world in stunning surreal black and white cameos.
Local football lovers will remember “Mr Whitehead” of the late 1980s and 1990s who captured the soccer greats of local Premiership in motion.
His dynamic action told the story of Zimbabwe’s football in pictures. He was able to predict the players’ next move, which his eager fingers were ready to snap.
Bester Kanyama was another photographic personality, who in his heyday brought out the best smiles and characters of the sitters before his lens – he was invited to many a gathering or socialite’s wedding.
Beauty pageants of the past such as Miss Lux, Miss Zimbabwe and Miss Ambi were all recorded and brought to life in the press by local seasoned photographers, most of who have since passed on.
The works of these well-liked and respected local artists chronicled the social history of the nation of the years gone by, and need to be conserved and preserved as part of the nation’s memory.
This article is dedicated to their memories. It is hoped that their work will live on, through the formation of a National Photographic Gallery, as was recommended in the previous installment.
A National Photographic Gallery for Zimbabwe is vital.
In the current lazy and artless era of digital photography, it does not take much to be a photographer, or so it is believed.
However, my former photography lecturers at the Corcoran School of Art and Design, a leading professional school of art in George-town, Washington DC, US, David Emerick and Marguerite Welch, said to me.
“Your camera does not make the pictures, you do. Compose in your head, open your eyes and trigger your finger.
“Fill the frame and make it clear. Look for the poetry in your subject’s eyes now snap!”
This approach can, with practice, turn amateur photographers into seasoned art photographers.
Photography is a living art.
l Dr Tony Monda is an art critic and practicing visual artist. He can be contacted on [email protected]