Museum of Contemporary Photography

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• Truth in Contemporary Photography Essay

  ...Truth in Contemporary Photography Assessment Item: Major Essay Susan Sontag defined the photograph as a ‘trace’ directly stencilled off reality, like a footprint or a death mask. Every photograph is in some sense a document of something else, therefore giving it truthful merit. Photography is seen as a record, a piece of evidence that something happened at some point somewhere, in that time or place in front of the camera, holding its moments in stillness.[1] The photograph seeks to achieve information, truth, acceptance, evidence and existence, which then provides society with a history and individuals with memories and a proof of existence. Putting aside the notion of a photograph never lies, photography has an amazing power to provoke realism from a subject and although in a photograph we may see and know that an image has been constructed, the use of stereotypes, generalisations and the idealisms of a society may be the most influential element of an image, therefore granting it gratification as a reality. There are many different types of photographers throughout the world. In their work most photographers have different goals or have a different purpose or seek achievement depending on their points of view and beliefs on the overall outlook on photography. In this essay I will answer the question is there any need for ‘truth’ in contemporary photography? By looking...

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• Photography Essay

  ...Burns 1 Steffenie Burns Mrs. Maxwell British Literature 03 November 2011 The History, Importance, and Evolution of Photography Without photographs in today’s society, how would we be cognizant about past events, present news, and even foresee a glimpse into the future? With a single idea of a sun beam passing through a hole in a simple enclosed box, the invention of the image projecting camera obscura was created. There is a magnitude more to comprehend about the camera than just the disposable ones you encounter in drug stores; the camera obscura has a history of more than 2,000 years. Over the years the use of photography turned into a hobby, and was also made more well known by many of its users. The overall history of the camera is significant, along with the people who made it all possible; photography is also incredibly relevant in the world surrounding us today. “Camera Obscura, Latin for “dark room,” refers to a dark box in which light rays from an object pass through a small hole or lens to produce the image on the plate or film contained inside. When the light rays create the image within the camera obscura, the image is generated upside down (Photography.com).” Through much contemplation among historians, it was agreed that Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer, was the first scientist to actually use a device Burns 2 called a camera. Many years before the camera was created, there was such existence as...

  1704  Words | 5  Pages

• Photography Essay

  ...Photography Photography is an art form like drawing and painting. The word photography is a noun, derived from the Greek phot- for "light" and -graphos for "drawing“, together meaning "drawing with light“. Photographers use their camera to make us see life in a different way, feel emotions, and record stories and events. On 1834, in Campinas, Brazil, Hercules Florence, a French painter and inventor, wrote in his diary the word "photographie" to describe his process. But on March 14, 1839, it was Sir John Herschel who made the word "photography" known to the world. Photography gained the interest of many scientists and artists from its inception. Scientists have used photography to record and study movements, such as Eadweard Muybridge's study of human and animal locomotion in 1887. Nowadays, photography cameras are common all around the world. Photography has many usages for business, science, manufacturing, art, recreational purposes, and mass communication. All photography was originally monochrome, or black-and-white. Even after color film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost and its "classic" photographic look. Many photographers continue to produce some monochrome images. Some full color digital images are processed using a variety of...

  627  Words | 3  Pages

• Essay about Photography

  ...It is hard to find an aspect of the humanities that photography did not impact. Throughout all of history and the advancements made in technology photography has been used to do everything from prove a theory in science, to record a special event in a person’s life. In today’s modern world the impact of photography can be seen daily. Developments such as Photo identification, films, photojournalism, and thousands of other advances in life have all come from photography. Though all these aspects of photography are amazing in themselves, the true element of photography that made it such an impactful advancement in the humanities was its ability to capture a moment in time, and give the middle-class an understandable and relatively cheap new artistic medium. Though the discovery that an image could reflect on to another surface came around in the early fifth century (Hirsh, 2000), it wasn’t until around the 1800’s that inventors started really trying to create something that both scientists and the middle-class could use to capture an accurate image of their subjects (Kleiner &ump; Maymiam, 2005). During this period of time only the rich upper-class were able to capture images of their familes and important aspects of their lives through a type of art called realism. This technique involved many hours of painting and siting in one area for a long time, and was very expensive. Scientists were...

  1628  Words | 4  Pages

• Photography Essay

  ...History and Importance of Photography In today’s society, how would we be sensed about past events, present news, and even see a flash into the future? With a simple enclosed box, the invention of the image projecting camera was created. Over the years the use of photography turned into a hobby, and was also made more well known by many of its users. The overall history of the camera is significant, along with the people who made it all possible; photography is also incredibly relevant in the world surrounding us today. “Camera Obscura, Latin for “dark room,” refers to a dark box in which light rays from an object pass through a small hole or lens to produce the image on the plate or film contained inside. Through much consideration among historians, it was agreed that Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer, was the first scientist to actually use a device called a camera. Many years before the camera was created, there was such existence as photo copying, which was almost 2,000 years before the camera obscura was even created. The Greek philosopher Aristotle “…discovered that by passing sunlight through a pinhole, he could create a reversed image of the Sun on the ground…(Watson),” he used a device that allowed him to see solar as well as lunar eclipses without looking directly into the blinding light; this dated back to as early as 300 B.C. E. The same idea of using an enclosed box as a “dark room” was later used for the...

  1126  Words | 3  Pages

• Essay on Photography

  ...Photography Taking pictures is the world's most popular hobby. We use it to document family milestones, capture beauty, reveal the ugliness of war, and stalk celebrities. Photography has changed the world way more than any other thing in the media (because photography is used in film and television). Our world no longer has its focus on words and paintings, but now it is focused on the photograph. There are several effects on how photography has changed the world: the civil war, social network, medicine, outer space, and society. First, historians say that photography changed the war in several ways. Intense images of battlefield horrors by Matthew Brady (photographer) were presented to the public for the first time at exhibits in New York and Washington, many later reproduced by engravings in newspapers and magazines of the time. (Niller) During the American Civil War, the people were shocked by the photographs of battle when they were published in the newspapers. (Salama) This was the first time war had been photographed for the public, and the first time they had seen the reality of death. (Salama) Before this, they only heard stories and were told of the heroes, but these stories were not always true. (Salama) When they saw the pictures, the fields of the dead, the blood on the ground, people running around with a gun in their hand and blood all over their body, their ideas of war were...

  1004  Words | 3  Pages

• museum Essay

  ..." The museum, also known as the Istana (Sultanate Palace), is a replica of Sultan Mansur Shah's palace, the famous Sultan who ruled Melaka from 1456 to 1477." Muzium Kebudayaan (Cultural Museum) was inaugurated in March 1954 by the then Resident Commissioner of Melaka, G.E.C. Wisdom, C.M.G., in a Dutch house built around 1660. The museum was later moved to the Stadhuys in 1982 before it was finally moved into its own complex in the late 1980's. The RM2.5 million museum was officially opened to the public on July 17, 1986 by Malaysia's Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Currently, the museum houses about 1,350 items in the form of artefacts, prints, photographs and drawings which represent the history and cultural heritage of the Malay Sultanate of Melaka and the various communities, which came to settle in Melaka during that period. The three-storey building is divided into eight chambers and three galleries including chambers of the Royal band, weaponry, decorative arts, emissaries and gifts, a recreation hall, an audience hall and an Islamic hall. The galleries depict the famous clash between the legendary warriors Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, traditional costumes and the royal bedchamber. Exhibits include prints and photographs of the Melaka Sultanate, a model of the Sultan Mansur Shah Palace, Malay weapons, Malay traditional wedding dress, jewelleries and brassware. Opening Hours...

  1914  Words | 6  Pages

• The influence of earlier photography on contemporary photographer Essay

  ...much to establish photography as both an art and a profession. Fenton had a strong interest in Orientalist subjects and he also made (1852) a series of photographs of Moscow and Kiev. Sponsored by the royal family, he was commissioned in 1855 to document the Crimean War. Working under appalling conditions, he made 360 photographs emphasizing the romantic aspects of an unpopular war. His few combat pictures are among the earliest photographs of battle” (encyclopedia.com). Fenton studied painting and then law. Following a trip in 1851 to Paris, where he probably visited with the photographer Gustave Le Gray, he returned to England and was inspired to pursue photography. He founded the Photographic Society in London and gained notoriety taking pictures of the British monarchy. Roger Fenton is a towering figure in the history of photography, the most celebrated and influential photographer in England during the medium's "golden age" of the 1850s. Fenton was an exceptionally competent photographer, renowned for his technical skill. Fenton used large format glass plate cameras and the collodion, or wet plate, process which required long exposure times – up to 20 seconds or more. “Undaunted by the lack of commercial success for his Crimean photographs, Fenton remained driven with great energy to perfect his art and to record meaningful and artistic images. He travelled widely over Britain to record landscapes and still life...

  902  Words | 3  Pages