History of Photography Podcasts

Photo History Intersession - January 05

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:47:04 +0000

The 4th Photo History Intersession looks at two rather dramatically opposed technical applications of photography: The first X-Ray image, made by Wilhelm Röntgen in 1896 and the first auroral (northern lights) photograph made by Martin Brendel in 1892.

(left) First X-Ray image by Wilhelm Röntgen - 1896 & (right) First auroral (northern lights) photograph by Martin Brendel (1892)

Photo History Intersession - January 01

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:23:11 +0000

In the third History of Photography Intersession, we look at some interesting events from January first, as we commemorate the birth date of photographer William Klein, the anniversary of the death of Edward Weston, some facts about George Eastman and his inventions and the birth of the Associated Press Wirephoto.

Photo History Intersession - December 29

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:09:40 +0000

The second “intersession” history of photography podcast commemorates the anniversary of the death of French photographer Robert Demachy, who was active around the turn of the 20th century, as photography was trying to find its artistic self.

Robert Demachy at The Art of the Photogravure

Photo History Intersession - December 20

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:47:39 +0000

In the first of a few “intersession” podcasts between the fall and spring semesters, we commemorate the birth date of photojournalist W. Eugene Smith (1918) and the anniversary of the death of photographer Bill Brandt (1983).

Photo History - Class 15 Fall 08 - Photograph as Document, Concept as Photograph

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:38:11 +0000

In the 15th and final class session for the fall, 2008 term, we examine both documentary and conceptual photography, looking at the motivation and rationale behind each avenue of image making. We also try to tie up the ideas of the course with some concluding remarks.

Photo History - Class 14 Fall 08 - The Atomic Age and New Frontiers

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:14:24 +0000

The middle of the 20th century was a time of tremendous change in all areas of the world and especially in the world of photography. This class session looks at the changes that photography experienced during the atomic age through an examination of the cultural, political and artistic climate of the time.

Photo History - Class 13 Fall 08 - Szarkowski: How To See

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:33:34 +0000

During his 29-year tenure as Director of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the great curator and photographer John Szarkowski (1925 to 2007) changed the way the world saw photography.

This short class session introduces Szarkowski’s work and was followed by a short film about him.

Slides for this class session
Handout for this class session
Library Resource - Video about John Szarkowski

Photo History - Class 12 Fall 08 - The Manipulative Impulse

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:57:45 +0000

We trace the trajectory of the manipulated image in this session entitled, “The Past is Prologue - The Manipulative Impulse and the Digital Age.” We also try to see if we can figure out where our digital photographic age is taking us and whether we want to go there.

Photo History - Fall 08 : Art Institute of Chicago Field Trip

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:57:19 +0000

Field Trip! The Photo History class visits the The Mary L. and Leigh B. Block Photography Study Room at the Art Institute of Chicago, giving us the opportunity to see original images from the history of the medium.

The Art Institute of Chicago:

Photo History - Class 11 Fall 08 - Women in Photography

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:46:40 +0000

This class session looks at women’s photography by examining the work of various female photographers as well as by looking at the bigger issue of whether the photographer’s gender changes the images that are made.

Photo History - Class 10 Fall 08 - Cameras Big and Small

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:59:27 +0000

This week, we examine photographers using large cameras and those using small cameras and try to examine the importance of the choice of tools to the photographer. Does the tool drive the idea, or the idea drive the tool?

Photo History - Class 9 Fall 08 - Stieglitz, Pictorialism & The Photo Secession

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:15:27 +0000

One of the great characters in the history of the medium, Alfred Stieglitz was also one of the most influential photographers and promoters of photography of the 20th century. In this class, we look at Stieglitz and the group of photographers and other artists he gathered around him. We also try to examine why what Stieglitz did and what he said were often two different things.

Photo History - Class 8 Fall 08 - Muybridge, Marey & the Movies

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:15:39 +0000

Stop-motion photography as practiced by Edweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey and others is the topic of class session number eight. These scientific experiments ultimately led to the development of motion pictures by Edison.

Photo History - Class 7 Fall 08 - Stereography and Standard Subject

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:13:28 +0000

A slightly shorter class session, as we cover two smaller topics: 1) the ideas surrounding stereoscopic photography and 2) the way 19th century photographers handled the problems of photographing standard subjects.

Photo History - Class 6 Fall 08 - Photography and Painting

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:47:04 +0000

Class session #6 looks at the interaction between painting and photography since before photography’s invention through the late 20th century.

Photo History - Class 5 Fall 08 - Photography as Transportation

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:36:29 +0000

This class session explores the idea of photography as a mode of virtual transportation. We use an article by Oliver Wendell Holmes and the voices and photographs of various 19th century landscape photographers as we travel the world and the American west.

Photo History - Class 4 Fall 08 - Portraits: Light & Likeness

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:47:58 +0000

A look at 19th, 20th and even a few 21st century portraits, with an attempt to draw parallels between early portraiture and contemporaneous writing as well as explore the way era, idea and technology might impact portrait images.

Photo History - Class 3 Fall 08 - History Survey Part 2

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:48:35 +0000

In this second part of a two-part survey, we continue our fast trip through the history of photography, attempting to get a handle on who did what, when they did it and how it happened. We start in around 1880 and finish up in the 1990s.

Slides for this class session
Handouts for this class session Part 1 & Part 2

Photo History - Class 2 Fall 08 - History Survey Part 1

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:19:56 +0000

Class session #2 is the first part of a two-part overview of the history of photography; a sort of “condensed” history in order to get a sense of the medium’s “who, what, when and where.” This week, we cover from 1800 B.C. to 1888 A.D. Part two will follow next week.

For more information about the podcast, visit this blog page.

Photo History - Class 1 Fall 08 - Intro & Overview

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:31:27 +0000

In this first class meeting for the fall, 2008 semester, we spend the 90 minutes or so going over class mechanics & course technology enhancements, including explanation of this podcast and other internet resources. The last hour is spent looking at some of the problems that the photo historian faces, with an eye towards setting our course and exploring what sorts of issues we’ll face as the semester rolls along.

For more information about the podcast, visit this blog page.

Photo History Summer School - August 22

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:59:08 +0000

We bring the summer school sessions to a close with a rememberance of the 100th birthday of the great photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, “Hyères, France, 1932″

Photo History Summer School - July 16

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:55:52 +0000

On this date in 1926, National Geographic Magazine published color underwater photographs; a photographic first. This wasn’t the first attempt at underwater photography, however; photographers had been taking pictures below the waves since 1856.

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Links:

Photo History Summer School - July 7

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:29:43 +0000

Alexander Gardner photographed the hanging of the Lincoln Conspirators on July 7, 1865. This image and a pair of Gardner’s portraits of two of the men who are about to be executed are the subjects of this Photo History Summer School session.

Click on images for larger views:

Above Left: Alexander Gardner - The “cracked glass” Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, February 1865

Above Center: Alexander Gardner - Portrait of Lincoln Conspirator David Herold

Above Right: Alexander Gardner - Portrait of Lincoln Conspirator Lewis Payne (AKA Lewis Powell - his original name)

Above: Alexander Gardner - The Hanging of the Lincoln Conspirators, July 7, 1863

Photo History Summer School - July 5

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:18:55 +0000

Powerful and horrific photographs of the effects of the Battle of Gettysburg by Timothy O’Sullivan and Alexander Gardner are the subject of today’s Photo History Summer School.

Click Images for a larger view

Above: Timothy O’Sullivan - A Harvest of Death - July, 1863

Above: Alexander Gardner - The Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, July, 1863

Photo History Summer School - June 8

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:06:44 +0000

In this summer school session, we explore two remarkable photographers; the Vietnamese photojournalist Nick Ut whose best-known image was created on this date and the Chinese pictorial master Don Hong-Oai, who died on this date in 2004.

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Links for this session:

Photo History Summer School - May 30

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:07:59 +0000

Today’s summer school session is all about color.

On this date in 1904, The Parisian brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière presented their patented color photographic process, the Autochrome, to the French Academy of Sciences. The Autochrome was the first commercially feasible color photographic process; the first time photographers could reliably produce color images.

This is date is also the birthday of one of the great color photographers of the 20th century, Pete Turner. Turner, born in 1934 in Albany, New York, has had a long history of using color as subject. His photographs contain raw, punchy often startling color and have been like that since long before it was fashionable to do so.

Some Autochrome and Pete Turner images:

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Some links for this session

The Lumière brothers
Autochrome images - from the American Museum of Photography
Pete Turner’s The Color of Jazz Book at Amazon
Pete Turner’s website

Photo History Summer School - May 25

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:55:07 +0000

In today’s May 25th edition of Photo History Summer School, we note the birth dates of the avant garde Cech photographer Jaroslav Rossler and the oddly surrealistic American photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard as well as the anniversary of the death of the preeminant war photographer Robert Capa.

Some images by Rossler, Meatyard and Capa:

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Photo History Summer School - May 23

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:39:49 +0000

Cornell Capa, the photojournalist and tireless advocate of humanistic photography died today, May 23, 2008. He was 90 years old. A great and committed photographer, Capa’s heartfelt images were often overshadowed by two other elements in his life. One was the photography of his brother, the pre-eminent war photographer Robert Capa. The other was the founding and early management of the International Center for Photography (ICP) in New York, considered by many to be one of the most important photographic resources in the world.

Portrait of Cornell Capa by Bill Jay

Photographs (below) by Cornell Capa - click to enlarge

Photo History Summer School - May 13

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:45:21 +0000

It’s summer, but photo history doesn’t rest… May 13th is the anniversary of the birth of Czech photography Jan Saudek (1935, Prague) and also the anniversary of the death (1980) of German photographer Otto Umbehr, known as Umbo. This “summer school” podcast briefly presents their work.

Some images by Jan Saudek & Umbo

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Websites for this podcast:

The Camera in The Cathedral: A Brief History of Photography of the Natural World

jeff@jeffcurto.com (Jeff Curto) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:56:49 +0000

From the very beginning of the medium, photographers have wanted to portray their sense of wonder and awe in the face of the natural world through the camera’s lens, often offering up nature as the Great American Cathedral. This romantic tradition continues, but the mid-20th century saw a change in the way photographers looked at the world around them; a change that altered the face of photography. By looking at photographs from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, we’ll explore the ways photographers have recorded and interpreted nature with the camera.

Mayslake Nature Study and Photography Club - Oakbrook, IL
The Machine in the Garden Revisited - American Environmentalism and Photographic Aesthetics (PDF) - an article by Deborah Bright
Handout for this podcast episode
Slides for this podcast episode