Category Archives: Photo History Podcasts

Short podcasts on interesting bits of photography’s history

History of Photography Podcast 11 : The Cyanotype

The cyanotype was one of the earliest photographic processes and with its rich, blue color, remains one of the most beautiful. Invented in 1842 by the amazingly prolific Sir John Herschel, the easy-to-produce cyanotype lives on today in the darkrooms of many photographers and artists.

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Anna Atkins (1799-1871). Papaver rhoeas. Paper watermarked 1845. Cyanotype from the Atkins-Dixon album presented by Anne Dixon to her nephew in 1861. Image from A History of Women Photographers, published by Abbeville Press.
Anna Atkins (1799-1871).
Papaver rhoeas. Paper watermarked 1845.
Cyanotype from the Atkins-Dixon album presented by Anne Dixon to her nephew in 1861.
Image from A History of Women Photographers, published by Abbeville Press.

History of Photography Podcast 10 : The Kodak Brownie

The Kodak Brownie camera was one of the most popular cameras in the history of photography. The Brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot to a public eager to preserve their personal and family memories. With its simple controls and initial price of $1, it was intended to be a camera that anyone could afford and use.

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The Kodak Brownie
The Kodak Brownie

History of Photography Podcast 9 : Latent Image and Immediate Image

When light sensitive material is exposed to light, a chemical change happens, but this change isn’t necessarily visible. This idea is perhaps part of why early photographers – and early viewers of photographic images – had a hard time with the concept of the latent image, yet it was one of the most important components of the technology of photography in its infancy.

History of Photography Podcast 8 : Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

The photographs of pioneer color photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944) give us a remarkable view into a world that is now lost – the Russian Empire just before the Russian Revolution and World War I. In this podcast we explore both Prokudin-Gorsky’s photographs and the unique tri-color photographic technique he employed to create them.

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Peasant Girls - Three young women offer berries to visitors to their izba, a traditional wooden house, in a rural area along the Sheksna River, near the town of Kirillov. Photograph by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky
Peasant Girls – Three young women offer berries to visitors to their izba, a traditional wooden house, in a rural area along the Sheksna River, near the town of Kirillov. Photograph by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

History of Photography Podcast 7 : Tina Modotti

Tina Modotti (1896 – 1942) was an Italian photographer who was most active in Mexico between 1923 and 1930. Known for her romantic and business relationship with Edward Weston and her friendships with Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo and other Mexican artists, Modotti was also a political activist during the Mexican Revolution and beyond.

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Tina Modotti Mexican sombrero with hammer and sickle 1927
Tina Modotti
Mexican sombrero with hammer and sickle
1927

 

History of Photography Podcast 6 : Looking at Photographs

John Szarkowski’s book Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art is one of the best ways to learn not only about the history of photography, but also about photography’s aesthetics as well. Szarkowski, the former Director of the Department of Photography at MOMA from 1962 to 1991, pairs 100 photographs with a brief and insightful essay. The combination of image and text causes the reader/viewer to go back and forth and as you look at each photograph repeatedly, you add to the richness of your own viewing.

Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski - Book Jacket Image
Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski – Click to go to Amazon.com

History of Photography Podcast 5 : Gordon Parks

Photographer Gordon Parks, born 1912 and died 2006, was one of the most important figures of twentieth century photography. A humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice, race relations, poverty, civil rights and honest depictions of urban life, Parks’ work provides an amazing chronicle important aspects of American urban life in the last half of the 20th century.

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Gordon Parks: American Gothic, 1942
Gordon Parks: American Gothic, 1942

History of Photography Podcast 4 : James Van Der Zee

Photographer James Van Der Zee was active from the 1920s through the late 1970s, working primarily in his native Harlem neighborhood in New York city.  Through his elegant portraits and images of social, religious and athletic groups, he created an intimate narrative about his community, showing the world a part of America that was rarely seen.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat - Photograph by James Van Der Zee
Jean-Michel Basquiat – Photograph by James Van Der Zee

History of Photography Podcast 3 : The Family of Man

When the exhibition The Family of Man opened in January of 1955, 60 years ago this month, visitors were greeted by more than 500 photographs and these words by the poet Carl Sandburg:

“People! Flung wide and far, born into toil, struggle, blood and dreams, among lovers, eaters, drinkers, workers, loafers, fighters, players, gamblers. Here are ironworkers, bridgemen, musicians, sandhogs, miners, builders of huts and skyscrapers, jungle hunters, landlords and the landless, the loved and the unloved, the lonely and the abandoned, the brutal and the compassionate-one big family hugging close to the ball of Earth for its life and being.”

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341_A2_The_Family_of_Man_PB

 

History of Photography Podcast 2 : Lisette Model

Photographer Lisette Model, born in Vienna, Austria in 1901 and died 1983,  was an important street photographer of the early 20th century, defining much of what would be considered part of the street photographer’s aesthetic for decades to come.

The Gambler - Photograph by Lisette Model
The Gambler – Photograph by Lisette Model

History of Photography Podcast 1 : Photo History 2.0

Welcome to the History of Photography Podcast 2.0!

Having retired from my college teaching job, I’m no longer teaching the photo history class, but I have lots of other irons in the fire and want to continue the podcast with some new topics and ideas.

A complete semester of the History of Photography class will still be available online, as well as some other resources.

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