Group f/64

Beginning at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Fransisco, Group f/64 was formed and consisted of eleven renowned photographers. They were Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Preston Holder, Consuelo Kanaga, Alma Lavenson, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, Brett Weston, and Edward Weston (Hostetler). The group’s named for the smallest aperture in a large format camera. The group wanted to celebrate the world as it was by using smaller apertures, rather than distort it the way the pictorialists did. Group f/64 wanted as much of their photos to be in sharp focus as possible, for to make it most accurately record the world (Hostetler). This group formed in 1932 to go against the West Coast’s soft-focused photography (Britannica).

Works Cited:

“File:Ansel Adams-Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite.jpg.” Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

Hostetler, Lisa. “Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” Group F/64. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

“Group F.64 (American Photography Group).” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

James VanDerZee

James VanDerZee (1886-1983) developed an interest in photography in his youth, and created images of African American life, as well as celebrities. He’d opened his own studio (named Guarantee Photo (scholastic)) in Harlem in 1916 (bio). When he was a small child, he played the piano and violin, and later took pictures for his high school. After he moved to Harlem, he did odd jobs such as elevator operator, married Kate Brown, then moved to Virginia where he was able to do photography work for the Hampton Institute (bio). After his first child was born, they moved back to New York where he played in a band and orchestra and even taught violin and piano.
James VanDerZee shot studio portraits for anyone who could afford it, shot in churches and in clubs, sports, families, barber shops, pool halls, etc (scholastic). When shooting in his portrait studio, he’d set up a stage for his customers, and posed them to tell a story. He would also alter his negatives to straighten teeth or fill in bald spots so his subjects look as good as possible. This is similar to modern day photogrophers who retouch images to get rid of blemishes or whiten teeth.

Works Cited:

“Google Images.” Google Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

“James Van Der Zee Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

McCollum, Sean. “Photographer James Van Der Zee.” Scholastic Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

Documentary Photography

Photography is often considered an accurate account of real life; that images are actually small pieces of the past (Curtis). Photography is often used in history books to teach subjects like history because it allows people to get a better sense of what things were like in that time. Early photographers used methods such as the daguerreotype were using photography as an art form since it was nearly impossible to make multiple copies. When methods such as the ambrotype and tintype came about, it became possible to mass produce paper prints from their negatives, thus bringing about the use of photography for the purpose of documenting life. This happened to occur around the time of the Civil War (Curtis).
Documentary photography was used not only to open the masses’ eyes to the horrors of the war, but also to show how different people live. Jacob Riis published a book of photography documenting “How the Other Half Lives” in 1890 to show the wealthy people how the less fortunate people were living in the slums of the Lower East Side (Metropolitan). Arnold Genthe published a book documenting San Fransisco’s Chinatown and candid photos of foreign people in 1908 called “Pictures of Old Chinatown”.

Works Cited:
Migrant Mother. N.d. Photograph. Google Images. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.

Curtis, James. “Making Sense of Documentary Photography.” Making Sense of Documentary Photography. N.p., June 2003. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.

“Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” Early Documentary Photography. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,, Oct. 2004. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.