The History and Progression of Photography - Part 2

Photography has changed and evolved tremendously since Niépce’s invention in the 1800’s, today we see the development of new technologies to create breath-taking photographs. Adobe Photoshop is the new craze in photography, this is a graphics-editing programme developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated. As an aspiring photographer one has to be able to use and manipulate this software. The green screen/chroma-key is another popular technology used in photography, this software enables users to capture and edit photographs. Green background of images can be replaced with the photographer’s own exciting and attractive images. This software is used frequently in movies and model photography where a green screen is used and the image of choice is later placed as a background. 

The advancement of digital technology has contributed to the success of photography too, namely digital photography which allows us the privilege to store, print, display etc. the captured images. Pictures can be stored on the camera or can be transferred onto a computer’s hard drive which guarantees longevity of the photography. Digital photography also allows users to review and edit images almost the same instant after the image is captured. Traditional photography requires many more stages before the image can be reviewed and edited, and each stage costs additional time and money. 

With digital technology, you can perform enhancements and add information on the picture such as added text or even the date. This process can usually be performed within the camera itself. Digital photography has also provided employment opportunities for many individuals who initially took photos as a hobby. Now, with a little training and time spent learning about the camera and manipulating digital technology, anyone can become a world-class photographer, with some creativity in the mix of course. Photography has impacted society immensely in the 21^st century.

With the advent of Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, photographs are one of the driving forces behind the multiple users of these sites. Everyone wants to see pictures and it sometimes seem as if the users are vying for a “best photograph award”. Photography aids greatly in capturing and storing fond memories. Photography has played a large role in our conception of history. Historically, photographs provided an objective record of real events. They were crucial for instance, in confirming for the public the ravages of the Civil War and horrors of the Holocaust. A tangible impact of photography has been the number of people employed in the industry, particularly after the introduction of 35mm film in the 1920s by the Kodak Company. 

The innovation meant a number of people were needed to sell and service cameras and films. As I mentioned earlier, photography has also made individuals rich through the ability to take good pictures.  One could call it ‘the dream job’…getting paid for something you view as fun and love to do. But with all these different software used to change and manipulate a photograph, one is left to think about what photography has become, can it still be considered an art or just mere technology, after all only a camera is needed to capture an image and the software does the rest.

As we read and are introduced to upgrades on Adobe Photoshop etc, it probably makes us wonder if these new technologies are taking away from the realness of photography. The software aids greatly in making the business of taking photographs more viable, enabling an individual to create a perfect or appropriate picture. However, a lingering thought is left that with all these advancements in technology, photographers might get uninterested to take a real natural picture and allow it to remain untouched. Nonetheless, I am sure every person in society has been impacted by a photograph or two and we enjoy lauding an individual for creating a masterpiece photo. Niépce would be thrilled to see how his invention has transformed into a life-changer, so whether we are the subject of a photograph or the one ‘making’ the photo always remember the words of Edward Steichen “A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.”

Lafaine Wiggan

The History and Progression of Photography - Part 1

Suzie is driving home from work, she realizes that the sun is setting so she takes out her camera to get the perfect shot...being an avid nature lover she just cannot resist taking pictures of God’s creation. Everyone loves beautiful pictures and even if we tried we could not avoid seeing pictures because they are all around us, in books, on the television, in the stores, on billboards etc. Pictures also help us to relive memories: I am sure that a nostalgic feeling is present when one looks back at old pictures in albums or yearbooks. Everything around us has the potential to be a photograph, as Ansel Adams stated some years ago “you don’t take a photograph, you make it.”  The simplest of things such as an ant or a piece of wood, can be made into a world-class photograph based on how it is taken and for what purpose it is taken. 

Dictionary.com defines photography as “the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy.” Photographers are satisfied when their pictures are beautiful, intriguing, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Today, with the advent of digital cameras that have a variety of features and impeccable quality to get that perfect photograph, anyone can become a professional photographer with the right tools.  It is often said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but in recent times pictures have been worth thousands or even millions of dollars, due to the fact that photography has become a very glamorous career. But where did it all begin and whose idea was it that an image could be brought to life through the lens of the camera?

The word "photography" is derived from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw"), the word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. The history of photography dates back to approximately 1816 when French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce first developed the process of taking pictures. There had been much experimentation in the realm of image-making at the time, but Niépce was the first person to make practical use of camera and film. He photographed natural objects and produced colour prints with a camera obscura (an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen). Unfortunately, his images would last only a short time because the photograph required eight hours of light exposure to create and after appearing would soon fade away. Niépce’s success, however, attracted the attention of countryman Louise Daguerre, who joined with him to perfect the process. Niépce died before the 1839 introduction of the daguerreotype, a process of recording images on polished metal plates, usually copper, covered with a thin layer of silver iodide emulsion. In the same year as Daguerre’s first public display of the daguerreotype, British inventor William Henry Fox Talbot introduced a paper film process. This process was more important to the development of photography than the metal film system, but the daguerreotype received widespread attention and acclaim and made the public enthusiastic about photography.

In 1841, Talbot invented a process called the calotype which used translucent paper, what we now call the negative. He created this process by sensitizing paper to light with a silver salt solution. He then exposed the paper to light. The background became black, and the subject was rendered in gradations of grey. This was a negative image, and from the paper negative, Talbot made contact prints, reversing the light and shadows to create a detailed picture. In addition, Talbot’s film was much more sensitive than Daguerre’s metal plate, allowing for exposure times of only a few seconds as opposed to the daguerreotype’s 30 minutes. In 1851, an English sculptor Frederick Scoff Archer decided to further develop Talbot’s creation by inventing the wet plate negative system. This creation produced a more stable and detailed negative because a viscous solution of a coated glass with light-sensitive silver salts was used in the invention process. 

Flexible Film roll had its birth in 1889 by George Eastman who invented film with a base that was flexible, unbreakable, and could be rolled. Emulsions coated on a cellulose nitrate film base, such as Eastman's, made the mass-produced box camera a reality. Colour films were invented in the early 1940’s, which made colour photography possible, the films used the modern technology of dye-coupled colours in which a chemical process connects the three dye layers together that created an apparent colour image. Instant colour film, used in a special camera which yielded a unique finished colour print only a minute or two after the exposure, was introduced by Polaroid in 1963. These inventions paved the way for the type of photography we enjoy and utilize to our advantage today.

To be Cont'd

Lafaine Wiggan

4G Network

Have you heard about the 4G network? In many countries, telecommunications companies are grabbing everyone’s attention by advertising a faster wireless connection. Lightening speed some boast, no more waiting on the browser to load; gone are the days when people sit down and “buffer” their favourite TV program. With the fast pace society that we live in, no one has the time and patience to wait anymore and so 4G was released. So what is this 4G network? Is it really better than the others? Where did this idea of 4g network step from?

The 4G network is the fourth generation of wireless communication. Considered a work in progress, the overall goal for the network is to provide a comprehensive and secure Internet Protocol solution with much faster data speeds than previous generations.

1G, the first wireless network, was introduced during the 1980s. A decade later, 2G was launched as a way of allowing more transmissions to occur per communication channel. The foundations of 3G were then established in the late 1990s. This network is the first of three wireless networks to be utilized throughout the majority of the world as of the early 21st century. Though the 3g network was the first to allow multimedia applications, 4G promises to take this basic technology a step further.

The 4G network is aims to provide a higher quality of service. It promises better reception and less dropped data. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the organization that oversees the standards of the present wireless networks, has stated that it requires substantial improvements to multimedia messaging services, including video services, in order to approve a new generation. It wants a data speed transfer rate of at least 100 megabits per second while a user is physically moving at high speeds and a one gigabit per second data rate in a fixed position. The ITU also requires interactive roaming between networks.

Have you ever wondered where the wireless connection stemmed from? The 4G network is a representation of God (the beginning and the end), Adam and Eve (which represents man), and the garden (the world). In the beginning when God created the world, He formed man from the dust of the ground. He then realized that man was lonely so from his ribs He created woman. The 4G network here represents family life. Family life has four vital components: God, guy, girl, and the garden.

God is the creator of all living things, without Him we all shall perish. He is head of our lives. He is the pillar upon which we should use to support our lives. He is the backbone of our entire framework. God gives us strength. Man (guy) is a fool if he denies God, for in God’s image was he created. Man is the head of his household. He represents a tower of strength and protection. The Lord God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so he gave him a companion-woman (girl). The garden is our ecosystem of survival. Without the garden, man could not eat. Having formed these four vital components, God gave one instruction: Of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat: but the tree of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die. God gave us all the essentials tools we need to survive in this world.

Here at Northern Caribbean University, the campus represents the garden which allows students to gain knowledge, socialize, and build their relationship with God. Our CIS (Computer Information Systems Department) and UNISS serves as the hub for all our technological developments. These departments have developed our Aeorion online learning system software which allows students to receive lectures and assignments from their instructors. The Computer Information Systems Department boasts awards in the Blackberry Developers Competition as well as Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Competition.

Mikki Clarke