BOON OF THE AGE

Hokitika Guardian, 19 August 1933, Page 6

BOON OF THE AGE

'• • . • .i s ■ 'V j < HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK

Joseph Nicephore Niepce, one of the pioneers of photography, died on July 3, 1833, a hundred years ago last month.

Although no individual person C-n he said to have invented or discovered photography, to- Niepce the distinction of having taken the first permanent photograph eve r seen. That was in 1822', when lie was 57 years old.

Niepce’s were not those of the modtcn photographer, even . the amateur. His colleague, Louis Daguerre, made notable advances upon them, and the .Englishman, Fox Talbot, who followed in' their wake went a good ideal further than either, but Niepce set: a fashion and paved the 'way, not only for the photographer's studio, but for a whole range of modem marvels, which lave the outcome of photography Every newspaper reproduction, photograph, cartoon, and fashion drawingdepends on Niepce’s ideas. In science they are indispensable. Einstein’s theories were confirmed \by a photograph! In astronomy, in medicine, in criminology, photography is now essentialRadiography, or X-ray photography* has proved one of the boons of the century. -The tiny organisms connected with cancer and other terrible scourges have been> studied with remarkable success by the system known as photomicrography., -'

Photography really arose because Niepce, an Obscure scientist., was, unablb to .draw. In 1815 lithography, in which a drawing could be transferred to a stone surface, was all the' rage in Paris. Niepce, like everybody else, wanted to avail himself - of , this new and intriguing art, .ia-nd’' being a- man of meaniK, lie bad ample time in which to do it; But drawing was the bane of his existence

For a- time Niepce’s son, more gifted as an artist, wag- able to undertake the' work, but military service intervened, and Niepce was compelled bv force of circumstance to seek some other moan's whereby, he could produce hife images. Gut of this sealwh photography or, as' Niepce used' to call it, , heliography, was born. ■ • Looking back, Niepce’s methods read now like the -weird experiments of analchemist. He dissolved hi s bitumen from the Judean' desert' in oil of lavender and spread the' solution on to aplate of burnished silver. The plate was. exposed to light in a camera obsciiyn underneath the drawing he wished to reproduce. After the' -exposure, Niepce again placed the plate- in oil of 'lavender in order to remove the bitumen unaffected by the. flight. An. outline of the drawing remained. He '“fixed” the picture by, exposing the plate "to the vapours of iodine and then removing the rest of the’ -bitumen'; '..Tn this way he obtained a . picture of metallic silver, the background being'light yellow silver iodide, Jfe was - a .reprodtictibn cdfr.his house and garden, and the first permanent photograph ever taken.

' "Another" Frenchman, Louis Daguerre, | a theatrical scene painter, had been} working independently on the same'subject, and lie and Niepce decided to “cooperate in order to perfect the discovery made by M. Niepce and improved 'by M. Daguerre.” Unfortunately Niepce died' before their • researches had gone very far.-Working with Niepce’s son, however, Daguerre ‘ discovered the "developer” which gave such an impetus to the popularising ,of .photography. | Jf Niepce the pioneer, the Ene-! lishman, .William - Henry Fox ‘Talbot, might be tailed the father of modern photography. Niepce was ' the originator, but had there been no able - men. like Daguerre and Fox Talbot to con- 1 tirtue 'a'nd extend his work, photography might 'have .remained nothing but a scientific curiosity.- Niepce laid the foun-j dations. It was left to others to build on '.them, \ . .' -

Outside I France, Fox Talbot was Niepce’s most notable contemporary. His idcais have influenced .photographic progress, move directly than any of the early pioneers. Fox Talbot, cheapened .and simplified .photography, and introdued the of printing from a negative, >a method that is still, essential.

Fox Talbot patented his calotype stead. of a silver pl"te he used paper sensitised with iodide of silver. Fox Talbot’s ealotvpe-s are much more like .the photographs of to-day - than Niepce’s heliographs. His ideas, much more than Niepce’s, have influenced the modern art, but Fox Talbot might aiever have been inspired 'without the work of his predecessor. If only for that Niepce must, take hi r , rightful place as the pioneer of photography.