BBC Photography Series--The Genius of Photography (incl. international broadcasts)

[Steve S]

Yes, I too watched with great interest. The camera obscura room was excellent. Although I have often read about this I had never seen it done in practise and I would love to have a go at it. All you need it seems is a good supply of black bin bags and some parcel tape.
Programs like this can only skim the surface in the time available and always seem to leave me wanting more. However anything that raises public awareness of the medium and its principles and history can only be for the good. All told it looks very promising and well done BBC.
In a similar vein I recently emailed the producers of the Antiques Roadshow to ask why historic photographic apparatus and ephemera have had such a poor showing on the programme over the years, considering its importance in the context of the 19th and 20th century. Is that people do not bring items to them? Is it that the program makers do not consider photographic history to be of a wide enough appeal? While they did not answer these questions directly they did reply with a very nice email about a Nikon collection which
was brought for the program to be screened on the 23rd December. They could not confirm whether or not it would make the final cut for the program but maybe its worth tuning in just to see if and how they handle it.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Found it really interesting - I think it is repreated in a couple of days .

It's repeated sooner than that - I caught it at 00.20 last night. Haven't watched it yet but I recorded it on my analogue VHS recorder.

Steve

 

[Steve S]

Apologies if you have seen this entry in the other thread too.
Yes, I too watched with great interest. The camera obscura room was excellent. Although I have often read about this I had never seen it done in practise and I would love to have a go at it. All you need it seems is a good supply of black bin bags and some parcel tape.
Programmes like this can only skim the surface in the time available and always seem to leave me wanting more. However anything that raises public awareness of the medium and its principles and history can only be for the good. All told it looks very promising and well done BBC.
In a similar vein I recently emailed the producers of the Antiques Roadshow to ask why historic photographic apparatus and ephemera have had such a poor showing on the programme over the years, considering its importance in the context of the 19th and 20th century. Is that people do not bring items to them? Is it that the programme makers do not consider photographic history to be of a wide enough appeal? While they did not answer these questions directly they did reply with a very nice email about a Nikon collection which
was brought in for the programme to be screened on the 23rd December. They could not confirm whether or not it would make the final cut for the programme but maybe it's worth tuning in just to see if and how they handle it.

 

[catem]

All in all very interesting - love the way the tripod legs intrude into the NY Police photorgaphs.

Yes, and the detectives' feet... Those pictures were amazing - if a little gruesome.

 

[Akki14]

I'm kind of confused by the "circular" kodak pictures they showed. I'm sure those were only matted that way, which seemed unusual. They did show some, what looked like contact prints to me, brownie prints. They're rectangular not circular and the vignetting isn't noticeable on them. I print from negatives made in my Brownie No.2 Model E and Model F cameras and they're rather good for sometime marketed as a toy.

I also got confused by their dating and use of the word "first photograph" for lots of different things but that's probably just me being thick.

edit: Having now looked it up on the brownie camera website, the first brownie and Brownie No.1 were square format (2 1/4") and the Brownie No. 2 has that rectangular, 8 to a roll format. So what I recognised as a brownie print was probably from a brownie no.2 like what I use still. Those shutters still work!!

 

[dferrie]

Maybe the series will be shown on BBC Prime (Satellite channel available abroad) or perhaps BBC World Service TV. I can't see it replacing that great export East Enders though

Ian

Hope they slot in to repeat on BBC2 at some stage, in Ireland we get BBC1 & BBC2 but I don't get BBC4.

David

 

[Andy K]

I'm kind of confused by the "circular" kodak pictures they showed. I'm sure those were only matted that way, which seemed unusual. They did show some, what looked like contact prints to me, brownie prints. They're rectangular not circular and the vignetting isn't noticeable on them. I print from negatives made in my Brownie No.2 Model E and Model F cameras and they're rather good for sometime marketed as a toy.

I also got confused by their dating and use of the word "first photograph" for lots of different things but that's probably just me being thick.

The early Kodak cameras did only make round photos. I'm no expert but I'm guessing either the lens wasn't wide enough to cover the entire negative or there was an in camera mask that created a round image.

 

[Steve S]

I'm kind of confused by the "circular" kodak pictures they showed. I'm sure those were only matted that way, which seemed unusual.

I seem to recollect reading that the very first cameras produced by Kodak where processing was carried out by Kodak did indeed produce circular prints. This was however for a short time only.

 

[Steve S]

Yes, and the detectives' feet... Those pictures were amazing - if a little gruesome.

I was immediately reminded of some of Weegee's more "Graphic" images...pun intended.

 

[Steve Smith]

I seem to recollect reading that the very first cameras produced by Kodak where processing was carried out by Kodak did indeed produce circular prints.

What a great idea. No need to worry about holding the camera level when the horizon is in view!


Steve.

 

[Davec101]

Hope they slot in to repeat on BBC2 at some stage, in Ireland we get BBC1 & BBC2 but I don't get BBC4.

David

It is going to being repeated next year on BBC 2, i remember the press release saying about it.

 

[Fintan]

Hope they slot in to repeat on BBC2 at some stage, in Ireland we get BBC1 & BBC2 but I don't get BBC4.

David

David if you have Sky or know someone with it you can add the channel in Ireland

On the remote, press Services, System Setup, Add Channels, then

Freq =10773
Polarisation = H
Symbol Rate = 22.0
FEC 5/6

Then go Find Channels and some will appear. Place a tick beside the ones you want to keep. Then press Select to store.

Then to View the channel, press Services, Other Channels and toggle down to BBC4

Hope that helps.

Fintan

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've merged this with the existing thread (there have been four so far), and I've updated the title, so that maybe people will notice it before posting yet another new thread.

 

[Bob F.]

Thank you David - it was getting a bit difficult to keep track

 

[Gary Holliday]

The early Kodak cameras did only make round photos. I'm no expert but I'm guessing either the lens wasn't wide enough to cover the entire negative or there was an in camera mask that created a round image.

I thought that all images are round, it's the lack of a rectangular mask which makes the photo rounded.

I'm hoping the programme makers have asked photographers to talk about events in history. Too many artists have been asked to contribute, there seems to be a lot of anti-photography discussion.

 

[Stoo Batchelor]

I have to agree, the Daguerreotypes were an absolutely fascinating process.

What I thought was interesting is how photography had turned a full circle. In the first 10 minutes of the documentary it was explained that Fox Talbot's negative, positive process had been favoured over Louis Daguerre's because only one Daguerreotype could be made at a time, where as many of Talbot's images could be made, making it more open to a mass audience, a Deguerreotype had an audience of just one.

Then with the invention of the computer, and the digital age, the world became the audience of the image, a true mass audience, slowly killing off what Talbot had invented in the first place .

I wonder If William Henry Fox Talbot was an APUGer today, what he would have to say in the forums?

Would he welcome where photography is today?

Probably yes.

Stoo

 

[SeamusARyan]

Sadly I fell asleep, the 12:20 screening that is, as we have a child in her second year at school my better half thought (and I agreed) it would be good if we paid attention to the series on channel 4 about school literacy, it doesn't seem too big a stretch to see the connection between literacy and the fact that 75% of British prisoners can't read or write at a competent level. But hey, she made sure I taped it (doesn't seem right to say dvded it).

Looking forward to devouring it over repeat viewings over the next couple of days. For those that missed it it is repeated on Monday at 8

 

[celluloidpropaganda]

I doubt if any yanks will watch this, the idea of 60 minutes of uninterrupted TV will too much to handle.

I doubt any 'yanks' will watch this, because we don't get BBC4 and there's no sign of it being sold to BBC America or PBS yet.

Would like to, though.

 

[Drew B.]

I've sent off an email to my local (Boston) PBS station asking them to "get it" before they start losing members! I'm sure it will happen at some point...as many British documentaries end up here after awhile, thankfully allowing us to watch something besides the junk we put out.

 

[benjiboy]

I saw it and was very impressed with the high standard of the content, it was pitched at a level that was interesting to an intelligent layman, and an enthusiast without being dumbed down. I watched it with my grown up son (who is no photographer), we both enjoyed it.
The Genius Photography is the sort of documentary series the B.B.C. excel at, I hope it sells all over the world so APUG members have the chance to see it.

 

[Steve Roberts]

A very watchable and informative programme - I look forward to the second one. I do prefer the 'hard facts' though, to the waxing lyrical and pontificating that it occasionally dropped in to. It's not just this programme, but many others that can't resist looking for deep, hidden meanings to things. When cheap, affordable photography came to the masses, I don't suppose that Joe Public saw it as anything more than a recording medium. He wasn't (generally) I suggest looking for philosophical reasons to take photographs.

Like others, I found the NYPD photos fascinating - I wonder how many of those still exist (could be thousands!). I noticed that in one shot you could not only see the tripod leg, but also the chair that it was standing on. As ever, the quality of some of the relatively early work was impressive and reinforces my belief that we haven't necessarily moved on that much in terms of the quality of the finished product compared to how much we've moved on with how easily we reach that final product.

How many expressions of interest would it take for Ilford to start producing Daguerrotype plates??? ;-)

Steve

 

[Andy K]

Completely forgot it was on last night! Will have to catch the repeat.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

A very watchable and informative programme - I look forward to the second one. I do prefer the 'hard facts' though, to the waxing lyrical and pontificating that it occasionally dropped in to. It's not just this programme, but many others that can't resist looking for deep, hidden meanings to things. When cheap, affordable photography came to the masses, I don't suppose that Joe Public saw it as anything more than a recording medium. He wasn't (generally) I suggest looking for philosophical reasons to take photographs.

Like others, I found the NYPD photos fascinating - I wonder how many of those still exist (could be thousands!). I noticed that in one shot you could not only see the tripod leg, but also the chair that it was standing on. As ever, the quality of some of the relatively early work was impressive and reinforces my belief that we haven't necessarily moved on that much in terms of the quality of the finished product compared to how much we've moved on with how easily we reach that final product.

How many expressions of interest would it take for Ilford to start producing Daguerrotype plates??? ;-)

Steve

I think the manufacture of dag plates will always be a home-brew industry. Because there is so little standardization for them, anyone making them would have a hard time producing any stock, and they basically need to be polished and prepped just prior to use- otherwise, they tarnish which is no good for the process.

 

[pentaxuser]

Last night's second programme covered Atget well, touched on Man Ray and had a good section on Walker Evans. I has some knowledge of Evans but I learned a bit more about him and the famous shot of the worn-out mother and shack in I think Tennessee but I certainly learned a lot about Atget.

I was a little surprised that it merely touched on the birth of the 35mm Leica but in an hour something has to be sacrificed. Straight afterwards there was a half hour on the life of Henri Lartigue.

It's becoming a good one and a half hour's of photography on a Thursday night. I confes it is better than I thought it was going to be. It's the kind of thing the BBC does best and why we pay a licence fee.

Good choice of narrator in Dennis Lawson, I feel.

pentaxuser

 

[Steve Roberts]

Last night's second programme covered Atget well, touched on Man Ray and had a good section on Walker Evans. I has some knowledge of Evans but I learned a bit more about him and the famous shot of the worn-out mother and shack in I think Tennessee but I certainly learned a lot about Atget.

I was a little surprised that it merely touched on the birth of the 35mm Leica but in an hour something has to be sacrificed.pentaxuser

When the first programme ended with talk of WW1 it looked as if prog 2 would take up the story from there but disappointingly for me, it didn't. There was the inevitable ration of over-indulgence and up-own-backside stuff (just who was that bloke who turns photographs upside down to see what the photographer "must have been seeing"???) but the highlight of the hour for me was Walker Evans. I recall from somewhere that the migrant mother as usually seen is actually cleverly retouched for added effect. (Was the woman's left hand touched out? I'm sure someone here will know).

I'm hoping for some more war photography - surely Capa will warrant a sizeable section - but in four hours they're never going to cover everything in depth.

Steve