Recent developments:

Jeff Wall is a canadian artist whose photography is a good example of photography as an artform. His work has clearly been influenced by fine art and classical painting. The colours is his photography are often balanced well and the contrast from light to dark in some images such as the one below are very extreme. The shadows look particularly dark which is likely intentional and creates a very unsettling image.





Martin Parr is a British photographer whose work documents the intimate and satirical. His work captures the British way of life superbly. His work is very striking with often surreal composition. As someone who didn’t have a holiday outside of the UK until my adult years some of his pieces including The Last Resort and Cost of Living, I was reminded of the holidays of my youth and time spent with my family.

Different applications

Music photography:

With the birth of rock and roll in the 50s musicians were becoming as popular as film stars and with Beatlemania in the 60s rock stars reached a level of popularity the likes of which still seems incredible today. With music and photography as an artform evolving constantly it was only a matter of time before the two combined. Over the last 50-60 years there have been many iconic album covers and photographs of bands and musicians but it arguably British photographer Mick Rock whose work is the most iconic. He worked with some of the most famous and influential musicians of all time such as David Bowie and Queen. His work with Lou Reed is probably my favourite of his. The image below is taken from the sleeve of Lou Reed’s Transformer LP. The image was printed on high contrast paper and shot in black and white.





As far as finding work as a music photographer goes, there is of course many opportunities for anyone with access to a camera to take shots of local musicians, either promo shots or actually photographing a performance, but like many things in the media and art industries, finding well paying work in this field could prove difficult if one doesn’t have something unique about their work.

Photojournalism (documentary, social, etc) :

Although this style of photography can be just as visually stimulating as other methods of photography, the subject  matter is often that of struggle or conflict. It feels wrong to describe an image of a starving family or war-torn street as anything other than tragic but some of these images evoke different emotions in me personally. While there is obvious sadness and an understanding these images are taken of real people in sometimes catastrophic situations, it’s hard not to be taken back by the quality of the photograph. Like with music and film, it is often sadness, hurt and struggle that stays with us the longest. This is why I feel these images stick with the viewer more than any other.



in 1910 America employed 2 million child labourers which was documented by Lewis Hine a man who used the camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in the changing of child labour laws in the US. Despite this he is probably more recognised for his photographs of the construction of Empire State Building in the 1930s. Despite the fact he had taken some of the most iconic photos of the early 1900s by the late 1930s few people were interested in his work past or present and he ended up without a home and claiming welfare.



Don Mccullin is a British photographer who has taken some of the most iconic photos of all time. His work will likely be discussed, debated and revered for until the end of time as the subject matter is often of things that will also be around forever such as war and poverty. His work in England is my favourite of his. Documenting everything from the unemployed, street gangs and miners going to work. Some of his work was taken not far from Middlesbrough including shots in Scarborough and Hartlepool which is why I think his work is particularly appealing to me personally.

Mccullin’s has stated he uses 28mm and 135mm lenses with 35mm SLRs, equipment has evolved to this point, but theory is also important photojournalism. It is important to capture the moment, something that will inform the viewer and hopefully raise awareness or challenge unethical issues. In the 20th and 21st century documentary photography has acted as a visual component to social reform as I mentioned earlier with Lewis Hine. Composition plays a big role in documentary photography, the photographer will place the centre of interest carefully by using the principle of thirds. Surroundings in documentary photography are ever-prominent too and work as a case point especially when recording war and conflicts.

While covering wars isn’t something anyone with a camera can do for obvious reasons, the documenting of social issues can be done by the courageous and those who want change.

Composition theory:

Golden Ratio, also known as the divine proportion, is a theory that suggests that the ratio of 1:1.618 is seen as a universally efficient way of drawing in a viewer. It is not only used in photography but art, architecture and even by major companies like Twitter and Apple. It was first used by Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci in the 1200sAD. The image is gridded into 9 intersections with the bottom and top being a third of the way down and up, with the middle intersection marking the centre line.





Rule of thirds:

The rule of thirds suggests that an image be divided into 9 equal cells, marked by two individual horizontal lines and two individual vertical lines. It is believed by advocates of this technique, that by using the rule of thirds, more tension and interest are created where the subject is concerned as opposed to simply centring the subject with the point of interest approach to composition.



Photographers who use the technique will align the first horizontal line with the subject's eye in a portrait for example.
Where the landscape is concerned photographers will commonly align the horizon with the top of bottom line of the centre intersection.When photographers use the rule of thirds, they are marking the point of interest, thus creating a more natural perspective for the viewer as opposed to simply centring a shot, this can also help to create more than one point of interest.

The history of photography:

It can be argued that it was art that brought us photography. Throughout the ages illustration has evolved to bring us realistic, refined three dimensional imagery dating back the the Medieval art period right up until the Flemish art period.

Camera obscura:

The camera obscura was first established by the Chinese philosopher Mozi (Mo-Ti 470 to 390 BCE) he was also the founder of ‘Mohism’. He referred to this device in his writings as the “locked treasure room” Other prominent figures included the Greek philosopher Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci.

The camera obscura is an optical device which consists of a box (or chamber) with a hole in one side, light from the chosen external surroundings will filter through thus projecting a reversed image on the wall with color and perspective it is clear, the smaller the whole the sharper the image. Some practical users of this device today use a lens as it allows a larger aperture

Nicephore Niepce:

The first public announcement of the world’s first photograph was widely believed to be that of Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre's in the summer of 1839 however the photograph was first discovered by Nicephore Niepce in 1825.

Niepce began experimenting with photogravure etchings and lithography years earlier. He attempted to use the camera obscura to develop a photo-picture, he called this heliography which means “sun drawings” by combining the physical and chemical elements he would invent a photograph. Niepce’s findings resulted in the world’s first ever photograph which was entitled “View from the Study Window at Maison du Gras'

Since then photography and the camera have advanced massively. Inventors created the plate camera in the late 1800s which were cameras made up of dry plates. This technique of photography was popularised by the Pictorialism movement. After this with film developing it was possible to take celluloid photographs with the Kodak black box camera, which is still used in some circles today.

After this came 35mm cameras, which again are still used by many. These were/are much smaller, portable devices and led to the eventual digital TLR (Twin-lens Reflex) and SLR's (Single-lens Reflex) cameras.

Most mobile phones these days include a high quality camera with built in software allowing users to edit their images.