Photography

Historical

The basic principle of photography has been known since antiquity: it is the camera obscura. If we take a black box, pierced in one place, the rays of the sun are engulfed and reproduce the image of the outside ... inverted! Leonardo da Vinci was an assiduous user. In the 19th century, the knowledge in chemistry is already well advanced: we know the effects that may have light on certain silver bodies. But a concern for size is required: lack of fixer, how to capture picture ? In 1826, Nicephore Niepce (1765-1833) manages to make the first photograph of the history. Realized with the help of a black room and a plate of tin coated with bitumen of Judea dissolved in the essence of lavender In 1829, Niepce associated himself with Louis-Jacques Daguerre (1787-1851). This resulted in the invention of the Daguerreotype, which made it possible to obtain images of fine quality on a metal plate revealed in mercury. In 1849, Henri Fox-Talbot Calotype, and at the same time the negative process, fifty years later, George Eastman (founder of Kodak) produced the first flexible film in ribbon

Art Photography

Photography is provoking an unprecedented enthusiasm on the part of the public worldwide France is a showcase thanks to the events that can not be ignored and world renowned as the Rencontres d'Arles, Visa for the image or Paris Photo. The photo festivals that have flourished since a few years are also good examples. The photography has been going through a crisis for a few years and it is just beginning to emerge. After having struggled so much with painting at its beginnings, artistic photography is a place on the art markets, exhibitions, and among collectors, where it acquired its nobility. Photography participates in the cultural influence of our country. In the 80's, France was with its agencies, Magnum, Gamma, Sygma [...] and its photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau in the lead, the nerve center of press and creative photography

Before digital, prints of artistic photographs were most often made by contact printing, or under enlarger by platinum print, Cibachrome, baryta print etc. Numerous possibilities, which collectors and gallery owners know well, and having proved themselves in time. Since they were based on techniques of several decades, these processes coming directly from the pioneers of photography. Digital impressions, on the other hand, appeared very late in the early 1990s, with quite catastrophic results in quality but above all in resistance to aging. , Papers and inks play a major role, but with different constraints. Faced with this state of affairs, some manufacturers have developed processes that today give inkjet prints its nobility. Faced with the purchase of a work, a lover of art will therefore always have to learn about the processes of makers of the work, and do not hesitate to inquire, with gallerists or art agents, before investing

It is also amusing to see that 19th century photography has broken all records in recent years, leading to contemporary photography in auction halls, at Christie's or in Paris-Photo. The record for contemporary photography is held since November 8, 2005 by Richard PRINCE A Cowboy, icon of the advertising campaigns of Marlboro, flew to $ 1.1 million at Christie's during a sale of contemporary art.