Sunday, February 24, 2008

THE MIRACULOUS INVENTION


In 18th century, a man’s strong desire to recreate an exact image of person or things he value most, or freeze the event he wanted to hold on forever, was believed to be a work of an evil. That is because they believed that it is only God, the Creator who can do this. True enough, many scientists or even some mediocre scientists, possessed by this strong desire, invented and developed a system that will capture the exact image he wanted to preserve. And not only this desire moved these great thinkers but also a need to find ways how to effectively express themselves that they created an art and science of expression through visual image, now known to us, as photography. Photography proved to be an effective vehicle of communication.

Louise Daguerre, the pioneer of modern photography, was at first believed to be “possessed by an evil spirit.” Mrs. Daguerre admitted in 1824 to Jean Dumas, an outstanding chemist of the period, that her husband was “possessed”. She was afraid that Daguerre, the painter and photographer was out of his mind* (Life Library of Photography, page 48, 1977) and needs a spiritual cleansing. But Dumas replied: “but I cannot say it will always remain impossible, not set the man down as mad who seeks to do it.”

Daguerre’s desire to capture a man’s soul in a piece of material was a social taboo then and a product of an existing belief that outwitting God is a Satan’s work. If there were people who cursed, raised their eyebrows to his work, many were also enthusiastic and stood by him when he made his public announcement about his new invention – a new photographic process that will copy the exact image. He discovered that a chemical, now known as sodiumthiosulfate (photographer’s hypo), dissolved light-sensitive silver compounds before they have been transformed into a visible image but not afterward. Thus he could make an exposure and before any other light struck the picture bathe it in hypo to halt the further action by light.

Indeed, Daguerre’s invention represents a major technological triumph in the field of photography called “Daguerreotype” where results of its product produced a sharp image and with a great breadth of shading reproduced. From then on, black and white photography was born full bloom.

But though Daguerre’s invention was so tedious and delicate because it used vapor mercury, and critics made negative observation, saying that his process was offensive to the eyes, still, the French Academy of Science accepted it and he was awarded.

And with man’s desire for development, Joseph Nicephore Niepce began his experiments to advance his business field. Niepce, a gentleman inventor and lithographer from central France began his experiment by adding asphalt (bitumen of Judea). He dissolved this asphalt in lavender oil, a solvent used in varnishes and then coated with a sheet of pewter with the mixture. Niepce called his new process heliography.

Another invention was made by a man who belonged to the upper-class family from England who also served a short in term in the Parliament. Talbot’s first experiment was silhouette, produced by placing object on light sensitive paper and exposing them to the sun. He sensitized a fine grade of writing paper by dipping it into a weak mixture of salt and water. This process is called the calotype, a process also called Talbotype, after its inventor William Henry Fox Talbot. This is considered as the first photograph that could be printed from negative, had its own distinctive look: soft, rich warmth deriving partly from the fibers of the paper on which the negative was made.*(http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.htm)

There were many other scientists and photographers who developed their own process of fixing an image on a sensitive paper but only the three mentioned above were known and accepted scholarly.

And even if daguerreotype and calotype still exists nowadays or any other complicated process of sticking and fixing the image on a sensitive paper, which is tedious and laborious, I think, I will still thread and take this road less traveled. I also have this strong desire of imprinting and capturing moments that I want to hold permanently and be shown to my siblings and to others and give them the glimpse of time I have passed by. Actually, I started taking pictures of events with social importance using only instamatic camera (SLR). Like any other pioneers of photography, processing of photograph needs passion and a thorough practice. Daguerre, Niepce and Talbot’s inventions underwent trials and social challenges. And just like them, I am also willing to take all the social bouts, come what may, just to get a chance of learning the old and tedious way of processing photographs and help develop and advance it. I think I will use Talbot’s calotype process. Though it looks a bit clumsy but the effect is soft and beautiful. The style of Talbot is more of the same as to how I learned the process of developing and printing a black and white pictures. Besides, it doesn’t use mercury vapor which is hazardous.

Monday, February 18, 2008

TUNNEL OF DIMENSIONS. The first peep trial in my camera obscura is a bit fussy and yet interesting to see an image- an image that resembles a time machine and brings you to another epoch. PHOTO BY DANNY PATA
INVERTED WORLD. The PUP building, car and trees are invertedly reflected through the hole. Though there’s a lot of shadow in the image, red, green and blue colors are vividly clear. PHOTO BY DANNY PATA

THE WORLD IN OBSCURE


THE WORLD IN OBSCURE

BY DANNY PATA

Honestly, I felt a little bit anxious reading the camera obscura and find it quite difficult at first to imagine how am I going to create an object or image out of an old tin can. But keeping in mind that all I need is a combination of motivation and creativity, the thing that seems to be quite hard at first is now an exciting experience to look forward to. Actually, it is not impossible to see reverse images thru a pinhole as proven by the guiding principle of all the cameras we are holding right now.

Maximizing the rich resources of research materials and the advance technology around, I searched “explorieum.educ.com” and other sites in the web such as “itc.smm.org/makeit/node/34”“highlightskids.com” to help me turn the impossible to possible. and the

After carefully reading and analyzing all the information available, I followed strictly the instruction or guidelines given in making the project and after 30 minutes or more, I created my “(PATA) camera obscura.” It was really fun and exciting! Using this pinned can, it seems, I’m reliving the wonderment and awe of those people who invented, developed and advanced the technology we called camera today.

I really was ecstatic and amazed seeing images of the objects when I peeped through the hole following again the instruction given. Initially, some of the images in the pinhole were blurred or a little bit cloudy. It seems, I am seeing the world in another dimension of time. It reminds me of a soap opera in television during the 70’s. To be quite precise, it’s a journey in time.

As I moved the “PATA camera obscura” in different positions, turning it upward, downward and sideward, I noticed that a clear image of the object was formed. A strong image with a strong color also appeared. It was really amazing how this low-tech gadget can capture images and reflection that represent the existing reality. Crude in its form but it has the ability to stop the time and freeze the moment to capture the exact images or event that is unfolding that very moment. I really believe that this same fascination of capturing the fleeting moment motivated our masters in photography and enable it to reach the advancement that we are enjoying right now.

To prove this fact, I started shooting different subjects such as flowers and grasses, students and building with my new “PATA Camera obscura. And shooting with this Pringles camera is like using a wide angle lens or a fish eye range lens.

I liked the product of my camera obscura. And to have the feeling of satisfaction, I gathered my colleagues and co-workers and solicited their observations in my photos taken by a low-gadget camera. Modesty aside, they also felt the wonderment of this old gadget. They loved the pictures too. However, at first, they had a hard time figuring out correctly what are the images captured. They thought it was another product of my artistic photography endeavor. One of my friends thought that the pictures taken were different shots of a full moon and night sky. Other said that photos were close-up shot of an eye. After letting them scrutinized the images, I then presented to them the details in each picture and they were also amazed by this old gadget.

The camera obscura is a simple gadget that explains how a simple camera works. It explains how light compresses at the center of the tiny hole which in principle called the center of confusion then every image will be reflected in every mirror.