History of Photography Podcast

The cyanotype was one of the earliest photographic processes and with its rich, blue color, remains one of the most beautiful. Invented in 1842 by the amazingly prolific Sir John Herschel, the easy-to-produce cyanotype lives on today in the darkrooms of many photographers and artists.

Links for this episode:

Sir John Herschel –  at the Getty Museum

Anna Atkins – British Algae in the New York Public Library

Alternative Photography – a how-to guide from a good source

Cyanotype material from Freestyle Photo

Lenscratch.com – Review of a contemporary exhibition of alternative processes, including Cyanotype

My Italy Photography Workshops are being planned for May and June of 2016 – get on the Advanced Notice Mailing List here

Anna Atkins (1799-1871).
Papaver rhoeas. Paper watermarked 1845.
Cyanotype from the Atkins-Dixon album presented by Anne Dixon to her nephew in 1861.
Image from A History of Women Photographers, published by Abbeville Press.

The Kodak Brownie camera was one of the most popular cameras in the history of photography. The Brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot to a public eager to preserve their personal and family memories. With its simple controls and initial price of $1, it was intended to be a camera that anyone could afford and use.

Links for this episode:

The George Eastman House’s Brownie Collection

Kodak’s Brownie History Page (a little dated, but interesting)

Brownie In Motion – Stephen Takacs very cool project – also on Stephen’s website





The Kodak Brownie

When light sensitive material is exposed to light, a chemical change happens, but this change isn’t necessarily visible. This idea is perhaps part of why early photographers – and early viewers of photographic images – had a hard time with the concept of the latent image, yet it was one of the most important components of the technology of photography in its infancy.

The photographs of pioneer color photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944) give us a remarkable view into a world that is now lost – the Russian Empire just before the Russian Revolution and World War I. In this podcast we explore both Prokudin-Gorsky’s photographs and the unique tri-color photographic technique he employed to create them.

Links for this podcast:

 Book – Nostalgia: The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II Captured in Colored Photographs by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

The Empire that was Russia – Library of Congress collection of Prokudin-Gorskii photographs and information

Peasant Girls – Three young women offer berries to visitors to their izba, a traditional wooden house, in a rural area along the Sheksna River, near the town of Kirillov. Photograph by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Tina Modotti (1896 – 1942) was an Italian photographer who was most active in Mexico between 1923 and 1930. Known for her romantic and business relationship with Edward Weston and her friendships with Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo and other Mexican artists, Modotti was also a political activist during the Mexican Revolution and beyond.

Links for this episode:

Tina Modotti web archive

Mexico as Muse – Modotti & Weston at SFMOMA

Tina Modotti at MOMA

Tina Modotti
Mexican sombrero with hammer and sickle
1927