Portrait Photography - Past & Present

Photography has been around since 1839, when Louis Daguerre invited the first successful photographic process. Since then camera, and photography have changed greatly. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Europe was undergoing a big social change. For the first time, a significant middle class was emerging. One of the ways that someone would affirm their new-found affluence was to have their portrait done. As Gisele Freund states "By having one's portrait done an individual of the ascending classes could visually affirm his new social status both to himself and to the world at large". As you can imagine, before cameras existed, it would take a long time for someone to have their portrait painted. While these painted portraits were fairly accurate they lacked a sense of realism. Nonetheless, as more and more people demanded portraits, the process became more and more mechanized. This trend continues right up until today, when anyone with a camera can take a "portrait" of anyone, anywhere, at any time. There are some considerable differences between portraits taken in photography's infancy and in the present; portraits are not taken as a sign of affluence today as they were 150 years ago. The time it took to properly expose a subject back in the 19th century would seem like an eternity today. The portability of today's cameras allows users to take photographs anywhere they please, whereas photography equipment in the 1800's was much more cumbersome.

Daguerrotype of a woman

Myself in Dusseldorf, Germany

Photographers in the past were often scientists or artists and had to have a strong understanding of the photographic process in order to obtain professional results. Often those who were being photographed were wealthy members of the middle and upper class, although often times scientists would take photographs to aid in their research and documentation of progress. Today, a photographer is anyone fortunate enough to have access to a camera. Today that is anyone with a camera phone, point-and-shoot, or DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera. Cameras and their accessories are so cheap today that anyone, with any budget, can be a photographer. This simply wasn't possible in the past. The subjects of today's photographs can be anyone or anything the photographer deems even slightly interesting. It could range from a homeless person to Sir Richard Branson, from a local park to the Burj Khalifa and everything in between.

Technology has changed photography immensely since its inception 172 years ago. In the early days a camera was little more than a camera obscura with a lens fitted at one end and a medium at the other. Today, cameras are some of the most highly-engineered and precise equipment man can make. All you have to do is look at a modern DSLR camera to see how far the technology has come. Modern cameras can take over 5 shots per second, have many settings, and can be the most complicated piece of technology in a household.

Modern DSLR Camera

Freund, Gisele. "2 Precursors of the Photographic Portrait."

http://vimeo.com/9921480. "Dawn of Photography - Process"