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Chapter Twelve: Photography and Time-Based Media
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
• Early History
• Form and Content
• The Photographic Print and Its Manipulation
• Color Photography
• New Technologies: Digital Photography
• Film
• Popular Cinema
• Video
• Computer and Internet-Based Art Media
Works in Progress
Jerry Uelsmann’s Untitled
Bill Viola’s Greeting
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
This Chapter Will:
• outline the history of photography and photographic processes
• discuss the characteristics and purposes of photography
• identify and illustrate the contribution of color to photography
KEY TERMS
camera camera obscura long shot close-up
photogenic drawing calotype traveling shot iris shot
daguerreotype animation flashback full shot
video art film genres cross-cutting pan
MyArtsLab RESOURCES
Closer Look: Eadweard Muybridge, Annie G. Cantering, Saddled
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Closer Look: Sergei Eisenstein, The Battleship Potemkin
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS
1. The Fourth Dimension
Review the characteristics of two-dimensional and three-dimensional media in the
previous chapters. Introduce the Photography and Time-Based Media chapter as one that
describes a medium that explores the fourth dimension—time. Point out that there is a lot
of debate about what exactly the fourth dimension is. The most logical and most
2. Early Photographic History
Remind students that photography is a relatively new medium. It was not until the 19th
century that the necessary chemistry made it possible to retain an image on a light-
sensitive surface. Explain the different types of supports, such as glass and metal, and the
tedious (and time-consuming) chemical processes used for creating early photographs in
the 19th century. Many early inventors were able to capture an image temporarily, but it
early photographers and their photographic processes using Daguerre’s Le Boulevard du
Temple (fig. 320), Richard Beard’s Maria Edgeworth (fig. 321), and Talbot’s
Mimosoidea Suchas, Acacia (fig. 319).
Discuss how the invention of photography was not well received by painters. Many
portrait and landscape artists felt their careers were doomed, because of photography’s
ability to represent the world. Ironically, photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron
3. Truths and Photography
Of all the arts, none seem to have more elements of realism and objectivity than film,
video, and photography. And, because photography can make an objective record of the
world, it has many uses besides art. In fact, photography has been put to more uses than
any other fine art medium. Have students discuss their experience with cameras and
photography. How many of them own cameras? What kinds? Have they ever purchased
emphasize formal elements over documentary concerns. Ask students to explain the
differences among the aims of Sheeler and Stieglitz, and Sebastiao Salgado’s Four
Figures in the Desert (fig. 327) or Ron Haeberle, Peter Brandt, and An-my Le’s Small
Wars (fig. 328). Can an “art” photograph be journalistic or function as an historical
document? Discuss the social role of photography and journalism using these works and
the work of Walker Evans (Roadside Store (fi. 317). Ask students to find recent
4.The Photographic Print and Its Manipulation
“honest” technique, considering that we are prone to “believe” photographs? Do these
techniques add to the “artistic” quality of the images? Are these questions even relevant
today, considering easy access to software that allows users to endlessly and effortlessly
manipulate digital images?
5. Color Photography
Discuss color photography using the photographs of Joel Meyerowitz (figs. 336) and
Annie Leibovitz (fig. 337) As an early advocate of color photography, Meyerowitz was
instrumental in changing the attitude toward the use of color from one of resistance to
revelation. Refer to Meyerowitz’s interest in color photography. Also, discuss the
formal qualities and historical tradition of Leibovitz’s photograph, and how the content of
6. Film
Describe how moving pictures and experiments in stop-action photography contributed to
the development of film. Show clips from Surrealist artist Fernand Léger’s Ballet
Mécanique (fig. 340) to illustrate how artists were attracted to moving pictures. Cinema
brought a new level of psychological narrative into photography, with editors playing an
important artistic role. In cinema, the editor plays a vital part, interpreting the director’s
7. Popular Cinema
Editors have the ability to represent different kinds of time within film. Flashbacks and
crosscutting, for example, may be utilized to enhance the plot of the film. Ask students
to recall the last film they viewed and how time was represented. The average actual
time it takes to watch a movie is two to three hours, yet the time represented within the
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7. Video
Most students are familiar with commercial television, but not many are familiar with the
works of video artists. Ask students to name a video artist and you are likely to hear
names associated with music videos. Inform students that the standard visual techniques
used in music videos have their genesis with the Korean-born artist Nam June Paik. Paik
CRITICAL THINKING: More Opportunities to Think about Art
1. Works in progress: Bill Viola’s The Greeting
Bill Viola’s video, The Greeting (fig. 356), was inspired by a 16th-century painting by
Pontormo, The Visitation (fig. 355). Viola’s goal was to create a video work based on a
painting. The Greeting expresses the passage of time employing the fundamental
2. Thinking about Jeff Wall’s A Sudden Gust of Wind
Many contemporary artists receive inspiration for their work from previous artists. Jeff
Wall relies on 19th-century Japanese master printmaker Sakino Hokusai’s Shunshuu Ejiri
from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (fig.360) for his A Sudden Gust of Wind
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
1. Newspaper Editorial
Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an
editorial. Assign any Andy Warhol film for students to watch and have them write an
editorial to The New York Times in defense of the film.
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2. Film Historian
Assign an essay to students that surveys early history of film to include all the major
players and techniques invented.
3. Art Critic
HANDS-ON PROJECTS
1. To Tell the Truth
2. A Day in the Life
Have students create a video presentation about the life of a photographer or filmmaker.
4. Documentary Film
Instruct students to use a video camera to document an event on campus. Let each person
Other Suggested Websites:
A History of Photography contains an extensive history, from earliest times to the
1920s. Includes information on all significant photographers.
Masterworks from the History of Photography is an exhibit from The American
Museum of Photography and includes critical ideas such as what makes a photographic
Masters of Photography: Alfred Stieglitz at Masters of Photography includes photos,
Joel Meyerowitz Photography is a site that includes interviews and the artist’s most
recent series of photographs titled, After September 11: Images from Ground Zero.
The Andy Warhol Homepage contains a complete Andy Warhol filmography as well as
Nam June Paik on the Internet features the artwork of Nam June Paik.
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The Bill Viola website includes extensive video works, interviews, and bibliography.
Suggested Videos:
A World of Art: Works in Progress, Bill Viola (30 minutes)
Modern Marvels: Captured Light (The Invention of Still Photography), 2000
Images: On Assignment, 1999
National Geographic: The Photographers, 1998 (60 minutes)
Life Magazine: Images of Life, 1996 (51 minutes)
D. W. Griffith: Father of Film, 1943 (155 minutes)
Sergei Eisenstein: Autobiography, 1996 (92 minutes)
Walt Disney: Walt, the Man Behind the Myth, 2001 (119 minutes)
The Best of Liquid Television, 1997 (90 minutes)
Computer Animation Festival, 1996 (56 minutes)
Suggested Films
Birth of a Nation, 1915
Ballet Mécanique, 1924
Battleship Potemkin, 1925
The Jazz Singer, 1927
