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A Brief History Of Wedding Photography

Have you been to a wedding recently? It is undoubtedly quite a spectacle. From the colour theme to the kinds of flowers and even invitation designs, everything is carefully planned. One thing that everyone can agree with is that this level of production needs to be captured in photos and videos.

Yes, wedding photography is big business these days with couples mostly hiring who can get perfect shots of the big day. It may be easy to think that wedding photography is a modern invention as it seems it takes genuinely modern, cutting-edge tech to get the best shots, but that is an incorrect assumption.

Wedding photography has been around for years and goes as far back when people had photography technology and were getting married. After all, everyone wants memories of their big day, and what better way than by taking photos?

The earliest days of wedding photography

To delve into the history of wedding photography is to take a step back and look at the technology available at the time. Before the invention of the earliest cameras, there were no photos, and people resorted to paintings that were admittedly beautiful in their own right. They just took a great deal of time, and a lot depended on the artist’s skill.

When the earliest photography equipment was invented around the 1840s, taking photos was a long and arduous process in itself, though not as cumbersome as paintings. During the early days of photography, it had minimal commercial appeal and wasn’t really a commercial-use thing, although the desire to capture photos during weddings was already there.

There were many limitations back then, and wedding photography was mostly confined to a studio since equipment then wasn’t exactly mobile. Conditions had to be controlled to get the photos just right. There were no multiple shots and wedding albums; there were indeed no paper photos either. What couples got back then were tiny daguerreotype portraits on a thin copper sheet. That was what couples got for their wedding day, and you know what, that was enough.

By George Eastman House (Public Domain)

20th-century technology and colour photos

Aside from copper sheets, early photographers also made use of glass and tin for their photos, but that was because they didn’t have a photographic paper just yet. In the dawn of the 20^th century, not only did they have photographic paper but also the ability to develop coloured photos. However, the process of developing coloured images wasn’t too reliable, so most photographers chose to print them in black and white up until the 1950s when the tech for coloured photos flourished.

People did take photos of their wedding days, sure. But it wasn’t until the end of WWII that the idea of capturing the event became a for-profit endeavour. Back then, there were no wedding photography studios and specially trained teams, but what they mostly had were military-trained cameramen and amateurs eager to make some money and make use of their new portable camera equipment. Some of them were real mavericks, too, and would usually just shoot photos in the hopes of selling them to the couple.

By Sam Hood – (Public Domain)

These maverick amateurs didn’t take the best photos, but they created enough competition that studio photographers started feeling the pinch. These professionals knew they had to bring the studio to the location if they were to keep their edge and make money. So, to compete, the professionals recreated a studio atmosphere on the site that included bringing heavy equipment and studio lights.

1960s Wedding Photo

From studio to documentary

The studio-style of taking wedding photos was the style of choice for centuries and was the style of choice up until the 1970s. At that time, there was a shift in the photo industry, and couples were treated to a more documentary style of wedding photography where the event was documented as it unfolded, which resulted in more candid shots. This type of photography did require some serious set of skills. Still, an inevitable miscommunication happened along the way, and the artform shifted to just a series of photos that didn’t require any real talent.

So, once again, amateurs were inspired to pick up their cameras and shoot documentary-style photos and call it wedding photograph. Anyone can pick up a camera and take a series of pictures but it requires skill to create a documentary.

By Art Hanson – USA Flicker stream (Public Domain)

A modern take on two classics

These days, most couples tend to gravitate towards a combination of old-style glamour shots in studios or outdoor settings and a documentary-style series of photos. This combination is most noticeable when observing wedding albums that showcase photos that show images of the bride getting ready, the groom preparing, to the actual wedding, and even the guests. Then you also have the studio-style shots usually taken before and after the weddings that are outside the wedding timeline but taken purely to showcase the couple.

Wedding photography equipment has also come a long way from old, cumbersome cameras and equipment to more portable high-powered cameras and digital lights. One recent trend that has added to the wedding photography magic is the use of drones to take videos and still photos. There has even been a more recent trend of couples asking guests to use personal cameras only in certain instances so as not to disturb the event with wayward flashes. It is fascinating to see how the business has evolved with the times and how available technology has affected preferences in the styles of photos people want for their big day.

As technology evolves and society evolves along with it, there is no doubt that couples will also want wedding photography that captured not just their special moment but also captures the times. Most wedding photography studios will no doubt be just as eager to capture and document weddings in these new styles.

A Brief History Of Travel Photography

Almost everywhere you look today; you will see virtual treasure troves of people’s travel snapshots. It is safe to say that travel photography is quite a popular niche in today’s travel industry, but this wasn’t always the case. Before the high-powered smartphone cameras, expensive modern DSLR photography equipment, photo-editing software, and photo-sharing platforms travel photography wasn’t a thing. As the world moves forward at a dizzying pace where travel and photography firmly carve a niche in our daily lives, it’s worth taking a quick look at how this all started to appreciate how far it has come.

By Maxime Du Camp (Public Domain)

The early days of photography

During the early days of photography, taking and developing photos wasn’t necessarily seen as an art-form but more of a technical innovation given the hoops that travel photographers had to go through to take a picture. It was such a massive effort to take these photos, and you can see for yourself that the quality of said photos wasn’t the best.

They worked with what they had, and that’s what mattered at that time unless you like looking at photos of un-smiling people with no thought to angles or lighting whatsoever.

In its early days, photography was used as a way to capture portraits and memories, and considering how cumbersome the equipment was, there was no way to bring it around during times of travel, so no actual travel photos were taken.

As with anything that was invented, people sought to make improvements, and as people began to see the real potential for photography, leaps and bounds were made to make it easier to bring around and use.

Photographer unknown) – Salford (Public Domain)

John Thompson

One of the pioneers of travel photography was John Thompson. A Scottish photographer who was one of the first to travel to the Far East. His images of the people, landscapes and historic sites captivated people upon his return home. It was also his images which were the first instance of social documentary photography which would later form what we regard as photojournalism.

John Thomson (British, 1837-1921). Island Pagoda, about 1871, from the album, Foochow and the River Min, Published in London, 1873. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. (Public Domain)

The early tourism boom

As photography technology developed and blossomed, so did the tourism industry, but at this time, only the rich could afford the prices travel commanded. Then more efficient modes of travel were invented, and it became accessible to a broader range of consumers. So much so that one didn’t have to be filthy rich to see the world anymore. As more and more people traversed the world, this created a demand for a better way to chronicle their travels when mere words weren’t enough to capture the splendour of faraway places.

By Maxime Du Camp (Public Domain)

Tourism and photography

It’s hard to say which one spurred the growth for the other, but it is safe to say they each had a hand in the popularity of the other. As more and more travelled, this created a demand for photographs of people’s travels, and as people were shown images of exotic locations in far off lands, their wanderlust was stoked; there was never a more perfect pair.

While speaking of perfect pairs, one of the very first photography expeditions was undertaken by a couple of Frenchmen called Maxime du Camp and Gustave Flaubert. These two travelled to North Africa, and the Middle East, wherein the photographs they took gained them instant notoriety when they returned home.

By Maxime Du Camp (Public Domain)

Notable early Cameras and their creators

Where there are photos, there are cameras. In 1839, Louis Jacques Daguerre created the daguerreotype, which was a type of photographic process that made travelling and taking images a more feasible method. That invention allowed early travel photographers to bring their travel photography equipment with them but had the downside of long exposure times and a lack of negatives, which made it less attractive to commercial travel photographers. After all, no negatives meant they couldn’t reproduce prints for commercial distribution.

Then, the real breakthrough happened in 1888 when a certain someone named George Eastman invented the very first point-and-shoot camera. Photography enthusiasts will be familiar with him, but to those who may not know, George Eastman founded Kodak and wanted to bring photography to the world and make a profit. Selling and developing films was a big money-maker for Kodak.

George Eastman. Published by B. C. Forbes Publishing Company, New York, 1917 (Public Domain)

The very first point and shoot didn’t quite have the features that the cameras today have, far from it even. But what photography lacked in quality, it more than made up for in portability and made photography more accessible to budding photographers.

These point-and-shoot cameras proved immensely popular. One of the most popular models was the Kodak Brownie, which had no aperture control, no focusing functions, and had a fixed shutter speed. It was little more than a box wrapped in leather for added grip.

It sounds insignificant to the cameras we have today but make no mistake, the Kodak Brownie brought photography to the world because it was cheap. It was easy to use with illustrations explicitly created to cater to a young audience.

Kodak No. 2 Brownie Camera. By Alex Borland (Public Domain)

Travel safaris and photography

You have no doubt seen old-time photos of people on Safaris, and chances are some of those were taken by a Kodak Brownie or another make of camera, but the point is, people then loved taking their cameras to safaris. Documenting their travels through the African jungles and savannahs has provided modern-day photography enthusiasts with a myriad of exotic landscape and animal photos that are equal parts beautiful and disturbing.

Old black and white photos of hunters with big cats and dead elephants are shocking to look at these days but were one of the reasons behind photography becoming a way of documenting a holiday.

Photograph of Ernest Hemingway on safari in Africa after making a kill. By unattributed – JFK-EHEMC (Public Domain)

Modern Travel Photography

These days, travel and photography no doubt go hand in hand with people being able to access super-powered and feature-packed cameras and smartphones that can edit photos and connect to the internet to publish photos in an instant. Where plane tickets can be scored for pennies, if you are savvy enough to hunt down all the best deals, it is easy to forget how far the world has come since the days where cameras had to be stationary. No negatives were produced. The first point-and-shoot was a box that needed the perfect conditions to take good photos.

It is fascinating to see where travel photography will go next and what wonders it will continue to show the world as it too evolves and changes. But there’s no doubt about it, with technology advancing and cameras become more powerful, cheaper and accessible, the boom in travel photography may go on for a while longer.

A Brief History Of The Start Of Landscape Photography

For most people, landscapes are often the shots that wow them. Think of those backgrounds or your computer screen or even default background wallpapers that come with new phones. It is easy to take landscape images for granted, but for those that are passionate about landscapes, the landscape is not only a passion but also a way of life. But just how did landscape photography come to be? What inspired photographers to capture these on film?

By Ansel Adams – This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, catalogued under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 519914. (Public Domain).

The inspiration

People have been fascinated by landscapes long before photography technology came to be. This is proven by the number of landscape paintings that already existed before the earliest camera equipment was even conceived. When photography technology first emerged in the 19th century, early photographers seemed to decide that landscapes made the perfect subject because they were static. So, there was no danger of the subject moving about as they waited for photographs to be exposed. Can you imagine how challenging wildlife photography would have been back then?

It’s a bit harder to pinpoint when landscape photography began. According to records, the earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce. It was noted this first exposure took him a mere 8 hours, so perhaps it made sense for him to choose a still subject. A few years later, around 1835, an English scientist named Henry Fox Talbot entered the scene and introduced innovations in photography.

It was quite revolutionary back then because this allowed people a much faster way of rendering reality into a two-dimensional format that they were previously only able to do by way of painting. This process took much longer than taking a photo.

By Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – Rebecca A. Moss, Coordinator of Visual Resources and Digital Content Library. College of Liberal Arts Office of Information Technology, University of Minnesota (Public Domain)

Landscape photography makes a mark

Photography certainly proved popular with users back then, and a slew of images and portraits were taken and developed during the Victoria era. However, it wasn’t until 1904 that landscape photography made its mark with the help of Edward Steichen and his photograph called Moonlight: The Pond.

One fascinating thing to note about his artwork was that it isn’t a straight-up photograph but rather a juxtaposition of photo and painting techniques. Steichen added the black and white photo with the painted elements in the form of a bluish tone. He also included a moon in the background. Now, he wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on anyone but instead practised what was called pictorialism; a technique that photographers used back then to make their works unique from those of amateurs.

At a time when handheld cameras were new and sold at low prices, everyone had one, and these photographers innovated and managed to elevate their artform. While some may argue that painting on a photo isn’t at all fair, this still makes for a fascinating point in the history of landscape photography.

By Edward Steichen – American Photography-MoMA (Yale Visual Resources Collection). (Public Domain)

Pioneers in landscape photography

As the 20th century began rolling in, the world saw American photographers at the forefront of landscape photography, and this was because they had a rather vast and varied array of landscapes to photograph. There are many notable names in landscape photography, and one of the most legendary ones is Ansel Adams. He was an ardent environmentalist who advocated for the natural world and inspired people to show love for the planet by showing love and respect for it. He has produced some spectacular images of canyons and rivers, which have become a sort of inspiration point for photographers that followed.

By Ansel Adams – This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, catalogued under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 519881. (Public Domain).

Another notable American to take landscape photos is William Henry Jackson, who is most well-known for taking images of the American West. Aside from being a skilled photographer, he was also a painter, a geological survey photographer, and an explorer. Jackson wasn’t always a photographer and spent most of his time drawing while serving in the Union Army. It was in 1866 that he travelled to the West with his brother and got into the photography business once they settled in Omaha.

Jackson worked with Union Pacific in 1869, where he documented sceneries along various railroad routes, which were to be used for promotional purposes. Ferdinand Hayden discovered Jackson’s work and asked Jackson to join one of their expeditions to the Yellowstone River region.

One of Jackson’s most famous works is called Mountain of the Holy Cross, taken in Colorado, which shows a naturally formed cross feature on the mountain-side. It doesn’t appear like much at first glance, but it becomes increasingly engrossing the longer you look and does inspire a sense of wonder.

By William Henry Jackson – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, (Public Domain)

Landscape photographers across the pond

There were a lot of Americans leading the pack when it came to landscape photography, but a revolution was happening across the pond at this time as well. For instance, Peter Henry Emerson was a British photographer and writer who passionately argued about what the meaning of photography was. His main point was that it was an art form and not just something to be used for technical or scientific means. He drew inspiration from naturalistic French paintings and so started his photography journey by taking images of country life. His first photography album, called Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, was published in 1856, but his best work was published in 1895 and was called Marsh Leaves.

By William Henry Jackson – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, (Public Domain)

Another one was a maverick called Luigi Ghirri, an Italian photographer that dared to shoot in colour just when black and white photography was only becoming recognized. The use of colour in his photos gave them a sense of human engagement and was known to evoke subtle but beautiful emotions in viewers.

Landscapes may be considered static subjects, but when looked at by different eyes and viewpoints, they can take on various forms and can be very dynamic. These early photographers and their works have paved the way for landscape photography as it is today. As the years moved on, the advancements in photography made id possible for more people to take up photography. But it was these trailblazers that started it all.

Featured image: By Peter Henry Emerson, British Library (Public Domain)

A Brief History Of Wedding Photography

The earliest days of wedding photography

20th-century technology and colour photos

From studio to documentary

A modern take on two classics

A Brief History Of Travel Photography

The early days of photography

John Thompson

The early tourism boom

Tourism and photography

Notable early Cameras and their creators

Travel safaris and photography

Modern Travel Photography

A Brief History Of The Start Of Landscape Photography

The inspiration

Landscape photography makes a mark

Pioneers in landscape photography

Landscape photographers across the pond

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