Smile of the Day Monday, Nov. 23, 2020

Monday November 23, 2020 Smile of the Day: The Color Photograph

On this Day:

A Patent was granted for a process of making color photographs. The history of photography began with the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light.  Louis Daguerre developed the daguerreotype process, the first publicly announced and commercially viable photographic process. The daguerreotype required only minutes of exposure in the camera, and produced clear, finely detailed results. Subsequent innovations made photography easier and more versatile. New materials reduced the required camera exposure time from minutes to seconds, and eventually to a small fraction of a second; new photographic media were more economical, sensitive and convenient. Then color photography came along. Color photography uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors, where, by contrast, black-and-white (monochrome) photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of showing shades of gray. The foundation of all practical color processes, the three-color method was first suggested in an 1855 paper by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, with the first color photograph produced by Thomas Sutton for a Maxwell lecture in 1861. The latest developments have seen the advent of digital photography, where cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors are used to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. (per Wikipedia)

First, a Story:

What did one photographer say to the other? Let’s find a Dark Room and see what develops. 

Second, a Song:

Ringo Starr, the drummer for The Beatles, loved photography. His photographs of The Beatles, once thought lost, have been published in a book entitled Photograph.   Looking through the images, I was gratified to see Ringo using an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II, the very same camera I used way back then.  

He also wrote a song called Photograph.  Here is a live version staring Ringo, Eric Clapton and many others with pictures and videos of The Beatles interspersed.  Enjoy!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhDKHo2wapM)

Thought for the Day:

“Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.” – Ambrose Bierce

Have a great day!

© 2020 David J. Bilinsky and Colleen E. Bilinsky