American Photography (part 1)

The movie was based on what American Photography really was. From this video I learned all about where photography originated, all about the 20th century photography, what types of cameras were used, why they were used, ways photographs were used, and who did the majority of the photographs of that time. 

Photography in America during the 20th century played a great role in helping everyone around the world and around the United States to better understand what was going on around them in the places that they couldn't visit or see. Edward Curtis was a great well-known photographer of Native Americans. He spent most of his life helping people to understand the Native American lifestyle. He created a perfect picture and would dress the people up to look better for photographs. Many people argued that his pictures were in fact beautiful, but they did not portray many of the Natives as they would have looked in their true everyday attire or in their realistic world. Photography also helped people prove points. For example, the child labor laws that many people were fighting to have made illegal. Many people fighting for these reasons would go to child labor centers and take pictures of the children working and how hard their lives were. This influenced people to also fight to change these laws. Photography also brought forth many great other forms and ideas in the art industry. Photography helped people advertise, express ideas and opinions, see what their relatives were up to, and learn about the world they didn't know much about.

In watching the video, a few questions came to mind but the main one that I thought of was: How are photographs produced in a "dark room"?