First Photograph Taken From Space

The first photograph taken from space. Physics researchers at John Hopkins University attached a 35mm camera to a missile and launched it into space with a timer taking the photographs. Courtesy of White Sands Missile Range.

In 1946, the first photo taken from space was produced. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who attached a 35mm camera to a missile and launched it into space, took the photo. The camera was set on a timer that took a photo every one and half seconds.

The photo, which showed a section of the Earth with space surrounding it, was the first to give the view of the Earth from space. The photo was revolutionary for its time and showed the public something they had never before seen; hundreds of newspapers and magazines published it.

Air and Space Magazine. “The First Photo from Space.” Accessed July 11, 2011. http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/FEATURE-FirstPhoto.html

World War II

An American soldier landing on Omaha Beach, D-day, June 1944. Photograph by Robert Capa. Copyright Cornell Capa / ICP.

The American flag being raised at Iwo Jima. Photo by Joe Rosenthal, Courtesy of the Associated Press.

World War II marked an important milestone of war photography. Unlike World War I, photographers were no longer restricted access to the battlefields. However, even though American photographers could move freely, their photographs were still censored to by the U.S. government, especially during the early years of the war. After the invasion of Europe and when it became clearer that the Allies were winning, photographs became less heavily censored.

Because of this freedom of access, publications such as Life covered the war extensively and many well-known photographs were produced during the war. Photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, and W. Eugene Smith provided remarkable photographs from the war that showed Americans back home what was happening overseas. Additionally, photographs such as Joe Rosenthal’s photo of the flag raising at Iwo Jima provided a sense of nationalism and pride for back home.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 446-47. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.

LIFE Magazine

The first issue of Life Magazine. The Peck Dam, as photographed by Margaret Bourke-White appears on the cover.

In 1936, the first issue of Life, a weekly news magazine with an emphasis on photojournalism was published. The first issue contained a photo essay covering the construction of the Peck Dam as well as the personal lives of the residents of the town surrounding the dam.

The glossy magazine was a huge success and became a premier publication for photography. Life brought the nation and world home to its readers, it allowed them to experience people and places that were unfamiliar to them through photographs.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 437-38. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.

Farm Security Administration

"Migrant Mother" by Dorthea Lange. Lange was employed as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration during the 1930s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1935, Roy Stryker was hired lead a “Historical Section” of the Resettlement Administration to document the New Deal program. In 1937, the administration was renamed the Farm Security Administration.

The historical section was basically a public relations office that’s main purpose was to help gain congressional and public support for the Farm Security Administration programs by providing visual evidence that there was need and that the FSA programs were meeting that need.

However, photographers hired by Stryker were also instructed to document “the American way of life.” Because of this, over 80,000 images were produced creating one of the most extensive documentations of America in the 1930s and 40s. Additionally, FSA photographs were provided to many newspapers and magazines free of charge during the time period, which allowed Americans to see the affect of the great depression across the nation.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 439. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.

The Mid-Week Pictorial

The cover of a 1915 Mid-Week Pictorial.

In 1914, The New York Times began publishing the Mid-Week Pictorial War Extra. Created as a means to publish more World War I pictures, the Mid-Week Pictorial was printed on superior grade paper and sold separately at newsstands.

Even though the U.S. government heavily censored which photographs could be published at the time (for example, pictures of dead or severely wounded soldiers were not allowed), the Mid-Week Pictorial was able to show the public many images of what was happening overseas. It also would publish portraits of soldiers who had been killed in the war.

In 1916, the “War Extra” was dropped from the title and the pictorial began including other photographs of prominent events around the nations. For example, Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic was covered extensively.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 425-26. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.

Lewis Hine

oy sweeper, wearing knickers, standing alongside carding machine in Lincoln Cotton Mills, Evansville, Indiana. Photograph by Lewis Hine, Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1908, Lewis Hine began to work for the National Child Labor Committee. Hine had worked as a teacher before becoming a photographer. He saw photography as a way of exposing “the things that had to be corrected.”

Hine traveled the country taking photographs of children at work. In order to get in to many factories and mines, Hine often disguised himself by posing as other types of workers, such as a fire inspector or bible salesman. In 1909, his work was published in two books, Child Labor in the Carolinas and Day Laborers Before Their Time. As a result of Hine’s work, the Keating-Owen Act, which restricted child labor, was passed in 1916. Owen Lovejoy, the General Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee, wrote the work Hine did “was more responsible than any or all other efforts to bring the facts or conditions of child labor employment to public attention.”

In addition to Hine’s extensive documentation of child workers in the early 1900s, he also photographed immigrants and many other working class people, creating many iconic images during this time period.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 424-25. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.

Pace, Patricia. “Staging Childhood: Lewis Hine’s Photographs of Child Labor.” The Lion and the Unicorn Volume 26, Number 3 (2002): 324-352. Accessed July 4, 2011. doi: 10.1353/uni.2002.0035

Spartacus Educational. “Lewis Hine.” Accessed July 4, 2011. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRhine.htm

National Geographic

The cover of a National Geographic magazine in 1905.

The first wildlife photograph published in National Geographic in 1906. Photograph by George Shiras, Courtesy of National Geographic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the first issue of National Geographic was published in 1888, it wasn’t until 1903 that the magazine first published a photograph. Later, in 1905, the magazine ran it’s first multiple photo spread that was unbroken by text.

The day of the deadline of that issue, the editor, Gilbert Grosvenor had 11 pages to fill and no content. However, on the same day he had received a package of photographs from the previously unphotographed Tibetan city of Lhasa. With no other option, the editor took a gamble and laid out an 11-page spread of the photographs with almost no text.

Grosvenor though he would be fired for his decision; however, readers loved the photographs and even congratulated him. In April 1905, he ran more photographs, 32 consecutive pages of photos from the Philippines.

This was a major turning point for the magazine that is now renowned for its amazing photographs.

Kobre, Kenneth, and Betsy Brill. Photojournalism: the Professionals’ Approach, 425. Amsterdam: Focal, 2008. Print.