Technology Timeline
Technology Timeline
Collage by Jaylan Ramos
Collodion process:
Created by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, was the first real taste of processing images taken with a camera. This process required collodion poured on a glass plate, set, bathed in silver nitrate, then placed in the camera for exposure. This process is a major stepping stone for photojournalism because it's the mother of all photographic developing. Obviously, it's a tedious process but it was instrumental in much of the war photography of the time. And with the help of dark tents on the battle-field, tehy were able to process images that we can now reference today.
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Speed Graphic Camera:
Graflex– camera producer. Portable professional camera from 1930's to 1950's. People were able to become commercial photographers in multiple industries. But in photojournalism, this camera reduced the effect of the subject's movement. Obviously, this would've improved the quality of images and effectively would improve storytelling from journalist to public. This was known as the classic press camera which shows how much the camera took the world by storm and changed the media world.
Leica camera:
The first few samples of the Leica came in 1912 or 1913 by Oskar Barnack. The rangefinder and separate viewfinder were an important feature of this model. Once the camera hit the market, the quality proved to be the impressive to its buyers. The enlarged negative section of the camera was the biggest profit to the company. In regards of photojournalism, it was the simplicity and compactness changed the game with it's speed and agility in multiple environments. This was a camera of action, just before there was more difficulty in portability and campturing moving subject all in one. This camera had it all.
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SLR cameras:
The SLR was invented by Thomas Sutton in 1861. SLR stands for single-lens reflex in which includes a mirror-prism to look through the lens and see the image. For photojournalism, the invention of the single lens made for simpler preview of what the image would be once captured. This creation was a stepping stone for the cameras after it considering it's an invention that was 320 years in the making. It basically responsible for putting a camera in every photojournalist's hand after it was mass produced in the 70's.
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SD cards:
The secure digital card effectively changed the preservation of photos. This was introduced in 1999 by SanDisk, Toshiba and Panasonic. The introduction of SD cards really improved the transition of photos as well. In a field where carrier pigeons once were the depended form of transmission, the portable digital card became the security photojournalists needed to ensure even large amounts of content could be saved. Memory is the biggest upside to the invention of SD cards because it minimizes the time between processing photos. And there's the obvious ability of being able to remove a card when it gets full and quickly replacing it with an empty card to continue working.
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Wifi Cameras:
Wifi enabled cameras send photos from camera to devices over wifi. Much of the wifi-enabled cameras we know of today were born out of Nikon's 2003 model of the Wireless Transmitter WT-1. Considering all the lengths in which photographers had to go to transmit photos, the advantage of wi-fi inevitably has made for a stress-free transmission. Photojournalists that are handy with their own personal technology and are on the go greatly benefit from this feature. The ease of transport is pretty much a no-brainer for anyone deep in tech usage and from their own phone, they can send or post the images to whatever publication they are working for.
Social media:
The first real social media was created in 1997, called Six Degrees. With this site, people made profiles to interact with other users. From here, blogging exploded into the sites we know now. Social networks and the speed of news go hand in hand. Most people know that they can just reach for their phone when they need to read up about updates in the world. This makes for a huge market for photojournalists considering to be more digital rather than print. Despite it's downsides, it's such an advantage for exposure for hardworking creatives and photojournalists alike.
Blogs:
When Justin Hall was an undergrad at Swarthmore, he created the first blog in which he called a homepage. Blog is a website usually run more informal or conversational style. Blogs have given many of the amateur photojournalists to follow the non-traditional way of getting their work out there. Citizen journalism is one of the most obvious results of blogs because with such a tool people can become their self made news station. The gathering of information and the footwork required to lift a successful blog off the ground has sprung a new generation of photojournalists that will change the world from here on out.
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