The Genius of Photography - Episode 1: A Review

"The photographer was to the 19th century, what the scientist is to the 21st."

In this episode of 'The Genius of Photography', we are shown the very birth of photography itself, and what purpose it actually holds in our world. I found the episode very informative in terms of its explanations of photography's importance in the 19th century, at one point comparing it to new technologies of the era, such as telegraphs and railway lines. It really highlighted the immense effect photography made on the world in a more technologically primitive era.

The episode compares the potraitist Nadar, who took photographs solely as an art form, to more recent generations - the Kodak revolutionaries - who have opened photography and it's meaning up to a whole new world, with different techniques and purposes in taking a picture.

The programme goes on to describe amateur photographer, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, a Parisian, who used the best technology of his time to further revolutionise the art of photography. Lartigue incorporated movement in his photographs, as a form of humour and wonderment, in an era where movement would previously have resulted in a blurry and disoriented picture. His ideas provoked many more photographers to do the same, and it changed photography forever.

My favourite image from this episode involves Lartigue's cousin, whom he simply asked to jump from the top of a set of steps, and captured mid-air. The photograph went on to become one of his most famous. In the album containing the original photograph, Lartigue wrote that his cousin "jumps for (his) snaps", obviously appreciative of the relative risk involved, and the enablement to perfect his art form.

The Genius of Photography opened up the world of photography and its history to me like nothing I've seen before, and although I thought I'd be bored by it, it was a genuinely interesting 58 minutes. It made me realise that at times we take technology today for granted. We have settings on digital cameras or smartphones now that these artists and entrepreneurs craved in their heyday. And it's as a result of their phenomenal work and effort that we have them to use today, be it for art like Lartigue, or while trying to instantly capture your friend vomiting in the bathrooms at Coppers, so you can hold them to emotional ransom the next day. (I joke, kind of.) It was a very insightful programme and helped me to understand the world of photography and how it has developed.