The history of travel photography

By Anne Valbak Christiansen

 

We take it for granted now, but simply the act of being able to capture a photo used to be an accomplishment, the gear was heavy, fragile, and unreliable. And as you can imagine the technological development of both cameras and transportation are the foundation of the history of travel photography. In the beginning cameras were more a technical invention than anything else. It was then used as a tool for creating portraits, and to take pictures of possessions as to keep the memory of something.
Cameras then evolved into a scientific equipment tool, it was useful as a means to document. And since scientists found the technology so useful, a need for a transportable camera had arrived, and that´s where our journey starts.

The 19^th was, as the 18^th century had been, was a time for exploration, explorations that could now be documented more accurately, where they earlier relied on the, often inaccurate, oral descriptions from the travellers.
In the 19^th century, the early developments in the area included a portable darkroom, lots of dangerous chemicals, tanks, water containers, heavy glass plates, plate holders, and a large camera and tripod. Keep in mind how expensive these items would be. In 1839 a photographic process was invented called the daguerreotype, it made it a whole lot cheaper to buy and carry camera equipment for travel. Unfortunately, this process came out with pictures that couldn’t create copies, and therefore it didn’t make much of a sale. Another process was soon after invented, the collodion process, that brought exposure time down to 2 seconds, however, there was still lots of equipment.

Now let’s talk transportation, in the 19^th century travel was extremely expensive, and it was only accessible to the few rich or funded. But throughout the 19^th century the building of railways across the globe expanded drastically and made it easier, and in time cheaper to travel far distances.
The rich, of course, wanted to document their travels as well. And it was made possible for armatures in 1888 when Kodak launched the first “point and shoot” camera. Photography was now available to anyone who could press a button, and, not to forget, afford the camera. The camera itself became transportable as well, even though it was still, in our mind, heavy and unhandy. But the Kodak camera was evolutionary on more than one account, it also used a roll of film! It had 100 pictures in a film, and all you had to do was sent it to Kodak, and they would send you back your photographs.

In many ways the improvements in the travel industry created a demand for camera improvements, just like the improvements of cameras created a wanderlust for travel and tourism.

This becomes clear as we enter the 20^th century, and the Wright Brothers invented the first airplane, and from there on travel escalated fast, over the next hundred years travel became easier, drastically faster, and in the 21^st century, in many ways safer.

The mid-20^th century is when my timeline begins in 1960 when my grandfather brought his first camera. It was a Kodak, they still had a big part of the market, and would have it for a few years yet.
on the timeline we see pictures and comments about the different cameras, and how well they worked. In the end of the 20^th century we skip generations, and follow my mother’s travels, followed by my own in 2012 when I brought my own “real” camera.

In 2017 it was estimated that around 1.2 trillion digital photos were taken. And in 2018 commercial airlines carried approximately 4.3 billion passengers a day. And most of us want to get “that perfect picture” to remember and to prove where we´ve been. In many tourist attractions there are even photo spots, where you can stand to get that famous picture of where ever you are. You can book Travel Photography Tours, where you travel to get those pictures exactly and learn to use your camera. However many people don’t even have an old school camera, they just use their phones.

 

Fun facts:

The oldest travel photo is from 1825 in France and was taken by Joseph Niépce. The exposure time of his camera was 8 hours, and for that reason you can see the sunlight on both sides of the building in the picture.

Pierre-Gustave-Gaspard Joly de Lotbiniére travelled to Greece in 1839 and is famous for taking the first picture of Athens, he then travelled to Egypt and the Middle East, where to took 92 pictures, he then published some of them in his book Excursions Daguerriennes, where he inspired many others to travel.

India 1862, Samuel Bourne was the first man to take pictures of the western Himalayas, because of the high altitude and the heavy equipment he had approximately 40 servants to help him.
Samuel Bourne is also the founder of the oldest surviving photography studio in the world.

Sources

https://mygobe.com/explore/travel-photography-origins/

https://www.pendaphototours.com/history-travel-photography/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/564717/airline-industry-passenger-traffic-globally/

https://www.businessinsider.com/12-trillion-photos-to-be-taken-in-2017-thanks-to-smartphones-chart-2017-8?r=US&IR=T

My timeline

I then further examined the subject of photography by conducting an interview with a first year student on her use of photography. these were the questions asked.

Interview  

Of Neve McLellan by Anne Valbak Christiansen

Introduction of the project

A talk about how photography and it´s technology changes and how it changes us. It´s about how first years use photography in their day to day life, how it influences their lives, studies and growth. Stories from their point of view.

Warm up

What is your name, age and study?

Where are you from? And what were you doing before you started university?

Which camera devices do you use? And what do you use them for?

Invitation to stories

Let´s start with how your relationship with cameras have changed over time:

Can you tell me about some of your early memories that involve photography or cameras in any way?

How about your first camera device? Do you recall what it was like?

• Can you tell me something about it, and what you used it for?
• Do you still use those pictures for something?

In your previous education how would you use camera devices?

• Can you give me some examples?
• How do you use camera devices at university?
• Can you compare the two?

Has your use of photography changed after you started on university?

• And can you tell me some examples of how it might have changed or stayed the same?
• Did you use your camera in the same way at home over Christmas, as you do in Dundee?

Some people might use photography to document, take a picture of something and deal with it later.

• What are your thoughts on that?

Let´s talk a little about social life

Do you use social medias?

• Can you tell me a little about which ones you use and why?
• Can you rank them for me on which ones you use the most?

When you post pictures on social media what would you typically post?

• Why this in particular?
• What influences whether you choose to post a picture?

How important do you think profile pictures are on social media?

• Why?
• What do you think about when you post a new profile picture?
• Can you paint a picture of your thought process?

When you take pictures with your friends, paint me a picture of how that scenario would play out.

• How does that make you feel?
• How about when you take pictures of yourself? Or others take pictures of you?

Some people might use photography to help them cope or express feelings and opinions.

• How might you view the importance and reasoning behind that?

How do you use your camera to communicate?

• Is there a difference in your use of the device when you talk to your family compared to your friends?
• Can you give me a few examples?

Can you tell me about the picture you have taken that means the most to you?

• Why is that important to you?
• How do you think other people would think about it if you showed it?
• Why?

Do you think cameras have a place in your day to day life?

• Do you think it has a place in your friend´s lives?
• What is important for you when you take a picture?
• Why?
• Can you tell me the story about one of the latest pictures you have taken?

How many pictures would you say you take compared to what others do?

• What do you use these pictures for?
• What about the ones you don’t use?

Do you see a difference between how you use a camera and how others might use theirs?

•  You can think in a social aspect
•  A personal aspect
• Or a study aspect
• How might this make you feel?

Do you take screenshots on your phone?

• Can you give me an example of what you might screenshot and what you would use it for?

If you had access to every camera device in the world free of charge, what would you then use day to day?

• What about when you go on holiday?
• Did you take pictures over your Christmas holiday?
• Can you tell me about how you took one of them and why?

Emotions and ideas

What tendencies do you notice there are with the use of camera devices?

• Can you tell me a little about why you think that?

How much time would you say you spent looking at other people´s pictures?

• Why do you think we do that?

How would you say the use of cameras change with age?

• Can you give me some examples?
• What do you tend to be doing when you use yours?

How do you believe you will use photography when you finish university?

• Can you tell me a little more about that?

How do you feel when you are in front of a camera?

• Does it matter if it is video or still pictures?
• How might the person behind the camera influence your experience of being in front of one?
• Does pictures for different purposes make you feel or act in a different way­­

o   Personal

o   Social

o   Studies

Create statements

So, to finish up, the point of the interview was to investigate how photography and it´s technology changes and how it changes us.

How you use photography in your day to day life

how it influences your live, studies and growth.

 

When it comes to…. what you are saying is…

So, if…. was a scenario what would think that…

Wind down

Do you have something in mind that you would like to say about the subject?

• Any last thoughts?

You have my email and my snapchat, and if there is anything you wish to add, you can always contact me.

Thank you very much!

 

I filmed the entire interview, and edited it down to a 3 minute video

https://vimeo.com/user94726552/review/315350956/b4e0010350

 

Why we use Contextual interviews

By Anne Valbak Christiansen

 

We use interviews because it gives us a more nuanced understanding of what our interviewee is trying to tell us, in other words the answers are highly qualitative because we can read body language, emphasis on certain words and the interviewer and interviewee can elaborate when useful.
That is why filming, and recording audio, is useful in this context, both for the sake of further analysis, but also because the Interviewer can focus on what gets said and has more time to ask the right follow-up questions, when they don’t have to write down everything.

However, even though contextual interviews invite flexibility in the questions most of them can and should be well prepared beforehand, to ensure questions are not leading, because this will taint the answer in a direction or to a conclusion that might be your opinion and not theirs. However, I do believe closed question have their place in an interview. I found the closed questions useful when they were used on purpose, because they can work as a break for the interviewee between harder questions, it can also just be a good way to change subject or lead to the follow-up questions

This leads me to the structure of the interview, which is a very useful tool. Sara Nevay talked about it in “Why Interview”. I had already met Neve for a cup of coffee to go over the consent form and give a brief on what the project was about and how the interview would proceed. I then went through it again when we met for the interview, did a few easy warm-up questions, to get her more comfortable, proceeded with questions that evoked stories, then ideas and emotions, where after I let her create her statements on the aspects of the project itself. Because of the structure of the interview questions, she came through a lot of observations about her use of her camera, that she hadn’t thought about, so when I was wrapping up, she had changed her look on how she uses her camera and how it has influenced her.

I then gave her full freedom to give her opinion on the subject, it gave her a chance to tell her general thoughts about the subject, all the things that she might have thought though the interview that I didn’t ask. And she was a brilliant, because it was something, I hadn’t thought of myself.

Not only did I interview Neve, I did a short interview with my grandparents and then my mother for my timeline project. However, this is where the lesson about preparation comes into the picture, because I was not ready with questions when they called, I had nothing to write on, and I didn´t tape it. So, of cause I didn´t, by any measure, get as much out of it as I could have. Fortunately, I was saved by my grandparents going all-in, sending me pictures and descriptions of the cameras and what improvements they felt. So as to give me all the information I could need.

Give Interviewee a compliment on their looks before they get in front of a camera, so they have more confidence

[00:24:35.23] Anne: Alright so let´s say that you had access to every camera device in the entire world, free of charge, what camera would, what camera device would you then think you´d use in your day to day life?

Putting up a scenario in that way was quite a fun task for both of us.

 

Reflections on interview & my Photography use

By Anne Valbak Christiansen

 

Even though I had worked through my question’s multiple times, I still found myself asking some unintentional closed questions, and sometimes I had to clarify what I meant, because I was unfocused and stumbled over the sentence or improvised a propping question that was unintentionally closed. After writing the transcript I am also aware that, even though I was aware not to, I spoke too fast or interrupted, whereas next time I will be even more focused on keeping some silence between me and the interviewee speaking and to take a deep breath and read the questions as they were intended.

After I ended the interview, I asked Neve to evaluate on how the interview had been, where she mentioned that she was calmed by our short meeting before the interview, so that she knew what to expect, she also mentioned how her mind usually goes blanc in these situations, and it calmed her that I kept insuring her that it was okay…. Even though in hindsight, that was what happened most of the times I interrupted. So, I will properly do that in the future as well, but I must be aware as to when and how often I do so.  

I learned a lot in the editing process, first we had to improvise on our location, because the room I had booked was shared, so we filmed in her flat instead. So, in the future I would want a place with better lighting, a chair for me to sit on (I sat on the floor for most of the interview). If I had been able to change the composition better and could sit in the same height as the camera, it wouldn’t look as if she was looking down all the time, it would both look better, but it would also be easier to read facial expressions.

The further into the interview we got, the more Neve realized about her use of photography in her daily life, and so did I about my own use.
I too take pictures all the time to remember stuff, and to me, taking a screenshot or a photo of something is like writing down a note. I use it when I´m on Instagram or I am walking around outside and see something that inspires me, it´s just much faster and easier to take a picture of it. The same is the case with Snap Chat, that has become the new text, it is so easy to take a picture and confirm where you are, what you are doing, or make a joke funnier. But it also means that we share a lot more, no one would have dreamt of sending a picture of their food to everyone in their phonebook, only ten or fifteen years ago.
The meaning of our everyday photos has changes as well, the pictures we post tell a story, and as Neve talked about, that´s what gives a picture or video meaning, both the ones we take our self and the ones we see. Cause we do spend a lot of time looking at other people’s pictures, I usually use Instagram for inspiration, and follow lots of design pages, and I take screenshots and save the ones I find particularly interesting. But to be honest, I´m just like Neve, I will properly not look at them again, and when I do it´s because I must empty my camera roll, and then I just delete them. But it doesn’t matter, because, I still have a mental note, and sometimes I remember something, and I then know where to find it.