Chemist, educator and photography enthusiast Andrew Szydlo recently gave an excellent video tour through the history of photography for Britain's Royal Institution. While some of the topics may be well-worn territory for many of our readers, there should still be the opportunity to learn. Of course, if you're a beginner, it's a great watch for all 40-plus minutes.
With his own vintage camera collection on display, Szydlo takes us back in time to the first photographs and cameras. To understand how people tried to record their history and the world around them, we must first discuss the concept of the pinhole camera and the camera obscura effect.
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Szydlo then discusses the first photographs and cameras, talks about the importance of famed photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, the advent of SLR cameras and talks about different interesting cameras in his collection. The final 10 or so minutes of the video are dedicated to Szydlo demonstrating his chemical expertise by making a photogram.
If you would like to watch Szydlo discuss a specific topic, you can click on the topics from the list below, which are timestamped links in chronological order.
- Introduction
- Pinhole cameras
- The first photograph
- The first cameras
- Henri Cartier Bresson
- SLR cameras
- Other interesting cameras
- Digital cameras
- Demonstrating the chemistry of photograms
The above video is the first part of a two-part series from Andrew Szydlo. Next week, the Royal Institution will publish a video all about the chemistry of photography.
If you'd like to try your own hand at making a photogram at home, which is simply the art of using photosensitive materials to make a photograph without a camera, you can refer to this guide from BBC.