20's and 30's cameras

In todays lecture we looked at a specific period of photography when there was technological, and stylistic shifts. 

Cameras up until the 1930s were large, heavy and often had a very slow acting negative. The slowness (30 second exposures) meant subjects had to remain very still for photographs which resulted in rather ridged looking portraits such as the one below:

A typical press camera of the 20s and 30s was the ‘Speed-graphic’ (below). This had a faster negative but was still a bit large and had no optical view finder.

Gradually the technology was developing. The introduction of flash meant that photographs in low light could be taken. This started as powder flashes using phosphorous, which was effective, but very dangerous. 

By the 20s electric flash had been developed but the only problem was that the bulb could only be used a couple of times before needing to be replaced.

A new stills camera was invented called the ‘Leica’ which used a celluloid film on a roll making the camera much smaller and therefore more discrete (see picture below). This lead too candid shots and this informal style set the tone for modern photography.

The candid technique was pioneered and developed by Erich Salomon using a Leica and led to the development of picture magazines such as TIME and LIFE. Suddenly it was possible to see how other people behaved when no one was watching.

Below are two shots taken by Erich Salomon on a Leica camera.