high school photogram photography lesson

Photograms

Brought to you by:

Henry Fox Talbot

•  Some of the first photographic images made were photograms

•  William Henry Fox Talbot called photograms “Photogenic drawings”

What is a photogram?

•  Is a photographic images made without a camera.

•  The images is made by placing the objects directly onto the surface of the light-sensitive material such as photographic paper then exposing it to light.

Henry Fox Talbot

•  He made them by placing leaves and pieces of material onto sensitized paper, and then left them outdoor on sunny days to expose.

•  THE RESULT? Dark background with a white silhouette of the object.

The photogram “Rebirth”

Man Ray a 20th century artist/photographer used Photograms, later coining the phrase and process as “Rayographs”

Man Ray  

•  Real name: Emmanual Rudinitsky •  Man Ray: born in Philly 1870 •  Adult life: New york, Paris, & Hollywood •  Reputation flourished in Paris •  He became a big part of the Dada and

Surrealist movements in art.

Man Ray’s…“Rayographs”

•  His style capitalized on the stark and unexpected effects of negative imaging,

•  unusual juxtapositions of identifiable objects

•  variations in the exposure time given to different objects within a single image, and moving objects as the sensitive materials were being exposed.

Rayographs

Other photographic works by MAN RAY

“Glass  Tears”  by  Man  Ray  ca  1930-­‐33  

Hair  photo  by  Man  Ray  

“Le  Violon  d’Ingres”  1924  by  Man  Ray  

Man Ray’s continued…  •  He considered Paris his home, and his artistic reputation

flourished there. •  World War II forced Man Ray to flee Paris. •  He had to leave behind his masterpieces of paintings and

photography; in essence, his entire artistic career. •  When his boat was safely in the Port of Newark, he “was

overcome with a feeling of intense depression”. He knew he had to start over.

•  HIS RAYOGRAPHS were not fully appreciated in his lifetime, but are now considered great works.