George Shiras and John Hammerin a canoe equipped for jacklighting, Whitefish Lake, Michigan, 1893; © National Geographic Creative Archives

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, significant innovations in camera technology, chemistry, and photographic equipment coalesced at a time when Photographers were beginning to recognize the expressive potential of their image-making. An era was fast dawning wherein the photograph would no longer be simply relegated to the realm of science or to cheap novelty, but would instead serve to drive culture, both in and out of art.

George Shiras; Three White-Tailed Deer Jumping, circa 1900(?) published 1906.

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Sometimes called the “father of wildlife photography”, Shiras used flash to capture unready portraits of wild animals, usually at night. His remarkable images were the subject of the first photo-spread published by National Geographic Magazine in 1906.

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Henri Cartier-Bresson; Man Jumping Over Puddle, 1932.

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The most famous street photographer to ever live was Henri Cartier-Bresson. What do you see happening in his image above that could be considered revolutionary for the time (note: the first image by Shiras holds a clue)?

Answer: Movement frozen under ambient light, likely handheld, thanks to the camera technology below.

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Leica A (Leica means “LEI-tz CA-mera).

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In 1925, the Leica A camera model was introduced, which used the 35mm flexible film standard already established by the motion picture industry. This camera was very portable, made quick exposures, and used film that was relatively easy to replace between exposures. Combined with the Kodak Brownie, a precedent was set for both serious and recreational outdoor photographers to produce imagery almost anywhere in the world.

Although these technologies would revolutionize other genres, landscape photographers in particular tended to prefer larger format, slower cameras for their work. Though advances in film that could be easily transported and kept for later development were appreciated.

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Edward Steichen; The Pond- Moonlight, 1904.

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Rising to prominence in the 1870’s and 1880’s, French Impressionists introduced a new way of observing the world. This direction emphasized volume and space, and was largely a response to the quick rise of photography, which could now produce a likeness more accurate than the best painters’ work. The art world argued however, that photography was a science and not an art because of its mimetic Nature.

In response, many photographers eschewed the “real” in their work by pursuing a more expressive approach. These photographers, known as the Pictorialists, imitated painting, and were arguably the first photographic artists.

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three images by Edward Weston, 1930’s.

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The World Wars began to shift the center of the art world away from Europe and towards New York City and the United States, where Modernism had risen to become the dominant movement. Modernist photographers were concerned with the formal aspects of a work, and considered the artist as central. For them, a photograph was a two-dimensional design free from whatever three-dimensional object was represented. In this way, a tree could be approached the same way as a nude figure or even a pepper.

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Ansel Adams; The Tetons and the Snake River, 1942.

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Weston and his contemporaries, like Ansel Adams, employed a technique called “previsualization”, which meant that the artist understood exactly how the print (meaning final image) was to look even before he/she tripped the shutter. All of the photographic steps in between were just markers on the route towards a known place on the horizon.

Do you know the connection between Ansel Adams and the photo collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum? Read here to learn more.

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Harry Callahan; Eleanor- Double exposure, 1949.

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Gradually, elements of chance were allowed back into the artist’s repertoire. In the nature work of Harry Callahan, for instance, the artist marries the indoors to the outdoors in a series of double exposures, which required the artist to give up a certain level of control.

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Aaron Siskind; Martha’s Vineyard 108, 1954.

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In the United States, Modernism had reformed the way that artists thought about the environment. Derived from techniques used in abstract painting, photographers like Siskind thought about photographs in terms of how the subject could be dissociated from reality in order to enforce a formal design concept.

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Charles Sheeler; Criss-Crossed Conveyors, River Rouge Plant, Ford Motor Company, 1927.

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Frank Breuer; Zerie “Poles”, Untitled (1349 Lexington), 2004.

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After the atomic bomb’s use in WWII, existentialist questions began to preoccupy the thinking of intellectuals, and in art, the chapter of Modernism was closed for one of Post-Modernism.

Post-Modernist photographers explore in response to Modernist ideas, producing a wide range of work that questions things like formal approach, the identity of the photographer, the materiality of photographs, presence and accountability, etc. Often times, the pursuit of an idea is considered more important than the “look” of the image (consider the two images above, the top is Modernist while the bottom is Post-Modernist/Contemporary).

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Robert Adams; Northeast from Flagstaff Mountain, Boulder County, Colorado, 1975.

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During this time of existential anxiety, many photographers turned away from the notion that the artist was all important, and began to produce work that questioned the art world establishment up until that point.  What is beauty? What can be art?  Etc. 

In Adams’ images, his photographs admire the work of Ansel Adams, but question if those types of images are even possible anymore, given mankind’s impact on the environment.  He and a group of photographers known as the New Topographics produced landscape photography that illustrated man’s encroachment on nature.

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Stephen Shore; U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, 1973.

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The immediate effect of the New Topographics was that it freed the photographer from conventional representations of nature.  “…a photographer solves a picture more than composes one.” –Stephen Shore

What do you think that means? Let me know in the comments.

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Joel Sternfeld; Looking East on 30th Street on a Morning in May, 2000.

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Today, Nature and Landscape Photography allow the photographer to pursue a wide range of intents, like Sternfield’s discovery of nature reclaiming the built environment in New York City.

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Hiroshi Sugimoto; Yellow Sea, Cheju, 1992.

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Andreas Gursky, Rhein II, 1999.

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The image on the top was shot traditionally on film, and the image on the bottom is a digital invention of sorts.

With digital technology, the photographer’s world is no longer dependent upon what exists in front of the camera.  Objects can be introduced to the composition that have no relevance to the subject depicted, or they can be erased also (the Gursky image removes an industrial skyline on the horizon). 

Do you think that digitally altered images are acceptable as photographs?  How much or how little is permissible?

BTW, National Geographic’s policy is none, but how else can a photographer change an image and affect what is true about it?

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The image above appeared in National Geographic in 2008, and I have always questioned the presence of the cracker in the bottom right corner. Did the photographer introduce that? Was it used to manipulate the monkey’s behavior for a more compelling image?

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Finally, we’ve come to the present.  So what is the fruit of all of this photographic history?  

Yes, in some ways it’s Instagram (I know, not what you wanted to hear)…  In truth though, there are lots of great things about social media that hold up to the values of past nature and landscape imagery.  These pictures are often meant to transport you, to inspire you, to promote getting out into the world, to encourage you to question, and what’s more, they propel innovation in photography.

If anything, isn’t that really what nature and landscape photography is all about?