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Posted by: Kristi Finefield
With holdings of close to 16 million images, there are always new discoveries to be made in the Prints and Photographs Division. When collections become easier to search through digitization, staff are the first to go digging through the “new” images like kids in a visual candy store. During my exploration of the over 25,000 …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Photographers sometimes get into the most precarious positions to get that perfect shot. The humorous drawing (below left) was apparently part of the White House News Photographers Association banquet in 1923, perhaps poking fun at the contortions necessary to snap an elusive photo. (The unidentified photographer whose head has been pasted on was perhaps one …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
“Look! Look!! Look!!! Tintypes. Cheap. Beautiful. Lasting.” The sign posted by the entrance to an elaborate temporary booth at a 1903 county fair sums up in a handful of words much of the appeal of the simple tintype portrait photograph. From the latter half of the 19th century until nearly the middle of the 20th, …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
In the latest installment of our occasional series on challenging photography, Anything to Get the Shot, I’m going to highlight one of the more dangerous choices a photographer can make: covering war. Photographers during the U.S. Civil War faced serious challenges in their work. Due to the size of the camera equipment and long exposure …
Posted in: Photographs, Posters, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Imagine needing all of the equipment shown below to simply take a photograph within a dark place. Take note of the camera on the tripod – a stereoscopic camera, which has two lenses. See the chalky residue of hundreds of magnesium tapers burned within the metal reflector at left. This intrepid crew and all their …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot, Women's History
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
I’ve heard of going to great lengths, but daredevil “Jersey” Ringel goes to new heights in this photograph. Perched perilously on the top wing of a plane, Ringel appears to be shooting moving film footage, perhaps of another aerial acrobat executing a stunt. Most photographs of Newark native Ringel show him in these kinds of …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Have you ever tried to photograph a baby? No easy task! The first challenge is getting him or her to smile, a job at which this photographer is currently failing, despite his best efforts: The second challenge is simply this: young babies cannot sit up on their own. Hence the need for a photographer to …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Water poses a particular challenge for cameras because like most technology, they prefer not to get wet. This fact doesn’t stop a determined photographer. The examples below offer up a number of ways to work under, through and over water – anything to get the shot! What to do if your intended subjects live underwater? …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Some photographers’ willingness to do anything to get the shot came to mind when I saw this 1908 photo. Clearly, the man holding this large camera (imagine running with that in hand!) was determined to capture what is likely a billowing cloud of volcanic ash. Taken long before the benefit of zoom lenses, both the …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot