It’s Saturday, September 5, 2020, and time for Art at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
The American Museum of Photography – Photographic Fictions
(www.photographymuseum.com/photographicfictions.html)
Age Range: 10-18 (Grades 5-12, with parental supervision)
Explore the history of trick photography with this website from The American Museum of Photography. The museum offers an exhibit called “Photographic Fictions: How The Camera Learned To Lie” that documents the history of how photographers used the camera to create pictures that tampered with reality. This online exhibit is really a companion to a book by the same title.
The exhibit is set up like a book – you simply click your way through the chapter pages to see great pictures and read text that illustrates the progress of trick photography from altered daguerreotypes to composite photographs designed to fool the eye. When you get to the site you will see a menu that includes:
- Introduction: Tampering With Perfection – Find out how early photographers used embellishment to improve upon reality.
- Montages, Multiples & Mischief – Discover the secrets of double exposures and the art of creating photomontages.
- Do You Believe? Spirit Photography, 1868-1935 – In early photography a person who moved out of camera range after only a portion of the exposure was completed would appear as a see-through blur or a “ghost.” One photographer claimed he had taken actual photographs of ghosts, starting a fad of spirit photography and a scientific controversy that lasted well into the 20th century. See the images and read the story in this section.
- Seeing Double: Creating Clones With a Camera – In the 1860s, photographers developed techniques to duplicate people – causing them to appear twice in the same photograph. These double-exposure novelties were popular for more than three decades.
- Faux Snow: Climate Change In the Studio – See how photographers created winter climate conditions in their studios.
- “Did You Ever Have a Dream Like This?” – Check out the home-grown surrealism of trick photographer “Dad” Martin.
This online exhibit provides a really fascinating peak at the development of an art form of illusion. It makes one question the belief that “the camera doesn’t lie.”
Note: Today’s featured website houses other exhibits by the American Museum of Photography as well. We have not previewed the other exhibits, so our suggestion (as always) is for parents to review the content for suitability before sharing it with your children.
