Late 19th Century Photography

One of the prominent photographers from the late 19th century that I really like is Robert Demachy. I found this website about him here. He was known for manipulating his prints so much that they look more like paintings than photographs. The photo above is one of my favorites. I think it looks so much different than most of the stiff, straight-on portraits we have seen so far.

Here's another article about late 19th century photography that I thought was pretty funny. The article is about dishonest photographers that would claim they have "spiritual studios" to make a living. At the time, the United States was very big on spirits and ghosts. These photographers would take someone's portrait then dodge and burn faces into the background. The customers would believe that these faces were long lost ancestors. Below is one of the examples of these photographs.