The Flash!

 Courtesy of "John and Linda Montayne"Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.

There are many ways in which photography impacted the world in a major way, from the various processes used to photographs that stunned the world. However, none of those would have had a chance to make it if it weren’t for the humble light. Without light, there is no photograph. The word itself comes from the Greek, meaning “to write with light” (Craven 43). When photography first started, pictures were taken in the daytime, in well-lit areas. Photography studios had to have large windows or skylights, and some photographers did their work on the roofs. Take a picture too early or too late in the day and the picture would not come out well. The exposure time was long then, too, often taking hours. This severely restrained the photographers. Something had to be done. That something? Flash photography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash-lamp

 Improvements in technology reduced exposure times from hours to minutes to seconds. However, light was still an important part of the process, and it was still difficult to get light bright enough to take pictures. Gaslight, used in the theaters and opera houses, was one of the first methods tried. Unfortunately, these were quick to cause fires at the worst of times and at the best of times made the studios and the sitters uncomfortably hot (Howes 3).  And still, these lights did not produce enough light. The advent of electricity also provided a new way to light the interiors of studios and other rooms. But there was still no good way to take the light outside.

There are some sources which claim that Henry Fox Talbot took the first flash photograph in 1852, using a Leyden jar (Gustavson 242). Others claim that in 1857, John Moule decided to try a mix of chemicals that he called “photogen,” or Bengal light. These chemicals burned a bright blue-white light long enough for an exposure to be made. Unfortunately, the combustion also produced copious amounts of smoke and fumes, showering the subjects with post-flash residue and sometimes ruining the photos (Gustavson 243, Howes 5, 100).  What followed is the flash lamp, which used primarily magnesium, though sometimes in conjunction with other chemicals, to illuminate a scene (Jones 256). The flash powder, as it was called was used in an open lamp – at first. Soon, flash bulbs became the norm. Flash bulbs also used magnesium as their main chemical component (Gustavson 242). With the advent of the bulb, flash photography was ready to be taken on the road.

Photographic images ©1994,
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New York, Bequest of Wilma Wilcox.

Perhaps the greatest impact of flash photography was in photojournalism. “Photojournalism shows us things that we would not ordinarily see; it takes us to places where we would not normally go” (Photojournalism 12). Often, where we would not ordinarily go are the dark alleys at night to photograph a crime scene, or to a dark courtroom to see a sensational trial. One photographer who made a name for himself snapping photos of New York’s darker side is Weegee, aka Arthur Fellig. Nicknamed for the Ouija board after his mysterious ability to show up at a crime scene seconds before or after the police, Weegee use flash photography to his advantage (Gustavson 251). The convenience of the flash bulb allowed Weegee to give the public a harsh look at New York. 

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Weegee and the flash bulb helped shape the look of the city as a place of noir. The bright light made by the camera contrasted with the often dark scene.  His photographs, snapped without artifice, without much planning, even, caught the eye of the Museum of Modern art in 1943, when they exhibited five of his photographs. His work changed the way outsiders viewed the big, bad city. Since most of his photos were taken in the evenings or indoors, his work would not have been possible without a convenient way to light the night.

Jacob A. Riis Collection, Museum of the City of New York

Another photographer who pioneered flash photography was Jacob Riis. He started life as a writer, but felt he could do more to expose the hardships and squalor about which he wrote if he could literally show people what was going on. Jumping on the new technology of flash photography, he began photographing the slums of New York, often at night. For the first time, people removed from the squalor of the city were able to see how the other half lived (“Jacob Riis”).

Some photographers felt like one flashbulb was too much, too harsh, for the look they were going for.  They instead used several flash bulbs placed around the room, connected by extension cords. “With this ‘multiple synchroflash’ technique the lighting can be arranged either for dramatic effect, or to stimulate existing light sources” (Newhall 232). One such photographer was Barbara Morgan, whose pictures of famed dancer Martha Graham are iconic.

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All images are copyrighted by their respective authors.

In the 1930’s, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton of MIT developed a stroboscope that was the precursor of the flash found on almost all modern-day cameras. By this time, the flash bulb was getting smaller and smaller and by the 1960s, most cameras came with a built-in flash (Gustavson 253).

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Today, it’s hard for us to imagine having a camera without a flash. How would we be able to take pictures of our barbeques, or night games? Our pictures of dinner that are posted with abandon on instagram would hardly be as appealing if we couldn’t see it. Without a flash, we would only be able to imagine what the inside of Carlsbad Caverns looks like (unless we journey there ourselves). And we certainly wouldn’t have as clear an image of a city’s noir scene without use of the camera’s flash. This one item has expanded our view of the world in so many ways.

Sources:

Gustavson, Todd. Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital. Sterling Innovation: New York, 2009. Print.

Howes, Chris. To Photograph Darkness: The History of Underground and Flash Photography. Southern Illinois University Press: Carbondale, 1989. Print.

Jones, Bernard E. ed. Encyclopedia of Photography. Arno Press: New York, 1974. Print.

“Jacob Riis.” Wikipedia. 10 April, 2013. Web.

Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography. Bulfinch Press: New York, 2005. Print.

Photojournalism. Time-Life Books: New York, 1971. Print.