Urban Photography Documentary

Cinematic shots City - mid day

Cinematic sequence of people walking through
the city with music in the background and then
I start to narrate over the footage.
(Music plays in the background throughout the
whole thing)

Jack
Photography is the art of taking and
processing photos. It is a very popular thing
and a passion of millions of people around the
world. There are of course many people who are
not as interested, however they still take
photographs to capture moments and even share
them online. When it first started off very
few people actually had a camera. Back then
they were very difficult to use and very
expensive. That has now changed. Cameras can
be used by everyone now, they are very easy to
use and you can even use your phone as a
camera now! There are some very low quality
cameras that are cheap, mainly disposable
ones, but the price for a decent camera now is
still fairly pricey. Photography has never
been easier. So, who started this all?

Jack
A man called Nicphore Nipce created the
first camera back in 1816. The quality back
then was so bad as you could imagine and now
look how far it has come! He used a small
camera and a piece of paper coated with silver
chloride. This darkened where it was exposed
to light.
*Insert image of the first camera and
photograph*
It was then commercially introduced in 1839,
the birth year of practical photography. But
then the metal-based daguerreotype process
soon had competition from the paper-based
calotype.
 The daguerreotype process is when you use a
silver plated copper plate that is first
polished until it is like a mirror and then
the plate is sensitized to light over
chemicals in specialized, light-proof boxes.
*Insert photograph of the camera and photo
from it*

Back to cinematic shots City Mid day

Cinematic sequence carrying on from the last.
Footage of someone using a camera and taking
photos.

Jack
(Narrating over the cinematics and images)
In 1841, a photographic process called the
Calotype. traded the Daguerreotypes metal
plates for sheets of high-quality paper. The
results were slightly fuzzier than
Daguerreotypes, but the advantage of this was
that they were easy to reproduce. Unlike
Daguerreotypes, which only made one-off
images.
What is the process Calotype? The Calotype
process is when a sheet of paper is covered
with a chemical called silver chloride and
when it was exposed to light, it became a
darker in tone.
*Insert photo of a Calotype example*

Jack
Daguerreotypes and Calotypes were not used in
1851 because a new photographic method used
sharp quality with negatives that was easily
copied. A chemical called collodion, uses
light-sensitive coating solutions onto glass
plates. The wet plates reduced exposure times,
using them was usually a lot of effort as the
plates had to be exposed and processed before
the mixture dried, this meant that
photographers had to travel with darkroom
tents if they wanted to take pictures on the
go. The wet-collodion process was also cheap
and that made it a big success.
 Jack
For the majority of the 1800s, the chemicals
involved in cameras made photography difficult
for anyone who doesnt know much about
chemistry. This changed in the 1870s because
of a new type of photographic plate that
preserved silver salts in gelatine. Since they
retained their light-sensitivity for long
periods, these dry plates could be pre-
packaged and you were able to produce a lot of
them. This meant that photographers didnt
have to prep their wet plates on the go. Dry
plates also offered much quicker exposures,
allowing cameras to capture moving objects
more clearly.

Jack
Photography wasnt really for anyone other
than a professional until the mid 1880s when
film rolls came out. Film was very light and
definitely easier to carry around than glass
plates. The roll also allowed photographers to
take multiple pictures in a shorter amount of
time.
In 1888, Eastman created his first Kodak
camera. This was a small, 100-exposure model
that anyone could use and then send back to
the manufacturer to have their photos printed.
Eastman is the founder of Kodak cameras. This
camera was very easy to use but the film
produced low quality photos. Film improved
because of celluloid a year later, and
remained the standard means of photography for
nearly a century until digital cameras.
*Insert photo of the first Kodak film &
celluloid*

Jack
The 35-millimeter camera was first invented in
1924. A simple camera that exposed short
strips of 35mm film. The first 35mm camera
wasn't much. Just a box with a lens, film,
and a shutter.
*Insert picture of the first 35mm camera*
 Edwin Land marketed the polaroid camera in
1948
On November 26, the first land camera was sold
for $89.95 in Boston. The model 95 land camera
became the prototype for all polaroid land
cameras produced during the next 15 years.
*Insert photo of the camera*
Polaroid then introduces instant colour film.
*Insert photo of the first colour polaroid
photo*

Jack
On Aug. 23, 1966, the first image of Earth was
taken by a spacecraft from the Moon.
*Insert the first photo of earth*

Jack
Fuji makes the first consumer digital
camera, the DS-1P in 1988 and just before
the 2000s the DSLRs were invented.
DSLRs have the advantage in lens selection
and an optical viewfinder that works better
in low light, but they are more complex and
bulkier.
*Insert photo of the camera*

Jack
Because of the advances in technology,
photography has become more convenient
throughout the years. When photography was
first invented, it required an expert with
training in handling photographic equipment
and darkroom chemicals. Developing pictures
was time consuming and expensive. In the
middle of the 20th century, photography became
more accessible when the Polaroid SX-70 camera
was introduced. This polaroids pictures
developed instantly. They did not require a
long time processing in a darkroom. By the
1970s, most families had photo albums filled
with pictures. Now the majority of people take
photos and share them online within minutes.
*Show a timeline of cameras*

Jack
Digital photography went mainstream in 2007
when the iPhone came out. It was more
convenient than anything else to take pictures
and share them with the world. A photographer
could upload their pictures instantly to a
social networking site. This made photography
more popular.
*Insert clip of someone taking a photo with an
iPhone and uploading it instantly*

Jack
Photography has come a long way since it first
started. The image quality has become much
sharper and clear and colour has been added.
Computers and the internet has help develop
photography so much as you can now edit all
the photos and share them all over the world.
Technology has also helped a lot as the photos
can now be digital and this means you do not
have to use film anymore, this saves a lot of
money and it is much easier for the
photographer to transfer their images.
*insert images of photos taken with cameras
over time to show the quality difference*

Jack
What is Urban Photography? Urban photography
is a field of visual practice. Representing
urban spaces and those living, working and
moving through these spaces. It has multiple
forms such as architectural, landscape,
portrait, street, object, performance,
documentary, archaeological, design and fine-
art photography.
It was founded with the introduction of small
concealed cameras, offering the opportunity to
catch subjects in informal and candid moments.
*Insert photos of urban photography for
examples*

Jack
From the research that I have done I have
found that Urban/ street photography has
always been a thing ever since photography
really started. Ive searched for a lot of
images and have found many photos from a lot
of generations from the 1800s to the 1900s and
2000s.
*Insert photos of urban photography throughout
time*
This is one of the earliest
images I have found on urban
photography. As you can see the
image is focused on a group of
people walking through the
streets within a city. The photo
is candid and all natural. This
image is showing us what the
environment and people were like
back in that era! You could say urban
photography is a documentary between all
photographers, showing us the changes
throughout the years.

As you can see here, the

genre also focuses on the
architecture. They show off
the surroundings in cities
that are classified as Urban
areas.

This image is clearly focused on

this woman reading the newspaper
in the middle of a busy street.
Shes standing still intrigued by
her paper whilst the world is
moving and going on around her.
#yet again this is another candid/
portrait urban photograph.
 The images are starting to
become more creative and artsy
as the surroundings start to
change and photography develops
as a passion. This image is
capturing all the city light
and the people around them
going on with their day. This
image is really focusing on the
lights as they stand out a lot within this
urban area.
Years later nothing has
really changed other than
colour being introduced. Even
then with colour introduced
people still choose to have a
black and white filter on
their photos! The top image
is clearly focusing on the
architecture within the city
and the second is those
living within the city. The
photographer has captured the
kids taking part in what was
something new back then for them.

This image is a very good

example for urban photography. It
has everything that represents
the genre. Its showing the
architecture and whats changed
in the environment. Its capturing
someone surrounded in this urban
area, with the train, cars and tall buildings
in the background. This photo has a grimy feel
to it and that works really well for it. It is
also showing how much you can advance the
images and edit them to make them pop and a
better quality.
This image is very colourful and
showing the architecture and
technology with a city. The dark and
bright colours contrast and work very
well as the colours pop and stand out
very well. You can see the changes
within these photos and how the
environment has developed over the
years and how well the quality has improved.
As you can see from the images, Urban/ street
photography hasnt changed apart from the
environment and the quality/ editing of the
pictures, also the fact that there are
coloured photos now. The focus is still the
same, just focusing on people living their
life and the city around them.
All street photographers have kind of made it
a documentary in some way as because of their
work over the years we are all able to see the
changes that have happened and how everything
has developed.