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FROM SPECKS TO SPACE Capturing Reality Through Lenses PHOTOMICROSCOPY Photomicrography uses technology to capture a world mostly invisible to the naked eye. Before micro imaging was available, those wanting to capture what they saw through the microscope had to draw the specimen freehand. Those who wanted to access the information provided by the microscope either needed one of their own, or trust in someone with the appropriate tools to tell or show them through drawings what they had seen. Robert Hooke was the first to extensively detail what he saw under the microscope, in figures and words. This technology has nullified the role of the reporter behind the microscope. Technology takes out the middle person; the person who would have drawn the images is now simply looking at them. It no longer takes skill to capture the essence of the “cell-like” structure of cork, or the intricacies of the point of a pin. Spencer Phillips, Mandy Reynolds, & Margie Weiner Where we live, what we are, and what we see depends entirely on perspective. With photographic technology, we can change the scale at which we look at our world. SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY & SOCIETY 1. Norman, J. (2006). "Hooke Micrographia 1665.” 2. Informatics, N. C. f. E. M. (2010). "Anthrax." Emergency Medicine on the Web. 3. Norman, J. (2006). "Hooke Micrographia 1665.” 4. (2006). "Blood Cycle." Glade Photography, 2010. 5. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/Content/niepce-first-photo-niepce1826-lw.jpg 6. http://www.jacanaent.com/Photos/Iconic/022.jpg 7. http://www.sezginmorgul.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Vj_day_kiss.jpg 8. http://springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org/depts/edtech/software/moviemaker/images/raisingflagjima.jpg 9. http://www.texaschicksblogsandpics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Recompose.jpg 10. http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/lae/images/LE311L2A.jpg 11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Landsat7photo.jpg 12. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/43000/43708/eyjafjallajokull_ast_2010109_lrg.jpg 1 2 4 5 6 5 7 9 World’s Oldest Photograph The first successful photographic image, called a heliograph, was captured in 1826 by Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. It took 8 hours to develop. Photography created a new language with which we can recall a moment frozen in time and can share it with others. Iconic Images such as “Afghan Girl”, “V-J Day in Times Square”, and “Raising Flag in Iwo Jima” prove the supreme power of photographs. A documentary photographer aims a camera at the real world and records the drama of life and death and everything in between. Photographs have been considered captured moments, free from the variation and inaccuracies of human memory and interpretation. Photo altering technology challenges the basic idea that a photograph is a pure depiction of one moment of reality. 1 6 8 7 7 With the deployment of the first satellite, Sputnik 1 in 1957, humans are for the first time able to analyze their impact on earth as well as study earth as a biome with a decidedly removed perspective. Although satellites serve a variety of purposes, from telecommunications to surveillance, we are interested in satellite technology in conjunction with earth imaging. Satellite technology is a viable tool for collecting data on a macro scale. The history and evolution of programs such as Landsat and the Geographic Information System are invaluable in providing real time weather information as well as data on other environmental earth factors. Robert Hooke’s detailed portrait of a flea under a microscope from his influential book Micrographia. 10 3 11 12
