Origins of photographies

 Reading this chapter it’s really interesting to think about the evolution of one portraying their self image. Before this this photo of the old camera studio and cameras themselves, people were paid to paint/draw portraits of clients for commercial or personal use. This practice, primarily the commercial side, I believe relates to the first lesson of where photography came from which was money and commerce. These artistic practices tend to start to make money and even help the client make money. The pieces were made in the promise that the final product would portray you as a “flattering object”. This action of using artist methods for commerce rather than art and aesthetic has shown to be the foundation for many artists to use so they can create some capital. Think about today and many artists are behind a desk of a Fortune 500 company creating visually appealing graphic advertisements. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing because that job probably allows them the freedom to create their own work but it is interesting to think about how commercialized art has grown exponentially as business and technology does the same. 

I took some photos of my personal studio set up for my art to compare with that of the one from the 1870s. The compactness shows how much more has become possible in relation to portability and what the setting of the photo can be. Not to mention the software capabilities in which portability doesn’t even matter, I could create a photo of myself anywhere.