Toronto from Toronto Island – from a wood cut in the 1st edition of Picturesque Canada c1882
Toronto. As we sit back in our easy chair and view a colour video clip of a catastrophe (from nature, man, or war) on the other side of the globe, we seldom think about the impact photography has had on history.
No one ever saw an Egyptian pyramid being built – photography did not exist. We see Napoleon at Waterloo only through the mind of the artist who painted the battle – photography did not exist. However; since 1839, we have seen portraits and landscapes not through the mind of a painter, but through the mind of a photographer and his camera lens.
Centuries ago, books and newspapers were mostly text – columns and columns of text relived only by expensive engravings. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the invention of the half-tone process allowed photographs instead of engravings to be used and circulated. Without photography, books would use engravings like this one from Picturesque Canada, to relieve the tedium of the printed word.
We would only know history from the imperfect written word (or sometimes an oral history) or by an artist’s rendition of a famous person or event. Some line drawings, like those by Hogarth, illustrate the common people and city scenes, often as a criticism of the times or morals.
So the next time you idly watch a full colour video clip, think about the value and impact of photography on the history of today!
