In the domain of art, each creation is unique, and knows little progress thereafter. Arising over time are all sorts of variations of the same themes, sometimes full-bodied, often quite bland. But the force existing at the beginning of the work is rarely maintained. Similarly, when this force is reapplied, the action produced in the artwork becomes automated and mechanized, so much so that the dulled senses fail to respond to the medium. The time is then ripe for a new invention. What we call the technique is inseparable from the art. And so we are wanting, and this is not a trivial matter, to do away with some ideas. Gutenberg, the inventor of movable type, printed by this means a handful of books, which still remain supreme as realisations of the art of book typography. The centuries which have succeeded him were not marked by any other major invention in this field of interest – until photography.

- El Lissitzky, Gutenberg Jahrbuch 1926

Canadian Days

by Cairine Fong

Most immigrants had very little formal education. My grandfather opened a restaurant that served both Chinese and western cuisine in the city of Hull in the province of Quebec. My mother recalls that only two professions were allowed to Chinese immigrants: laundry and restaurants. Many Chinese immigrants and university Visa students gathered at the Chinese Centre for social functions.

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Photo Diary

by John G. Morris

John G. Morris worked for Life magazine and became the magazine’s London picture editor during the Allied invasion of Normandy. Morris is responsible for saving Robert Capa’s legendary eleven images of D-Day after the melted emulsion accidentally destroyed most of the precious negatives. His impact on the lexicon of contemporary visual history spans nearly seventy-five years.

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Cairo 2013

by Aurore Bagarry

The photographs in this Portfolio were taken in pharmacies near Tahrir Square, Cairo in January 2013. The revolution haunts the city and demonstrators oppose the new government. Sometimes the atmosphere is quiet, some smile, the future is murky. "Free me", says a pharmacist. We take a picture, it will be the first of the series presented here.

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Relentless Paparazzi

by Marcello Geppetti

Marcello Geppetti (1933–1998) was an Italian photographer. This is how David Schonauer, the editor in chief of American Photo magazine, described Marcello Geppetti in 1997. The New York Times and Newsweek compared him to Cartier-Bresson and Weegee.

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Le Mouvement

by Étienne-Jules Marey (1830 - 1904)

Étienne-Jules Marey (1830 - 1904) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. In 1889, the International Congress of Photography decided "chronophotography" would be the term used to describe all sequential instantaneous photographic processes.

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February 1917

by Karl Bulla

The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was centered on Petrograd, then the capital (now St. Petersburg). The February Revolution was followed in the same year by the October Revolution, paving the way for the USSR.

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Shoot a Photo

by Clément Chéroux

Distant ancestor of today's video games, « shoot-a-photo » attractions, for that is how they were called, appeared among fairground stands around 1920. In this new game the shooter fired upon himself. Among the Shooters: Brassai, Man Ray, Fellini, Sartre, Henri Cartier-Bresson.

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Visual Poetry

by Wright Morris

When the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery offered Wright Morris (1910-1998) a retrospective exhibition of his photographs, in 1975, the poet and photograph revisited his negatives; he never had a commercial relation with photography, nor a dilletante production. In order to prepare the exhibition, he printed by contact all his negatives.

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Stamps of Man Ray

by Steven Manford

Though reluctant to admit it as a champion of Man Ray's photographs, often the verso can be more compelling than the recto. The hidden side is frequently rich with history, quietly revealing itself like pages of a journal.In contrast to the present day, the stamps scarcely affirm the Man Ray photograph as a valuable object, or work of art. There were no stamps that read "Please Return".

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Disturbed Landscapes

by Peter Bock-Schroeder

Just as the landscape forms the people, people also put their mark on the landscape. So we needn’t go looking for a little piece of earth free of all traces of human activity, for it is the landscape altered by man that repeatedly gives us something new, that offers us fascinating motifs. The photo journalist’s landscape has to be more than just a pretty picture; it has to make a statement.

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