Essay Example on Prominent Travel Photographers

As the Grand Tours became popular, photographers in the 18th century adopted it as a form of professional engagement. Travel photography became popular in the 19th century thereby scientists developed techniques that photographers used to practice their professions. Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de Visite and Cabinet Cards were the photographic technologies employed. Notably, Roger Fenton was among the first photographers to explore travel photography. He travelled to Moscow and Kiev on escapades that enabled him to build his photographic library. For instance, his works include the Houses of parliament, cathedrals and religious buildings. Moreover, he worked with Crimea War where he became popular.

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On the other hand, Maxime Du Camp was a photographer from Paris who was recognized for his works related to travel photography. His desire to travel the world was born after he completed his college studies. However, before he achieved great heights in his profession, Du Camp was under the mentorship of Gustave Le Gray. He traveled around Europe and the East with Gastave Flaubert capturing and recording landscapes and sceneries that fascinated them. Markedly, Du Camp founded the Revue de Paris and later was nominated to become the leader of Legion of Honour. Furthermore, the French were fascinated by the Egyptian culture after Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Egypt. The colonizers felt that the nation had a mysterious identity distinct from the East. Further, Egypt is an exotic place with a rich ancient secret. Therefore, the French government appointed Du Camp to visit Egypt so that he could capture the cultural and social dimensions of the nation. Moreover, he travelled around the world and he was recognized for his passion in tourism documentary.

Conversely, missionaries who visited different continents traveled with their cameras. For instance, The Moravian Church sent its missionaries to West and South Africa. During their work, they were able to photograph the Nyasa and Nyamwezi traditions from Tanzania. Furthermore, missionaries in East Africa and India shared their experiences through the use of photographs. Notably, The Leipzig Mission possesses 20,000 photos recording the experiences of their missionaries in these regions. On the other hand, Wilhelm Guth and Leonhard Blumer have albums that contain photos from Pare, Kamba, Maasai and Arusha regions. Additionally, mission21 was founded in 1815. Missionaries from this organization concentrated in Cameroon, Kalimantan, China and India. Their archives contain photographs, written and printed records and hand drawn maps. The Catholic Foreign Mission Society had mission grounds in China. The organization published the Field Afar magazine that contains 1.5 million prints that capture activities their missionaries undertook in 1918. The images are from the Middle East countries such as Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Besides, the School of Mission Theology in Stavanger contains approximately 100,000 images in their photograph albums and glass plate negatives. The images represent regions in South Africa, Madagascar, China, Cameroon, Japan, Norway and Ethiopia.

William Ellis was an English missionary in the early 1800 who spent his time travelling through the Islands of Hawaii and Madagascar. He also toured the Society Islands, Hawaiian Islands and Madagascar, and wrote several books describing his experiences. While on his mission to Polynesia, he visited Kealakekua Bay and historic sites such as Puuhonoua o Honaunau. Additionally, his mission commitments enabled him to travel to the Mauna Loa Volcano. Furthermore, he visited the Kilauea volcano, Mauna Kea, Hilo and Waipio Valleys taking photographs to record his experiences.

In 1854 Partner George Swan Nottage opened up a company by the name London Stereoscope Company. The organization was later renamed to the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company. Notably, the main business the company engaged in was selling stereo photographs to the American public. Stereoscopes were used to view these images thereby presenting scenes with a three dimensional. Frank George Carpenter was a journalist, photographer, author, lecturer, journalist, world traveler and geographer. Conversely, Frances Carpenter was his daughter and she had great interest in other cultures. Frank and Frances created a collection that illustrates their tourism experiences around the world. Through their works, cultural anthropology and geography became popular. They used the money generated in their skill to finance their trips around the world. As a result, Frank submitted his photographs to the Cosmopolitan magazine and other publications. Markedly, his works enabled Americans learn about foreign cultures across the globe. Moreover, several publications by the Carpenters were released by scientific societies that educated people on other peoples culture. Distinctly, Frank and Frances gathered 15,000 photos and donated 16,800 photographs and 7,000 negatives to the Library of Congress.

Frank A. Brownell invented the first model of the Brownie camera. These cameras were simple and inexpensive; therefore, it became the most used camera by tourists. For instance, Joseph August Lux travelled extensively around the world with a Brownie camera that he used in his travel photography profession. With the help of the camera, he was able to build a library of photos that document the various peoples and places he visited.

Herbert George Ponting, was a professional photographer in the 18th century. He photographed Terra Nova Expedition. Moreover, he captured images of the heroic Age of Antarctic Explotarion between 1910 and 1913. As he advanced in his career, he won major awards such as the San Francisco Salon. Furthermore, Herbert was involved in stereoviews photography where he reported about the Russo-Japanese war. Additionally, he traveled to the Middle East where he visited countries such as Korea, India, China and Korea. Herbert also established himself in Europe through taking stereoviews of Switzerland and Spain. Markedly, his works captured the country life and Antarctic expedition which were later printed in tourist magazines around the world.

Thomas Cook is accredited to have founded the Thomas Cook and Son travel agency. He pondered how tourism could be used as a tool to overcome the economic and political difficulties experienced in Italy. Furthermore, he believed that tourism can unify the Italians if they physically travelled from one place to another place. Therefore, his travel agency provided an opportunity to Italians to tour various tourist destinations. Markedly, he introduced circular tickets that were used in the Italian railways. The tickets enabled the passengers to travel by train for several days while on certain routes. Moreover, he designed hotel coupons to complement the circular tickets. Cook also introduced circular notes that tourists used at designated hotels, ticket agents and banks. He "helped to stabilize the burgeoning Italian economy not only by increasing the revenues from tourism but also by expanding the circulation of Italy's new currency, the lira." The coupon system spread rapidly and was well accepted throughout Italian cities. As a result, the arrangement enabled middle class Italians to travel frequently around Italy.

Brassai was a HungarianFrench sculptor, photographer, filmmaker and writer. More than 200 letters and drawings were discovered in the 21st century that has helped scholars understand his career. Brassai had an insatiable desire for photography that led him to capture several sceneries around the city of Paris. For instance, his biography records that through his photography works, he was able to capture the beauty of streets and gardens in the rain and fog, and to capture Paris by night." He majorly engaged in capturing the essence of cities and publishing them in books such as Paris de nuit. In addition, he portrayed the life of the citys wealthy society, the intellectuals and grand operas. Brassai's photographs brought him international fame thereby attracting interest from institutions in the United States such as the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. MOMA exhibited more of Brassai's works in 1953, 1956, and 1968 hence enabling Paris come to the lime light.

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist. He is best recognized for his works that document the work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the effects of the Great Depression. Markedly, his photography works illustrated his desire to shoot pictures that are transcendent, literate and authoritative. Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art of George took his works and stored them in their gallaries that include 1000 negatives. He also took photographs in Cuba that document the street life, presence of police, beggars and dockworkers.

Cartier-Bresson was a humanist photographer who pioneered the genre of street photography. He first got inspired to venture into photography by a Hungarian photojournalist Martin Munkacsi showing three naked young African boys, caught in near-silhouette, running into the surf of Lake Tanganyika. He explained, "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant." He also inspired many photographers through his works that captured decisive moments. Bresson acquired a Leica camera that he used during his tours. The Leica provided new possibilities in travel photography the ability to capture the world in its actual state of movement and transformation. For instance, he photographed in Brussels, Prague, Berlin, Madrid and Budapest. Notably, Julien Levy Gallery and Ateneo Club exhibits most of his works.

Steve McCurry is an American photojournalist and editor best recognized for his Afghan Girl photograph he took in 1984 photograph. Markedly, his works capture as sense of criticism, humor and seduction. His photographs are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. At the same time they reveal how different societies live, present themselves to others, and what they value. Moreover, McCurry examines national characteristics and international phenomena that will help future generations to to understand our cultural peculiarities.

Photography boosts Tourism in that...