Explore photography’s history with these rare cameras

New exhibition celebrates the technological advances of the camera.

By Jeanette D. Moses | Published Sep 11, 2019 5:30 PM EDT

News

It’s easy to take camera technology for granted in a time when everyone walks around with a computational photography machine in their pocket, but camera design has come a long way since the camera obscura and Nicéphore Niépce’s early experimentations with silver chloride coated paper in 1860. In Focus: The Camera, which is currently on view at The Getty, takes an in-depth look at some of these technological advancements with a selection of twenty cameras that span the 1800s to the mid ’90s. The cameras are presented alongside self-portraits made by photographers and images made of photographers at work.

“I wanted to remind our visitors about the people behind the cameras,” says curator Paul Martineau, associate curator at the Getty Museum, “Those who made use of this continually evolving technology to create artworks of great sophistication or to record history as it was unfolding before the lens.”

wooden camera — Camera Obscura, about 1750 – 1800. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

The oldest camera on view in In Focus: The Camera is a Camera Obscura from the early 1800. The most recent included in the exhibition is an Apple Quick Take 100 from 1994, one of the very first mass-marketed digital cameras. Daguerreotype cameras, a stereo camera, and a miniature spy camera are also some of the rare pieces of technology on display. Of the 20 cameras on display, Martineau says that one of his favorites is the Semmendinger mammoth plate camera from the late 1800s.

Man Ray, Self-Portrait with Camera, 1932. © Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles*

“It is big and beautiful,” he says. “I set it on a pedestal in the middle of the gallery and trained its lens on the entrance. That way, people would feel as though they were a camera subject, so to speak, as they came in.”

In Focus: The Camera is on view at The Getty in Los Angeles through Jan. 5, 2020.

Mammoth plate wet-collodion camera, 1874 – 1885. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift in memory of Beaumont Newhall*

self-portrait preparing a collodian plate — Capt. Horatio Ross, Self-portrait preparing a Collodion plate, 1856 – 1859. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles*

The Kodak, 1888. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

wooden Wet-plate Camera — Daguerreotype/Wet-plate Camera, about 1851. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

Photographing New York City - on a slender support 18 stories above pavement of Fifth Avenue — Underwood & Underwood, Photographing New York City on a slender support 18 stories above pavement of Fifth Avenue., 1905. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles*

Camera box 1860 — Camera box, 1860 *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

Weegee, Photographer at a Fire, 1940 – 1945. © International Center of Photography. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles*

Canon S 35mm camera with rare F2 lens, 1946 *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

Hasselblad wide angle camera, 1954 – 1959. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

George Watson, Camera on 12-foot Tripod, 1920s. © The Watson Family Photo Collection. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles*

Anthony Friedkin, Extras with Film Cameras © Anthony Friedkin *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Sue and Albert Dorskind*

Polaroid Land Camera Model 95, about 1948 – 1949. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

The Photojournalist negative 1951 — Andreas Feininger, The Photojournalist, negative 1951; print later. © Estate of Gertrud E. Feininger *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser*

Nikon Reporter large load 35mm camera — Nippon Kogaku K.K. Nikon “Reporter” large load 35mm camera, after 1959. *The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Gloria and Stanley Fishfader*

Jeanette D. Moses

Jeanette D. Moses is a New York City–based filmmaker and photographer known for her intimate depictions of New York's creative communities. She’s been a contributor to PopPhoto since 2014, specializing in interviews, gear reviews, and all things analog.

Gear

History