A little reading time is beneficial for anyone, including artists, such as photographers who can learn more about their craft and improve their skills and refine their own work. Although perhaps not as applicable as modern magazines, websites, or instructional videos, I’m having fun learning some history of photography from some old art journals. The current journal I’m reading was written in 1851 and makes the following interesting statement: “Why should not the Daguerreotypist be equally benefitted by a periodical devoted to his interests, particularly when his art is so susceptible to improvement?” It continued by saying that “the art of engraving and sculpture has improved under the criticisms of the press, so must that of Photography.“

I’m looking forward to what I can learn from the history of photography, and I will share with you some of the tidbits that I learn along the way.

The striking words I’d like to quote, I feel can be equally applied to photographers today:
“In too many instances men enter into [photography] because they [have] nothing else to
do; without the least appreciation of its merits as an art of exquisite refinement, without the taste to guide them, and without the love and ambition to study more than its practical application, neglecting
the sciences intimately connected with it, and leaving entirely out of the question those of drawing, painting, and sculpture, sister arts, a knowledge of which must tend to elevate the taste and direct the
operator into the more classical and elegant walks of his profession.”

Something to consider if you’re passionate and sincere about taking photography seriously as an artist!