Letters to Lillian (Photogaphy)

People used photography to record special events or social gatherings. Photographs need need oral texture or explanation otherwise images become fractured and imperfect. In the early nineteenth century most pictures were taken in a studio with a studio photographer. Very few people owned a camera or developed their own photographs The most commen type of photograph was the wet collodion process. This entailed coating of glass plate with a mixture of collodion and potassium iodide, sensitizing the plate in a bath of light sensitive sliver nitrate particles; putting it in a dark room for coating and developing plates. The wet collion process was too involved and messy for anyone but professional photographers. In 1888 Kodak announced that they know have handheld that could hold enough film for 100 exposures. By the end of the 19th century more people were seeking instruction on photographic techniques and methods. Towards the end of the 19th century women were starting to get in to photography. 1902 appeared an article in the Halifax Daily Echo there is advice to pursue photography as a hobby. A tripod camera dose allow longer exposure if lighting conditions demands it. To operate a camera in the the early 20th century, a black cloth was drawn over the head, and the lens cap removed the image would appear upside down. There is a piece of glass located at the back of the camera that you can move to focus. when the photographer is satisfied with the scene the lens is recapped, the thumb screw tightened to hold the groud glass and plate containing the unexposed plate placed in the camera the slide in the holder was drawn back and the exposer time is counted off. When the plate is had been exposed to the photographers satisfaction the slide is placed in the holder. The exposed plate can be put in a carrying case for later development. Plates were developed inthe dark room, with the aid of a ruby lantern; a lantern with red glass whose light helps photographers see what they are doing. An article in the Halifax Daily Echo explain how a woman moon night scene uses a cutting out a tiny circle of a white piece of paper and plastering it to the the glass side of the negative to make it look like night time. You can also fabricate by placing a negative with a landscape scene against another negative and exposing both to a blast, the black and white the ground and trees will appear to have snow. To make prints from the plates, a printing frame was used to insert both paper and negatives. The printing frame was exposed to the sun for a period of time allowing the image to appear on the paper. Dry plate process with dark room development would soon disappear; devlopment of both negatives and prints became the direction of commercial use.

The first commercially successful photographic process were based on an proprty of chemical that turns from a light silvery gray to black when exposed to light. Some experiment reason that a sheet of paper or glass coated with silver nitrate and exposed to light show a shadow would develop in a image as ligt turn to black. Pictures can be reproduced indefinately by placing the negtive and image produced. Paper is based in the use of the negitive the image is produced in much less sharper image. Daguerreotype is a less popular method of photography and needs liensing to use. Next development was the glass plate negitive, which was also coated in silvser nitrateon the surface of a glass plate. the clear glass overcame the fuzzinness that sometimes appeared in the image, and made it easier to make coppies of of each picture using the negitive to make paper prints. the plate had to be used before it dried, this process is known as wet plate photography. The next major development was the dry plate negitive which made taking a picture cumbersome. This was replaced by coated papers which served as backing to hold the emulsions for negitves. No londer have to rely on photosensitive chateristics of silver nitrate. Carbon prints are hardened slightly when exposed to light. With glass plates; placing plate against ba sheet of paper and letting light pass throgh negitve, producing a  photo size negitive. Due to the to a tendency to curl film and they producded in 1903 non-curling variety was developed, and began to be highly used. 1913 film began to complete with the the glass plate negitive, which eventully supplanted. History of photography touch many mainstream important trends.

1940 the autographic freature was on most models, enables th photographer to write on the film with a metal stylus through the backing paper and special tissue. the feture was accessible via a flap on the bak of the camera. Speed graphic of 4×5 inch plate camera dominated photojournalismin America during the 1930’s. The speed graphic was introduced in 1912; was manufactured by Graflex, a New York based camera maker. The Single Lens Reflex designs comes from the 17th Century camera obscuras. Twin Lens Reflex design where the image is viewed through a second lens; to was to cumbersome for for plate cameras. In the 1930’s they started to appear in small role cameras. Franke and Heidecke intro duced the first Rolleiflex TLR in 1929. Cheaper Rolleicord was intro duced in 1933. In 1913, Oskar Barnack a German design enginer, introduced a prototype 35 mm camera. 1924 the camera went into production at the Leitz factory in Germary. In 1934 Kodak produced their first 35 mm camera The Retina 1.

China Module (brush painting)

Brush is similar to the watercolor paint brush used in the west, which is suitable for dealing with a wide range of objects, and producing variations of or styles. Chinese emphasize not only line drawing, but shade, texture, and the dotting method. The dotting method is used mainly with trees and plants to make them look realistic.Thick ink is to deep, and glossy to used on paper, or silk. Thin ink appears lively and translucent on paper or silk. On ink and wash paintings it’s possible to create rhythmic balance between brightness and darkness using ink. It also helps to create density and lightness, to create impression of the subjects weight and coloring.Different types of paper produce different results; some are rough, and quickly absorb ink like a sponge, others with a smooth surface which resist ink. Brushstrokes have the best result on pa-per. Because of this, there is a variety of paper’s with texture, and finish. Artists, and calligraphers highly favor these pa-pers.

Chinese paintings aim is not to express the different shades of color in relation to the position of the light source, but to express the different characteristics of the different subjects. Chinese use the artistic conception and structural compo-sition in most landscape paintings. They create an impression of being seen from a birds eye view or from above. Since sizes and shapes of spaces in paintings different; the absence of content can create rhythm and variety. 

The significance of Calligraphy lies in its ability to express the theme and artistic conception of the painting clearly and more deeply. Artist give great insight to their individuality, emotions, and views on art, and life. Ink and wash paintings sometimes use a bright red seal to add a final touch of beauty. Seals are pressed into a pot or tin of cinnebar paste, a scarlet red color, and are impressed onto the painting. The paste they use contains mercuric oxide, ground silk, and oils.

China Module (paper cuting)

Chinese paper was invented by Cai Lun in the in eastern China during the Han Dynasty. Chinese paper cutting was the first type of design, since the paper was invented. This art form spread to other parts of the world, and each region had their own cultural styles. These cut out were sometimes used to decorate doors, and windows; sometimes referred to as Window flower.

Chinese paper cutting is an art form that has existed for thousands of years featuring both national and regional themes. An Song dynasty scholar, Chou Mi has mentioned several paper cutters who could cut paper with scissors into a great var-iety of designs and characters in different styles, and a man who could cut characters and flowers in his sleeve. During the Qing Dynasty allot of different paper cutting skills were being developed, including drafting, and the use of smoked papers. Paper cutting has become traditional female activity in the rural countryside. Every girl was expected to master it and br-ides were judged by their skill in the past. Professional paper cutting artist are usually male and have guaranteed incomes, and work together in workshops.

The more advanced paper cuttings are usually done in stacks where it unfolds into some 3D object, like a lantern. Red is the most popular color. Today, paper cuttings a Chiefly decorative. They ornament walls, windows, doors, columns, mir-rors, lamps, and lanterns. They are also used as gifts to homes. Paper cuttings were once used as patterns, especially for embroidery and lacquer work. Paper cuttings are fashioned by putting several layers of paper on a soft foundation consist-ing of tallow and ashes. Fallowing the pattern an artist cuts the motif paper with a sharp knife held vertically. Skilled artist cut out different drawings freely without stopping

China Module (color)

Red is a very popular color in modern China. Chinese physics taught, that the five elements are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth; they correspond to black, red, blue-green, white, and yellow. Ancient  Chinese believed that the five elements made everything. During the reign of Huang Di, five thousand years ago people actually worshiped the color yellow. Chin-ese still regard black, red, blue-green, white, and yellow as standard colors.

The book of changes regards black as Heaven’s color. The saying of “heaven and earth of mysterious black” is rooted in observations in the nights sky. White represented gold and symbolized brightness, purity, and fulfillment. White is also the color associated with the mourning.

Both modern and ancient Chinese like the color red. Red is everywhere during the holidays, like Chinese New Year; it symbolizes good fortune and joy. Since the Communist takeover of China, red has been used to represent danger, blood, violence, and radical actions by Chinese Communist Party.

Blue-green represents spring, when everything overflows with vigor and vitality. Yellow symbolizes the earth. The saying “Yellow generates Yin and Yang” means that yellow is the center of every thing. There are silk goods and ancient tombs with the colors brown, red, black, purple, and yellow. These same colors are still used with pottery. Ancient Chinese be-lieve that color feeds the spirit and expresses the depth of human experience.

China Module (notes)

CGT 109 Design Concepts and Technology.

Section # 119309. 

Course Objective 1. Exhibit though exercises and finished projects an understanding of visual communication: its form, function and how these support complex concept creation through the use of the following. Color, value, texture, pattern, figure/ground, closure, proportion, progression, symmetry, and rhythm.

Letters to Lillian (extra notes)

Tacky (takey)-cheap or gaugy. Synonyms: shabby dingy scuffy tattered lame.

Shorthand- method of speed writing.

Typewriter- keyboard machine that produces printed materialby striking with rised letters through an inked ribbin.

Bookkeeper- one who keeps business acounts.

Letters to Lillian (Shorthand writing)

Cursive longhand is easy to learn and but only 10% faster than printing. A different way to write is to use a phonetic alpha-bet; one sound, one symbol. Multiple letter are often used to make a single sound. The average English word has more letters than sounds.Writing phonetically require you to learn more symbols, but fewer symbols per word; this is called shorthand. there are many different types of shorthand writings.

Pitman’s system of of shorthand can also be a form of handwriting, since it is possible to write each as one symbol for the sound. Shorthand is a system of abbreviation which outline a word that is written just enough to allow you to decipher the words and context later. You can write in shorthand at maximum speeds. Shorthand systems can be readable once you learn how to sight read all the symbols. Pitman system is still used in England. It is not easy to learn or to use in any other different languages.

Gregg’s shorthand was more widely used, and taught in public schools as a skill needed by the worker dictation. Gregg shorthand is the only shorthand system you can only write outlines of words. Normally  Gregg shorthand is phonetic, sometimes the sound of a word or its spelling. It is the exact opposite of printing alphabtic  characters by hand; hand-written text is readable, but blocky and slow to write, while Gregg shorthand is highly cursive and fast some what read-able.

Teeline shorthand is taught to journalism majors. James Hill, an instructor of Pitman shorthand developed this new short- hand writing in 1970. Teeline shorthand is simpler than Pitman shorthand, it’s without the use of both thick lines and thin lines or diacritic marks. It is not phonetic, but based on the the standard alphabet, so it retains the inadequacies of the alphabet. vowels are omitted for speed. It’s intended to aid dictation by creating word outlines, so it needs to be tran-scribed after it’s taken.

Systems of rapid writing based on alphabetic print or longhand characters. Shorthand systems based on alphabetic char-acters can fall back on longhand were clarity is more important. Abbreviation can be a form of shorthand. Unless tran-scribed soon it ca become unreadable.

 Handywrite is both handwriting, and shorthand system. It contains symbols for both consonants, and vowels to write English phonetically, you don’t need to transcribe. simple strokes are used in a fast cursive system; much like Gregg shorthand. Most of the consonants are the same as Gregg shorthand. the main difference of Handywrite is that it has enough symbols to represent all vowel sounds. Written in full word have fewer strokes than longhand. When using abbrev-iations, Handywrite system becomes progressively faster. This is the only shorthand system that you can use and under-stand abbreviations and normal symbols of punctuation.

Most people will probably never learn shorthand writing. Teachers in collages wont even bother teaching it ether. Allot of people know that longhand is a burden and may discover shorthand.

Letters to Lillian (Bookkeeping)

30 percent of women in Chicago were bookkeepers. Class room photos at Eastman Business Collage show that the minority of students in bookkeeping classes were women. Other photographs show that no women were being trained.

Women would just preform these tasks of an bookkeeper; men considered bookkeeping a respectable career for advance-ment which may lead to their own business. The examination of mechanical accounting is important for the evolution of more simple invention of bookkeeping machines. Mechanization is important to separation of bookkeeping and accounting. A bookkeeper could  could process information at a lower cost and the accountant would not have to record the cost. At the same time companies were changing the information that was needed. Corporations required to know standard costing, financial statement preparation, cost, and  ratio analysis; information that bookkeepers could not provide, but accountants could. Bookkeeping became routinized, primarily with clerical tasks. Accounting became a profession while bookkeeping became a task based trade. Mechanization of bookkeeping was a major factor in the genderization change. With the menial tasks and few oppertunities  for advancement, bookkeeping became a task for women.  The shortage of male bookkeepers, women seem to have greater dexterity and greater patience with routine tasks. women could be hired for lower wages. Accounting remained mostly male, and women dominated the bookkeeping force. When men were bookkeepers they were paid a skill premium while women were paid considerably less. With mechanization bookkeeping  was basicly a machines: located in a single office. The emergence of of a new accounting system that changed the way all jobs processed information in the 1930.

Letter to Lillian (Typewriting)

Chicago 1900, 83% of stenographers, and typist were women. Most women were both stenographers, and typists. Stenography and type writingopen up a whole profession for ladies to make their own living. Women adapted and were found to be equal and in some cases better than men as a typewriter-operator.

Englishman Henry Mill had the first concept of a typewriter in 1714. It was an artificial machine for impressing one letter after another in a straight line. The first typewriter that worked was built by Italian Pellegrino Turri in 1808 for his blind friend. The main creator or inventor of this machine was Christoper L. Sholes. The Sholes and Glidden only typed in capital letters. Christoper introduced the QWERTY keyboard, which is still used today. this keyboard was most likely designed to separate frequently used pairs, so that type bars would not clash or get suck together for printing. A good example of of an under-stroke type-bar machine is the is the Caligraph the second typewriter to appear in Amer-ican market in 1880. The universal keyboard is the QWERTY any other type of keyboard lost against  the QWERTY. Not all typewriters used the QWERTY system or type with space-bars.  In 1884 Hammond introduced his own keyboard, called the two-row; it was a curved keyboard. Hammond keyboard was soon available to the market. Hammonds type shuttle was C-shaped of vulcanized rubber. The shuttle can be easily exchanged for a diff-erent typeface. Platen on the type-bar of type writes is hit against the shuttle by the ham-mer on to the paper.The 1902 almost all typewriters looked the same: used the QWERTY keyboard. These machines printed letters through a ribbon and one shift key and four bank keys.

Introduction of the typewriter lead to the development of using other type fonts. type-writer were used different type letters office memos, and soon developed a way to pre-pare invoices and reports. Typewriters had to be modified to work with bound volumes; this evolved into the book-typewriter. It would type on a flat surface; instead of of using ledger sheets the typewriter would go to the ledger. The first flat-surface typewriters emerged around 1891, when two competing companies Elliot Book, and Fisher Book. Both companies introduced typewriters with both flat platens that could record.

Letters to Lillian

The key word that I decided to annotate are:

Shorthand writing

Typewriting or typewriter

 Book-keeping

Double exposure (photography)

Negatives (photography)

Takey or Tacky

Aunt Betty