Our History of Photography Focus Group will be a hybrid meeting at the library and on Zoom. The goals of this group are to review the history of photography, famous photographers, photographic styles, and media. This focus group is open to all paid members of the Bloomington Photography Club.

This is our first meeting and I plan to cover a significant piece of this history during the first part of the meeting, but I don't want this meeting to be a lecture. The rest (and hopefully most) of it will be to share and discuss samples of historical photos that we will share.

It's not hard to search for historic photographs by Googling things like: Greatest or most famous photos in history. You can also zero in and look for the greatest street, nature, wildlife, abstract, or other genre.

Below is a button to a long list of photographers. I'm sure I missed many, but this list should include work you've seen before and plenty that you haven't. It might be a good place to find those photos.

For those who are so inclined, please find no more than four photos in this search process and send me a copy (or link to the photo) so that we can discuss them during the meeting.

There is no limit on the size, and if all you can find is a small version, I will try to find a larger, but we can still work with a small one (I think).

If you find something you want to share, think about some of the things below. You don't have to answer or talk about any of these things, but maybe these bullet points will get the juices flowing:

• Why do you like, and/or how do you feel about this photo?

• What's the first thing you noticed?

• Is the location important?

• Is the time when it occurred important?

• Did you notice the use of any rules or tools of composition that the photographer might have employed?

• How do you imagine the photographer decided to frame this photo?

• Do you think that analyzing this photo, or the photographer's work, help you improve your own work?

• If the same photo were shot today by the same photographer with modern equipment, how do you think it would change and if it would be improved or not?

• Are there any odd things about the photo that add value to the image or reduce its value?

• Or anything else you might have to say.

One of my goals with this group is to allow photographers to gain perspective on their craft and enhance their way of seeing, but I'm wide open to other goals!

I think the way the first meeting goes will help me to determine the best path forward for future meetings, and feel free to give me feedback on what you think should be covered. There's a LOT of photographic history out there, so we're kind of in the "Wild-West."

If you are not on our mailing list, please send me an email.

Group Coordinator
Teddy Alfrey teddyalfrey@gmail.com