CHALLENGING CANVAS

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY – A CHALLENGING CANVAS FOR THE VIBRANT MINDS

The prehistoric man, the cave man, the paleolithic man as we call him today had no language to speak no alphabets or scripts to express his ideas and emotions. He did not keep quiet but he put all the ideas and emotions in the form of figures. His medium of expression was cave walls and boulders and his instrument of expression was sharpened stones. A slow evolution in the medium of expression into clay and marble tablets took place during the Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilization. The Egyptians were so evolved, they were using papyrus leaves for writing. These developments obviously show the parallel evolution of spoken language and writing.

The introduction of canvas as a support for painting brought about by Venetian painters who developed and popularized its use was a giant step forward in the history of art. Canvas possessed numerous advantages compared to traditional painting supports like wooden panel and metal sheets. Canvas was more resistant to dampness, it permitted larger formats than wooden panels. It is less costly and less prone to deterioration like cracking insect damage mold growth, it is lighter, could be rolled up, and it is easier to transport.

The word canvas comes from Latin name Cannabis or hemp out of whose fibers the cloth or canvas is woven. The botanical name of hemp is Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa.

Though canvas painting took big lead in painting, painting on wood panel with oil paint was also thriving very well. The classical example is the world-famous oil painting of MONA LISA by Leonardo Da Vinci was on poplar wood panels. Poplar trees are indigenous to the western world The painting is exhibited in a high security enclosure in Louvre Museum in Paris. In the year 1968 my wife and I were on a holiday in France. We spent about four days in Paris. We visited Louvre Museum in Paris went to the enclosure where the painting of MONA LISA is kept. We were mesmerized to see the painting. We could not believe that we were standing in front of the world-famous painting. It is once in a life time opportunity. In addition to this another interesting thing happened in Paris. We were visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Those days visitors could go right up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. After enjoying the beauty of Paris city from the second level we went right to the top of Eiffel Tower. My wife suddenly realized the she forgot her hand bag which contained all our travel documents at the second level. I rushed down in a frenzy and could see my wife’s hand bad on the second level platform intact. Great relief indeed. That was Paris of 1968. But in Paris of today the hand bag would have disappeared.

My narration on the art of painting will be incomplete if do not indulge in writing about one of our family members. He was my father’s first cousin Hari Babu. Hari Babu was a foreman looking after the blast furnace of molten steel in the Tata steel company in Jamshedpur North India. After a day’s hard work with molten steel, he used to relax at home painting portraits. This is what I was emphasizing in my previous posting on ageing that one should develop an avocation to break the monotony of bread winning job. Hari Babu used to come to much cooler Kerala to spend his summer vacation. During his vacation time also, he used to set up his painting studio in his house which was next to our house. As an eleven-year-old I used to watch him closely mixing linseed oil and colors and played his brush on the wooden frame stretched canvas. In fact, he painted over a period of time the portraits of all our family members.

Oil And canvas painting took a different form known as abstract painting in the hands of Pablo Picasso of Spain Surrealistic painting in the hands of Salvador Dali of Spain and M.F.Hussain of India. M.F.Hussain is nicknamed as “Picasso of India”. Raja Ravi Varma with his royal heritage is a world-famous painter specializing on mythological themes.

Having said this much let us move on to photography. Photography had its humble uncouth beginning. Uncouth in the sense that the camera was unwieldy and humble because of lack of latitude. The cameras were bulky mounted on tripod with fixed focus lens with no shutter speed control. The amount of light coming from the objects was controlled by removing and putting back the lens cap after a few seconds. The image was captured on glass plates treated with light sensitive chemicals mainly silver salts.

The use of photographic film was a giant leap forward in the field of photography was pioneered by George Eastman. He started manufacturing paper films in 1885 switching to celluloid in 1888.His first camera was a simple hand-held box camera with a fixed focus lens and a single shutter speed. This he called KODAK. This made photography affordable for an average person.

The films became more affordable with the introduction of 35mm film cassettes with 36 exposures. The cameras to accommodate 35 mm cassettes also became more and more sophisticated with more powerful lens features. Still the cameras were heavier though hand held.

The arrival of digital cameras revolutionized photography especially they are relatively cheaper and easy to handle and transfer pictures from one place to another through Wi-Fi. CHARGE COUPLED DEVICE (CCD) is a light sensitive integrated circuit that captures images by converting photons to electrons. It is the heart of all type’s digital cameras of today. It sits just behind the camera lens.

The CCD was first invented by George smith and Willard Boyle of Bell Telephone Labs in 1969. Their image capturing capacity was improved in 1970 by Michael

Tompsett of Bell Telephone Labs. In the digital cameras the CCD sits just behind lens capturing the images, in the place of films in conventional camera. A CCD is a thin silicon wafer divided into a geometrically regular array of thousands or millions of light sensitive regions (pixels) that capture and store Image information in the form of localized electrical charge that varies with incident light intensity from the objects. CCD is the bedrock of digital imaging technology for mobile phones and digital professional cameras. In professional cameras the image stored in CCD is automatically transferred to SD CARDS of different capacities inserted inside the camera. The CCD is the modern-day marvel of electronics derived from the branch of physics called QUATUM MECHANICS.

For their invention George Smith and Willard Boyle were honoured with the Nobel Prize in 2009.

With the advent of digital cameras school going children can create prize winning photo graphs in the regional national and international competitions. In this context I wish to present here prize-winning digital photographs of our granddaughter Meghna Hari Krishna of Denver Colorado USA. Meghana’s interest in digital photography was nurtured and encouraged by her parents. Meghana’s first prize winning photograph is entitled “CHALLENGES” was created by her when she was in the 7th grade in 2020-2021 This picture won her third place in Colorado State Level competition, enabled her to compete at the National Level in Dallas Texas. In Dallas she got the top ten position in USA. This picture I am reproducing here under the title CHALLENGES. In the 8th grade 2022-2023 she won a first prize in Colorado State. The photograph I present here under the title GEOMETRY. Meghana takes several shots with her iPhone to create the final one fit enough for competitions.

CHALLENGES

GEOMETRY

With the advent of very powerful digital printing and polymer-based transfer medium for prints one can develop wall hangings similar to classical oil painting canvas. I present here my creation.

NATIVE AMERICAN WARRIOR DIGITAL PICTURE TAKEN AT THE CAPITOL, DENVER,COLORADO

WALL HANGING

WALL HANGING

Digital photography and digital image printing provides infinite creativity opportunity. Thanks to its mother the QUANTUM PHYSICS. My favourite subject.

PROFESSOR K.A.BALASUBRAMANIAN

Ph.D. (IARI NEW DELHI), Ph.D. (London), DIC(London)