Hello,
I am translating a short essay by Teju Cole on Switzerland and photography.
There's one sentence I can't make sense of:
This was the age of firsts: The first photograph containing a human being, the first photographic self-portrait, the first aerial photograph, the first news photo (it showed a man being arrested). You couldn’t have your photograph taken in 1825, but by 1845, there were thousands of photos, of people, things and places. Light from the world could be fixed on a surface: It was possible to take the shadow away from the body and show it elsewhere.
Take the shadow out of what and show it where? I am afraid I don't get it.
Thanks to anyone who has time ti answer my query...
ciao
diana
I am translating a short essay by Teju Cole on Switzerland and photography.
There's one sentence I can't make sense of:
This was the age of firsts: The first photograph containing a human being, the first photographic self-portrait, the first aerial photograph, the first news photo (it showed a man being arrested). You couldn’t have your photograph taken in 1825, but by 1845, there were thousands of photos, of people, things and places. Light from the world could be fixed on a surface: It was possible to take the shadow away from the body and show it elsewhere.
Take the shadow out of what and show it where? I am afraid I don't get it.
Thanks to anyone who has time ti answer my query...
ciao
diana