ABSTRACT
In a time of photographic pluralism it is deeply satisfying to see artists discovering inspiration in the very fundamentals of a medium that is nearly two centuries old. When its discovery came to public attention in Europe in the 1830s, the medium was heralded by its proponents as an efficient way of rendering form quickly and accurately both for personal enjoyment as well as for education and dissemination. While camera and negative-based photography came to dominate the field from the 1900s on, camera-less photography played a critical role in the development of the medium and throughout its history has continued to be a critical touchstone and crucible for the conceptual understanding of photography. One of the earliest practitioners of camera-less photography was the British gentleman scientist William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1830s, who suggested a number of practical applications for its use.
