Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2022 i Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and Children

Did you know that the principal idea for the camera is thousands of years old? The camera obsucra (Latin for “dark room”) was first recorded in the fourth century B.C.E. It involved a lightproof box with a small hole on one side that allowed light to pass through to project an inverted image onto an interior wall of the box. It captured an interesting optical view, but there was no way to make that image permanent. Photography really “developed” (get it?) in the 1800s. Curious individuals, working independently in England and France, combined camera obscuras with chemically treated surfaces and sunlight to produce images. Thanks to the efforts of these early pioneers, an exciting new concept—the ability to capture and preserve a moment in time in a permanent format—was born.…

It took someone with both imagination and courage to see the camera not as a gadget but as an instrument for making art. That person was Alfred Stieglitz. He is considered by many to be the “father of modern photography.” More than any other American photographer of his age, Stieglitz took photography seriously. He made people understand that the camera was an artist’s tool that was every bit as important as a painter’s brush or a sculptor’s chisel. Stieglitz developed a passion for photography while he was a teenage student at the University of Berlin, Germany. A course in photography changed his life. “I took to it as a musician takes to the piano or a painter to canvas,” Stieglitz said. Before long, he had turned his dormitory room into…

Some of our mystery heroes have known at a young age exactly what they want to do as adults. This month’s mystery hero did not have that experience. He didn’t even take a course in photography until he was a junior in college. Our hero was born on December 31, 1954, and grew up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. His mother was a nurse, and his father was a boat mechanic. His grandparents were from the Azores, a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean that belongs to Portugal. Following high school graduation, our hero went to Boston University, in Boston, Massachusetts. He majored in public communication and graduated cum laude (“with distinction”), meaning he earned good grades. He continued his education at Kansas State University, where he obtained a…

Where did the powerful, rich, and famous go to have their pictures taken? To Mathew Brady’s studio, of course. After all, by the 1860s he was the most famous photographer in the United States. Born in 1822, Brady was the child of poor Irish immigrants. At age 15, he went to New York City to study with painter (and inventor of the telegraph) Samuel F.B. Morse. While there, Brady was introduced to the new technology of daguerreotypes. The process was named for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Daguerre was a stage designer in Paris, France. He produced scenes for the theater by painting them by hand—a time-consuming task. Motivated to find a mechanical method, he partnered with another Frenchman, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, to find a solution. After Niépce died in 1833, Daguerre kept…

Edward S. Curtis pursued a dream for 30 years—to photograph what was then considered “vanishing” Native American cultures. In the end, he produced a 20-volume set of photographic books. A portfolio of additional images accompanied each volume. Each set included more than 2,200 images! Curtis was born in Wisconsin in 1868, but his family moved to the Seattle, Washington, area in 1887. There, he fell in love with the natural beauty of the West. He began taking photographs and opened a portrait business. He focused on the original inhabitants of the area. His 1895 portrait of Princess Angeline remains one of his most famous photographs. Princess Angeline was the daughter of the Suquamish chief Seattle. (The city of Seattle is named for him.) In 1899 and 1900, Curtis participated in…

Walter Wick is a photo illustrator of children’s books. He has been creating search-and-solve picture puzzles for 30 years. On his first book series, I Spy, he worked with author Jean Marzollo, who wrote the rhymes. He then developed a series called Can You See What I See? Each of Wick’s photographs is packed with objects that create a scene. Accompanying rhymes guide readers to find specific objects. It’s like a treasure hunt for your brain! Wick talked with COBBLESTONE about his unique perspective on his art. What were your interests as a kid? I was very outdoorsy. I explored the woods, the fields, the pastures, and the streams. I liked climbing trees and playing ball. I liked making my own games and toys. I made skateboards. I made a…

Dressed Up Ducklings Frozen River The Beaver Fur Trade John Quincy Adams: American Statesman On the Frontier Draw a picture or write a poem or a short essay that connects to one of the above COBBLESTONE themes on which we currently are working. All contributions must be your original work. Include a note from a parent or a legal guardian clearly stating: “This is my child’s original work, and COBBLESTONE has permission to publish it with my child’s name, age, and hometown, in print and online.” We will include as many as we can in an upcoming issue. Mail your submission to the address shown here, or email it to cobblestone@cricketmedia.com.…

Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce built the first camera able to produce a printed image in 1816. The image was captured on paper lined with silver chloride. But the picture was light sensitive and eventually faded. Niépce also shot the first known permanent image with a camera in 1826. Researchers believe his photograph of the Niépce estate took days of exposure. In 1900, a Chicago train line commissioned George R. Lawrence to take a photo of its luxury train. For a photo that big, Lawrence first designed the world’s largest camera. The Mammoth weighed 900 pounds and needed 15 men to assemble it. Its photographic glass plate measured 8 feet by 4.5 feet and weighed 500 pounds. Lawrence’s “world’s largest photo” won the grand prize for photographic excellence at the 1900…

Cell phones have made it possible for people to have a camera with them wherever they go. That has made it easier for people to tap into their inner photographers. But in case it’s helpful, here are a few basic photography tips: • Be ready . . . and be patient. A scene may present itself at any time. • Pay attention to the light. Bright light can wash out a shot. Shadows can take away details. • Zoom in. A captivating close-up can be unexpectedly artful. • Fine-tune the framing. You may think a horizontal shot is best, but what happens when you hold your camera vertically? • Create space. Try setting the subject of your shot outside the center of the frame. Now that you know what to…

exploring the origins of words and sayings Photography is the “art or process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces.” A photograph is an “image, especially a positive print, that is recorded by a camera and reproduced on a photosensitive surface.” The words derive from the Greek words phot-, meaning “light,” and graph-, meaning “write” or “draw.” A candid photograph refers to an “unposed or unstaged” photograph. It comes from the Latin candidus, which means “white” or “pure.” A camera is an “apparatus for taking photographs, consisting of a lightproof enclosure having an aperture with a shuttered lens through which the image of an object is focused and recorded.” Its roots go back to the Latin camera, which means “chamber” or “vault.” Early versions of cameras were boxes through…