Photography and Cinema

OpeningMovement

On 11 June 1895 theFrenchCongressofPhotographicSocieties(Congrès

dessociétésphotographiquesdeFrance)wasgatheredinLyon.Photography

hadbeeninexistenceforaboutsixtyyears,butcinemawasanewinven-

tion.LouisandAugusteLumièrehadjustbeengrantedapatentfortheir

Cinématographe,thefirstmoviecameraandprojectionsystem.Louis,who

workedforthefamily’sphotographybusiness,wastheretodemonstrateit.

AboattriptoNeuville-sur-Saônehadbeenarrangedforthephotographers

andLouissetuphiscameratorecordthem.Hefilmedastheycamedown

thenarrowgangwayontothequayside.TheLumièresmadeseveralfilms

ofpeoplefilingpasttheircamera,includingoneofworkersleavingtheir

factory,thefirstfilmtobescreenedpublicly.^1 Thesubjectmatterwasideal:

endlesslydifferentfigurespassingthroughafixedframeexpresssomuch

sosimply,aboutphotographsinmotion.

ThephotographershadheardoftheCinématographeandwerekeen

toseeit.Inthefilm,whichislessthanaminutelong,somesmileself-

consciouslyastheypass,otherswavetheirhats.Oneman,lookingmore

serious,clutchesalargeplatecameratohischest.Heslowsdownashe

passes,takesaquickphotoofLouisandthemoviecameraandrejoins

theflow.^2 Thewhereaboutsofhissnapshotisunknown.Hemayhavenot

actuallytakenone.Perhapswhatreallymatteredwasthefilmingofthe

gesture,thefirstfootageofastillphotographer‘inaction’.Louiswasnot

bluffing.Infact,thosephotographerswerethefirsttoseethefilmwhenit

wasdevelopedandprojectedforthemthefollowingday. 7

Introduction