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| Karl Blossfeldt Cirsium c. 1928-32 gelatin silver print Getty |
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| Karl Blossfeldt Aesculus parviflora 1928 gelatin silver print Getty |
"Surrealism lies at the heart of the photographic enterprise: in the very creation of a duplicate world, of a reality in the second degree, narrower but more dramatic than the one perceived by natural vision." – Susan Sontag, Melancholy Objects
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| French photographer Study of rocks c. 1845 daguerrotype Getty |
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| French photographer Flowers and leaves 1853 albumen silver print Getty |
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| Robert Macpherson Bernini's colonnade, St. Peter's, Rome 1860s albumen silver print Getty |
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| Robert Macpherson Hall of Statues, Vatican Museum, Rome 1860s albumen silver print Getty |
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| Robert Macpherson Campagna near Rome 1850s albumen silver print Getty |
"The photographer was thought to be an acute but non-interfering observer – a scribe, not a poet. But as people quickly discovered that nobody takes the same picture of the same thing, the supposition that cameras furnish an impersonal, objective image yielded to the fact that photographs are evidence not only of what's there but of what an individual sees, not just a record but an evaluation of the world. It became clear that there was not just a simple, unitary activity called seeing (recorded by, aided by cameras) but "photographic seeing" which was both a new way for people to see and a new activity for them to perform." – Susan Sontag, The Heroism of Vision
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| Gertrude Käsebier Self-portrait c. 1896-99 platinum print Getty |
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| Gertrude Käsebier Charles O'Malley picking flowers 1903 platinum print Getty |
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| Henri Le Secq Chartres 1852 photolithograph Getty |
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| Félix Jacques Moulin Nude c. 1851-53 daguerrotype Getty |
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| French photographer Spring Flowers : Lilacs, Peonies 1853 albumen silver print Getty |
Prints are from photography collections at the Getty in Los Angeles.