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As in many countries, the science, craft, and art of photography in Norway has evolved as a result of changing technology, improving economic conditions, and the level of acceptance of photography as an art form in its own right.
The first known photography in Norway dates from 1839, when Hans Thøger Winther bought his first camera. The oldest image on file is one of his pictures from 1840. Daguerreotypes became popular in the 1840s, and several entrepreneurial photographers established studios in major cities for portrait photography and also took portable studios to smaller population centers. Winther published a number of articles on photography in newspapers and published a book in 1845 titled:
Portrait photography became more affordable and commonplace throughout the 19th century, and around 1860 landscape photography took root in Norway. Marcus Selmer is considered to be the first landscape photographer with considerable production, but Knud Knudsen and the Swede Axel Lindahl made the most systematic efforts in traveling and capturing landscapes.
From the late 19th, century until World War I, photographers set up shop throughout Norway. Many women were among them.
In 1901, Anders Beer Wilse returned from the United States. He became one of the most famous photographers in Norway. In addition to documenting natural landscapes and ethnology throughout Norway, he was also an accomplished portrait and architecture photographer.
Although dominated primarily by German influences in the late 19th century, Pictorialism caught on in Norway when it did elsewhere in the world and was promoted by the Oslo camera club, founded in 1921. Photographers whose work represents Norwegian pictorialism include Robert Collett, Aage Remfeldt, Thomas Blehr, and Waldemar Eide.
Around World War I, portrait photography in Norway became more of an expressive art as a result of the work of Waldemar Eide, Dimitri Koloboff, Gunnar Theodor Sjøwall, Aage Remfeldt, Hans Johnsrud and Anders Beer Wilse.
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In confluence with the growth of the socialist movement in Norway, the Neue Sachlichkeit movement also influenced Norwegian photography. With the rise of photojournalism, the ethnological legacy of Norwegian photography gave rise to a growing interest in making social and political commentary through the camera.
In 1971, the first photographic work (by Kåre Kivijärvi) was accepted at the prestigious Autumn Exhibition in Oslo, marking the widespread acceptance of photography as an art form.
Efforts to preserve photographic works in Norway is coordinated through the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, has been made the responsibility of the Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority, the Preus Museum, and the National Library of Norway. Archives are funded through the Norwegian Cultural Council, public funding of related topical areas, and revenue generated by reproductions and other services.
In 1928, the first initiative to create a national photographic archive was started through the formation of an iconographic commission. This was initially intended as a means to preserve historical visual records, but over time the interest increased in photographic archives that also preserved the craft, art, and technology of photography.
In addition to central archives in the National Library's facilities and at the Preus Museum, there are 25 regional archives, organized by counties. A number of local libraries, museums, and other institutions also maintain photography archives.
Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of creating an image rather than simply recording it. Typically, a pictorial photograph appears to lack a sharp focus, is printed in one or more colors other than black-and-white and may have visible brush strokes or other manipulation of the surface. For the pictorialist, a photograph, like a painting, drawing or engraving, was a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewer's realm of imagination.
Edward Jean Steichen was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography.
Henry Peach Robinson was an English pictorialist photographer best known for his pioneering combination printing - joining multiple negatives or prints to form a single image; an early example of photomontage. He joined vigorously in contemporary debates in the photographic press and associations about the legitimacy of 'art photography' and in particular the combining of separate images into one.
The culture of Norway is closely linked to the country's history and geography. The unique Norwegian farm culture, sustained to this day, has resulted not only from scarce resources and a harsh climate but also from ancient property laws. In the 19th century, it brought about a strong romantic nationalistic movement, which is still visible in the Norwegian language and media. In the 19th century, Norwegian culture blossomed as efforts continued to achieve an independent identity in the areas of literature, art and music. This continues today in the performing arts and as a result of government support for exhibitions, cultural projects and artwork.
Norsk Folkemuseum, at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large open-air museum with more than 150 buildings, relocated from towns and rural districts.
Laura Gilpin was an American photographer.
Hugo van Wadenoyen was a British photographer, of Dutch origins. He lived in Cheltenham, England, and was an influential figure in the long drawn-out genesis of British fine art photography, especially between 1945 and 1965.
Anders Beer Wilse was a Norwegian photographer who documented Norway in the early to mid-20th century and also worked in the United States.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to photography:
Axel Theodor Lindahl was a Swedish photographer notable for his early photography of Norwegian landscapes.
The pioneers of photography in the Philippines were Western photographers, mostly from Europe. The practice of taking photographs and the opening of the first photo studios in Spanish Philippines, from the 1840s to the 1890s, were driven by the following reasons: photographs were used as a medium of news and information about the colony, as a tool for tourism, as an fork anthropology, as a means for asserting social status, as an implement for historical documentation, as a team for communication, as materials for propaganda, and as a source of ideas for illustrations and engravings. The practice of photography in the Philippines was not without the influence and influx of Western-art concepts into the colonized archipelago.
Alma Ruth Lavenson was an American photographer active in the 1920s and 1930s. She worked with and was a close friend of Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and other photographic masters of the period.
In Denmark, photography has developed from strong participation and interest in the very beginnings of the art in 1839 to the success of a considerable number of Danes in the world of photography today.
Anne Helene Gjelstad is a Norwegian photographer and fashion designer. As a photographer, she mainly works with portraits, fashion and documentary, but also with interiors, products and lifestyle.
Fred Robert Archer, was an American photographer who collaborated with Ansel Adams to create the Zone System. He was a portrait photographer, specializing early in his career in portraits of Hollywood movie stars. He was associated with the artistic trend in photography known as pictorialism. He later became a photography teacher, and ran his own photography school for many years.
Alfred Horsley Hinton was an English landscape photographer, best known for his work in the pictorialist movement in the 1890s and early 1900s. As an original member of the Linked Ring and editor of The Amateur Photographer, he was one of the movement's staunchest advocates. Hinton wrote nearly a dozen books on photographic technique, and his photographs were exhibited at expositions throughout Europe and North America.
José Ortiz-Echagüe was a Spanish entrepreneur, industrial and military engineer, pilot and photographer, founder of Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and Honorary lifetime President of SEAT. He was also nominated Gentilhombre de cámara con ejercicio during the reign of the King of Spain Alfonso XIII.
Robert Meyer is a Norwegian art photographer, professor, photo historian, collector, writer and publicist. He is the son of journalist Robert Castberg Meyer and homemaker Edel Nielsen; and brother of the industrial designer Terje Meyer.
Morten Qvale is a Norwegian fashion, commercial and art photographer. He has been shooting professionally since 1986. He lives and works in the Oslo area.
Marie Høeg was a Norwegian photographer and suffragist. Høeg's published work was traditional in nature, while her private photography, including images of and created with her partner, Bolette Berg, challenged ideas of gender. She was the founder of the Horten Discussion Association, which is still active today. Høeg also started the Horten Branch of the National Association for Women's Right to Vote, the Horten Women's Council and the Horten Tuberculosis Association.