About famous photographer - Research Paper Example

He started working with Mathew Brady after making contacts with him, for six years. Brady’s eyes developed problems and failed him; therefore Alexander had to do most of the work. Gardner was then given the role of being in charge of the Brady’s gallery in 1856. During the elections which made Abraham Lincoln the American president, and war that came after the elections, Gardner was keen on capturing all the photographs. He took pictures of soldiers going to war and all the photographs of the civil war.

Gardner wanted to deliver Brady’s ideas to Lincoln so he initiated a relationship with Allan Pinkerton, who headed an intelligence operation. Gardner was then made the chief photographer by Allan. After this job, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, General George B. McClellan, appointed Gardner the staff photographer. This appointment then ended Gardner’s job as the manager of Brady’s gallery. Alexander Gardner took photographs of the battle of Antietam and was then given the rank of captain in 1962.

He later lost his job as chief army photographer, after McClellan was dismissed by Lincoln from command of the Potomac Army. This was also the time when Gardner ended his working relationship with Brady. The main reason why Gardner terminated his working relationship with Brady was because Brady always attributed the work of Gardner as “photographed by Brady”. This gave more credit to Brady and very little recognition for Gardner. Later during that winter, Alexander Gardner went with Ambrose Burnside to the Battle of Fredericksburg to take photographs of the battle.

His historic photographs during that battle explained the pain that the soldiers went though. Gardner started a studio with his brother in 1963, in Washington D C, where he employed most of the people who worked for Brady. He then took photographs of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 and the Siege of Petersburg in 1864-1865. The Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, which contained two volumes, was published but it did not sell as expected. Some of the photographs in the book were not taken by Gardner.

He owned the studio so all the work produced was credited to him. Gardener had taken photographs of Lincoln as well as his conspirators in his assassination. He took ten photographs during the hanging of the men who conspired to assassinate Lincoln. The first photograph was of the soldiers and reporters who were gathered to witness the execution. In this photograph, guards together with the prisoners are seen at the platform. Three conspirators are seated while one is standing. The third photograph showed General Hartranft as he was reading the order of execution to the people assembled as well as the prisoners.

The fourth photograph showed the ministers praying for the prisoners who would be executed. The fifth photograph was of the prisoners being tied to the ropes and the crowd is still gathered. In the sixth photograph, Gardner captured the prisoners’ bodies immediately after they were let to drop. This was the moment when the prisoners died. Gardner took two more photographs of the bodies, twenty five minutes later after they were executed. The last two photographs showed the graves that had been dug next to the scaffold, and a rooftop view of the execution, with the bodies still hanging. He took