<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/brady.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3615 aligncenter" alt="brady" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/brady-300x168.jpg" width="300" height="168" /></a>"Photograph by Alexander Gardner. <em>Dead at Antietam.</em> October 1862"</p>
From the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, art was an excellent way to portray wars and inventions around the world. Painting showed how artists viewed events, and it successfully could appeal to and shaped how people felt about the world around them. However, beginning in 1835, art had experienced a new rival in terms of picture taking. Photography became popular in the United States and Europe, and this concept brought to the world a more vivid grasp of Realism. By the mid-nineteenth century, people worldwide thought that the camera was an amazing tool. People took photos of geographical icons and monuments. Wars were also a major interest, which inspired photographer Matthew Brady to take a collection of Civil War photographs. One of these photographs was Dead at Antietam, which was part of the Civil War collection of the Battle of Antietam in 1863. When these photographs were shown to people, the people got a true essence of what war was like during this time period, as witnessed by photographers. The work Dead at Antietam by Matthew Brady should be restored because people who enjoy photography would be very interested in learning about its origins.<!--more--><br><br>
Brady’s Battle of Antietam series, including Death at Antietam, were innovative of the nineteenth century because this is the first time in history that people experienced the horrific life of war. Seeing realistic vivid footage of war was extremely alarming to people as well as influential. On the bright side, this new concept of photography allowed Civil War soldiers and families to see pictures of each other. It also served a method of communication between the home and war fronts so all Americans could see what was going on with their loved ones. Thanks to photography, mothers and children of soldiers got a big picture of the tragic and bloody events of the American Civil War.<br><br>
Unlike art, which did not portray Realism, photography had people frightened about the massive shootings in the North. The American Civil War was the first war to be shown in photographs instead of canvas art. People across America were enlightened by photography, especially Civil War soldiers, who had a great opportunity of connecting with their families. On the war front, soldiers had professional photographs sent home thanks to portrait studios being established on army campsites. Americans were thankful for these photos because they never knew if their loved ones would return home again. With realistic pictorial images, photography was a source of visual information across the United States that was helpful in keeping families together.<br><br>
In the era of the twenty-first century, Brady’s photographs have travelled all across the United States. Museums such as the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the National Civil War Medicine. At the Smithsonian, portraits of Civil War Union soldiers are currently on display. At the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, the Antietam series has been recreated and put on display. To this day, Brady’s portraits have been a liking to museum scholars alike as well as museum patrons.<br><br>
Brady’s work has sparked my interests because I knew very little about photography’s origins, nor did I know that war was a big interest to early photographers. I was impressed how early cameras took extraordinary photographs. Also, I found amazing how much these photographs how big of an impact these photographs had on families on the home front. One thing I did not appreciate so much is the fact that Brady was credited for fellow co-photographer Alexander Gardener’s work. I believe that Gardener should have received credit because he had taken most of the photos. If I was Brady, I would have given Gardner full credit for his work and praised him for taking the photographs for me.
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While the debut of taking war photographs occurred during the Civil War, the concept of showing war on television first appeared during the Vietnam War. This televised war had a big impact on families across the United States for ten years because these families ate dinner and watched soldiers being killed. Like Brady’s Civil War photographs, people were disturbed by the sights of the shootings. Having the ability of witnessing moving pictures and sounds, people became increasingly terrified of watching the evening news. Due to television, the Vietnam War was more frightening than the Civil War because of the effect of moving pictures.
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The Tet Offensive became the most controversial massacre to be shown on television. People no longer trusted President Lyndon B. Johnson when they saw North Vietnam launching an attack on the United States in Saigon. The evening news had a major effect visually on people as the Vietnam War was the primary news focus on television. In comparison with Brady’s photographs, the Vietnam War television sights were frightening to people in this time period. These two visual sources were successful as they portrayed these wars to Americans by stirring horrific emotions.
The photographs by Matthew Brady, especially the Battle of Antietam series, should be restored because I believe learning what the first photographers were interested in may be of interest to people. I think the origins of photography are interesting to learn about because many people like me do not know how photography was invented. For a fact, I am definitely one of those people who found the history of photography to be of great interest. Along with Brady’s Antietam photographs, I think that the stories of the reactions of people and families of soldiers should be restored as well. These people’s stories would provide a good prospective of how they reacted when they viewed these photos for the first time. I enjoyed learning about Matthew Brady as well as the history of photography. As a student, my overall reaction was outstanding when I found out what a large impact on Civil War families. These portraits should definitely be restored to tell stories about how photography was a huge success in the beginning as well as to tell about the Civil War.

Bibliography:

"Mathew B. Brady." <i>Encyclopedia of World Biography</i>. Detroit: Gale, 1998. <i>World History In Context</i>. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

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Wert, Jeffry D. "Civil War Photography." <i>Civil War Times</i> 45.6 (2006): 7. <i>MasterFILE Premier</i>. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

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"Civil War Photography." <i>www.fofweb.com</i>. American History Online, Web. 20 Oct. 2013.