A History of Photography
A History of Photography
A History of Photography
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Home Page<br />
About this site<br />
Acknowledgements<br />
Bibliography<br />
Museums <strong>of</strong> Interest<br />
Other sites<br />
R P S<br />
About the Author<br />
How <strong>Photography</strong> Began<br />
Significant People: A-D<br />
Significant People: E-H<br />
Significant People: I-M<br />
Significant People: N-S<br />
Significant People: T-Z<br />
Significant Processes<br />
Awards/recommendations<br />
E-mails to the author<br />
A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Photography</strong><br />
from its beginnings till the 1920s<br />
by<br />
Dr. Robert Leggat MA M.Ed Ph.D. FRPS FRSA<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1995<br />
Visits since 1st December '95
A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
From its beginnings till the 1920s<br />
Introductory remarks<br />
This is not designed to be a course on the history <strong>of</strong> photography such as a resource to<br />
dip into. In addition to pen-portraits <strong>of</strong> many <strong>of</strong> the most important photographers <strong>of</strong><br />
the period, it contains information on some <strong>of</strong> the most significant processes used<br />
during the early days <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
The project was confined to the first eighty years or so, as this is <strong>of</strong>ten a convenient cut<strong>of</strong>f<br />
point in books and when dividing courses into a syllabus. To some extent this has<br />
been a frustration, in that there have been many important developments and many<br />
interesting photographers who practised during and subsequent to that date. It is<br />
hoped that a sequel will be forthcoming in due course.<br />
This work is intended to be <strong>of</strong> general interest, but it may also be a useful starting-<strong>of</strong>f<br />
point for students preparing for courses which include brief study <strong>of</strong> the history <strong>of</strong><br />
photography.<br />
The site will be revised regularly in the light <strong>of</strong> feedback and further study.<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br />
Many people have freely given <strong>of</strong> their advice in the making <strong>of</strong> this resource. In<br />
particular I would wish to thank the following:<br />
* Kenneth Warr, Hon.FRPS, former Secretary <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society. No<br />
single person within the Society has ever provided me with the same measure <strong>of</strong><br />
support and encouragement as he has, over very many years. It was he who first gave<br />
me the opportunity to come on to the Society's Council and ultimately become its<br />
Education Officer, and I owe him a deep debt <strong>of</strong> gratitude for his help in so many areas.<br />
* Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Margaret Harker, Hon.FRPS, and the late Arthur Gill Hon.FRPS, both experts<br />
in this area, whose enthusiasm and expertise made the history <strong>of</strong> photography come<br />
alive to the author.<br />
Other people to whom I am indebted include Pam Roberts, Curator <strong>of</strong> the Royal<br />
Photographic Society, Tirath Bhavra, Colin Harding, Michael Harvey, Richard Morris<br />
FRPS, Dr. Amanda Nevill, FRPS, Colin Osman, Hon.FRPS, Valerie Lloyd, FRPS, Michael<br />
Langford, Hon. FRPS, Frank Hawkins, HMI, FRPS, Michael Pritchard, FRPS and Dr. Larry<br />
Schaaf. Matt Skipp also deserves a mention; I used to work in his photographic shop in<br />
the holidays, learned a great deal, and developed a fascination for the art.<br />
Much <strong>of</strong> the detail about the early history <strong>of</strong> the Society comes from the painstaking<br />
work <strong>of</strong> the late J. Dudley Johnston Hon. FRPS.<br />
All inaccuracies and omissions, <strong>of</strong> course, are solely mine! Readers are invited to write<br />
to me in relation to any amendments and/or additions to be taken into consideration in<br />
future revisions.<br />
Robert Leggat can be contacted at photohistory@rleggat.com<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
JOHNSTON, J. Dudley<br />
b. 1868; d. 1955<br />
Dudley Johnston was a man <strong>of</strong> many parts. A student <strong>of</strong> music, at one point he became director <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Liverpool Philharmonic Society. He became a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring in 1907. Twice President <strong>of</strong><br />
the Royal Photographic Society, he was instrumental in creating the Permanent Collection <strong>of</strong><br />
photographs and equipment, and he later became Curator <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society's print<br />
collection. He was later awarded the OBE for his services to photography.<br />
He was a pictorialist, specialising in landscapes, and originally worked on gum-bichromate, and platinum<br />
prints.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Emails to the author<br />
Since I placed this work on the Internet back in December 1995 I responded to all<br />
requests for additional help. However, earlier this year I began to realise that I was<br />
receiving, at times, as many as thirty emails a day, and the pressure has begun to take<br />
its toll!<br />
There are several reasons why I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I would be<br />
unable to continue. First, though I had made it clear that I was not qualified to value or<br />
comment upon collections others may have, these queries kept on coming relentlessly.<br />
Secondly, it was becoming all too easy for school students to expect me to do their<br />
research for them, or to complete sometimes quite meaningless questionnaires, and<br />
when a particularly abusive e-mail was received from a pupil in California I decided that<br />
this was enough! Finally, it seems to make sense for me to spend what time I have<br />
revising and adding to the work.<br />
Most questions, for what it is worth, are already answered in the body <strong>of</strong> the work, and<br />
<strong>of</strong> the remainder, most answers are readily obtainable from standard books or from<br />
libraries. I say this because I have received several emails saying something like this:<br />
"I'm 14 years old and am very interested in photography. I have not yet read anything<br />
about it, and would be very grateful for any info. anyone may have that will help me."<br />
This work can most certainly be used as a reference, but not as a substitute for work!<br />
The guestbook remains open for general comments but for the time being I regret that<br />
I am unable to attend to any requests for additional information. I do hope that readers<br />
will understand!<br />
info@rleggat.com<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001.<br />
Last updated undefined
BIBLIOGRAPHY, A select<br />
Bibliographies can <strong>of</strong>ten be daunting! This is a very brief selection <strong>of</strong> books which may be useful for<br />
those studying the history <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Further advice could be sought from The Royal Photographic Society, The Octagon, BATH, Avon,<br />
England.<br />
This Society also has a thriving Historical Group to which most <strong>of</strong> the leading photographic historians<br />
belong; one does not need to be an expert to belong to this group, and will find that there are many<br />
who are only too willing to share their knowledge and expertise.<br />
1. To get one started:<br />
For those studying photography for GCSE, GCE "A" levels or the City & Guilds 9231<br />
examination, the following are particularly recommended:<br />
Beaton, Cecil, and Buckland, Gay. The Magic Image: The genius <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> from<br />
1839 to the Present Day. London: Pavilion Books, 1989<br />
Gernsheim, Helmut. The Concise <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>: Thames & Hudson, 1986<br />
Langford, Michael. The Story <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. Focal Press, 1980. A concise and<br />
interestingly written book.<br />
Newhall, Beaumont. The <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> from 1839 to the Present. Secker and<br />
Warburg, 1986<br />
2. For more detailed study:<br />
Brewster, David. The Stereoscope, its history, theory and construction: John Murray,<br />
1856, facsimile published by Morgan and Morgan<br />
Buckland, Gail. Reality Recorded: Early Documentary <strong>Photography</strong>. New York Graphic<br />
Society<br />
Coe, Brian. Cameras: From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures. Crown Publishers 1978<br />
Coe, Brian. The Birth <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. London: Ash and Grant<br />
Coke, Van Deren. The Painter and the Photographer, From Delacroix to Warhol.<br />
University <strong>of</strong> New Mexico Press<br />
Daval, Jean-Luc. <strong>Photography</strong>: <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> an Art. New York: Rizzoli International<br />
Publications<br />
Eder, Josf Maria. <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. Dover Publications, 1945.<br />
Long out <strong>of</strong> print, this is a fascinating and comprehensive account <strong>of</strong> the technical
developments <strong>of</strong> photography up to 1900.<br />
Emerson, Peter Henry: Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong> for Students <strong>of</strong> the Art (1899)<br />
Reprinted Arno Press<br />
Fabian, Ranier et al. Masters <strong>of</strong> Early Travel <strong>Photography</strong>. Vendome Press<br />
Ford, Colin (ed) An Early Victorian Album: The Photographic Masterpieces (1843-47) <strong>of</strong><br />
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. New York: Alfred Knopf<br />
Gernsheim, Helmut and Alison. The <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. New York: McGraw Hill<br />
Gernsheim, Helmut. Julia Margaret Cameron: Pioneer <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. Aperture<br />
Goodridge, L et al. The Face <strong>of</strong> China as Seen by Photographers and Travellers, 1860-<br />
1912. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture<br />
Hannavy, John. Roger Fenton <strong>of</strong> Crimble Hall. Boston: David Godine<br />
Hannavy, John : Fox Talbot. Shire Publications<br />
Harker, Margaret. The Linked Ring: The Secession Movement in <strong>Photography</strong> in Britain.<br />
Heineman<br />
Hercock, R, and Jones, G: Silver by the Ton: A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> Ilford Limited 1879-1979.<br />
McGraw-Hill<br />
Hirsch, Robert: Seizing the Light - a <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> photography. McGraw-Hill, 2000, ISBN 0-<br />
697-14361-9<br />
Hopkinson, Tom. Treasures <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society, 1839-1919. Focal Press<br />
Jay, Bill. Robert Demachy; 1859-1936: Photographs and Essays. Academy Edition.<br />
Jay, Bill. Bernard Shaw on <strong>Photography</strong>: Equation, Wellingborough<br />
Jay, Bill. Victorian Cameraman: Francis Frith's views <strong>of</strong> rural England, 1850-1898.<br />
David & Charles<br />
Jones, Edgar. Father <strong>of</strong> Art <strong>Photography</strong>, O.G.Rejlander 1813- 1875. New York Graphic<br />
Society<br />
Lloyd, Valerie. <strong>Photography</strong>: the first eighty years: Colnaghi, London<br />
Martin, Elizabeth. Collecting and Preserving old photographs. Collins<br />
Newhall, Beaumont. Latent Image: The Discovery <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. Doubleday<br />
Newhall, Beaumont (ed). <strong>Photography</strong>: Essays and Images. Museum <strong>of</strong> Modern Art,<br />
USA<br />
Pollack, Peter. Picture <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. New York: Harry Abrams<br />
Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements <strong>of</strong> New York
(1890). Reprinted New York: Dover Publications<br />
Rosenblum, Naomi. A World <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> (1997) Third Edition. Aberville<br />
Press<br />
Sharf, Aaron. Art and <strong>Photography</strong>. Allen Lane<br />
Sharf, Aaron. Pioneers <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. Harry Abrams<br />
Thomas, David B. The First Negatives. London: HMSO, 1964<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
MUSEUMS <strong>of</strong> photographic interest<br />
There is nothing quite like seeing the real thing! The following are a few <strong>of</strong> the major museums which<br />
display equipment and/or images relating to the history <strong>of</strong> photography;<br />
Bath, Avon: The Royal Photographic Society Museum<br />
Since writing this work, the Royal Photographic Society has passed on the contents <strong>of</strong><br />
its vast treasure to the National Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, Film and Television in<br />
Bradford. In the hands <strong>of</strong> an organisation better equipped to display and store the<br />
equipment and works <strong>of</strong> art, it will at long last mean that the many items donated to<br />
the Society over many years will become unlocked, and more generally available to<br />
people who are interested in the history <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Birmingham: The Reference Library<br />
Bradford, Yorkshire: National Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, Film and Television<br />
This Museum also incoprporates the vast collection <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society.<br />
Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery<br />
Edinburgh: Public Library<br />
Guildford, Surrey: The Guildford Museum (pictures by Lewis Carroll)<br />
London: The Victoria and Albert Museum<br />
London: The Science Museum<br />
London: MOMI (The Museum <strong>of</strong> the Moving Image)<br />
London: The Imperial War Museum<br />
London: Kingston-on-Thames Public Library<br />
Manchester: The Northwest Museum <strong>of</strong> Science and Technology<br />
Oxford: Museum <strong>of</strong> the <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> Science<br />
Lacock, Avon: The Fox Talbot Museum<br />
Edinburgh: The Royal Scottish Museum
© Robert Leggat, 2001<br />
Last updated undefined
Other sites<br />
Since this site came on to the Net there have been many excellent sites put up - too<br />
many to list! The best search engine at the moment, in my view, is "Google", hence it is<br />
the first item listed here. Others are cited either because they came up during surfing,<br />
or because they have been recommended.<br />
Search for <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> on<br />
"Google"<br />
<strong>Photography</strong> in Edinburgh<br />
American Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
Magic lanterns<br />
Stereo views <strong>of</strong> 19c.
Fodors<br />
Hints on various aspects<br />
<strong>of</strong> photography<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
The Royal Photographic Society today<br />
The Photographic Society was founded very soon after photography was discovered, and amongst its<br />
membership can boast the names <strong>of</strong> several <strong>of</strong> the pioneers in the craft. (See The Photographic<br />
Society) Its patron is HM The Queen.<br />
The RPS currently has over ten thousand members all over the world, and continues to enjoy<br />
prestige as the world's leading photographic Society.<br />
With such a diverse membership controversy and hotly argued opposing opinions remain a sign <strong>of</strong> a<br />
healthy, democratic body, and meetings <strong>of</strong> Council can still have the heated debate that was<br />
characteristic a hundred years ago. Indeed, just occasionally even the same issues and party<br />
fragmentation can rear their ugly heads!<br />
But it is a very different Society even from from what it was even as recently as the early seventies,<br />
when members <strong>of</strong> Council attended meetings in "proper dress". In the mid seventies the author was<br />
invited, along with some others, to join the membership <strong>of</strong> Council, and remembers being advised by<br />
the then President that it was not quite the done thing to speak at Council meetings until one had<br />
been there some time! Now, Council meetings are a very different matter!<br />
The Society occupied premises in various parts <strong>of</strong> London until 1980, when it moved to its new<br />
headquarters in Bath. Since then its activities have expanded enormously, as has its influence. It has<br />
regular exhibitions at Bath, and a full programme <strong>of</strong> events all over the United Kingdom. The<br />
Society's Photographic Journal has been published regularly since the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Though the Society owns many priceless treasures relating to the history <strong>of</strong> photography, this aspect<br />
has always been a drain on its resources. The entire collection in in the process <strong>of</strong> being moved to<br />
the National Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> Film and Television in Bradford. This positive move will enable<br />
the Museum to do what it does best, and also allow the Society to concentrate upon its educational<br />
activities.<br />
As part <strong>of</strong> its strategy to encourage high standards, the Society awards distinctions to members who<br />
are able to produce evidence <strong>of</strong> outstanding ability in any major branch <strong>of</strong> photography. These<br />
distinctions are the Licentiateship (LRPS), Associateship (ARPS) and Fellow (FRPS), the latter being<br />
the highest. These distinctions are much valued throughout the world, and though members are<br />
encouraged to work towards these distinctions, they are not awarded lightly.<br />
The Society (or RPS as it is more generally known) has fifteen groups catering for specialised<br />
interests, which any member may join. Of particular interest to users <strong>of</strong> these pages may be the<br />
Society's Historical Group, which has amongst its membership distinguished photographic historians.<br />
For anyone who has an interest in photography, membership is highly recommended. One does not<br />
have to be an expert; in fact, we have a large number for whom photography is still very much a<br />
new avenue to explore. Nor does one need to be resident in England - a great number <strong>of</strong> members<br />
are overseas.<br />
The RPS is on the web. See The RPS page<br />
or e-mail the Secretary General: RPS Centre for further details.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.
The origins <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society<br />
Though there had been previous attempts to form a society bringing photographers together, it was<br />
not until the Great Exhibition <strong>of</strong> 1851 that the idea began to catch on. The following year, on 22<br />
December, a souree was held at the Royal Society <strong>of</strong> Arts, London, at which some seven hundred or<br />
so photographs were displayed, including pictures by Roger Fenton (Highgate Cemetery), Delamotte<br />
(The Great Exhibition), Du Camp (View, Nubia), and Fox Talbot (The Haystack). It was on this<br />
occasion that Fenton proposed the foundation <strong>of</strong> a photographic Society.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the obstacles to the development <strong>of</strong> photography had been Fox Talbot's patent<br />
enforcements. Negotiations had been taking place behind the scenes, and by this time Fox Talbot<br />
had agreed to give a free licence to every member <strong>of</strong> the Society to practise, on the clear condition<br />
that they did not trade in the art. (See Talbot and patents.)<br />
The following month, on 20 January, a public meeting was held at the Royal Society <strong>of</strong> Arts, and it<br />
was agreed to form a "Photographic Society." Fox Talbot had been asked to become its first<br />
President, but when he declined, Sir Charles Eastlake, then President <strong>of</strong> the Royal Academy,<br />
accepted the invitation, and the Society's first secretary was Roger Fenton. The Society's aims were<br />
spelled out in the first edition <strong>of</strong> its Journal, published 3 March 1853:<br />
The object <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society is the promotion <strong>of</strong> the Art and Science <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Photography</strong>, by the interchange <strong>of</strong> thought and experience among Photographers,<br />
and it is hoped that this object may, to some considerable extent, be effected by the<br />
periodical meetings <strong>of</strong> the Society."<br />
Six months later Sir Charles Eastlake announced that Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert<br />
had graciously consented to be the Society's first patrons. Both had a keen interest in photography<br />
from the start, and The Times for 22 March 1842 describes a visit paid by Prince Albert to Beard's<br />
institution, commenting that "he ... expressed himself much gratified with what he saw."<br />
By the end <strong>of</strong> the first year, the Society's membership totaled 370, and the Journal was proving an<br />
outstanding success, four thousand copies being printed each month.<br />
In 1894 the Queen granted the title <strong>of</strong> "Royal" to the Society. The Society has ever since been<br />
encouraged by the Royal Family, and the Queen is the current patron.<br />
A major development occurred during the presidency <strong>of</strong> J. Dudley Johnston, who created and<br />
developed the Society's Permanent Collection <strong>of</strong> equipment and photographs. This, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
largest in the world, includes many <strong>of</strong> the original prints, negatives, transparencies and equipment -<br />
a collection which is priceless.<br />
The RPS over its long history has had to adapt to changing times. Some <strong>of</strong> its earliest concerns (for<br />
example, the "Fading Committee", chaired by Fenton, and later its "Collodion Committee") may seem<br />
quaint, but were very real issues at the time.<br />
The RPS has always been the butt <strong>of</strong> criticism, as indeed does any organisation whose membership<br />
is so diverse, and which straddles both the scientific and the artistic dimensions <strong>of</strong> its sphere <strong>of</strong><br />
activities. Striking a balance is almost impossible. Strictly speaking, as the first edition <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Journal shows, the aim <strong>of</strong> the Society was to be "the promotion <strong>of</strong> the Art and Science <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Photography</strong>." However, one <strong>of</strong> the first Presidents, Sir Frederick Pollock, clearly had other<br />
priorities; at the AGM in 1856 he questioned whether it ought to be an art:<br />
"...the real name <strong>of</strong> photography is that it is a practical science."<br />
He was succeeded by a photographic chemist and the next President Sir William Abney who at his<br />
inaugural address had said quite unequivocally:<br />
"One <strong>of</strong> the main objects, I should say the main object <strong>of</strong> the Society, must be to<br />
encourage the scientific aspect <strong>of</strong> photography..... stick to science though the art<br />
critics denounce.."<br />
One needs to take into account the fact that photography was very much at its infancy; the process<br />
was by no means easy, the chemicals used were <strong>of</strong>ten dangerous, and if photography was to<br />
flourish in the future, it was inevitable that the scientific aspects would be very much in the<br />
forefront <strong>of</strong> one's thinking. Herein lay the tension - one that has never been totally resolved, for<br />
even now an innocent question as to whether photography is an art or a science can almost be<br />
guaranteed to evoke some very heated and passionate debate!<br />
However, in the 1880s the feeling was growing that it had become too much centred round scientific
aspects, and out <strong>of</strong> this grew the Linked Ring. Only a few years later, George Bernard Shaw, in a<br />
playful mood, was suggesting that the Society was now becoming slightly paranoiac:<br />
"the Royal Photographic Society mixes up optics and fine art, trade and science, in a<br />
way that occasionally upsets the critical indigestion.....<br />
To add to the muddle, the R.P.S. has been so effectually laughed out <strong>of</strong> its old notion<br />
that photographs are to be esteemed according to certain technical conditions in the<br />
negative, that it has now arrived at the conclusion that a pictorial photograph is one<br />
in which the focusing and the exposure are put wrong on purpose. Consequently.... it<br />
is afraid to give a medal to any picture that does not look more or less mildewed, lest<br />
it be ridiculed for Philistinism. And whenever it gets a photograph which in its secret<br />
soul it thinks very good, it is ashamed to say so, and puts it in the "pr<strong>of</strong>essional"<br />
section. As it happens, the object <strong>of</strong> this guilty admiration sometimes is very good.<br />
And sometimes the fuzzygraph which the Society puts in the pictorial section because<br />
it privately thinks it very bad is very bad. Thus, whenever the poor Society happens<br />
to be right, it makes the judicious laugh - exactly what it outrages its conscience to<br />
avoid..."<br />
(Article in Amateur Photographer, October 16, 1902)<br />
During this period there was a (sometimes not so friendly) rivalry between the Linked Ring and the<br />
Society, both groups proclaiming their own virtues and making side-swipes at the "opposition". But<br />
attitudes were beginning to change, and perhaps the RPS was beginning to have second thoughts.<br />
In its exhibition <strong>of</strong> 1903 the RPS included an "Invitation Loan Section". The Amateur Photographer<br />
for September 17, 1903, in an article entitled "The Photographic Salon <strong>of</strong> 1903" suggested that this<br />
"was calculated to injure the Salon and rob it os its distinguishing characteristics.."<br />
In the somewhat verbose style <strong>of</strong> the day it continued:<br />
"One point appears to have been generally overlooked, and my not be appreciated by<br />
those <strong>of</strong> our readers who do not remember the beginning <strong>of</strong> the Salon and the early<br />
years <strong>of</strong> its existence, when it struggled against the antagonism and contempt ...<br />
which were openly <strong>of</strong>fered by those who rightly or wrongly posed as the responsible<br />
representatives <strong>of</strong> the opinions <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society members: these<br />
same "representatives," or some <strong>of</strong> them and their friends, seeing that the tide <strong>of</strong><br />
public opinion is largely with the newer movement for which the Salon stands, now<br />
conceive the not very sportsmanlike idea <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>iting by all that they before<br />
repudiated, and would gather the public shillings at the turnstile by exhibiting the pick<br />
<strong>of</strong> the very work which before they ridiculed and condemned, a course which we<br />
venture to think is not quite fair play."<br />
The Society's deliberations are faithfully reported in the Journal <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, a<br />
Journal that has been printed continuously up to the present day and copies <strong>of</strong> which are in the<br />
Society's Library. Those seen by the author reflect the preoccupation with the scientific processes in<br />
the early days, and in some cases the jockeying for position within the Society, and fierce<br />
argument, that still exists today! There is, for example, a record <strong>of</strong> a fairly long meeting in<br />
December 1858, when a Mr. Pouncey was earnestly arguing in favour <strong>of</strong> his carbon process. The<br />
meeting is reported in over four columns <strong>of</strong> very small type, describing a heated exchange between<br />
Mr. Pouncey and a Mr. Maloney, at the end <strong>of</strong> which it reads<br />
"Mr. Pouncey was about to proceed when Mr. Bedford said - As this is an interesting<br />
discussion and it is getting late, I propose that it be adjourned to another evening.<br />
Mr. Thurston Thompson, just newly elected to the Council, immediately seconded the proposition<br />
and a doubtless exhausted audience were allowed to return to their homes!<br />
The Royal Photographic Society today.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1996.
A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
From its beginnings till the 1920s<br />
by<br />
Robert Leggat MA, M.Ed., Ph.D., FRPS, FRSA<br />
Robert Leggat first began photography at the age <strong>of</strong> eight. He still remembers the excitement when<br />
his first pictures emerged - only two out <strong>of</strong> twelve - and still finds it exciting when a print begins to<br />
appear in the developing dish!<br />
He trained as a teacher at Westminster College, Oxford, and it was there that he became increasingly<br />
interested in the potential <strong>of</strong> photography in education, both as a subject in its own right, and as a<br />
tool for teachers and pupils. In 1969 he moved into higher education, training and providing inservice<br />
provision for teachers. In 1992 he left his post as Head <strong>of</strong> Educational Technology to become<br />
involved in CD-ROMs and in work connected with the Internet.<br />
His book "<strong>Photography</strong> in school: a guide for teachers", published by Argus Press, was well received<br />
in the teaching pr<strong>of</strong>ession, and inspired him to become involved in examinations in photography. He<br />
was an examiner for "O" and "A" level photography for a number <strong>of</strong> years, and served on the<br />
moderating committees <strong>of</strong> the Associated Examining Board (AEB), then the only organisation <strong>of</strong>fering<br />
examinations in photography for school pupils. More recently he was intimately involved in setting up<br />
the City & Guilds "9231" photography scheme, intended specifically for non-pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
photographers who wish to improve their technique.<br />
He joined the Royal Photographic Society in the early seventies, where he received much<br />
encouragement and support from the then Secretary <strong>of</strong> the Society, Kenneth Warr, Hon. FRPS. He<br />
admits that at first he had little interest in the history <strong>of</strong> photography. "Loads <strong>of</strong> boring equipment<br />
and faded pictures" he concluded. That was, until 1975, when he attended a lecture given by<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Margaret Harker. This kindled his enthusiasm, and he has since spent many hours browsing<br />
through the extensive collection held by the Royal Photographic Society.<br />
Dr. Leggat has always had a commitment to encouraging photography amongst young people. He<br />
was Hon. Education Officer <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society for ten years, served on the Society's<br />
Council for some fifteen, and on its Executive for four. He was also former Chairman <strong>of</strong> the Society's<br />
Committee which receives and evaluates applications for Associateship and Fellowship in the<br />
<strong>Photography</strong> in Education category.<br />
A long-serving supporter <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society, he would encourage anyone with an<br />
interest in photography to become a member.<br />
T.B. 1999<br />
Back to the top page<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
BEGINNINGS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, The<br />
First, the name. We owe the name "<strong>Photography</strong>" to Sir John Herschel , who first used the term in<br />
1839, the year the photographic process became public. (*1) The word is derived from the Greek<br />
words for light and writing.<br />
Before mentioning the stages that led to the development <strong>of</strong> photography, there is one amazing,<br />
quite uncanny prediction made by a man called de la Roche (1729- 1774) in a work called<br />
Giphantie. In this imaginary tale, it was possible to capture images from nature, on a canvas which<br />
had been coated with a sticky substance. This surface, so the tale goes, would not only provide a<br />
mirror image on the sticky canvas, but would remain on it. After it had been dried in the dark the<br />
image would remain permanent. The author would not have known how prophetic this tale would<br />
be, only a few decades after his death.<br />
There are two distinct scientific processes that combine to make photography possible. It is<br />
somewhat surprising that photography was not invented earlier than the 1830s, because these<br />
processes had been known for quite some time. It was not until the two distinct scientific processes<br />
had been put together that photography came into being.<br />
The first <strong>of</strong> these processes was optical. The Camera Obscura (dark room) had been in existence for<br />
at least four hundred years. There is a drawing, dated 1519, <strong>of</strong> a Camera Obscura by Leonardo da<br />
Vinci; about this same period its use as an aid to drawing was being advocated.<br />
The second process was chemical. For hundreds <strong>of</strong> years before photography was invented, people<br />
had been aware, for example, that some colours are bleached in the sun, but they had made little<br />
distinction between heat, air and light.<br />
● In the sixteen hundreds Robert Boyle, a founder <strong>of</strong> the Royal Society, had reported that<br />
silver chloride turned dark under exposure, but he appeared to believe that it was caused by<br />
exposure to the air, rather than to light.<br />
● Angelo Sala, in the early seventeenth century, noticed that powdered nitrate <strong>of</strong> silver is<br />
blackened by the sun.<br />
● In 1727 Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that certain liquids change colour when exposed<br />
to light.<br />
● At the beginning <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century Thomas Wedgwood was conducting experiments;<br />
he had successfully captured images, but his silhouettes could not survive, as there was no<br />
known method <strong>of</strong> making the image permanent.<br />
The first successful picture was produced in June/July 1827 by Niépce, using material that hardened<br />
on exposure to light. This picture required an exposure <strong>of</strong> eight hours.<br />
On 4 January 1829 Niépce agreed to go into partnership with Louis Daguerre . Niépce died only four<br />
years later, but Daguerre continued to experiment. Soon he had discovered a way <strong>of</strong> developing<br />
photographic plates, a process which greatly reduced the exposure time from eight hours down to<br />
half an hour. He also discovered that an image could be made permanent by immersing it in salt.<br />
Following a report on this invention by Paul Delaroche , a leading scholar <strong>of</strong> the day, the French<br />
government bought the rights to it in July 1839. Details <strong>of</strong> the process were made public on 19<br />
August 1839, and Daguerre named it the Daguerreotype.<br />
The announcement that the Daguerreotype "requires no knowledge <strong>of</strong> drawing...." and that "anyone
may succeed.... and perform as well as the author <strong>of</strong> the invention" was greeted with enormous<br />
interest, and "Daguerreomania" became a craze overnight. An interesting account <strong>of</strong> these days is<br />
given by a writer called Gaudin , who was present the day that the announcement was made.<br />
However, not all people welcomed this exciting invention; some pundits viewed in quite sinister<br />
terms. A newspaper report in the Leipzig City Advertiser stated:<br />
"The wish to capture evanescent reflections is not only impossible... but the mere<br />
desire alone, the will to do so, is blasphemy. God created man in His own image, and<br />
no man- made machine may fix the image <strong>of</strong> God. Is it possible that God should have<br />
abandoned His eternal principles, and allowed a Frenchman... to give to the world an<br />
invention <strong>of</strong> the Devil?"<br />
At that time some artists saw in photography a threat to their livelihood (see Artists and<br />
<strong>Photography</strong> ), and some even prophesied that painting would cease to exist.<br />
The Daguerreotype process, though good, was expensive, and each picture was a once-only affair.<br />
That, to many, would not have been regarded as a disadvantage; it meant that the owner <strong>of</strong> the<br />
portrait could be certain that he had a piece <strong>of</strong> art that could not be duplicated. If however two<br />
copies were required, the only way <strong>of</strong> coping with this was to use two cameras side by side. There<br />
was, therefore, a growing need for a means <strong>of</strong> copying pictures which daguerreotypes could never<br />
satisfy.<br />
Different, and in a sense a rival to the Daguerreotype, was the Calotype invented by William Henry<br />
Fox Talbot , which was to provide the answer to that problem. His paper to the Royal Society <strong>of</strong><br />
London, dated 31 January 1839, actually precedes the paper by Daguerre; it was entitled "Some<br />
account <strong>of</strong> the Art <strong>of</strong> Photogenic drawing, or the process by which natural objects may be made to<br />
delineate themselves without the aid <strong>of</strong> the artist's pencil." He wrote:<br />
"How charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint<br />
themselves durably and remain fixed on the paper!"<br />
The earliest paper negative we know <strong>of</strong> was produced in August 1835; it depicts the now famous<br />
window at Lacock Abbey, his home. The negative is small (1" square), and poor in quality,<br />
compared with the striking images produced by the Daguerreotype process. By 1840, however,<br />
Talbot had made some significant improvements, and by 1844 he was able to bring out a<br />
photographically illustrated book entitled "The Pencil <strong>of</strong> nature." (See note HERE).<br />
Compared with Daguerreotypes the quality <strong>of</strong> the early Calotypes was somewhat inferior. (See<br />
comments on Claudet). However, the great advantage <strong>of</strong> Talbot's method was that an unlimited<br />
number <strong>of</strong> positive prints could be made (see also Brewster ). In fact, today's photography is based<br />
on the same principle, whereas by comparison the Daguerreotype, for all its quality, was a blind<br />
alley.<br />
The mushrooming <strong>of</strong> photographic establishments reflects photography's growing popularity; from a<br />
mere handful in the mid 1840s the number had grown to 66 in 1855, and to 147 two years later. In<br />
London, a favourite venue was Regent Street where, in the peak in the mid 'sixties there were no<br />
less than forty-two photographic establishments! In America the growth was just as dramatic: in<br />
1850 there were 77 photographic galleries in New York alone. The demand for photographs was<br />
such that Charles Baudelaire (1826-1867), a well known poet <strong>of</strong> the period and a critic <strong>of</strong> the<br />
medium, commented:
"our squalid society has rushed, Narcissus to a man, to gloat at its trivial image on a<br />
scrap <strong>of</strong> metal."<br />
Talbot's photography was on paper, and inevitably the imperfections <strong>of</strong> the paper were printed<br />
alongside with the image, when a positive was made. Several experimented with glass as a basis for<br />
negatives, but the problem was to make the silver solution stick to the shiny surface <strong>of</strong> the glass. In<br />
1848 a cousin <strong>of</strong> Nicephore Niépce, Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor, perfected a process <strong>of</strong> coating a<br />
glass plate with white <strong>of</strong> egg sensitised with potassium iodide, and washed with an acid solution <strong>of</strong><br />
silver nitrate. This new ( albumen ) process made for very fine detail and much higher quality.<br />
However, it was very slow, hence the fact that photographs produced on this substance were<br />
architecture and landscapes; portraiture was simply not possible.<br />
Progress in this new art was slow in England, compared with other countries. Both Daguerre and Fox<br />
Talbot were partly responsible, the former for having rather slyly placed a patent on his invention<br />
whilst the French government had made it freely available to the world, the latter for his law-suits in<br />
connection with his patents.<br />
In 1851 a new era in photography was introduced by Frederick Scott Archer , who introduced the<br />
Collodion process. This process was much faster than conventional methods, reducing exposure<br />
times to two or three seconds, thus opening up new horizons in photography.<br />
Prices for daguerreotypes varied, but in general would cost about a guinea (£1.05), which would be<br />
the weekly wage for many workers. The collodion process, however, was much cheaper; prints<br />
could be made for as little as one shilling (5p).<br />
A further impetus was given to photography for the masses by the introduction <strong>of</strong> carte-de-visite<br />
photographs by Andre Disdéri . This developed into a mania, though it was relatively short-lived.<br />
The collodion process required that the coating, exposure and development <strong>of</strong> the image should be<br />
done whilst the plate was still wet. Another process developed by Archer was named the Ambrotype ,<br />
which was a direct positive.<br />
The wet collodion process, though in its time a great step forward, required a considerable amount<br />
<strong>of</strong> equipment on location. There were various attempts to preserve exposed plates in wet collodion,<br />
for development at a more convenient time and place, but these preservatives lessened the<br />
sensitivity <strong>of</strong> the material. It was clear, then, that a dry method was required. It is likely that the<br />
difficulties <strong>of</strong> the process hastened the search for instantaneous photography. Skaife, in a pamphlet,<br />
aptly commented (1860):<br />
"Speaking in general, instantaneous photography is as elastic a term as the<br />
expression 'long and short.'"<br />
The next major step forward came in 1871, when Dr. Richard Maddox discovered a way <strong>of</strong> using<br />
Gelatin (which had been discovered only a few years before) instead <strong>of</strong> glass as a basis for the<br />
photographic plate. This led to the development <strong>of</strong> the dry plate process. Dry plates could be<br />
developed much more quickly than with any previous technique. Initially it was very insensitive<br />
compared with existing processes, but it was refined to the extent that the idea <strong>of</strong> factory-made<br />
photographic material was now becoming possible.<br />
The introduction <strong>of</strong> the dry-plate process marked a turning point. No longer did one need the<br />
cumbersome wet-plates, no longer was a darkroom tent needed. One was very near the day that
pictures could be taken without the photographer needing any specialised knowledge.<br />
Celluloid had been invented in the early eighteen-sixties, and John Carbutt persuaded a<br />
manufacturer to produce very thin celluloid as a backing for sensitive material. George Eastman is<br />
particularly remembered for introducing flexible film in 1884. Four years later he introduced the box<br />
camera, and photography could now reach a much greater number <strong>of</strong> people.<br />
Other names <strong>of</strong> significance include Herman Vogel , who developed a means whereby film could<br />
become sensitive to green light, and Eadweard Muybridge who paved the way for motion picture<br />
photography.<br />
Popular in the Victorian times was stereoscopic photography , which reproduced images in three<br />
dimensions. It is a process whose popularity waxed and waned - as it does now - reaching its<br />
heights in the mid-Victorian era.<br />
Other topics:<br />
● Architectural photography<br />
● The Linked Ring<br />
● Lighting<br />
● Photo Secessionist movement<br />
● Social record<br />
● Travel photography<br />
● Unusual ventures<br />
● War photography<br />
(*1) Well, actually, not quite. Whilst Herschel used the term first in a lecture before the Royal<br />
Society on March 14, 1839, he was in fact beaten to the post by an anonymous writer with the<br />
initials "J.M." a few weeks earlier, on February 25. Eventually a scholar was able to determine that<br />
this anonymous writer was in fact Johann von Maedler (1794-1874), who was an astronomer in<br />
Berlin. However, Hershel was undoubtedly the person who, with his fame and position, made the<br />
word "photography" known to the world.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000
HERSCHEL, Sir John Frederick William<br />
b. 7 March 1792; d. 11 May 1871<br />
book on the subject.<br />
The<br />
only<br />
son <strong>of</strong><br />
the<br />
distinguished British astronomer William<br />
Herschel, Sir John himself also became a wellknown<br />
astronomer, and published an influential<br />
He became interested in capturing and retaining images, and in 1839 had managed to<br />
fix pictures using hyposulphite <strong>of</strong> soda. In fact it was he who had discovered twenty<br />
years previously that hypo could dissolve silver salts.<br />
Herschel, <strong>of</strong> course, had the fortune to be around just at the time both Daguerre and<br />
Fox Talbot were announcing their discoveries. He was evidently very smitten by the<br />
Daguerreotype, and conveyed the following news to Fox Talbot:<br />
"It is hardly too much to call them miraculous. Certainly they surpass<br />
anything I could have conceived as within the bounds <strong>of</strong> reasonable<br />
expectation.... Every gradation <strong>of</strong> light and shade is given with a s<strong>of</strong>tness<br />
and fidelity which sets all painting at an immeasurable distance.... If you<br />
have a few days at your disposition....come and see!"<br />
Fox Talbot, for his part, would not have been very happy about this news, as he was<br />
already upset that Daguerre had pipped him to the post in announcing his discovery!<br />
It is also to Herschel that we also owe the word "photography", a term which he used in<br />
a paper entitled "Note on the art <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, or The Application <strong>of</strong> the Chemical<br />
Rays <strong>of</strong> Light to the Purpose <strong>of</strong> Pictorial Representation," presented to the Royal Society<br />
on 14 March 1839. He also coined the terms "negative" and positive" in this context,<br />
and also the "snap-shot".<br />
The picture <strong>of</strong> Heschel, on the left, was taken by J M Cameron, and on the right is the<br />
very first photograph to be taken on glass. It was taken by Sir John Herschel in 1839,<br />
and shows his father's telescope in Slough, near London. (Science Museum, London).
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
CAMERA OBSCURA<br />
The Camera Obscura (Latin for Dark room) was a dark box or room with a hole in one end. If the hole<br />
was small enough, an inverted image would be seen on the opposite wall. Such a principle was known<br />
by thinkers as early as Aristotle (c. 300 BC). It is said that Roger Bacon invented the camera obscura<br />
just before the year 1300, but this has never been accepted by scholars; more plausible is the claim<br />
that he used one to observe solar eclipses. In fact, the Arabian scholar Hassan ibn Hassan (also<br />
known as Ibn al Haitam), in the 10th century, described what can be called a camera obscura in his<br />
writings; manuscripts <strong>of</strong> his observations are to be found in the India Office Library in London.<br />
In his essay "On the form <strong>of</strong> the Eclipse" he wrote:<br />
"The image <strong>of</strong> the sun at the time <strong>of</strong> the eclipse, unless it is total, demonstrates that<br />
when its light passes through a narrow, round hole and is cast on a plane opposite to<br />
the hole it takes on the form <strong>of</strong> a moon-sickle.<br />
The image <strong>of</strong> the sun shows this peculiarity only when the hole is very small. When the hole is<br />
enlarged, the picture changes... ."<br />
The earliest record <strong>of</strong> the uses <strong>of</strong> a camera obscura can be found in the writings <strong>of</strong> Leonardo da Vinci<br />
(1452-1519). At about the same period Daniel Barbaro, a Venetian, recommended the camera as an<br />
aid to drawing and perspective. He wrote:<br />
"Close all shutters and doors until no light enters the camera except through the lens,<br />
and opposite hold a piece <strong>of</strong> paper, which you move forward and backward until the<br />
scene appears in the sharpest detail. There on the paper you will see the whole view as<br />
it really is, with its distances, its colours and shadows and motion, the clouds, the water<br />
twinkling, the birds flying. By holding the paper steady you can trace the whole<br />
perspective with a pen, shade it and delicately colour it from nature."<br />
In the mid sixteenth century Giovanni Battista della Porta (1538-1615) published what is believed to<br />
be the first account <strong>of</strong> the possibilities as an aid to drawing. It is said that he made a huge "camera"<br />
in which he seated his guests, having arranged for a group <strong>of</strong> actors to perform outside so that the<br />
visitors could observe the images on the wall. The story goes, however, that the sight <strong>of</strong> up-side down<br />
performing images was too much for the visitors; they panicked and fled, and Battista was later<br />
brought to court on a charge <strong>of</strong> sorcery!<br />
Though Battista's account is wrapped up in a study <strong>of</strong> the occult, it is likely that from that time<br />
onwards many artists will have used a camera obscura to aid them in drawing, though either because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the association with the occult, or because they felt that in some way their artistry was lessened,<br />
few would admit to using one. Several are said to have used them; these include Giovanni Canale -<br />
better known as Canaletto (1697- 1768), Vermeer (1632-1675), Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), and<br />
Paul Sandby (1725-1809), a founding member <strong>of</strong> the Royal Academy.<br />
Though some, including Joshua Reynolds, warned against the indiscriminate use <strong>of</strong> the camera<br />
obscura, others, notably Algarotti, a writer on art and science and a highly influential man amongst<br />
artists, strongly advocated its use in his Essays on Painting (1764):<br />
"the best modern painters among the Italians have availed themselves <strong>of</strong> this<br />
contrivance; nor is it possible that they should have otherwise represented things so<br />
much to the life... Let the young painter, therefore, begin as early as possible to study<br />
these divine pictures...
Painters should make the same use <strong>of</strong> the Camera Obscura, which Naturalists and Astronomers make<br />
<strong>of</strong> the microscope and telescope; for all these instruments equally contribute to make known, and<br />
represent Nature."<br />
About the same time, the lens was being developed. Once again Roger Bacon's name is associated<br />
with this; some have claimed that it was he who invented spectacles. Gerolomo Cardano (1501-<br />
1576), an Italian mathematician, introduced a glass disc in place <strong>of</strong> a pinhole in his camera, and<br />
Barbaro also used a convex lens. Why the name lens? It is claimed that because Italian lenses were<br />
by-convex, they seemed to resemble the brown lentils they used to make soup - so the lens came<br />
from the Latin for lentil.<br />
The first cameras were enormous. Athanasius<br />
Kircher (1601-1680) in a book written in 1646,<br />
described one which consisted <strong>of</strong> an outer shell with<br />
lenses in the centre <strong>of</strong> each wall, and an inner shell<br />
containing transparent paper for drawing; the artist<br />
needed to enter by a trapdoor.<br />
Other versions also appeared. Sedan chairs were converted, and tent-type cameras were also in use -<br />
even up the beginning <strong>of</strong> the nineteen hundreds. Then smaller, portable ones were made. Thus the<br />
camera obscura, as it came to be known, became a popular aid to sketching.<br />
Another aid to drawing, but which worked in a different way, was the Camera Lucida, designed in<br />
1807.<br />
To give some idea <strong>of</strong> costs in the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography, it is known that in 1839 Fox Talbot<br />
bought several instruments including a camera obscura for seven pounds fifteen shillings (£7.75). At<br />
that time the typical servant's wage would have averaged between ten and twenty pounds per year.<br />
Camera obscuras still have a fascination for many, and there are several in this country. For an<br />
account <strong>of</strong> a visit to some <strong>of</strong> them, see HERE.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001.<br />
Last updated undefined
SCHULZE, Johann Heinrich<br />
b. 1684; d.1744<br />
Schulze was a German Pr<strong>of</strong>essor at the University <strong>of</strong> Altdorf, whose experiments paved the way<br />
towards photography. Though it was known that certain chemicals darken when exposed to the sun, it<br />
was not clear whether it was the action <strong>of</strong> light or heat which had this effect. In 1727 Schulze heated<br />
some silver nitrate in an oven, and discovering that it did not darken was able to eliminate heat as the<br />
darkening agent. Having noticed that a glass jar containing a particular chemical mixture changed<br />
colour on one side - that facing the window, he applied paper stencils to a bottle containing silver<br />
nitrate and chalk, discovering that where the substance was not exposed to light it remained white.<br />
He published details <strong>of</strong> his investigations, but these did not become popular until after he had died. He<br />
described his experiments thus:<br />
I covered the glass with dark material, exposing a little part for the free entry <strong>of</strong> light.<br />
Thus I <strong>of</strong>ten wrote names and whole sentences on paper and carefully cut away the<br />
inked parts with a sharp knife. I struck the paper thus perforated on the glass wikth<br />
wax. It was not long before the sun's rays, where they hit the glass through the cut-out<br />
parts <strong>of</strong> the paper, wrote each word or sentence on the chalk precipitate so exactly and<br />
distinctly that many who were curious about the experiment but ignorant <strong>of</strong> its nature<br />
took occasion to attribute the thing to some sort <strong>of</strong> trick."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2002.<br />
Last updated undefined
WEDGWOOD, Thomas<br />
b. 14 May 1771; d. 11 July 1805<br />
In 1802 Thomas Wedgwood (son <strong>of</strong> the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood) together with Sir Humphrey<br />
Davy presented a paper entitled "An account <strong>of</strong> a method <strong>of</strong> copying paintings upon glass and <strong>of</strong><br />
making pr<strong>of</strong>iles by the agency <strong>of</strong> light upon nitrate <strong>of</strong> silver." He had worked closely with Davey, and<br />
their work was very nearly a breakthrough, for they had made what one can best describe as<br />
photograms. However, they were unable to fix the images, and the story is told that Wedgwood was<br />
reduced to examining his pictures furtively by the light <strong>of</strong> a candle. They also tried using a camera<br />
obscura, but the chemicals being used at the time were not sufficiently sensitive.<br />
In the report to the Royal Society, June 1802, Davy wrote:<br />
"The copy <strong>of</strong> a painting, or the pr<strong>of</strong>ile, immediately after being taken, must be kept in an obscure<br />
place. It way indeed be examined in the shade, but, in this case, the exposure should be only for a<br />
few minutes; by the light <strong>of</strong> candles or lamps, as commonly employed, it is not sensibly affected."<br />
Wedgwood died three years later, aged 34. What neither he nor Davey could find was discovered in<br />
1819 by Sir John Herschel.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
NIÉPCE, Joseph Nicephore<br />
b. 7 March 1765; d. 5 July 1833<br />
Niépce (pronounced Nee-ps) is universally credited with producing the first<br />
successful photograph in June/July 1827. He was fascinated with lithography, and<br />
worked on this process. Unable to draw, he needed the help <strong>of</strong> his artist son to<br />
make the images. However, when in 1814 his son was drafted into the army to<br />
fight at Waterloo, he was left having to look for another way <strong>of</strong> obtaining images.<br />
Eventually he succeeded, calling his product Heliographs (after the Greek "<strong>of</strong> the<br />
sun"). Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, writing in 1857, informs us that he was a man <strong>of</strong><br />
private means, who had began his researches in 1814. When he eventually<br />
succeeded, he came over to England later that year and sought to promote his<br />
invention via the Royal Society (then as now regarded as the leading learned<br />
body concerned with science). However, the Royal Society had a rule that it<br />
would not publicise a discovery that contained an undivulged secret, so Niépce met with total failure.<br />
Returning to France, he teamed up with Louis Daguerre in 1829, a partnership which lasted until his<br />
death only four years later, at the age <strong>of</strong> 69. He left behind him some examples <strong>of</strong> his heliographs,<br />
which are now in the Royal Photographic Society's collection.<br />
This is the first known photograph.** There is little merit in<br />
this picture other than that fact. It is difficult to decipher: the<br />
building is on the left, a tree a third in from the left, and a<br />
barn immediately in front. The exposure lasted eight hours,<br />
so the sun had time to move from east to west, appearing to<br />
shine on both sides <strong>of</strong> the building.<br />
For further information on Niepce, see here.<br />
Though Niépce's contribution is interesting, for the purposes <strong>of</strong> photography as we know it today, it is<br />
irrelevant.<br />
** I have been taken to task by some who point to the picture in the Turin Shroud as being the first<br />
photograph. Whether the shroud dates back to the time <strong>of</strong> Jesus Christ, which most scholars discount,<br />
or whether it dates from around 1000AD, it does certainly show an image <strong>of</strong> a dead person. Whether<br />
this was produced intentionally though is more unlikely. The picture shown here is generally<br />
acknowledged to be the first image produced intentionally.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mande<br />
b. 18 November 1787; d. 10 July 1851<br />
Daguerre (pronounced Dagair) was perhaps the most famous <strong>of</strong> several people who invented<br />
photography.<br />
He began work as an apprentice architect, and at the age <strong>of</strong> sixteen was an assistant stage designer<br />
in a Paris theatre, his elaborate stage designs winning him considerable acclaim. He had an<br />
astonishing ingenuity in the handling <strong>of</strong> light and lighting effects, and he supplied the scenic and<br />
lighting effects for a number <strong>of</strong> operas in theatres in Paris. He developed an impressive illusions<br />
theatre, which he termed Diorama; it was a picture show with changing light effects and huge<br />
paintings measuring 22 by 14 metres, <strong>of</strong> famous places. This became the rage in the early twenties.<br />
He regularly used a camera obscura as an aid to painting in perspective, and this had led him to seek<br />
to freeze the image. In 1826 he learned <strong>of</strong> the work <strong>of</strong> Nicephore Niépce, and on 4 January 1829<br />
signed up a partnership with him.<br />
The partnership was a short one, Niépce dying in 1833, but Daguerre continued to experiment. He<br />
made an important discovery by accident. In 1835, so the story goes, he put an exposed plate in his<br />
chemical cupboard, and some days later found, to his surprise, that the latent image had developed.<br />
Daguerre eventually concluded that this was due to the presence <strong>of</strong> mercury vapour from a broken<br />
thermometer. This important discovery that a latent image could be developed made it possible to<br />
reduce the exposure time from some eight hours to thirty minutes.<br />
Though he now knew how to produce<br />
an image, it was not until 1837 that<br />
he was able to fix them. This new<br />
process he called a Daguerreotype.<br />
Daguerre advertised his process and<br />
sought sponsorship, but few seemed<br />
interested. He then turned to Francois<br />
Arago, a politician, who immediately<br />
saw the implications <strong>of</strong> this process,<br />
took his case up, and the French<br />
government commissioned a report<br />
on the process, to be chaired by Paul<br />
Delaroche. On 7 January 1839 an<br />
announcement was made <strong>of</strong> the<br />
discovery, but details were not<br />
divulged until 19 August when the<br />
process was announced publicly, the<br />
French government having bought the rights to the process from him, and given it free to the world.<br />
However, this process had also been patented in England and Wales on 14 August - only five days<br />
previously. As Lady Eastlake pointed out:<br />
"...by some chicanery a patent for the daguerreotype was actually taken out in<br />
England, which for a time rendered this the only country which did not pr<strong>of</strong>it by the<br />
liberality <strong>of</strong> the French government. The early history <strong>of</strong> photography is not so<br />
generous in character as that <strong>of</strong> its maturity."<br />
From the day the announcement was made <strong>of</strong> this new discovery, the process came to be used<br />
widely. The claim was made that the daguerreotype "requires no knowledge <strong>of</strong> drawing...." and that<br />
"anyone may succeed... and perform as well as the author <strong>of</strong> the invention."
The Literary Gazette for 7 January 1839 read:<br />
"Paris, 6th January 1839.<br />
We have much pleasure in announcing an important discovery made by M. Daguerre,<br />
the celebrated painter <strong>of</strong> the Diorama. This discovery seems like a prodigy. It<br />
disconcerts all the theories <strong>of</strong> science in light and optics and, if borne out, promises to<br />
make a revolution in the arts <strong>of</strong> design.<br />
M. Daguerre has discovered a method to fix the images which are represented at the<br />
back <strong>of</strong> a camera obscura; so that these images are not the temporary reflection <strong>of</strong><br />
the object, but their fixed and durable impress, which may be removed from the<br />
presence <strong>of</strong> those objects like a picture or an engraving."<br />
An article in La Gazette de France, <strong>of</strong> the same date, also showed one <strong>of</strong> the limitations <strong>of</strong> the<br />
process:<br />
"Nature in motion cannot reproduce itself, or at least can do so only with great<br />
difficulty, by the technique in question. In one <strong>of</strong> the boulevard views.... it happened<br />
that all which moved or walked did not appear in the drawing...."<br />
The early daguerreotypes had several drawbacks.<br />
● the length <strong>of</strong> the exposure necessary all but ruled out portraiture.<br />
● the image was laterally reversed (as one sees oneself in a mirror). Many <strong>of</strong> the portraits<br />
reveal this from the way the coat was buttoned; if one required a picture the right way round,<br />
the camera would be pointed at a mirror reflecting the sitter's image. Initially this will not<br />
have bothered people, who were used only to seeing their mirror image in any case.<br />
(However, see Wolcott).<br />
● it was very fragile.<br />
● perhaps most limiting <strong>of</strong> all, it was a "once only" system; what was needed was a means<br />
whereby copies <strong>of</strong> a photograph might easily be made.<br />
Taken in 1839, this picture <strong>of</strong> a boulevard<br />
gives the impression <strong>of</strong> empty streets,<br />
because with long exposures moving<br />
objects would not register.
However, there was an exception when a man stopped to have his shoes shined,<br />
(see bottom left <strong>of</strong> the larger picture) and though he and the person shining the<br />
shoes remain anonymous, they may have the distinction <strong>of</strong> being the first people<br />
ever to have been photographed.<br />
In 1851 Daguerre died. In a sense this symbolically ended an era, for that very<br />
same year a new technique was invented, which was another milestone in<br />
photography - the wet collodion process by Frederick Scott Archer.<br />
There is considerable material to be found in the Daguerrian Society's web-site. Do have a look.<br />
A postscript<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
DELAROCHE, Paul<br />
b. 1797; d. 1859<br />
Paul Delaroche, one <strong>of</strong> the foremost history painters <strong>of</strong> his time, was not, as far as it is known, a<br />
photographer, but he was influential in promoting the Daguerreotype. In June 1839 he was asked to<br />
head a committee to present a report on Daguerre's invention to the French government.<br />
At a time when photography is taken totally for granted, one needs to appreciate the sensation<br />
caused by the announcement <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype. The idea that a picture could be captured without<br />
the need for an artist was mind-blowing at the time, and many artists who made a living out <strong>of</strong><br />
miniature portraits saw their means <strong>of</strong> livelihood coming to an end. Time has proved this to be wrong,<br />
for whilst photography had taken over as a means <strong>of</strong> recording objectively, it forced artists into a new<br />
form <strong>of</strong> expression.<br />
Delaroche is particularly remembered for his much-quoted remark, on seeing the Daguerreotype, that<br />
"from today, painting is dead!" Though it makes an interesting story, the author has yet to find any<br />
evidence that Delaroche actually said this! He was, in fact, a leading advocate <strong>of</strong> photography, as the<br />
following observations, some <strong>of</strong> which come from his report to the French government, show:<br />
"Daguerre's process completely satisfies all the demands <strong>of</strong> art, carrying essential principles <strong>of</strong> art to<br />
such perfection that it must become a subject <strong>of</strong> observation and study even to the most<br />
accomplished painters."<br />
"The painter will discover in this process an easy means <strong>of</strong> collecting studies which he could otherwise<br />
only have obtained over a long period <strong>of</strong> time, laboriously and in a much less perfect way, no matter<br />
how talented he might be."<br />
"To sum up, the admirable discovery <strong>of</strong> M. Daguerre has rendered an immense service to the arts."<br />
Like many good artists <strong>of</strong> the day, he had students at his studio, amongst whom were Roger Fenton,<br />
the first Secretary <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society, and Gustave Le Gray. His most well-known work<br />
is "Children <strong>of</strong> Edward" (1830) depicting Edward IVth sons imprisoned in the Tower <strong>of</strong> London.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The DAGUERREOTYPE<br />
This was a positive image on a metal support.<br />
The Daguerreotype was the first successful photographic process, the discovery being announced on 7<br />
January 1839. The process consisted <strong>of</strong><br />
● exposing copper plates to iodine, the fumes forming light-sensitive silver iodide. The plate<br />
would have to be used within an hour.<br />
● exposing to light - between 10 and 20 minutes, depending upon the light available.<br />
● developing the plate over mercury heated to 75 degrees Centigrade. This caused the mercury<br />
to amalgamate with the silver.<br />
● fixing the image in a warm solution <strong>of</strong> common salt (later sodium sulphite was used.)<br />
● rinsing the plate in hot distilled water.<br />
Daguerre's choice <strong>of</strong> chemicals was such that the action <strong>of</strong> light left a milky white image or mercury<br />
amalgam.<br />
His first plates were 8 1/2" by 6 1/2"; it is interestting to note that this still remains the standard<br />
"whole-plate" today.<br />
The quality <strong>of</strong> the photographs was stunning. However, the process had its weaknesses:<br />
● the pictures could not be reproduced and were therefore unique;<br />
● the surfaces were extremely delicate, which is why they are <strong>of</strong>ten found housed under glass in<br />
a case;<br />
● the image was reversed laterally, the sitter seeing himself as he did when looking at a mirror.<br />
(Sometimes the camera lens was equipped with a mirror to correct this);<br />
● the chemicals used (bromine and chlorine fumes and hot mercury) were highly toxic;<br />
● the images were difficult to view from certain angles.<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotypes that remain are noticeable for their detail, and this caused quite a<br />
sensation at the time. Indeed, the Spectator (2 February 1839) called daguerreotypes the "self<br />
operating process <strong>of</strong> Fine Art." The reaction in America was also one <strong>of</strong> amazement. The Journal "The<br />
Knickerbocker" for December that year quoted:<br />
We have seen the views taken in Paris by the 'Daguerreotype,' and have no hesitation<br />
in avowing, that they are the most remarkable objects <strong>of</strong> curiosity and admiration, in<br />
the arts, that we ever beheld. Their exquisite perfection almost transcends the bounds<br />
<strong>of</strong> sober belief.<br />
Carl Dauthendey, a photographer who became the first pr<strong>of</strong>essional daguerreotype photographer in<br />
St. Petersburg, makes an interesting comment on the way Daguerreotypes were viewed:<br />
"People were afraid at first to look for any length <strong>of</strong> time at the pictures he produced.<br />
They were embarrassed by the clarity <strong>of</strong> these figures and believed that the little, tiny<br />
faces <strong>of</strong> the people in the pictures could see out at them, so amazing did the<br />
unaccustomed detail and the unaccustomed truth to nature <strong>of</strong> the first daguerreotypes<br />
appear to everyone"<br />
Sometimes the details might reveal something that the photographer had not intended. Fox Talbot,<br />
Daguerre's rival, observed:
"It frequently happens, moreover - and this is one <strong>of</strong> the charms <strong>of</strong> photography - that<br />
the operator himself discovers on examination, perhaps long afterwards, that he has<br />
depicted many things that he had no notion <strong>of</strong> at the time. Sometimes inscriptions and<br />
dates are found upon the buildings, or printed placards most irrelevant, are discovered<br />
upon their walls: sometimes a distant dial-plate is seen, and upon it - unconsciously<br />
recorded - the hour <strong>of</strong> the day at which the view was taken."<br />
This capacity to record minute detail was put to good use by Jean Baptiste Louis Gros, an amateur<br />
who made the first images <strong>of</strong> the Parthenon whilst on a mission in Greece. On his return to Paris he<br />
discovered that on close inspection details which he had not observed could be examined, including<br />
the minutest sculptural elements.<br />
In the museum at the Royal Photographic Society one <strong>of</strong> Daguerre's cameras is displayed. It was used<br />
by Talbot for his own process. However, there is an interesting omission: Daguerre's cameras always<br />
had a label on the side, bearing his signature, but Fox Talbot appears to have removed this!<br />
One problem with early daguerreotypes was the length <strong>of</strong> exposure required - 10 to 15 minutes in<br />
bright sunlight. In fact, a daguerreotype in the International Museum in Rochester, depicting a chapel,<br />
states that the picture was taken between 4:40pm and 5:30pm on 19 April 1840. Such lengths were<br />
hardly suitable for portraiture. Fox Talbot noted in a letter dated 21 May 1852:<br />
"Ld Brougham assured me once that he sat for his Dabguerreotype portrait half an hour<br />
in the sun and never suffered so much in his life."<br />
To make photography possible, rests were used to keep the head still, and sitters had <strong>of</strong>ten to cope<br />
with brilliant sunlight. One photographer even used to run flour on the sitter's face, in order to reduce<br />
exposure time!<br />
There was clearly a need to find some more effective ways <strong>of</strong> reducing the exposure time:<br />
● On the chemistry side, J.G. Goddard started using bromide as well as iodine to sensitise plates,<br />
while Antoine Claudet experimented using chlorine.<br />
● On the optical side, J. M. Petzval invented a portrait lens with an aperture <strong>of</strong> f3.6 (as opposed<br />
to f14, which was currently being used.) Petzval's lens was still being widely used almost a<br />
century later.<br />
Taken together, these improvements enabled photographers to use exposures <strong>of</strong> between ten and<br />
thirty seconds, thus making portraiture more <strong>of</strong> a practical proposition. By March 1841 Beard had<br />
opened a studio at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, while Claudet opened one three months later,<br />
behind St. Martin's church, Trafalgar Square. In 1853 Daguerre's patent expired, and many<br />
daguerreotypists began to open for business. At that time, <strong>of</strong> course, all photographs were<br />
monochrome (it was not until after the time <strong>of</strong> Maxwell that colour photography became a possibility),<br />
so many artists turned to hand-colouring the photographs, which were almost invariably presented in<br />
ornate cases.<br />
Colouring was a skilled and delicate affair. Typical <strong>of</strong> the kits was the Newman kit, dated 1850, with<br />
thirty-six colours. The colours would be applied very carefully with a fine brush, and then fixed simply<br />
by breathing on the plate itself.<br />
The daguerreotype, aptly called a "mirror with a memory", was an amazing development, and one<br />
cannot but marvel at the intricacy <strong>of</strong> the detail. However, it was a blind alley as far as photography<br />
was concerned.
Typical prices <strong>of</strong> a Daguerreotype would be:<br />
2.5" x 2" (1840) - 21/- (£1.05)<br />
2.5" x 2" (1850) - 10/6 (£0.55)<br />
To see a short video clip showing how a daguerreotype is made, see HERE.<br />
Some additional trivia<br />
Do have a look at the site dedicated exclusively to Daguerre. The address is http://www.daguerre.org<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
GAUDIN, Marc Antoine<br />
In a book written in 1844 Marc Gaudin gives us an eyewitness account <strong>of</strong> the excitement with which<br />
the announcement <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype process five years earlier had been greeted:<br />
"The Palace...was stormed by a swarm <strong>of</strong> the curious at the memorable sitting on 19<br />
August, 1839, where the process was at long last divulged.<br />
Although I came two hours beforehand, like many others I was barred from the hall<br />
(and) was...with the crowd for everything that happened outside.<br />
At one moment an excited man comes out; he is surrounded, he is questioned, and he<br />
answers with a know-it-all air, that bitumen <strong>of</strong> Judea and lavender oil is the secret.<br />
Questions are multiplied but as he knows nothing more, we are reduced to talking<br />
about bitumen <strong>of</strong> Judea and lavender oil.<br />
Soon a crowd surrounds a newcomer, more startled than the last. He tells us with no<br />
further comment that it is iodine and mercury...<br />
Finally, the sitting is over, the secret divulged...<br />
A few days later, opticians' shops were crowded with amateurs panting for<br />
daguerreotype apparatus, and everywhere cameras were trained on buildings. Everyone<br />
wanted to record the view from his window, and he was lucky who at first trial formed a<br />
silhouette <strong>of</strong> ro<strong>of</strong> tops against the sky. He went into ecstasies over chimneys, counted<br />
over and over ro<strong>of</strong> tiles and chimney bricks - in a word, the technique was so new that<br />
even the poorest plate gave him unspeakable joy....."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ARTISTS and <strong>Photography</strong><br />
The invention <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype caused considerable concern to many artists, who saw their means<br />
<strong>of</strong> livelihood coming to an end. Delaroche is credited with claiming that painting was now dead, whilst<br />
it is said that Sir William Ross, on his death-bed in 1860, commented sadly that "it was all up with<br />
future miniature painting." It is also claimed, but with scanty evidence, that Turner, looking at an<br />
early daguerreotype, commented that he was glad he had had his day!<br />
Charles Baudelaire despised photography as being a product <strong>of</strong> industry. He felt it provided an<br />
impression <strong>of</strong> reality that did not have the 'spiritual momentum' which came from the imagination.<br />
Whilst reviewing a photographic exhibition in 1859, clearly saw the need to put photography firmly in<br />
its place:<br />
"If photography is allowed to supplement art in some <strong>of</strong> its functions, it will soon have<br />
supplanted or corrupted it altogether....its true duty..is to be the servant <strong>of</strong> the sciences<br />
and arts - but the very humble servant, like printing or shorthand, which have neither<br />
created nor supplemented literature....<br />
"Let it rescue from oblivion those tumbling ruins, those books, prints and manuscripts<br />
which time is devouring, precious things whose form is dissolving and which demand a<br />
place in the archives <strong>of</strong> our memory - it will be thanked and applauded.<br />
But if it is allowed to encroach upon the domain <strong>of</strong> the... imaginary, upon anything<br />
whose value depends solely upon the addition <strong>of</strong> something <strong>of</strong> a man's soul, then it will<br />
be so much the worse for us."<br />
Some painters dubbed the new invention "the foe-to-graphic art." Certainly those artists who<br />
specialised in miniature portraits suffered; in 1810 over 200 miniatures were exhibited at the Royal<br />
Academy; this rose to 300 in 1830, but thirty years later only sixty-four were exhibited, and in 1870<br />
only thirty-three.<br />
On the other hand, the painter, Gustave Courbet, recognised photography as a useful aid in depicting<br />
motifs. However, his paintings seem to illustrate, by the thickness <strong>of</strong> colour, that he saw photography<br />
as consisting merely <strong>of</strong> a copy <strong>of</strong> reality, and that painting went much further.<br />
A number <strong>of</strong> artists, seeing the writing on the wall, turned to photography for their livelihood, whilst<br />
others cashed in on the fact that the images were in monochrome, and began colouring them in.<br />
Baudelaire's assertion that photography had become "the refuge <strong>of</strong> failed painters with too little<br />
talent" was rather unfair, but it is true that a number turned to this new medium for their livelihood.<br />
By 1860 Claudet was able to claim that miniature portraits were no longer painted without the<br />
assistance <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
In any case, absolute likeness was not always what the sitter wanted. Alfred Chalon, one <strong>of</strong> the last<br />
miniaturists, when asked by Queen Victoria whether photography was a threat to miniature painting,<br />
replied "No Madam - photography can't flatter!" Lady Eastlake, wife <strong>of</strong> the Director <strong>of</strong> the National<br />
Gallery (who also was the first President <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society) also had her reservations,<br />
claiming that whilst photography was more exact, it had also become less true, and that in portraiture<br />
the broad suggestion <strong>of</strong> form had been replaced by a fussy accumulation <strong>of</strong> irrelevant detail:<br />
"Every button is seen - piles <strong>of</strong> stratified flounces in most accurate drawing are there -<br />
but the likeness to Rembrandt and Reynolds is gone!"
Clearly she did not share the dread that painting was an art <strong>of</strong> the past.<br />
However, a further blow to miniature portraiture was to come when the Carte-de-Visite craze began to<br />
develop. By 1857 an Art Journal was reporting that portrait photography was becoming a public<br />
nuisance, with photographers touting for custom (much as artists do today at the Montmartre, in<br />
Paris). "It has really now become a matter for Police interference both on the grounds <strong>of</strong> propriety and<br />
public comfort!" the writer thundered. In that same journal Francis Frith claimed that photography<br />
"has already almost entirely superseded the craft <strong>of</strong> the miniature painter, and is on the point <strong>of</strong><br />
touching, with an irresistible hand, several other branches <strong>of</strong> skilled art."<br />
In 1865 Claudet, by then a respected photographer, came to the defence <strong>of</strong> photography, following a<br />
blistering article in a French journal:<br />
"One cannot but acknowledge that there are arts which are on their way out and that it<br />
is photography which has given them the death-blow! Why are there no longer any<br />
miniaturists? For the very simple reason that those who want miniatures find that<br />
photography does the job better and instead <strong>of</strong> portraits more or less accurate where<br />
form and expression are concerned, it gives perfectly exact resemblances that at least<br />
please the heart and satisfy the memory."<br />
Miniature painting, in fact, made a comeback at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century.<br />
Though photography was seen by some as the invention that was killing art, this is a one-sided view,<br />
because it also proved to be an aid to their work. Portrait photographers found that by employing<br />
photography the number <strong>of</strong> sittings required could be reduced or even eliminated. Joshua Reynolds<br />
sometimes needed up to fifty sittings for portraits; it is said that his painting <strong>of</strong> Sir George Beaumont<br />
had required twelve sittings for the painting <strong>of</strong> the cravat alone!<br />
A problem is that few painters would readily admit to using photography as an aid, almost as though<br />
this were a form <strong>of</strong> cheating! David Octavius Hill used photography to make a record <strong>of</strong> people to be<br />
painted, whilst in the 1860s Robert Howlett was employed to take photographs <strong>of</strong> groups <strong>of</strong> people<br />
attending the Derby from the top <strong>of</strong> a cab, these photographs later being used as group studies in<br />
William Powell Frith's painting "Derby Day." This however did not stop William Powell Frith from<br />
observing, thirty years later, that in his opinion photography had not benefited art at all. Others who<br />
used photography to assist them in painting included Negre, Tissot, Gaugin, Cèzanne, Lautrec,<br />
Delacroix and Degas.<br />
An example <strong>of</strong> photography being used for this purpose can be seen in a portrait <strong>of</strong> Sir William Allen,<br />
by Sir John Watson Gordon (1837), Royal Academy; this clearly comes from an 1843 Calotype. See<br />
also Muybridge, whose work led to a change in the way artists painted horses on the move.<br />
Man Ray, born later than this period, made an interesting observation on this apparent controversy.<br />
(See here).<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000.<br />
Last updated undefined
CALOTYPE process, The<br />
The Calotype was a positive/negative process introduced in 1841 by Fox Talbot, and popular for the next<br />
ten years or so. Strictly speaking the term refers only to the negative image, but it is commonly taken to<br />
mean both.<br />
A piece <strong>of</strong> paper was brushed with weak salt solution, dried, then brushed with a weak silver nitrate<br />
solution, dried, making silver chloride in the paper. This made it sensitive to light, and the paper was now<br />
ready for exposure. This might take half an hour, giving a print-out image. It was fixed in strong salt<br />
solution - potassium iodide <strong>of</strong> hypo.<br />
Fox Talbot, who devised the process, showed his results at the Royal Institution on 25 January 1839,<br />
delivering a paper on the last day <strong>of</strong> that month.<br />
The following year Fox Talbot succeeded in improving the "photogenic drawing" process, renaming it the<br />
calotype. He discovered that if he added gallic acid, the paper became more sensitive to light, and it was<br />
no longer necessary to expose until the image became visible. With further treatment <strong>of</strong> gallic acid and<br />
silver nitrate, the latent image would be developed.<br />
In 1844 Fox Talbot opened a photography establishment in Reading in order to mass produce prints.<br />
To make a print, the negative was placed on top <strong>of</strong> more photo paper, laid flat in a glass frame, and<br />
allowed to develop in sunlight.<br />
The Calotype process was not as popular as its rival one, the Daguerreotype. There were various reasons<br />
for this:<br />
● its popularity was to a great extent arrested by patent restrictions;<br />
● the materials were less sensitive to light, therefore requiring longer exposures;<br />
● the imperfections <strong>of</strong> the paper reduced the quality <strong>of</strong> the final print; Calotypes did not have the<br />
sharp definition <strong>of</strong> daguerreotypes.<br />
● the process itself took longer, as it required two stages (making the negative and then the<br />
positive);<br />
● the prints tended to fade.<br />
One might also suggest that the fact paper was used as a negative lessened the detail <strong>of</strong> the picture,<br />
though from an artistic point <strong>of</strong> view some would regard this as a desirable feature.<br />
However, the calotype also had its advantages compared with the daguerreotype:<br />
● it provided the means <strong>of</strong> making an unlimited number <strong>of</strong> prints from one negative;<br />
● retouching could be done on either negative or print;<br />
● prints on paper were easier to examine, and far less delicate;<br />
● the calotype had warmer tones.<br />
When the Collodion process was introduced in 1851, the calotype became obsolete. However, the negativepositive<br />
process was one day to become the standard photographic one, which is still used today.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
TALBOT, William Henry Fox<br />
b. 11 February 1800; d. 17 September 1877<br />
His signature is Henry Talbot, and though he is said to have disliked being<br />
called Fox Talbot, that name has stuck.<br />
Though Fox Talbot was not the first to produce photographs, he made a<br />
major contribution to the photographic process as we know it today.<br />
Talbot studied the classics and mathematics at Cambridge, was elected a<br />
Fellow <strong>of</strong> the Royal Astronomical Society in 1822, and a Fellow <strong>of</strong> the Royal<br />
Society in 1832. He was also an MP, Biblical scholar, a Botanist and<br />
Assyriologist, making a contribution to the deciphering <strong>of</strong> cuneiform<br />
inscriptions brought to England from Nineveh.<br />
Though some <strong>of</strong> his pictures show a measure <strong>of</strong> artistic taste, it was his inability to draw which<br />
caused him to experiment with a mechanical method <strong>of</strong> capturing and retaining an image. Talbot<br />
attempted to draw with the aid <strong>of</strong> both a camera obscura and a camera lucida when producing his<br />
sketches, one <strong>of</strong> which was Villa Melzi. Later he wrote:<br />
"(In) October, 1833, I was amusing myself on the lovely shores <strong>of</strong> the Lake <strong>of</strong> Como in<br />
Italy, taking sketches with a Camera Lucida, or rather, I should say, attempting to<br />
make them; but with the smallest possible amount <strong>of</strong> success...<br />
After various fruitless attempts I laid aside the instrument and came to the conclusion<br />
that its use required a previous knowledge <strong>of</strong> drawing which unfortunately I did not<br />
possess.<br />
I then thought <strong>of</strong> trying again a method which I had tried many years before. This<br />
method was to take a Camera Obscura and to throw the image <strong>of</strong> the objects on a piece<br />
<strong>of</strong> paper in its focus - fairy pictures, creations <strong>of</strong> a moment, and destined as rapidly to<br />
fade away...<br />
It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me... how charming it would be<br />
if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably and<br />
remain fixed on the paper!"<br />
The earliest surviving paper negative is <strong>of</strong> the now famous Oriel window in<br />
the South Gallery at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, where he lived. It is dated<br />
August 1835. Talbot's comments read "When first made, the squares <strong>of</strong><br />
glass about 200 in number could be counted, with help <strong>of</strong> a lens."<br />
Talbot described how he took his pictures:<br />
"Not having with me... a camera obscura <strong>of</strong> any considerable size,<br />
I constructed one out <strong>of</strong> a large box, the image being thrown upon<br />
one end <strong>of</strong> it by a good object-glass fixed at the opposite end. The<br />
apparatus being armed with a sensitive paper, was taken out in a<br />
summar afternoon, and placed about one hundred yards from a<br />
building favourably illuminated by the sun. An or so afterwards I<br />
opened the box and I found depicted upon the paper a very distinct<br />
representation <strong>of</strong> the building, with the exception <strong>of</strong> those parts <strong>of</strong> it which lay in the<br />
shade. A little experience in this branch <strong>of</strong> the art showed me that with a smaller<br />
camera obscura the effect would be produced in a smaller time. Accordingly I had
several small boxes made, in which I fixed lenses <strong>of</strong> shorter focus, and with these I<br />
obtained very perfect, but extremely small pictures..."<br />
These "little boxes", measuring two or three inches, were<br />
named "mousetraps" by the family at Lacock, because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
various places they were to be found.<br />
January 1839 was a busy month as far as announcements <strong>of</strong> discoveries were concerned. On 7<br />
January Daguerre announced the development <strong>of</strong> his process. A few days later Talbot wrote to Arago,<br />
who had promoted Daguerre's invention, suggesting that it was he, not Daguerre, who had invented<br />
the photographic process. (At that time he was unaware that the process was entirely different). One<br />
<strong>of</strong> Arago's fellow-scientists replied that Daguerre had, in fact, devised a number <strong>of</strong> processes over<br />
fourteen years.<br />
Doubtless annoyed that Daguerre had been put in the lime-light he felt he himself deserved, Talbot<br />
began to publicise his own process. On 25 January 1839 he announced the discovery at the Royal<br />
Institution <strong>of</strong> a method <strong>of</strong> "photogenic drawing."<br />
At the time the sensitivity <strong>of</strong> the process was<br />
extremely poor. Then, in September 1840 Fox Talbot<br />
discovered the phenomenon <strong>of</strong> the latent image. It is<br />
said that this was a chance discovery, when he<br />
attempted to re-sensitise some paper which had<br />
failed to work in previous experiments; as the<br />
chemical was applied, an image, previously invisible,<br />
began to appear. This was a major breakthrough<br />
which led to drastically lowered exposure times -<br />
from one hour or so to 1-3 minutes. Talbot he called<br />
the improved version the calotype (from the Greek<br />
"Kalos", meaning beautiful) and on 31 January he<br />
gave a paper to the Royal Society <strong>of</strong> London. The<br />
paper was entitled "Some account <strong>of</strong> the Art <strong>of</strong><br />
Photogenic drawing, or the process by which natural<br />
objects may be made to delineate themselves<br />
without the aid <strong>of</strong> the artist's pencil."<br />
Talbot patented his invention on 8 February 1841, an<br />
act which considerably arrested the development <strong>of</strong> photography at the time. The patent (a separate<br />
one being taken out for France) applied to England and Wales. Talbot chose not to extend his patent<br />
to Scotland, and this paved the way for some outstanding photographs to be produced in Edinburgh<br />
by Hill and Adamson.<br />
In 1844 Talbot began issuing a book entitled "The Pencil <strong>of</strong> Nature", the first commercial book to be<br />
illustrated with actual photographs.* In order to produce these prints, he helped his former valet,<br />
Nicolaas Henneman to set up the Reading Establishment, a photographic processing studio within<br />
relatively easy reach <strong>of</strong> both London and Lacock. This however lasted only four years, as it was not a<br />
financial success.<br />
Talbot's process in general never reached the popularity <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotype process, partly<br />
because the latter produced such amazing detail, but partly because Talbot asked so much for the<br />
rights to use his process. A writer <strong>of</strong> the time, Henry Snelling, commented:<br />
"He is a man <strong>of</strong> some wealth, I believe, but he demands so high a price for a single
ight.... that none can be found who have the temerity to purchase."<br />
Consequently calotypes never flourished as they might have, and the fault must lie largely with him.<br />
The newly formed Calotype club sought unsuccessfully to persuade Talbot to relax his restrictions in<br />
order to encourage the growth <strong>of</strong> photography. It is claimed that Talbot, somewhat put out by the<br />
fact that Daguerre had received many honours whilst he had been given none, was reacting<br />
accordingly.<br />
Sadly Talbot's name was somewhat tarnished by his series <strong>of</strong> attempts to enforce his patent. A claim<br />
in 1854 that the Collodion process was also covered by his calotype patent. was lost in court, and<br />
from then onwards, knowing that the faster and better collodion process was free for all to use, there<br />
were no further restrictions and photography began to take <strong>of</strong>f in a big way.<br />
Having said this, there exists some evidence that there had been a concerted attempt to discredit<br />
Talbot in order to overturn the patent. Talbot increasingly viewed the defence <strong>of</strong> his calotype patent<br />
as a defence <strong>of</strong> Henneman, who had invested heavily in setting up the Reading Establishment . Talbot<br />
was enormously loyal to Henneman, and concerned about pr<strong>of</strong>it being made at his expense It is<br />
possible, therefore, that history has been a little too harsh on Fox Talbot. He too had spent a<br />
considerable amount <strong>of</strong> money developing his invention, and it has been suggested that his<br />
enforcement <strong>of</strong> patents was more due to his careful upbringing as far as finances were concerned<br />
than his desire to make a fortune. Other documents, particularly relating to the early days <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Photographic Society, reveal him to be far more magnanimous and generous than is commonly<br />
supposed. (See Talbot and patents.)<br />
Talbot summarised his achievement thus:<br />
"I do not pr<strong>of</strong>ess to have perfected an art but to have commenced one, the limits <strong>of</strong><br />
which it is not possible at present exactly to ascertain. I only claim to have based this<br />
art on a secure foundation."<br />
The Royal Photographic Society has two complete sets <strong>of</strong> the limited edition <strong>of</strong> "Pencil <strong>of</strong> Nature",<br />
together with many <strong>of</strong> Fox Talbot's letters, books and documents.<br />
August 1999: A new web-site led by Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Larry J. Schaaf is the definitive site on this remarkable<br />
inventor. It is part <strong>of</strong> a three year project, and is a must for any student <strong>of</strong> Talbot. It is located at<br />
http://www.foxtalbot.arts.gla.ac.uk/<br />
PS On a lighter note, in a discussion on Talbots' name, someone came up with what must be the<br />
definitive answer: "He was called Fox because he was a particularly cunning animal, and finally<br />
outran the Dag-hare!"<br />
* However, see also Atkins.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2006<br />
Last updated undefined
BEGINNINGS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, The: Note on The Pencil <strong>of</strong> Nature<br />
Few original copies <strong>of</strong> "The Pencil <strong>of</strong> Nature" remain, but the book is significant inasmuch as it was the<br />
first ever to be published with photographs. Well, almost the first; that distinction is owned by Anna<br />
Atkins, except that her pictures were photograms rather than photographs.<br />
Looking at Talbot's book, one cannot help but feel that it is an odd collection <strong>of</strong> pictures, because<br />
there does not seem to be a theme running though the book. It is a somewhat motley collection. We<br />
see a picture <strong>of</strong> the boulevards in Paris, a shot <strong>of</strong> Queens College, Oxford, and several pictures <strong>of</strong><br />
Lacock Abbey, where Fox Talbot worked. There's a copy <strong>of</strong> a drawing, a picture <strong>of</strong> Westminster Abbey,<br />
and one <strong>of</strong> a part <strong>of</strong> Queens College, Oxford. No clear theme, just a collection <strong>of</strong> pictures, with a<br />
strange justification for them in the script! The book is a mix <strong>of</strong> technical information, guide book, a<br />
facinating collection <strong>of</strong> irrelevant details, a personal family record - probably a nightmare for librarians<br />
whose task it is to catalogue books according to subject!<br />
Perhaps this highlights a problem that the earliest photographers had. Atkin's book had a clear<br />
purpose. But pictures taken at this time seem to show that one is playing around with the medium to<br />
find out what its possibilities are (and that's a perfectly legitimate act) without being quite sure where<br />
they were going. Whereas one "made" art, photographs were a form <strong>of</strong> record. Indeed, they were<br />
"impressed by nature's hand", or "sun pictures". Photographs were "taken" or "obtained" as if they<br />
were natural specimens. It was regarded as a superb mechanical process, yes, but purely mechanical.<br />
Back to the section in "Beginnings <strong>of</strong> photography"<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000
CLAUDET, Jean Francois Antoine<br />
b. 12 August 1797; d. 27 December 1867<br />
Claudet was one <strong>of</strong> the first commercial photographers. A French glass merchant living in High<br />
Holborn, he learned details <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotype process from its inventor, and bought from him a<br />
licence to operate in England. In 1841 he set up a studio on the ro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Adelaide Gallery (now the<br />
Nuffield Centre), behind St. Martins in the Fields church, London, and later on in two other sites in<br />
London.<br />
Another daguerreotype practitioner at the time was Richard Beard, and there was considerable<br />
competition between the two. Beard even took out a court injunction against Claudet in an effort to<br />
close his business, but the court found in Claudet's favour.<br />
Exposures, at this time, were still long, and sitters were <strong>of</strong>ten instructed to "sit there, as still as<br />
death." One disgruntled sitter, Thomas Sutton, described his ordeal:<br />
"I was seated... in the full blazing sunshine and after about an exposure <strong>of</strong> a minute the<br />
plate was developed..... My eyes were made to stare until the tears streamed from<br />
them and the portrait was <strong>of</strong> course a caricature.... I paid a guinea for it. It has since<br />
faded...."<br />
In 1842 FoxTalbot sought to persuade Claudet to practise the Calotype (also known as the Talbotype)<br />
at his studio, the Adelaide Gallery. Claudet did some work with the Calotype, but as his letter to<br />
Talbot indicates, not with total success:<br />
"Until we have a paper with a surface as uniform and perfect as a silver plate I say the<br />
Daguerreotype gives images more delicate, finer and <strong>of</strong> greater perfection than the<br />
Talbotype. Until we can operate with the Talbotype in several seconds and as rapidly as<br />
with the Daguerreotype so that one can get more pleasing poses, then I say that the<br />
advantage is on the side <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype. But I also say that the Talbotype has<br />
beauty which the other has not, that the impressions are more portable and circulate<br />
more easily, that it is possible so send them through the post, stick them in albums,<br />
etc. and finally that one can obtain an unlimited number <strong>of</strong> copies."<br />
Independently, Claudet discovered an accelerating process, using chlorine instead <strong>of</strong> bromine to<br />
reduce exposures. He also invented the red (safe) dark-room light, and it was he who suggested the<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> using a series <strong>of</strong> photographs to create the illusion <strong>of</strong> movement. The idea <strong>of</strong> using painted<br />
backdrops is also attributed to him.<br />
In 1845 Claudet bought a lens designed by Joseph Petzval. It was sixteen times faster than the ones<br />
currently in use, and enabled him not only to take pictures with shorter exposures, but also increase<br />
their size. J. Dudley Johnston, a distinguished member <strong>of</strong> the Society early this century, writes<br />
"He discovered a method <strong>of</strong> increasing greatly the rapidity <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype by<br />
means <strong>of</strong> bromide, so that he was able to obtain a portrait by the oxyhydrogen light in<br />
fifteen seconds and an image <strong>of</strong> the moon in four seconds."<br />
In 1851 he moved his business to 107 Regent Street, where he established what he called a "Temple<br />
to <strong>Photography</strong>."
In the late eighteen fifties Claudet became fascinated by stereoscopic photography. He invented a<br />
folding stereoscope and an endless belt stereoscopic viewer which enabled one to view up to a<br />
hundred pictures in succession. He wrote:<br />
"The stereoscope is the general panorama <strong>of</strong> the world. It brings in the cheapest and<br />
most portable form, not only the picture but the model, in a tangible shape, <strong>of</strong> all that<br />
exists in the various countries <strong>of</strong> the globe."<br />
Claudet received many honours, among which was the appointment, in 1853, as "Photographer-inordinary"<br />
to Queen Victoria, and the award, ten years later, <strong>of</strong> an honour from the Emperor <strong>of</strong> France.<br />
Sadly, less than a month after his death, his "temple to photography" was burnt down, and most <strong>of</strong><br />
his most valuable photographic treasures were lost.<br />
Postscript: A contemporary comparison <strong>of</strong> Claudet and Beard's work<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
BREWSTER, Sir David<br />
b. 11 December 1781; d. 10 February 1868<br />
Sir David Brewster was an outstanding scholar who had the distinction <strong>of</strong> going to Edinburgh<br />
University at the age <strong>of</strong> eleven. He was elected a Fellow <strong>of</strong> the Royal Society in 1815, was a founder<br />
<strong>of</strong> the British Association for the Advancement <strong>of</strong> Science, and was responsible for numerous<br />
inventions. He did early work on the properties <strong>of</strong> light, and the kaleidoscope. He was in touch with<br />
Fox Talbot and it was he who suggested the use <strong>of</strong> the photographic process to David Hill, as an aid to<br />
his painting. He clearly favoured Talbot's Calotype process over the Daguerreotype.<br />
"While a Daguerreotype picture is much more sharp and accurate in its details than a Calotype, the<br />
latter possesses the advantage <strong>of</strong> giving a greater breadth and massiveness to its landscapes and<br />
portraits...<br />
In point <strong>of</strong> expense, a Daguerreotype picture vastly exceeds a Calotype one <strong>of</strong> the same size. With its<br />
silver plate and glass covering, a quarto plate must cost five or six shillings, while a Calotype one will<br />
cost as many pence....<br />
"The great and unquestioned superiority <strong>of</strong> the calotype pictures is their power <strong>of</strong> multiplication. One<br />
Daguerreotype cannot be copied from another, and the person whose portrait is desired must sit for<br />
every copy that he wishes. When a pleasing picture is obtained, another <strong>of</strong> the same character cannot<br />
be reproduced. In the Calotype, on the contrary, we can take any number <strong>of</strong> pictures, within<br />
reasonable limits, from a negatives; and a whole circle <strong>of</strong> friends can procure, for a mere trifle, a copy<br />
<strong>of</strong> a successful and pleasing portrait.<br />
In the Daguerreotype the landscapes are all reverted, whereas in the Calotype the drawing is exactly<br />
conformable to nature..<br />
The Daguerreotype may be considered as having nearly attained perfection.... whereas the Calotype is<br />
yet in its infancy..."<br />
In 1849 Brewster invented the Stereoscope, a viewer for stereoscopic prints. These became popular<br />
items in Victorian drawing-rooms. His book (The Stereoscope, its history, theory and construction) is<br />
still a good introduction to stereoscopic photography, though the author rather spoilt it by his<br />
unpleasantries concerning Wheatstone, who had actually invented stereoscopy.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The ALBUMEN process<br />
In the late 1840s albumen came to be used in the preparation <strong>of</strong> both negatives and printing paper, in<br />
order to increase the definition.<br />
The first development was at the negative stage. Talbot's negatives were on paper, and inevitably,<br />
when a positive was made, the imperfections <strong>of</strong> the paper were printed along with the image. The<br />
answer would be to use glass negatives rather than paper, but the chemicals would not adhere to the<br />
glass without a suitable binder. Though several substances had been thought <strong>of</strong> - even the slime left<br />
by snails - nothing proved reliable.<br />
In 1848 a cousin <strong>of</strong> Nicephore Niépce, Abel Niépce, perfected a process which consisted <strong>of</strong> coating a<br />
glass plate with salted white <strong>of</strong> egg containing some potassium iodide. The plate was then left to dry,<br />
after which it was sensitised with an acid solution <strong>of</strong> silver nitrate. After exposure it was then<br />
developed in gallic acid.<br />
This new process made for very fine detail and much higher quality. However, it was very slow, with<br />
exposure times ranging between five and fifteen minutes, so it was used for architectural or still life<br />
work, not for portraiture.<br />
The development <strong>of</strong> albumen printing paper, two years later, met with much greater success; this was<br />
introduced in France by Blanquart-Evrard, brought to this country by John Mayall and made known in<br />
England by Hugh Welch Diamond. (One source, however, suggests that this process was first described<br />
at the Photographic Society by Henry Pollock.) Until then, salted paper, with its limitations <strong>of</strong> definition,<br />
had been used. An article by Shadbolt in The Journal <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society (1855) states the<br />
problem:<br />
"The more the picture is kept upon the surface <strong>of</strong> the paper, the more brilliant is the<br />
effect, and the more perfectly is the detail, especially that <strong>of</strong> the half tones brought out,<br />
and that anything like soaking the solutions into the paper produces a flat and<br />
unsatisfying effect."<br />
Here the chemicals would be on the paper rather than in it, as in the case <strong>of</strong> the salted-paper process.<br />
It was a glossy printing paper which produced a very smooth surface and therefore permitted<br />
reproduction in much greater detail.<br />
However, initially the albumen process was not seen as the ideal answer. Shadbolt, for example,<br />
continued:<br />
"the <strong>of</strong>fensive and vulgar glare which it possesses sometimes is more detrimental to<br />
pictorial effect than is counter- balanced by other advantages, and I see no reason why<br />
all the delicacy <strong>of</strong> albumenized pro<strong>of</strong>s should not be retained by adopting other means<br />
to this end, and yet be free from so unpleasant a defect as the glare alluded to..."<br />
whilst Sutton wrote:<br />
"As a matter <strong>of</strong> taste, I extremely dislike prints on albumenized paper, and they<br />
consequently never find a place in my portfolio...",<br />
and evidently had little time for<br />
"those who prefer that peculiar kind <strong>of</strong> vigour and brilliancy which is exhibited by a
piece <strong>of</strong> black sticking plaster, or a well-polished Wellington boot..."<br />
To reduce the glaze, some diluted the albumen. Nevertheless the process began to catch on, and by<br />
the sixties it was in general use, and continued to be so until the turn <strong>of</strong> the century. Its success may<br />
be judged by the fact that one <strong>of</strong> the photographic journals printed recipes for using the egg yolks left<br />
over after the whites had been used for photographic purposes. It was said that one supplier <strong>of</strong><br />
albumen paper alone was using sixty thousands eggs a day!<br />
Albumen printing paper continued to be in general use until the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, when gelatine<br />
paper began to replace it.<br />
Further information about this process is available in detail HERE.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
ARCHER, Frederick Scott<br />
b. 1813; d. 2 May 1857<br />
Scott Archer's development <strong>of</strong> the wet collodion process changed the face <strong>of</strong> photography, enabling<br />
the making <strong>of</strong> finely detailed negatives.<br />
Until then the two processes in existence were the daguerreotype and the calotype, both <strong>of</strong> which had<br />
limitations:<br />
● Daguerreotypes, though they had very clear images, required lengthy exposures and it was a<br />
"once-only" process; it was also expensive.<br />
● Calotypes, though capable <strong>of</strong> unlimited reproduction, were not as sharp, as one had to print<br />
through paper.<br />
Something that combined the best <strong>of</strong> both processes was needed. There were several attempts to find<br />
a medium that combined the advantages but eliminated their drawbacks. Some experimenters useed<br />
albumen (egg white), ohers used wax, but none <strong>of</strong> these methods proved successful.<br />
Archer had a variety <strong>of</strong> jobs (silver-smith's apprentice, coin valuer, sculptor) before he turned to<br />
photography. He too experimented with albumen.<br />
In March 1851 the "Chemist" printed an article entitled "On the use <strong>of</strong> Collodion in photography."<br />
Three years earlier Archer had come across this substance, which produced a transparent waterpro<strong>of</strong><br />
film, and which was being used to dress wounds. Archer's procedure was to mix collodion with<br />
potassium iodide, and then immerse this in a solution <strong>of</strong> silver nitrate. Both the exposure and the<br />
development had to be made in the camera whilst the plate was still wet.<br />
This new process was an important one, not only for its clarity (using glass as a base) but also<br />
because it reduced the exposure times to a matter <strong>of</strong> seconds. Writing to Llewelyn on 31 May 1852<br />
Fox Talbot said:<br />
"Pray accept the enclosed specimen which was taken the other day in 3 seconds by<br />
Henneman or his assistant. He sometimes succeeds in one second."<br />
Up till this time more transient events, such as rippling water, smoke, blown clouds, would have failed<br />
to register. Llwelyn tried to tackle photographs <strong>of</strong> waves, and actually succeeded. In a review <strong>of</strong> an<br />
exhibition in London in 1854, and enthusiastic review wrote:<br />
"Mr. Llwelyn...has sent four instantaneous pictures, in one <strong>of</strong> which the seashore has<br />
been taken, with carts and persons moving upon it. Waves are caught with foam on<br />
them....and the feintest (sic) trace <strong>of</strong> indecision in some walking figures shows that<br />
could scarcely have completed one footstep before the picture was complete. Another<br />
picture represents the sea beating itself into foam against a rock, with flying clouds.<br />
Another represents a steamboat at a pier, amd has fixed instantaneously the floating<br />
smoke and steam."<br />
Within a very short period the collodion process had replaced the calotype.<br />
Together with Peter Fry, Archer also devised the Ambrotype process.<br />
Unlike Fox Talbot, who was involved in a number <strong>of</strong> law-suits in order to protect his patent, Scott
Archer did not seek to make money out <strong>of</strong> his discovery. Talbot even went as far as to claim that the<br />
Collodion process was covered by his Calotype patent; in December 1854 he began a lawsuit against<br />
Martin Laroche on this very issue, but he lost. Consequently the Collodion process became free to the<br />
world. In the wake <strong>of</strong> this court ruling Talbot did not renew his calotype patent, given that the<br />
collodion process, which was better in any case, was free.<br />
Had Scott Archer patented his Wet Collodion process, he could undoubtedly have made a fortune, and<br />
though he lived just a few years to see others making a huge fortune from it, he died at just 44 years,<br />
in penury, never receiving during his lifetime the appreciation due to someone who had made such an<br />
advance in photography. After his death, a fund for the benefit <strong>of</strong> his widow and children was opened,<br />
raising £747, and a small civil list pension was obtained for the the three children who by this time<br />
had been left orphans.<br />
The RPS has some thirty or so albumen pictures, including an album <strong>of</strong> views <strong>of</strong> Kenilworth Castle.<br />
Archer's process, though a considerable step forward, had one particular disadvantage. Collodion dries<br />
quickly. It hardens, and this the processing solutions can not penetrate. It follows, therefore, that at<br />
this period a photographer had to carry his darkroom on his travels. The next major step would be the<br />
invention, in 1871, by Richard Maddox.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
COLLODION process, The<br />
This process was introduced in 1851 and marks a watershed in photography.<br />
Up till then the two processes in use were the daguerreotype and the calotype. Daguerreotypes were<br />
better than calotypes in terms <strong>of</strong> detail and quality, but could not be reproduced; calotypes were<br />
reproducible, but suffered from the fact that any print would also show the imperfections <strong>of</strong> the paper.<br />
The search began, then, for a process which would combine the best <strong>of</strong> both processes - the ability to<br />
reproduce fine detail and the capacity to make multiple prints. The ideal would have been to coat light<br />
sensitive material on to glass, but the chemicals would not adhere without a suitable binder which<br />
obviously had to be clear. At first, Albumen (the white <strong>of</strong> an egg) was used. Then in 1851 Frederick<br />
Scott Archer came across collodion.<br />
Collodion was a viscous liquid - guncotton dissolved in ether and alcohol - which had only been<br />
invented in 1846, but which quickly found a use during the Crimean war; when it dried it formed a<br />
very thin clear film, which was ideal for dressing and protecting wounds. (One can still obtain this<br />
today, for painting over a cut). Collodion was just the answer as far as photography was concerned,<br />
for it would provide the binding which was so badly needed. Lewis Carroll, himself a photographer who<br />
used collodion, described the process in a poem he called "Hiawatha's <strong>Photography</strong>."<br />
"First a piece <strong>of</strong> glass he coated<br />
With Collodion, and plunged it<br />
In a bath <strong>of</strong> Lunar Caustic<br />
Carefully dissolved in water;<br />
There he left it certain minutes.<br />
Secondly my Hiawatha<br />
Made with cunning hand a mixture<br />
Of the acid Pyro-gallic,<br />
And the Glacial Acetic,<br />
And <strong>of</strong> alcohol and water:<br />
This developed all the picture.<br />
Finally he fixed each picture<br />
With a saturate solution<br />
Of a certain salt <strong>of</strong> Soda...."<br />
This "soda" was, <strong>of</strong> course, hypo. Sometimes potassium cyanide was used, the advantage <strong>of</strong> this<br />
being that the solutions could be washed out by rinsing under a tap for a minute or so, whereas hypo<br />
would need much more washing time.<br />
The collodion process had several advantages.<br />
● being more sensitive to light than the calotype process, it reduced the exposure times<br />
drastically - to as little as two or three seconds. This opened up a new dimension for<br />
photographers, who up till then had generally to portray very still scenes or people.<br />
● because a glass base was used, the images were sharper than with a calotype.<br />
● because the process was never patented, photography became far more widely used.<br />
● the price <strong>of</strong> a paper print was about a tenth <strong>of</strong> that <strong>of</strong> a daguerreotype.<br />
There was however one main disadvantage: the process was by no means an easy one. First the<br />
collodion had to be spread carefully over the entire plate. The plate then had to be sensitised,<br />
exposed and developed whilst the plate was still wet; the sensitivity dropped once the collodion had<br />
dried. It is <strong>of</strong>ten known as the wet plate collodion process for this reason.
The process was labour-intensive enough in a studio's darkroom, but quite a feat if one wanted to do<br />
some photography on location. Some took complete darkroom tents, Fenton took a caravan, and it is<br />
no mere coincidence that many photographs taken in this period happened to be near rivers or<br />
streams! Moreover, at this time there were no enlargements, so if one wanted large prints, there was<br />
no alternative but to carry very large cameras. (It is such limitations <strong>of</strong> the process that make the<br />
work <strong>of</strong> people like the Bisson brothers, Fenton, and others so remarkable).<br />
One might also mention the safety factor. The collodion mixture was not only inflammable but highly<br />
explosive. It is reported that several photographers demolished their darkrooms and homes, some<br />
even losing their lives, as a result <strong>of</strong> careless handling <strong>of</strong> the photographic chemicals.<br />
Despite the advantages the collodion process <strong>of</strong>fered, there were still many who stoutly defended the<br />
calotype. A writer in the Journal <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society (December 1856) wrote:<br />
"for subjects where texture, gradations <strong>of</strong> tint and distance are required, there is<br />
nothing.... to compare with a good picture from calotype or waxed paper negative."<br />
Moreover, the calotype process was less <strong>of</strong> an ordeal, especially for travel photographers; paper<br />
negatives could be prepared at home, exposed on location, and then developed upon one's return.<br />
Hence Diamond used the calotype process for some <strong>of</strong> his travel photographs, though he used<br />
collodion for portraiture and for his medical photography.<br />
Nevertheless the invention <strong>of</strong> this process turned out to be a watershed as far as photography was<br />
concerned:<br />
● cheaper alternatives, such as Ambrotypes and Tintypes were developed. The former was a<br />
positive on glass, the latter a positive on metal;<br />
● stereoscopic photography began to flourish;<br />
● the carte-de-visite craze started;<br />
● because <strong>of</strong> the faster speed <strong>of</strong> the process, the analysis <strong>of</strong> movement (see Muybridge) became<br />
possible.<br />
The use <strong>of</strong> collodion caught on very quickly indeed, and within a few years few people used either the<br />
Daguerreotype or Calotype process.<br />
The records <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society give an interesting account <strong>of</strong> the efforts to ensure even<br />
sensitivity <strong>of</strong> the Collodion plates. As mentioned above, these plates had to be dipped into a nitrate <strong>of</strong><br />
silver bath and exposed whilst still wet. Exposure would have to be almost immediate as otherwise<br />
the top <strong>of</strong> the plate would lose its moisture and the sensitivity would become uneven. All sorts <strong>of</strong><br />
liquids were tried, including honey, beer, and even rasperry syrup!<br />
A variation on this was the Oxymel process.<br />
To see a short video clip showing a collodion plate being made, see HERE.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001<br />
Last updated undefined
CARTE-DE-VISITE photography<br />
Cartes-de-visite were small visiting card portraits (usually measuring 4 1/2 x 2 1/2") introduced by a<br />
Parisian photographer, Andre Disdéri, who in late 1854 patented a way <strong>of</strong> taking a number <strong>of</strong><br />
photographs on one plate (usually eight), thus greatly reducing production costs. (He was not actually<br />
the first to produce them; this honour belongs to an otherwise obscure photographer called Dodero,<br />
from Marseilles).<br />
Different types <strong>of</strong> cameras were devised. Some had a mechanism which rotated the photographic<br />
plate, others had multiple lenses which could be uncovered singly or all together.<br />
The carte-de-visite did not catch on until one day in May 1859 Napoleon III, on his way to Italy with<br />
his army, halted his troops and went into Disdéri's studio in Paris, to have his photograph taken. From<br />
this welcome publicity Disdéri's fame began, and two years later he was said to be earning nearly<br />
£50,000 a year from one studio alone. **<br />
In England carte-de-visite portraits were taken <strong>of</strong> Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. One firm paid a<br />
small fortune for exclusive rights to photograph the Royal Family, and this signalled the way for a<br />
boom in collecting pictures <strong>of</strong> the famous, or having one's own carte-de-visite made. It is said that<br />
the portraits <strong>of</strong> Queen Victoria and the Royal Family taken by John Mayall sold over one hundred<br />
thousand copies.<br />
Other public figures were <strong>of</strong>ten persuaded to sit. Helmut Gernsheim, a writer on the history <strong>of</strong><br />
photography, comments that they were called "sure cards" because one could be sure that each time<br />
a famous person consented to sit, a small fortune would go to the photographer! To print quickly,<br />
several negatives were taken at a sitting: the Photographic News for 24 September 1858 reported<br />
that no fewer than four dozen negatives were taken <strong>of</strong> Lord Olverston at one sitting!<br />
During the 1860s the craze for these cards became immense. An article in the Photographic Journal,<br />
reports:<br />
"The public are little aware <strong>of</strong> the sale <strong>of</strong> the cartes de visite <strong>of</strong> celebrated persons. As<br />
might be expected, the chief demand is for members <strong>of</strong> the Royal Fanily.... No greater<br />
tribute to the memory <strong>of</strong> His late Royal Highness the Prince Consort would have been<br />
paid than the fact that within one week <strong>of</strong> his decease no less than 70,000 <strong>of</strong> his cartes<br />
de visite were ordered...<br />
Our great thoroughfares are filled with photographers; there are not less than thirtyfive<br />
in Regent Street alone."<br />
Sometimes the pr<strong>of</strong>its could be huge. A Frenchman by the name <strong>of</strong> Oliver Sarony, who was based in<br />
Yorkshire, was said to be earning more then ten thousand pounds a year - a fortune last century.<br />
Little wonder that there was speculation that Gladstone might introduce a tax on the trade!<br />
By the way, pirating <strong>of</strong> someone else's work is not new; some firms copied the photograph <strong>of</strong> a<br />
famous person and made quite a healthy living!<br />
The reasons for the success <strong>of</strong> these cards were<br />
● their cheapness. The average price for a card was a shilling (5p); mass produced ones could<br />
be bought for 25p a dozen<br />
● they were small, light and easy to collect, and many people began to place these in<br />
photographic albums
● collections <strong>of</strong> pictures, particularly <strong>of</strong> royalty, became highly treasured (there was no<br />
television, <strong>of</strong> course, in those days!)<br />
Cartes-de-visite were Albumen prints, and it is on record that in Britain half a million eggs were being<br />
delivered yearly to one photographic studio alone!<br />
The props used in cartes-de-visite seemed to follow certain fashions; starting <strong>of</strong>f with balustrades and<br />
curtains, they moved to columns (sometimes resting on the carpet!) bridges and stiles, hammocks,<br />
palm-trees and bicycles. Sadly, quantity rather than quality was the order <strong>of</strong> the day, though there<br />
are some striking exceptions.<br />
To some extent the carte-de-visite craze also put paid to photography in which detail was a distinctive<br />
feature; the work <strong>of</strong> Gustave Le Gray and <strong>of</strong> the Bisson brothers, for example, could not be<br />
reproduced on these small cards, and thus their businesses began to fall <strong>of</strong>f.<br />
By 1860 the carte de visite craze had reached its climax. In his autobiography H. P. Robinson states<br />
that in 1859 his photographic business had been about to collapse, but that this innovation had saved<br />
it. By the end <strong>of</strong> 1860 he had not only paid <strong>of</strong>f old debts and made additions to his premises, but had<br />
invested a considerable sum <strong>of</strong> money, two years later being able to sell his business and retire to live<br />
in London.<br />
In May 1862, Marion & Co. announced that it had published a series <strong>of</strong> Cabinet views, 6.75 x 4.5<br />
inches, photographed by George Washington Wilson, and the larger Cabinet photographs remained in<br />
vogue until the postcard was introduced at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century. Stereoscopic cards, whose<br />
popularity had temporarily declined, also began to experience a revival.<br />
There are many examples <strong>of</strong> these photographs in the Royal Photographic Society's collection. Some<br />
on current display are accompanied by an advertisement by the London Stereoscopic Society, for<br />
twenty prints at one pound, "Detention 3 minutes."<br />
** This story about Napoleon stopping for a portrait has subsequently shown to be untrue, but it<br />
makes a good story and may have been put about purely for publicity purposes!<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
DISDÉRI, Andre Adolphe Eugene<br />
b. 1819; d. 1889 or 1890<br />
A French photographer, he was famous for developing the technique <strong>of</strong> making very small (101mm x<br />
63mm) portraits, which came to be known as Carte-de-visite photographs. He patented this on 27<br />
November 1854.<br />
In May 1859 he had an extraordinarily lucky break, when Napoleon stopped his troops outside his<br />
studio and went in to have his photograph taken. Disdéri became instantly famous, and people flocked<br />
to his studio, making him a very rich man.<br />
The process was so cheap that carte-de-visites became enormously popular, largely replacing the<br />
daguerreotype. Enterprising photographers began to take photographs <strong>of</strong> famous personalities, and<br />
copies were avidly collected by the people.<br />
Disdéri is also credited with the invention <strong>of</strong> the twin-lens reflex camera.<br />
At the height <strong>of</strong> his fame he was said to be one <strong>of</strong> the richest photographers in Europe. Sadly,<br />
however, his photographic sense was not matched by his business one, for he ended his career as a<br />
beach photographer in Monaco, dying virtually penniless.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
AMBROTYPE process, The<br />
If a very thin under-exposed negative is placed in front <strong>of</strong> a dark background, the image appears like<br />
a positive. This is because the silver reflects some light whilst the areas with no silver at all will<br />
appear black. This is the principle behind the Ambrotype process, the pictures being more correctly<br />
known as Collodion positives.<br />
Ambrotypes were made from the 1850s and up to the late eighties, the process having been invented<br />
by Frederick Scott Archer in collaboration with Peter Fry, a colleague. Ambrotypes were direct<br />
positives, made by under-exposing collodion on glass negative, bleaching it, and then placing a black<br />
background - usually black velvet, occasionally varnish - behind it. Though Ambrotypes slightly<br />
resemble Daguerreotypes, the method <strong>of</strong> production was very different, and Ambrotypes were much<br />
cheaper.<br />
The Ambrotype process was yet another method <strong>of</strong> reducing the cost <strong>of</strong> photography. It became<br />
popular for a number <strong>of</strong> reasons:<br />
● less exposure time was needed<br />
● production was cheaper and quicker, as no printing was required<br />
● as the negative could be mounted the other way, by placing the collodion side on top <strong>of</strong> the<br />
backing material, there was no lateral reversal, as there was in most Daguerreotypes.<br />
● unlike Daguerreotypes, they could be viewed from any angle<br />
Ambrotypes became very popular, particularly in America. The process is also called "Melainotype" in<br />
the European continent. Another variant <strong>of</strong> this was the Tintype process.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MADDOX, Richard Leach<br />
b. 4 August 1816; d. 11 May 1902<br />
Dr. Richard Maddox, an English physician, worked on photo-micrography and wrote on various<br />
photographic topics, but it was not until 1871 that his greatest contribution to the science <strong>of</strong><br />
photography was made. Up to his time, wet collodion plates were being used. These required that<br />
coating, exposure and development be done whilst the solution was still wet, and soon the need for<br />
pre-prepared plates became evident.<br />
Maddox, a photography enthusiast, first started looking around for a substitute to collodion when he<br />
found his health being affected by the ether vapour <strong>of</strong> the collodion process. In an article in the British<br />
Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> for 8 September 1871 he suggested a process whereby the sensitising<br />
chemicals could be coated on a glass plate in a Gelatin emulsion, instead <strong>of</strong> wet collodion. Probably he<br />
had no idea at the time <strong>of</strong> the significance his discovery would have on the future <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Some years later Charles Bennett and others made the first gelatin dry plates for sale on the open<br />
market, a revolutionary advance in the science <strong>of</strong> photography. By the end <strong>of</strong> that decade the dry<br />
plate process had superseded the wet plate one entirely, and within a further ten years the emulsion<br />
would be coated on celluloid roll film.<br />
In 1901 Maddox received the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal for inventions that led to<br />
the foundation <strong>of</strong> the dry plate and film industry. He had freely made his ideas known, and never<br />
patented the process; sadly he ended his days in poverty.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
GELATIN, The introduction <strong>of</strong><br />
The development <strong>of</strong> the Collodion process marked a watershed in the development <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
However, this wet-plate process had limitations, one being that it was necessary to keep the collodion<br />
moist.<br />
For a number <strong>of</strong> years several attempts were made to discover ways <strong>of</strong> keeping the collodion moist for<br />
long periods. The materials tried included unusual ones like licorice, beer and raspberry syrup! Some<br />
success was achieved by using a mixture <strong>of</strong> bromide in collodion. The ideal binder would be one which<br />
enabled the plates to be used only when dry. It was not until 1871 that the next breakthrough was<br />
achieved by Dr Richard Leach Maddox, when he began using gelatin.<br />
In fact, as far back as 1850 Robert Bingham had suggested the use <strong>of</strong> gelatin, but this idea had not<br />
been taken up at the time, presumably because <strong>of</strong> the announcement <strong>of</strong> the collodion process the<br />
following year.<br />
Gelatin is a protein obtained from animals, which is transparent and odourless, and used in a number<br />
<strong>of</strong> food processes. The first account <strong>of</strong> its use in photography is in the British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
for 8 September 1871, when Maddox suggested that the sensitising chemicals could be coated on to a<br />
glass plate in a gelatin rather than a collodion emulsion.<br />
Maddox's process, though revolutionary, was far slower than collodion. Several manufacturers<br />
experimented with it, the most successful being Charles Bennett, who in 1878 announced a new<br />
gelatin dry plate process. This was a major breakthrough, particularly since Bennett's process also<br />
considerably enhanced the sensitivity <strong>of</strong> the emulsion, reducing the exposure time to one tenth <strong>of</strong> that<br />
required for the collodion one.<br />
This dry process<br />
● relieved photographers <strong>of</strong> the need to carry about their own darkroom and chemicals;<br />
● exposure could now be made on location, development being left until much later;<br />
● it also let to a greater degree <strong>of</strong> standardisation, and a more scientific approach to<br />
photography;<br />
● the science <strong>of</strong> sensitometry was introduced at around this period, and exposure calculators<br />
now began to appear.<br />
By the end <strong>of</strong> that decade the dry plate had superseded the Wet Plate entirely, and within a further<br />
ten years the emulsion could be coated on celluloid roll film.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DRY-PLATE process, The<br />
This was invented by Charles Bennett in 1878, coming soon after Dr. Richard Leach Maddox had<br />
suggested the use <strong>of</strong> Gelatin as a binder. This new process was revolutionary:<br />
● from now on portable darkrooms would no longer be necessary;<br />
● the process was much more sensitive to light, and therefore relatively fast shutter speeds were<br />
possible;<br />
● it led to a greater degree <strong>of</strong> standardisation and quality<br />
● a new range <strong>of</strong> cameras (including novel ones, such as used for example by Paul Martin),<br />
began to appear.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
EASTMAN, George<br />
b. 12 July 1854; d. 14 March 1932<br />
Four years later he<br />
introduced the box<br />
camera<br />
incorporating roll<br />
film, and with his<br />
slogan "You press<br />
the button, we do<br />
the rest" he brought photography to the masses.<br />
The box camera had a simple lens focusing on 8<br />
feet and beyond. One roll <strong>of</strong> film took a hundred<br />
images, all circular in shape. The entire camera<br />
would be posted to the factory where the film was<br />
processed and the camera re-loaded and returned<br />
to the user, the charge for this being £2.2s (£2.10).<br />
Up to the time <strong>of</strong> Eastman photography, though already popular, was<br />
still considered too complicated for ordinary users, and George<br />
Eastman is remembered for having made photography accessible to<br />
all.<br />
Eastman started <strong>of</strong>f as a bank clerk, and then became interested in<br />
photography. He is particularly remembered for introducing flexible<br />
film in 1884.<br />
The photographs were <strong>of</strong> about 65mm diameter, and opened up a new world for popular photography.<br />
Eastman's contribution not only made photography available to all, but also resulted in a gradual<br />
change in what constituted acceptable photography. Paul Martin, who worked with a large portable<br />
camera, had found it difficult to get his informal pictures accepted at exhibitions. To have pictures<br />
accepted, he complained, one would need to take "... a noble and dignified subject, a cathedral or<br />
mountain..."<br />
and that<br />
"few envisaged the popular snapshot until the coming <strong>of</strong> the hand camera and the<br />
Kodak."<br />
From the age <strong>of</strong> 76 onwards, Eastman was becoming increasingly ill. Eventually, having settled his<br />
affairs, he took his own life. Next to his body was a note which said simply "To my friends, my work is<br />
done - why wait?"<br />
If you have the opportunity, do visit the Kodak Museum at the National Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, Film<br />
and Television in Bradford. It houses a huge collection <strong>of</strong> interesting images and objets connected<br />
with popular photography.
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
FILM<br />
The first photographic film is credited to John Corbutt † , an Englishman working in Philadelphia, who in<br />
1888 coated sheets <strong>of</strong> celluloid with photographic emulsion. The following year George Eastman<br />
produced roll film, designed for a new camera called the Kodak; after exposure the film would be<br />
returned still in the camera for processing.<br />
Daylight loading film was produced by Eastman Kodak in 1894.<br />
The early films were highly inflammable, and gradually became replaced by non inflammable cellulose<br />
acetate in the 1930s. Cine projection seemed to be a pretty hazardous business, if the advice to users<br />
printed in New Photographer, 2 January 1926 is anything to go by:<br />
"Choose a room with more than one exit door if possible, and make sure that the<br />
windows can be easily opened in the event <strong>of</strong> the film charring and beginning to emit<br />
smoke, as this smoke is poisonous... Keep a bucket <strong>of</strong> damp sand close by the<br />
projector, and at the first sign <strong>of</strong> a flare-up throw the machine on the bare floor and tip<br />
the sand all over it. If this is done smartly without fuss, and if the people are at once<br />
got out <strong>of</strong> the room and the windows opened, no great harm will accrue beyond the<br />
destruction <strong>of</strong> the film..."<br />
† Well, it depends where you look! One book states that the idea <strong>of</strong> a paper roll film was first<br />
conceived by Arthur James Melhuish in 1854. Even more interesting is the story <strong>of</strong> Revd. Hannibal<br />
Goodwin, which clearly suggests that Eastman Kodak had made a claim to inventing film that was<br />
unjustified.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
VOGEL, Herman<br />
b. 1834; d. 1898<br />
In the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography, photographic emulsions were sensitive only to blue and white<br />
light, giving incorrect tonal values, with red and green objects appearing very dark. Vogel, a German<br />
chemist, made a major contribution to the development <strong>of</strong> colour photography when, in 1873, he<br />
discovered that if he added appropriate dyes when making a solution, the plates would respond to<br />
green light (essential, obviously, for landscape photography). This led to the manufacture <strong>of</strong><br />
"orthochromatic" plates (sensitive to all the visible spectrum except red and deep orange). Just after<br />
the turn <strong>of</strong> the century "panchromatic" films, sensitive to all visible colours in the spectrum, began to<br />
be produced.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard<br />
b. 9 April 1830; d. 8 May 1904<br />
Edward James Muggeridge was born in Kingston on Thames, and it is said that because this area is<br />
associated with the coronation <strong>of</strong> Saxon kings, he took on a name closely resembling (as he saw it)<br />
the Anglo Saxon equivalent. In his early twenties he went to live in America, gaining a reputation for<br />
his landscape photographs <strong>of</strong> the American West. As he used the collodion process, like other travel<br />
photographers he would have needed to take with him all the sensitising and processing equipment,<br />
as all three processes <strong>of</strong> sensitisation, exposure and processing needed to be done while the plate was<br />
still wet.<br />
During the late sixties and early seventies he made some two thousand pictures, exposing negatives<br />
size 20x24 inch. Though he is not given due acclaim, many his landscape studies rank with the best.<br />
However, Muybridge's main claim to fame (apart from being tried and acquitted for the murder <strong>of</strong> his<br />
wife's lover!) was his exhaustive study <strong>of</strong> movement. Just about this same time the French<br />
physiologist Etienne Marey was studying animal movement, and his studies began to suggest that a<br />
horse's movements were very different from what one had imagined. One <strong>of</strong> the people who became<br />
aware <strong>of</strong> this research was Leland Stanford, a former governor <strong>of</strong> California, who owned a number <strong>of</strong><br />
race horses. Stanford was determined to find the truth about this. It is said that he bet a friend that<br />
when a horse gallops, at a particular point all four feet are <strong>of</strong>f the ground simultaneously. To prove his<br />
case he hired Muybridge to investigate whether the claim was true.<br />
By the 1870s lengthy exposures had been reduced to a minimum, and thus it became possible for<br />
photography to begin to extend one's vision <strong>of</strong> reality. It took a little time, however, for Muybridge to<br />
perfect a way <strong>of</strong> photographing which would supply the answer, for the Collodion process was rather<br />
slow.<br />
Whilst working on this project Muybridge also undertook other assignments, and it was on his return<br />
from one <strong>of</strong> these, we are told, that he became aware that his wife was having an affair with another<br />
soldier. In true Wild West style he shot the soldier dead, and was duly imprisoned for murder;<br />
however, presumably partly because <strong>of</strong> his connections, he was acquitted a little later, and was asked<br />
to photograph the Panama railroad, some distance away from the scene <strong>of</strong> the crime.<br />
Returning to his movement experiments, a few years later Muybridge was able to photograph a horse<br />
galloping, using twenty four cameras, each triggered <strong>of</strong>f by the breaking <strong>of</strong> a trip-wire on the course.<br />
He not only proved Leland right, but also showed that, contrary to what painters had depicted, a<br />
horse's feet are not, as hitherto believed, outstretched, as if like a rocking- horse, but bunched<br />
together under the belly. This discovery caused considerable controversy, but eventually became<br />
more generally accepted.<br />
Muybridge's studies are very comprehensive, and include some detailed studies <strong>of</strong> men and women<br />
walking, running, jumping, and so on.<br />
In 1878 an article in Scientific American published some <strong>of</strong> Muybridge's sequences, and suggested<br />
that readers might like to cut the pictures out and place them in a "zoetrope" so that the illusion <strong>of</strong><br />
movement might be re-created. Intrigued by this, Muybridge experimented further, and in time<br />
invented the zoopraxiscope, an instrument which in turn paved the way for cine photography. This<br />
invention was greeted with enormous enthusiasm both in America, whilst in England a demonstration<br />
at the Royal Institution in 1882 attracted such people as the Prince <strong>of</strong> Wales, the Prime Minister<br />
(Gladstone), Tennyson, and others.
In 1884 the University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania commissioned Muybridge to make a further study <strong>of</strong> animal<br />
and human locomotion. The report, "Animal Locomotion" was published three years later and still<br />
ranks as the most detailed study in this area. It contains more than twenty thousand images.<br />
In 1900 Muybridge returned to Kingston, where he died a few years later. His zoopraxiscope, together<br />
with many <strong>of</strong> his plates, were bequeathed to the Kingston-upon-Thames Museum, where they are on<br />
display. Other plates are in the Royal Photographic Society's collection.<br />
Sites come and go, but at the time <strong>of</strong> writing, there's one that shows people how to make a toy<br />
zoetrope. See HERE.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001.
STEREOSCOPIC photography<br />
Stereoscopic, or 3D photography, works because it is able to recreate the illusion <strong>of</strong> depth. Human eyes are set about<br />
two-and-a-half inches apart, so each eye sees an image slightly differently. If one takes two separate photographs<br />
that same distance apart, with a suitable viewer it is possible to recreate that illusion <strong>of</strong> depth.<br />
It comes as a surprise to many to learn that the idea <strong>of</strong> stereoscopy actually preceded photography. Binocular<br />
drawings were made by Giovanni Battista della Porta (1538-1615), whilst about the same period Jacopo Chimenti da<br />
Empoli (1554-1640) produced drawings side by side which clearly indicated his understanding <strong>of</strong> binocular vision.<br />
In 1613 the Jesuit Francois d'Aguillion (1567-1617), in his treatise, coined the word "stéréoscopique"<br />
The first practical steps to demonstrate the theory by constructing equipment for the purpose did not take place until<br />
the 1800s. Though most associate Brewster with the invention, it was Sir Charles Wheatstone who, in June 1838, gave<br />
an address to the Royal Scottish Society <strong>of</strong> Arts on the phenomena <strong>of</strong> binocular vision. In describing the equipment,<br />
he said:<br />
"I...propose that it be called a Stereoscope, to indicate its property <strong>of</strong> representing solid figures."<br />
Wheatstone's actual stereoscope is preserved at the Science Museum in London. Eleven years were to elapse before<br />
Sir David Brewster described a binocular camera, and the first stereoscopic photographs began to be produced.<br />
Early workers in this field include Fenton, who took photographs in Russia, when he visited there in 1852, and Jules<br />
Duboscq, who made stereoscopes and stereoscopic daguerreotypes. Duboscq in turn caused Antoine Claudet to become<br />
interested in stereoscopy; indeed, it was Claudet who patented stereoscopes in 1853.<br />
The stereoscope took <strong>of</strong>f in a big way when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert observed one at the exhibition at the<br />
Crystal Palace, and Brewster presented her with a stereoscope made by Duboscq. This signalled the beginning <strong>of</strong> a<br />
huge trade in stereoscopes and images; it is estimated that by the mid eighteen-fifties over a million homes owned<br />
one. One <strong>of</strong> the most successful salesmen <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic cards was George Nottage, later Lord Mayor <strong>of</strong> London, his<br />
catalogues listing over one hundred thousand views.<br />
The most common process for making stereoscopic cards was the Albumen one, daguerreotype images being very<br />
rare.<br />
A variety <strong>of</strong> viewers became available, from the simple Holmes<br />
viewer, shown here, to cabinet-type viewers which could store<br />
fifty or so positives.<br />
A different way to view images is the anaglyph process, which<br />
was developed by Ducos Du Hauron, and was a method <strong>of</strong><br />
printing two images on to one sheet. The process is still quite<br />
popular today.<br />
The London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company came into<br />
being in 1850 and continued for some seventy years. Their<br />
output was collossal; they listed over a hundred thousand stereo<br />
photographs in their 1858 catalogue. In general they tended to<br />
be views, plus some portraits <strong>of</strong> comic scenes.<br />
The Stereoscopic Society was founded in 1893, and is one <strong>of</strong><br />
two societies operating in Britain which continue to promote this form <strong>of</strong> photography. It is still in existence, and<br />
details can be found here.<br />
Though there exist (quite expensive) stereo cameras in<br />
the second-hand market, if one is photographing a still<br />
object a single camera is all that is needed. An article in<br />
Amateur Photographer, dated November 27, 1902, had a<br />
lengthy article, together with examples <strong>of</strong> the picture<br />
produced. Those able to uncross their eyes so that the<br />
two pictures fuse can see the stereo effect.
© Robert Leggat, 2003<br />
Last updated undefined
ARCHITECTURAL photography<br />
Many photographs defy classification, and this is particularly so in the case <strong>of</strong> architectural<br />
photography, where much <strong>of</strong> the early work may come under general interest, travel, or landscape.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> Fox Talbot's photographs, for example, have architectural interest, though that may not have<br />
been their primary objective.<br />
Among the most well-known photographers are Fenton, <strong>of</strong> abbeys and castles, Hill and Adamson,<br />
taken in various Scottish cities, and Bourne and Frith. Francis Bedford produced a number <strong>of</strong><br />
photographs, many for use with the Stereoscope.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the earliest <strong>of</strong> photographers <strong>of</strong> architecture per se was Philip Delamotte, an artist, who<br />
documented the re-building <strong>of</strong> the Crystal Palace in 1853-54. Other significant names are Robert<br />
McPherson, James Anderson, Valentine Blanchard, Frederick Evans and Carlo Ponti.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LINKED RING, The<br />
Many artists regard the hanging <strong>of</strong> their work at the Royal Academy almost as an accolade. So too with photographers. In the<br />
1880s, the exhibitions mounted by the Photographic Society were regarded as the premier event. However, several <strong>of</strong> its members<br />
were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Society's emphasis on scientific as opposed to aesthetic matters.<br />
As time went on differences between the photographic scientists and photographic artists became greater and more acrimonious,<br />
and Henry Peach Robinson was becoming increasingly frustrated by the failure <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society to recognise that there<br />
was an artistic dimension as well as a scientific one to photography. The Photographic News for 19 August 1892 pinpointed the<br />
problem:<br />
"If photography is ever to take up its proper position as an art it must detach itself from science and live a separate<br />
existence."<br />
Commenting upon the proceedings <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, Robinson wrote<br />
"For years art has scarcely been mentioned... The feeling that art had nothing to do with the Society became so<br />
pronounced two or three years ago that one <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficials expressed his opinion that papers on art may be tolerated<br />
if they could be got and there was nothing better to be had...."<br />
The circumstances which led to the final breakup between Robinson and the Photographic Society were relatively trivial, but they<br />
were the last straw, and led to the resignation <strong>of</strong> Robinson and George Davidson from the Society. At that time Robinson was a much<br />
respected Vice-President <strong>of</strong> the Society, and had been a member for many years, and his resignation was followed by that <strong>of</strong> several<br />
other distinguished photographers <strong>of</strong> the time.<br />
In May 1892, a few months after the disastrous Council meeting which had culminated in these resignations, Robinson founded the<br />
Linked Ring, a brotherhood consisting <strong>of</strong> a group <strong>of</strong> photographers based in London, pledged to enhance photography as a fine art.<br />
Famous members <strong>of</strong> this brotherhood (which was by invitation only - one could not apply for it) included Frank Sutcliffe, Frederick<br />
Evans, Paul Martin, and Alfred Stieglitz.<br />
Though the formation <strong>of</strong> this group was, as their publicity indicated, "a means <strong>of</strong> bringing together those who are interested in the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> the highest form <strong>of</strong> Art <strong>of</strong> which <strong>Photography</strong> is capable", it is also very likely that serious photographers were now<br />
trying to distance themselves from the growth <strong>of</strong> photography for all, brought about by the introduction <strong>of</strong> simple cameras. The idea<br />
that anyone could press a button and take a photograph caused the more dedicated to look for new techniques which the "snap<br />
photographers" would never aspire to.<br />
The brotherhood put on a number <strong>of</strong> exhibitions and sought to encourage the work <strong>of</strong> innovative photographers, including work by<br />
non-members. Its first major exhibition took place in November 1893, and was known as the Photographic Salon, a title chosen<br />
deliberately, in order to associate itself with painting exhibitions, where the same term was used. The exhibition was very well<br />
received, and for a number <strong>of</strong> years - up to the group's demise, it was an important annual event for photographers both in England<br />
and abroad. The Link's annual, "Photograms <strong>of</strong> the year", became world famous.<br />
By 1901 some <strong>of</strong> its members were boldly stating that the Linked Ring<br />
had demonstrated that "pictorial photography is able to stand alone<br />
and that it has a future entirely apart from that which is purely<br />
mechanical."<br />
A few years after the formation <strong>of</strong> this brotherhood, a similar reaction<br />
to the photographic establishment was emerging in America, where the<br />
Photo-Secession was formed.<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> the more influential members <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession also<br />
became members <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring, and discontent began to arise<br />
because <strong>of</strong> their domination <strong>of</strong> the Ring. At the 1908 exhibition <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Salon, photographers discovered that many <strong>of</strong> the exhibits (over 60%)<br />
were by Americans. It was not so much their quantity as their style<br />
which angered many British members <strong>of</strong> the Link. F.J.Mortimer, at the<br />
time Editor <strong>of</strong> the influential magazine "Amateur Photographer",<br />
organised at its <strong>of</strong>fices a "Salon des Refusés" <strong>of</strong> pictures not admitted<br />
to the Salon. Meanwhile the British members <strong>of</strong> the Link, being in the majority, changed the rules for the following year's exhibition,<br />
this leading to the resignation from the Brotherhood <strong>of</strong> several influential Americans including Stieglitz and Clarence White. The<br />
success <strong>of</strong> Mortimer's exhibition, together with internal strife within the Brotherhood after these Americans had resigned, led to the<br />
Linked Ring being dissolved. In its place came the London Salon, their first exhibition being held in 1910.<br />
The Salon continues to this day, and its original interest, with photography as art, and to "encourage that class <strong>of</strong> photographic work<br />
where there is distinct evidence <strong>of</strong> artistic feeling and execution" remains the same. However, membership is by invitation only, and<br />
this exclusivity has resulted in many exceptional photographers who would sympathise with the aim <strong>of</strong> the organization ignoring it,<br />
considering the movement to have become somewhat pretentious.
(The picture, reproduced from Amateur Photographer, shows the Salon's exhibition hall in 1902)<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2002.<br />
Last updated undefined
LIGHTING<br />
In the early days <strong>of</strong> photography the only source <strong>of</strong> light was, <strong>of</strong> course, the sun, so most<br />
photography depended upon long days and good weather. It is said that Rejlander used a cat as a<br />
primitive exposure meter: placing the cat where the sitter should be, he judged by looking at its eyes<br />
whether it was worth taking any photographs or whether his sitter should go home and wait for better<br />
times! The nearer to the birth <strong>of</strong> photography, the greater the amount <strong>of</strong> lighting needed, as the first<br />
chemical emulsions were very insensitive.<br />
The first artificial light photography dates back as far as 1839, when L. Ibbetson used oxy-hydrogen<br />
light (also known as limelight) when photographing microscopic objects; he made a daguerreotype in<br />
five minutes which, he claimed, would have taken twenty-five minutes in normal daylight.<br />
Other possibilities were explored. Nadar, for example, photographed the sewers in Paris, using batteryoperated<br />
lighting. Later arc-lamps were introduced, but it was not until 1877 that the first studio lit by<br />
electric light was opened by Van der Weyde, who had a studio in Regent Street. Powered by a gasdriven<br />
dynamo, the light was sufficient to permit exposures <strong>of</strong> some 2 to 3 seconds for a carte-devisite.<br />
Soon a number <strong>of</strong> studios started using arc lighting. One advert (by Arthur Langton, working in<br />
Belgravia, London), boldly proclaims: "My electric light installation is perhaps the more powerful in<br />
London. Photographs superior to daylight, Pictures can now be taken in any weather and at any time."<br />
More from Arthur Langton's advertisement: CAUTION "Many photographers advertise 'portrits taken<br />
by electric light' but 9 out <strong>of</strong> 10 do not possess an electric light, owing to its costlinss they use an<br />
inferior and nasty substitute... a pyrotechnic powder which gives <strong>of</strong>f poisonos fumes."<br />
(His spelling, by the way!)<br />
In June 1850 an experiment conducted by Fox Talbot, probably using static electricity stored in Leyden<br />
jars, was conducted at the Royal Society: a page <strong>of</strong> The Times was fastened on to a wheel, which then<br />
revolved rapidly. Writing about this the following year Fox Talbot stated: "From this experiment the<br />
conclusion...is that it is within our power to obtain pictures <strong>of</strong> all moving objects....providing we have<br />
the means <strong>of</strong> sufficiently illuminating them with a sudden electric flash."<br />
The object then had been to arrest fast action. A few years later William Crookes, editor <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Photographic News (October 1859) was responding to a query put to him on how to light some caves:<br />
"A...brilliant light...can be obtained by burning....magnesium in oxygen. A piece <strong>of</strong> magnesium wire<br />
held by one end in the hand, may be lighted at the other extremity by holding it to a candle... It then<br />
burns away <strong>of</strong> its own accord evolving a light insupportably brilliant to the unprotected eye...."<br />
That same year Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Robert Bunsen (<strong>of</strong> Bunsen burner fame) was also advocating the use <strong>of</strong><br />
magnesium. The first portrait using magnesium was taken by Alfred Brothers <strong>of</strong> Manchester (22<br />
February 1864); some <strong>of</strong> the results <strong>of</strong> his experiments may be found in the Manchester Museum <strong>of</strong><br />
Science and Technology. It was however very expensive at that time and did not come into general<br />
use until there was a dramatic fall in the cost <strong>of</strong> magnesium a decade later. This, coupled with the<br />
introduction <strong>of</strong> dry plates in the 80s soon led to the introduction <strong>of</strong> magnesium flashlamps. They all<br />
used the same principle: a small amount <strong>of</strong> this powder would be blown, using a small rubber pump,<br />
through a spirit flame, producing a bright flash lasting about 1/15s. It also produced much smoke and<br />
ash!
Then in the late 1880s it was discovered that magnesium powder, if mixed with an oxidising agent<br />
such as potassium chlorate, would ignite with very little persuasion. This led to the introduction <strong>of</strong><br />
flash powder. It would be spread on a metal dish the flash powder would be set <strong>of</strong> by percussion -<br />
sparks from a flint wheel, electrical fuse or just by applying a taper. However the explosive<br />
flashpowder could be quite dangerous if misused. This was not really superseded until the invention <strong>of</strong><br />
the flashbulb in the late 1920s.<br />
Early flash photography was not synchronised. This meant that one had to put a camera on a tripod,<br />
open the shutter, trigger the flash, and close the shutter again - a technique known as open flash.<br />
Certainly early flash photography could be a hazardous business. It is said, for example, that Riis,<br />
working during this period, twice managed to set the places he was photographing on fire!<br />
In fact, the "open flash" technique, with flash powder, was still being used by some photographers<br />
until the 1950s. This was particularly so when, for example, a large building was being photographed;<br />
with someone operating the shutter for multiple exposures, it was possible to use the flash at different<br />
places, to provide more even illumination.<br />
By varying the amount <strong>of</strong> grammes <strong>of</strong> flash-powder, the distance covered could also be varied. To<br />
give some idea, using a panchromatic film <strong>of</strong> about 25ASA and open flash technique, at f8, a measure<br />
<strong>of</strong> 0.1 grammes <strong>of</strong> flash would permit the flash-subject idstance to be about 8 feet, whilst 2.0<br />
grammes would permit an exposure 30 feet away. The earliest known flash bulb was described in<br />
1883. It consisted <strong>of</strong> a two pint stoppered bottle which had white paper stuck on it to act as a<br />
reflector. To set the flash <strong>of</strong>f, a spiral <strong>of</strong> ten or so inches <strong>of</strong> magnesium on a wire skewer was prelighted<br />
and plunged into the oxygen.<br />
It was not to be until 1927 that the simple flash-bulb was to appear, and 1931 when Harold Egerton<br />
produced the first electronic flash tube.<br />
I am indebted to the late Arthur Gill, FRPS, a leading member <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society's<br />
Historical Group, for much <strong>of</strong> this information.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
PHOTO-SECESSION movement<br />
Towards the end <strong>of</strong> the century there was a growing dissatisfaction with the photographic establishment in England and in America.<br />
In England this led to a mass <strong>of</strong> resignations from the Photographic Society, and the formation <strong>of</strong> a group known as the Linked Ring,<br />
whilst in America, in 1902, an avant-garde group <strong>of</strong> photographers, led by Stieglitz, also sought to break away from the orthodox<br />
approach to photography, and from what they considered was the stale work <strong>of</strong> fellow- photographers.<br />
The American group came to be known as the Photo-Secession, the name Secession coming from groups <strong>of</strong> artists in Austria and<br />
Germany who had broken away from the academic establishment.<br />
Their rejection <strong>of</strong> establishment photography was aptly summarised in "Photograms <strong>of</strong> the year" for 1900: "That wealth <strong>of</strong> trivial<br />
detail which was admired in photography's early days and which is still loved by the great general public.... has gone out <strong>of</strong> fashion<br />
with advanced workers on both sides <strong>of</strong> the Atlantic."<br />
"Amateur Photographer", April 10, 1902, published an acount <strong>of</strong> this movement as follows:<br />
Amongst the more advanced pictorial workers in America a definite movement has now taken place; comparable in<br />
some respects with the Link Ring movement in this country <strong>of</strong> ten years or more ago, and at the invitation <strong>of</strong> the<br />
National Arts Club <strong>of</strong> New York, an Exhibition <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> is being held by contributors who now for the first time<br />
come before the public as an organised body; under the name <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secessionists, the main idea <strong>of</strong> which is to<br />
bring together in America sympathetic spirits, whether active photographers or simply those interested in the<br />
movement.<br />
The Exhibition is in many respects unique, consisting as it does <strong>of</strong> “ picked ” prints only, and representing only the<br />
very best work ever done in America.<br />
This American movement is...an attempt... to produce pictures by means <strong>of</strong> photography. Pictures, that is to say,<br />
which shall stand the test <strong>of</strong> criticism; that one would apply to a picture in any other medium; that shall be<br />
satisfactory in composition, colour quality, tone and lighting; that shall have esthetic charm and shall involve some<br />
expression <strong>of</strong> the personal feeling <strong>of</strong> the photographer.<br />
The photographers who pr<strong>of</strong>ess these high artistic aims and scrupulously live up to their principles and have the ability<br />
to practise them, are necessarily few in number, though steadily increasing; nor are they engaged in scholastic<br />
discussions as to whether photography can be reckoned among the fine arts, for they leave such theorising to the<br />
choppers <strong>of</strong> academic logic. It is not with phraseology they are concerned, but with facts.<br />
‘ Here is a print,’ they say in effect; ‘ has it any <strong>of</strong> the qualities that you find in a black and white; does it give you<br />
anything <strong>of</strong> the pleasurable feeling that you experience before a picture in some other medium? If not, we try again;<br />
but if, on the other hand, it does, then at least to the extent in which this print has affected you, pray acknowledge<br />
that there may be possibility <strong>of</strong> artistic expression in a pictorial photograph. How far the camera is responsible for the<br />
result or how far our own modification <strong>of</strong> its record, we venture to say is not the question; the sole point, as between<br />
you and ourselves, being whether our prints have aesthetic qualities and will stand the test <strong>of</strong> the kind <strong>of</strong> criticism<br />
that you apply to other pictures."<br />
Characteristic <strong>of</strong> the photography <strong>of</strong> this new movement was the employment <strong>of</strong> special printing processes (for example gum<br />
bichromate), and <strong>of</strong> artwork which lessened the detail on the finished print.<br />
The movement was not without its critics. Sadakihi Hartmann reacted strongly to the idea <strong>of</strong> manipulating photographs, and decried<br />
those who strove hard to make their pictures seem as if they were not photographs at all. In American Amateur Photographer<br />
(1904) he wrote: "We expect an etching to look like an etching, and a lithograph to look like a lithograph, why should not then a<br />
photographic print look like a photographic print?"<br />
It was not that he objected to retouching or "dodging": "'And what do I call straight photography,' (one might) say, 'can you define<br />
it?' Well, that's easy enough. Rely on your camera, on your eye, on your good taste and your knowledge <strong>of</strong> composition, consider<br />
every fluctuation <strong>of</strong> color, light and shade, study lines and values and space division, patiently wait until the scene or object <strong>of</strong> your<br />
pictured vision reveals itself in its supremest moment <strong>of</strong> beauty, in short, compose the picture which you intend to take so well that<br />
the negative will be absolutely perfect and in need <strong>of</strong> no... manipulation."<br />
From November 1905 the group laid on exhibitions <strong>of</strong> work at "The Little Galleries <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession" at 291 Fifth Avenue, New<br />
York, which came to be known simply as "291." The group lasted about ten years, though their influential and luxuriously printed<br />
journal called Camera Work continued publication for some years after. Notable members included Edward Steichen, Clarence White,<br />
Gertrude Kasebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.
SOCIAL REFORM, <strong>Photography</strong> for<br />
Very early in the days <strong>of</strong> photography this medium began to be used as a means <strong>of</strong> promoting social<br />
reform. Richard Beard photographed street scenes to illustrate a major project on the poor in London;<br />
unfortunately these are no longer in existence. In a similar vein John Thomson illustrated "Street Life<br />
in London" (1877); other pioneers were Thomas Annan, a Scot, who portrayed the slums <strong>of</strong> Glasgow,<br />
and Paul Martin.<br />
Jacob Riis, a journalist, photographed the awful conditions in the slums <strong>of</strong> New York, whilst Lewis<br />
Hine, towards the end <strong>of</strong> the century, was involved in a campaign to change child-labour laws in the<br />
USA.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
TRAVEL photography<br />
To appreciate the impact that photography made upon Victorian life one needs to remind oneself<br />
what little opportunity there was for any but the rich to visit other lands. Consequently, until<br />
photography was used, the majority <strong>of</strong> people would have needed to rely on the accuracy and<br />
integrity <strong>of</strong> explorers. <strong>Photography</strong> at last made it possible for a much larger proportion <strong>of</strong> people to<br />
see for themselves pictures <strong>of</strong> exotic lands afar and thus at least enjoy a vicarious experience; it also<br />
gave them an opportunity to realise how incorrect some reports had been.<br />
The invention <strong>of</strong> photography also coincided with the development <strong>of</strong> steam boats and the railways.<br />
Claudet waxed lyrical on the new horizons opened up as a result <strong>of</strong> the work <strong>of</strong> travel photographers:<br />
"By our fireside we have the advantage <strong>of</strong> examining (the pictures)<br />
without being exposed to the fatigue...and risks <strong>of</strong> the daring and<br />
enterprising artists who, for our gratification and instruction, have<br />
traversed lands and seas, crossed rivers and valleys, ascended rocks<br />
and mountains with their heavy photographic baggage..."<br />
One needs perhaps to appreciate how hard life as a travel photographer could be. Because the<br />
processing had to be done quickly after exposure, photographers on location needed to take away<br />
with them an enormous amount <strong>of</strong> equipment - boxes <strong>of</strong> plates, bottles galore, and <strong>of</strong> course the<br />
camera. These were the days before enlargers had been introduced, so large cameras, some<br />
producing plates size 12" by 16" (30cm by 40cm) had to be transported - and they were pretty<br />
heavy.<br />
The following, a report on the exploration <strong>of</strong> the Grand Canyon in 1871, gives us a flavour:<br />
"The camera in its strong box was a heavy load to carry up the rocks,<br />
but it was nothing to the chemical and plate- holder box, which in turn<br />
was a featherweight compared with the imitation hand organ which<br />
served for a darkroom...."<br />
Some did the journey, returning without any pictures at all...<br />
"The silver bath had got out <strong>of</strong> order, and the horse bearing the camera<br />
fell <strong>of</strong>f a cliff and landed on top <strong>of</strong> the camera..."<br />
In this connection, though he was a war photographer rather than a travel one, it is worth seeing<br />
what Roger Fenton had to cope with when he worked at his photographs on location.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the very earliest pioneers was the Rev. George Bridges, who had been taught photography by<br />
one <strong>of</strong> Fox Talbot's assistants, and by 1852 he had produced some 1,500 paper negatives <strong>of</strong> scenes<br />
in the Mediterranean and Egypt.<br />
The major pioneers in travel photography include Maxime Du Camp, Francis Frith, and Francis Bedford,<br />
all <strong>of</strong> whom took photographs in the Middle East. In America John C. Fremont was the first explorer<br />
to attempt to make a photographic document <strong>of</strong> his travels, but on his first attempt in 1842 he failed<br />
to get any photographic results. A Baltimore daguerreotypist, Solomon Nunes Carvalho, was also a<br />
pioneer.<br />
Interestingly, calotypes continued to be used by some travel photographers, because they were less
<strong>of</strong> an ordeal than collodion. After all, calotypes, for all their imperfections, permitted the<br />
photographer to prepare paper negatives at home, expose on location, and then develop upon<br />
returning home. Diamond, for example, used the calotype process for some <strong>of</strong> his travel<br />
photographs, though once at home he reverted to collodion for portraiture and for his medical<br />
photography.<br />
Other travel photographers include Samuel Bourne, who took particularly striking pictures <strong>of</strong> Indian<br />
architecture, <strong>of</strong>ten under very trying conditions, whilst Charles Clifford took some excellent pictures<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spanish architecture. Another photographer who, though sporting an unforgettable name, is<br />
almost unknown, is Linnaeus Tripe, who made many interesting photographs <strong>of</strong> Burma. Also worthy<br />
<strong>of</strong> mention are William Young who photographed in East Africa, Herbert Ponting who covered Captain<br />
Scott's expedition, and Lord Carnarvon, who photographed the tomb <strong>of</strong> Tutankhamen.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
Unusual Equipment, applications and stories.<br />
In addition to the conventional cameras which began to be produced from the 1860s, there were<br />
some which were, to say the least, novel:<br />
Frederick Boissonas, a German, used a large camera to photograph close-ups <strong>of</strong> the Acropolis in<br />
Athens, in 1913.<br />
The largest camera in the world.<br />
In 1900 the Mammoth camera was used to photograph trains in America. Weighing 600 Kg., it took<br />
fifteen men to operate the brute. George R Lawrence set it up and pointed at a brand-new train<br />
standing in the distance. The Alton<br />
Limited was the pride <strong>of</strong> the Chicago<br />
& Alton Railway Lawrence had been<br />
asked to make the largest<br />
photograph possible <strong>of</strong> it, sparing no<br />
expense.<br />
It reputedly cost five thousand<br />
dollars to build this camera - a huge<br />
sum in the 1900s.<br />
The picture size was 4.5 x 8 feet.<br />
Whether the prints still exist, or how<br />
the development took place, I have<br />
as yet been unable to ascertain!<br />
Edmond Bloch, from Paris, designed a Photo-Cravate in 1890; this was operated using a pneumatic<br />
bulb in the hand.<br />
Several walking canes (e.g. the Ben Akiba) had small cameras inserted into their handles.<br />
Cameras disguised as binoculars were also produced. On show in the RPS Museum is Nicour's<br />
Photobinocular, dated 1867. The left-hand side contained the camera, the right the viewfinder.<br />
Samuel McKellen patented a detective camera, shaped like an attache case.
Cameras were disguised as parcels, or books. The Taschenbuck, shaped like a book, became quite<br />
popular, selling for £7 10s (£7.50)<br />
Famous was Stirn's Detective camera, made from 1886, and costing less than two pounds. This was<br />
worn under a waistcoat, with the lens protruding through a button-hole.<br />
The Ticka camera, made from 1906, was shaped like a large pocket watch<br />
There were even cameras designed to look like a pistol. One, dated 1862, was the Thompson<br />
Revolver. It was fitted with an f2 Petzval design, which permitetd instantaneous explosures in good<br />
light. Another example was Skaife's "Pistolgraph." He once aimed this at Queen Victoria, and was<br />
immediately surrounded by the police, and he was forced to open the pistol to satisfy the police that<br />
this was not an assassination attempt.<br />
There were other unusual applications. One camera was mounted on a kite, another on a rocket,<br />
whilst a Dr. Neubronner perfected a camera to be mounted on a homing pigeon.<br />
Photographers using the Collodion process had a particular difficulty when on location, as the<br />
sensitising, exposure and development had to be carried out whilst the plate was still wet. Some used<br />
tents as makeshift darkrooms, but a more up-market darkroom was a converted hansom cab, such as<br />
one used by Thomas Annan. An example <strong>of</strong> a converted perambulator is described in the<br />
"Photographic News" for 29 April 1859.<br />
Perhaps the most unusual method <strong>of</strong> enlargement was the use <strong>of</strong> Cristoid film, in use at the turn <strong>of</strong><br />
the century. This being all gelatin, it swelled when it was developed, and therefore produced a larger<br />
photograph without the need for enlargement. It is claimed that Alvin Langdon Coburn experimented<br />
with this film, his "ten by eights" finishing up as twelve by tens!<br />
In 1856 the King <strong>of</strong> Naples forbade the practice <strong>of</strong> photography in his dominions. The reasons are not<br />
given, but it is possible that he or his subjects associated it with the evil eye!<br />
"Watch the birdie!" The Museum at George Eastman House displays a little brass bird over a camera.<br />
The legend reads:<br />
"Birdie, 1870s. Nineteenth-century photographers used many devices to try to get the<br />
attention <strong>of</strong> their subjects. This birdie not only tweeted, but also fluttered its tail when<br />
the photographer squeezed the air bulb attached to the slender pipe. The phrase 'watch<br />
the birdie' originated with this item." (1)<br />
(1) I am grateful to Claudio Simone, <strong>of</strong> George Eastman House, for this information.<br />
The following appeared in the St Catherine's Journal, Ontario, 10/9/1859:<br />
"An Irishman in Oswego [New York] who had been two or three times,<br />
unsuccessfully, to an artist to take a dagguerreotype (sic) <strong>of</strong> his dead child,<br />
actually stopped the funeral procession, last Saturday, and taking the c<strong>of</strong>fin up<br />
into the daguerrean gallery, insisted that the likeness should be taken. It was<br />
done, and the procession moved on, after standing some time in the street."
A photograph taken in 1842 has sold for a world record £565,250 at auction.<br />
The photograph <strong>of</strong> the Temple <strong>of</strong> Jupiter at the Acropolis in Athens was taken in 1842 by the French<br />
artist and historian, Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey.<br />
It was expected to fetch up to £120,000 but attracted rival telephone bids that pushed the price up<br />
during the auction at Christie's in London.<br />
The image, known as a Daguerreotype after the inventor, was taken using an early photographic<br />
process with the image made on a light-sensitive silver-coated metallic plate.<br />
The record sale was among 86 photographs taken by Girault de Prangey, which raised £3.7 million.<br />
They featured some <strong>of</strong> the earliest surviving photographs <strong>of</strong> Greece and the Middle East, which the<br />
artist photographed on his travels.<br />
Story filed: 16:49 Thursday 22nd May 2003<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
WAR, photography <strong>of</strong><br />
An early example <strong>of</strong> documentary photography is the record <strong>of</strong> war, which brought home to people<br />
some grim realities which shattered their fantasies. Photographers <strong>of</strong> note include James Robertson,<br />
who covered the siege <strong>of</strong> Sebastopol, and Roger Fenton, who covered the Crimean war, though the<br />
latter is more adequately described as a public relations exercise for the government <strong>of</strong> the day.<br />
Even as far back as 1839 the use <strong>of</strong> photography in this area was being talked about. Amongst the<br />
many uses <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac argued, was its capacity to render a<br />
landscape precisely. He cited one particular kind <strong>of</strong> landscape to make his point:<br />
... as three or four minutes are sufficient for execution, a field <strong>of</strong> battle, with its<br />
successive phases, can be drawn with a degree <strong>of</strong> perfection that could be obtained by<br />
no other means.<br />
So from the beginning <strong>of</strong> photography, it was being seen as a means <strong>of</strong> depicting war scenes. The<br />
American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing in 1863 stated:<br />
`It is well enough for some Baron Gros or Horace Vernet to please an imperial master<br />
with fanciful portraits.... (but) war and battles should have truth for their delineator',<br />
and photography would be more suitable for this.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the great names is that <strong>of</strong> Mathew Brady who, with a large team <strong>of</strong> photographers, covered<br />
the American Civil War. One member <strong>of</strong> his team was Timothy O'Sullivan,whose picture "Harvest <strong>of</strong><br />
Death", taken at Gettysburg on 4th July 1863 ranks amongst the most famous <strong>of</strong> early historical<br />
photographs.<br />
To some extent it is difficult to avoid seeing pictures showing the ravages <strong>of</strong> war; indeed to some<br />
extent we have become almost immune to it. To many people <strong>of</strong> the time, however, war would be<br />
something that was conducted in far-<strong>of</strong>f lands, and therefore would conjure up pictures <strong>of</strong> heroism<br />
and romanticism. Writing in the Atlanta Monthly magazine, Oliver Wendell Holmes showed how<br />
photography injected a feeling <strong>of</strong> grim reality into the situation, as he surveyed pictures taken by<br />
Brady's team:<br />
"Let him who wishes to know what war is look at this series <strong>of</strong> illustrations. These<br />
wrecks <strong>of</strong> manhood thrown together in careless heaps or ranged in ghastly rows for<br />
burial were alive but yesterday...<br />
Many people would not look through this series. Many, having seen it and dreamed <strong>of</strong><br />
its horrors, would lock it up..that it might not thrill or revolt those whose souls sickens<br />
at such sights. It was so nearly like visiting the battlefield...that all the emotions<br />
excited by the actual sight..came back to us. (It) gives us....some conception <strong>of</strong> what<br />
a repulsive, brutal, sickening, hideous thing it is, this dashing together <strong>of</strong> two frantic<br />
mobs to which we give the name <strong>of</strong> armies..."<br />
What effect might this have upon those who saw the photographs? Artists could romanticise the<br />
event; photographs told the truth (Well, did they?! Not necessarily!) One beneficial effect might have<br />
been to become more aware <strong>of</strong> the ordinary soldier, and his plight. In 1855 a telling cartoon in<br />
Punch, a British journal, depicted two soldiers in rags. The caption underneath the cartoon reads:<br />
"Well Jack! Here's good news from Home. We're to have a Medal."<br />
That's very kind. Maybe one <strong>of</strong> these days we'll have a coat to stick it on?"
Whilst touching upon "true" photographs, there were many "war" photographs whose takers never<br />
went near any scene <strong>of</strong> conflict. These include Nadar in France, Cundall and Howlett, whose "Crimean<br />
Braves" photographs were finished before the troops set sail!<br />
There was also a certain amount <strong>of</strong> embellishment that seems to have been readily accepted in those<br />
days. See Gardner<br />
Relatively unknown is John Maccosh, an army surgeon who may have the distinction <strong>of</strong> being<br />
Britain's first war photographer. He began to take photographs in 1844, whilst stationed in the<br />
Himalayas, and took photographs during a Sikh War (1848) and the second Burma war (1852)<br />
In the American Civil War a balloon was used to find the enemy's positions, notably for<br />
reconnaissance during the siege <strong>of</strong> Richmond, Virginia: on 1st June 1862 the balloonists climbed to<br />
1,300 feet, and with the aid <strong>of</strong> telegraphy were able to report the exact position and movement <strong>of</strong><br />
the enemy.<br />
An unusual application <strong>of</strong> photography in war was the use <strong>of</strong> carrier pigeons during the siege <strong>of</strong> Paris,<br />
when minute photographed messages were attached to their tails. (See Micro photography.)<br />
Even at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century the forces were ambivalent about war photography. IN an article in<br />
Amateur Photographer (Jan 4 1901) H. C. Shelley suggests "You have to find out your general before<br />
beginning operations." And referring to his attempts to photograph Sir Redvers Buller:<br />
"...the general went up to the captain's bridge to watch the oncoming boat. I crept<br />
after him, camera in hand, and in a flash the exposure was made. But he heard the<br />
click <strong>of</strong> the shutter and, turning round, and grasping the situation at a glance, he<br />
grimly threatened to have me placed in irons if I repeated the operation."<br />
Many war photographs are held in the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2005.
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
Adamson, Robert<br />
Annan, James Craig<br />
Annan, Thomas<br />
Anderson, Tempest<br />
Arago, Francois<br />
Significant PEOPLE in the early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> (A-D)<br />
Archer, Frederick Scott<br />
Atget, Eugene<br />
Atkins, Anna<br />
Barnack, Oskar<br />
Barnardo, Thomas<br />
Bayard, Hippolyte<br />
Beard, Richard<br />
Beato, Felice<br />
Bedford, Francis<br />
● Bennett, Henry Hamilton<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
Bisson, Louis and Auguste<br />
Blanchard, Valentine<br />
Blanquart-Evrard, Louis Desiree<br />
Bourne, Samuel<br />
Brady, Mathew<br />
Brewster, David<br />
Cameron, Julia Margaret<br />
Carnarvon, Lord<br />
Carroll, Lewis<br />
Claudet, Antoine
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
Clifford, Charles<br />
Coburn, Alvin Langdon<br />
Cundall, Joseph<br />
Daguerre, Louis<br />
Dancer, John Benjamin<br />
Davidson, George<br />
Davy, Humphry<br />
Day, Fred Holland<br />
Delamotte, Philip Henry<br />
Delaroche, Paul<br />
De la Rue, Warren<br />
De Meyer, Baron Gayne<br />
Demachy, Leon Robert<br />
Diamond, Hugh Welch<br />
Disdéri, Andre Adolphe<br />
Dixon, Henry<br />
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge<br />
Draper, John William<br />
Duboscq, Louis Jules<br />
Du Camp, Maxime<br />
Du Hauron, Louis Ducas
ANNAN, James Craig<br />
b. 8 March 1864; d. 5 June 1946<br />
The son <strong>of</strong> the Scottish photographer Thomas Annan, he is particularly remembered as an expert in<br />
photogravure. His re-photographing <strong>of</strong> Hill and Adamson's pictures revived interest in the latter. He<br />
was made a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring in 1894, and his work was published in a number <strong>of</strong> editions<br />
<strong>of</strong> Camera Work, which describes him as "one <strong>of</strong> the foremost artists in photography."<br />
The Royal Photographic Society has some sixty photographs, mostly photogravures, which were<br />
acquired from the photographer and others from the 1920s.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ANNAN, Thomas<br />
b.1829; d.1887<br />
Annan was a Scottish portrait photographer who started practising in 1857. He bought a hansom cab,<br />
converting it into a darkroom so that he would go on location photographing buildings and art<br />
treasures. He is remembered for his photographs <strong>of</strong> the explorer Sir David Livingstone (1864) and<br />
other contemporaries. What is noticeable is the absence <strong>of</strong> "props" and stereotyped poses which were<br />
in vogue at the time.<br />
Annan also took some fine pictures <strong>of</strong> the slum areas <strong>of</strong> Glasgow for the Glasgow Improvement Trust;<br />
they are not purely record photographs but portray vividly the people in those areas.<br />
When he died, his sons James Craig Annan and John ran the business.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ANDERSON, Tempest<br />
b. 1846; d. 26 Aug 1913<br />
Anderson was an Opthalmic surgeon whose spare time interests included photography. He made his<br />
own camera equipment, and enthusiastically promoted the use <strong>of</strong> photography in geology. Whilst<br />
working as a lecturer on volcanoes, he took many photographs <strong>of</strong> glaciers and mountains, some <strong>of</strong><br />
which gained awards. One <strong>of</strong> his concerns, evident in his work, was for human suffering arising from<br />
volcanic and other disasters.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> his work is stored in the Yorkshire Museum.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ARAGO, Francois<br />
b. 16 February 1786; d. 2 October 1853<br />
Arago was a French physicist and Director <strong>of</strong> the Paris Observatory, who invented a number <strong>of</strong> optical<br />
instruments. He was secretary <strong>of</strong> the Academy <strong>of</strong> Sciences, and was also an influential politician, and<br />
it was he who was instrumental in ensuring publicity and funding for Daguerre in 1839.<br />
Pleading on Daguerre's behalf, he pointed out the advantages <strong>of</strong> photography overseas: "To copy the<br />
millions and millions <strong>of</strong> hieroglyhics which entirely cover the great monuments at Thebes, Memphis<br />
and Carnac, etc. would require scores <strong>of</strong> years and legions <strong>of</strong> artists; whereas with the daguerreotype<br />
a single man would suffice to bring this vast labour to a happy conclusion." The result was that ten<br />
thousand francs were awarded for the discovery, four thousand going to the son <strong>of</strong> Niépce.<br />
However, in promoting Daguerre's work, he also unfairly persuaded Hippolyte Bayard, who had<br />
invented a process before Daguerre, to keep quiet about his discovery, and therefore robbed him <strong>of</strong><br />
the accolade he so deserved.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ATGET, Eugene<br />
b. 12 February 1857; d. 4 August 1927<br />
Eugene Atget studied acting and played with a theatre group in the suburbs <strong>of</strong> Paris, but had to<br />
abandon this in 1887 because <strong>of</strong> a recurrent throat infection. The following year he began to take<br />
photographs. Though he earned his living by taking photographs, he never described himself as a<br />
photographer, preferring "author-producer." He produced a documentary <strong>of</strong> the architecture and<br />
people <strong>of</strong> Paris, many <strong>of</strong> his pictures having been taken in areas shortly to be demolished.<br />
During the thirty years he worked, developed an extensive filing system for his many negatives and<br />
prints, and his legacy amounts to several thousand images.<br />
His street photographs were not very different from that <strong>of</strong> his contemporary Paul Martin, but he also<br />
revealed a remarkable capacity for "seeing" pictures. Whereas lesser mortals might take very similar<br />
photographs <strong>of</strong> well-known landmarks, one could picture Atget's attention being drawn by what they<br />
would regard as mundane situations. He would photograph the same subject from different viewpoints<br />
and at different times, demonstrating that two pictures <strong>of</strong> one subject can have very different<br />
meanings and appeal.<br />
Eugene Atget was a largely unknown character round which a number <strong>of</strong> myths have emerged: he is<br />
pictured as a tramp-like character wandering around with his camera, or a naive photographer who<br />
did not understand how much his work would command. He was certainly a very much underrated<br />
photographer, unknown during his lifetime, dying in total obscurity, but now acknowledged as one <strong>of</strong><br />
the most outstanding <strong>of</strong> artists.<br />
If he was not a surrealist himself, he certainly influenced this movement.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ATKINS, Anna<br />
b.16 Mar 1799; d. 9 Jun 1871<br />
Anna Atkins was a botanist, and one <strong>of</strong> the earliest woman photographers. In 1841 she came into<br />
contact with Fox Talbot, one <strong>of</strong> her father's friends. As a botanist, she quickly saw the potential <strong>of</strong><br />
using photography to record specimens. Her father was an eminent scientist who had various senior<br />
posts at the newly created British Museum; many <strong>of</strong> Anna's scientifically accurate drawings are in the<br />
British Museum.<br />
Anna lived in a time when women were not encouraged to become involved in science. Botany,<br />
however, was a more acceptable area.<br />
She chose the Cyanotype process for her work - an appropriate choice, because it was comparatively<br />
inexpensive and easy to work with, and its only disadvantage, a blue image, was immaterial. This<br />
process, though she was not to know it at the time, was far more permanent than other processes,<br />
and much <strong>of</strong> her work still survives now.<br />
In October 1843 Anna Atkins became the first person to print and publish a book, photographically<br />
illustrated with 424 pictures. Called "British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions", this book which was<br />
issued in several parts over a period <strong>of</strong> ten years. Her book, therefore, even precedes Fox Talbot's<br />
"Pencil <strong>of</strong> Nature." Though she had a camera, she relied entirely on photograms (known, at the time,<br />
as Shadowgraphs).<br />
A discovery <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the very few copies <strong>of</strong> her book attracted considerable interest in June 1996,<br />
when it was put up for auction.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BARNACK, Oscar<br />
b. 1 Nov, 1879; d. 16 Jan, 1936<br />
Born in Germany, Barnack was the designer <strong>of</strong> the first 35mm. miniature camera available<br />
commercially. He joined the Leitz optical company in 1911, and had actually developed a prototype <strong>of</strong><br />
the Leica two years later, but development was seriously arrested by the first World War and its<br />
aftermath. The 35mm film was used (and is still laregly used) for movie film, and the standard 24 x<br />
36mm format was created by simply doubling the size <strong>of</strong> the negative and holding it sideways relative<br />
to movie cameras.<br />
The development <strong>of</strong> the Leica camera was that it enabled pictorial journalism to develop. With wide<br />
aperture lenses, it permitted one to take exposures indoors by available light, and its size enabled one<br />
to take candid portraits. One <strong>of</strong> those who took advantage <strong>of</strong> this versatility was Erich Salomon,<br />
famous for his candid pictures <strong>of</strong> celebrities, <strong>of</strong>ten taken in situations where cameras were not<br />
permitted.<br />
Barnack was also partly responsible for the development <strong>of</strong> the Leitz Elmar lens.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BARNARDO, Thomas<br />
b. 4 July 1845; d. 19 September 1905<br />
Thomas Barnardo's name does not <strong>of</strong>ten feature amongst the names <strong>of</strong> early photographers, but<br />
perhaps deserves to. The founder <strong>of</strong> the famous Dr. Barnardo's Homes, in 1870 he employed a<br />
photographer to make a photographic record <strong>of</strong> every child admitted. The photographs were kept in<br />
albums and case-history sheets. There are over fifty thousand <strong>of</strong> these. He then developed an<br />
interesting collection <strong>of</strong> "then and now" pictures, printed on a carte-de-visite, <strong>of</strong> the boys at the<br />
homes; these then went on sale to raise money, and also proved to be effective publicity.<br />
Then a rival accused him <strong>of</strong> deception: "Barnardo's method is to take the children as they are<br />
supposed to enter the Home, and then after they have been in the Home for some time. He...tears<br />
their clothes so as to make them appear worse than they really are...they are also taken in purely<br />
fictional poses..."<br />
Barnardo sued, but he was ruled guilty <strong>of</strong> "artistic fiction" in respect <strong>of</strong> one photograph, which<br />
somewhat damaged his reputation. The arbitrators, pronouncing their verdict (1877), stated: "This<br />
use <strong>of</strong> artistic fiction to represent actual facts is, in our opinion, not only morally wrong as thus<br />
employed, but might, in the absence <strong>of</strong> a very strict control grow into a system <strong>of</strong> deception<br />
dangerous to the cause on behalf <strong>of</strong> which it is practised. Nor has evidence been wanting in this<br />
inquiry, that in one or two cases it has been applied to an extent that we....strongly reprobate."<br />
Barnardo conceded that the photographs might appear false, but strongly defended this on the<br />
grounds that the pictures which caused the problem were not intended to represent the actual boy or<br />
girl in the picture, but rather a class <strong>of</strong> children <strong>of</strong> whom many had been rescued. In addition, most <strong>of</strong><br />
the pictures were kept for internal use, only a few being used for publicity and fund-raising. The<br />
evidence would suggest that Barnardo, a man <strong>of</strong> impeccable integrity, was not deliberately trying to<br />
fake a situation, but that was the way that it was read.<br />
Subsequent photographs which were taken, straight "mug-shots", tell their story in just as dramatic a<br />
manner as did the contrived pictures.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BAYARD, Hippolyte<br />
b. 20 January 1807; d.1887<br />
Bayard, a Civil Servant, was one <strong>of</strong> the earliest <strong>of</strong> photographers. His invention <strong>of</strong> photography<br />
actually preceded that <strong>of</strong> Daguerre, for on 24 June 1839 he displayed some thirty <strong>of</strong> his photographs,<br />
and thus at least goes into the record books as being the first person to hold a photographic<br />
exhibition. However Francois Arago (a friend <strong>of</strong> Daguerre and who was seeking to promote his<br />
invention) persuaded him to postpone publishing details <strong>of</strong> his work. When Bayard eventually gave<br />
details <strong>of</strong> the process to the French Academy <strong>of</strong> Sciences on 24 February 1840, he had lost the<br />
opportunity to be regarded as the inventor <strong>of</strong> photography. As some recompense he was given some<br />
money to buy better equipment, but in no way did this atone for the injustice caused him.<br />
Bayard's somewhat surreal self-portrait (October 1840),<br />
depicting him as a drowned man, is by way <strong>of</strong> protest<br />
against this injustice <strong>of</strong> having been pipped at the post<br />
because he had kept quiet about his invention. It is in fact<br />
the first known example <strong>of</strong> the use <strong>of</strong> photography for<br />
propaganda purposes, and also <strong>of</strong> a faked picture! The<br />
comment reads:<br />
"The corpse which you see here is that <strong>of</strong> M. Bayard, inventor <strong>of</strong> the process that has<br />
just been shown to you. As far as I know this indefatigable experimenter has been<br />
occupied for about three years with his discovery.<br />
The Government which has been only too generous to Monsieur Daguerre, has said it<br />
can do nothing for Monsieur Bayard, and the poor wretch has drowned himself. Oh the<br />
vagaries <strong>of</strong> human life....!"<br />
... He has been at the morgue for several days, and no-one has recognized or claimed<br />
him."<br />
He continues:<br />
"Ladies and gentlemen, you'd better pass along for fear <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fending your sense <strong>of</strong><br />
smell, for as you can observe, the face and hands <strong>of</strong> the gentleman are beginning to<br />
decay."<br />
(Obviously sun-tan, but it contributed to this bizarre photograph!<br />
Fortunately he did not end his own life, and continued to take photographs. As a photographer his<br />
work actually shows more sensitivity and accomplishment than either Fox Talbot or Daguerre. He was<br />
the first to suggest that separate negatives <strong>of</strong> clouds be used to print in the skies, and thus paved the<br />
way for a new technique to become known as Combination Printing.
Most <strong>of</strong> Bayard's works are at the Societe Francaise de Photographie, <strong>of</strong> which he was a founder<br />
member.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2002.<br />
Last updated undefined
BEARD, Richard<br />
b. 1801; d. 1885<br />
Richard Beard was Britain's first portrait photographer. A coal merchant for a number <strong>of</strong> years, he<br />
became interested in photography from the moment it was announced. An entrepreneur rather than<br />
a photographer, he hired the right people, and having concluded that there might be considerable<br />
potential in daguerreotypes, he purchased the patent from Daguerre for £150 a year in 1841, and on<br />
23 March that year the first pr<strong>of</strong>essional portrait studio in England was <strong>of</strong>ficially opened. This studio<br />
was on the ro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Polytechnic Institution in Regent Street, London, (now the University <strong>of</strong><br />
Westminster) and John Goddard, a science lecturer, was his operator.<br />
The Times (24 March 1841) reporting on the event, gave a description <strong>of</strong> the studio:<br />
"The appartment (sic) appropriated for the magical process - for so it may be termed -<br />
is....on the highest story (sic) <strong>of</strong> the institution. From the ro<strong>of</strong>, which is constructed <strong>of</strong><br />
blue glass <strong>of</strong> about a quarter <strong>of</strong> an inch thick, a very powerful light is obtained, and it<br />
is so ingeniously contrived as to revolve with the sun. In a portion <strong>of</strong> the room, nearly<br />
in the centre, an elevated seat is placed, on which the party whose likeness is to be<br />
taken sits with his head reclining backwards. In this position the sitter is told to look<br />
into a glass box, in an opposite direction, about five feet from him, in which is placed<br />
the metallic plate to be impressed with the portrait. Having done so for a few seconds,<br />
he descends, and in a few minutes afterwards a faithful likeness is presented to him.<br />
The likenesses which we saw were admirable, and closely true to nature, beauties and<br />
deformities being alike exhibited..."<br />
Beard imported and secured the rights to a camera designed in America by Alexander Wolcott which<br />
had a concave mirror in place <strong>of</strong> a lens, which helped to increase the light on the plate. However, two<br />
years later he discarded this and was using the fast Petzval lens.<br />
At that time the portrait measuring 1 1/2" x 2" (this size was determined by the Wolcott camera)<br />
would cost the sitter between one and four guineas; exposure would be from three seconds to as<br />
much as five minutes depending upon the weather.<br />
There was much money to be made from portraits. Beard's price list in 1845 quotes one guinea<br />
(£1.05) for a "bust", yielding a pr<strong>of</strong>it <strong>of</strong> 18 shillings (90 pence), two guineas (£2.10) for a full-length<br />
portrait, pr<strong>of</strong>it 34 shillings (£1.70)<br />
Beard used to advise those who sat for portraits to "avoid white as much as possible.... the best kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> dress to wear on such occasions is.. any material..upon which there is a play <strong>of</strong> light and shade."<br />
And in his studio it was not "say cheese" but "say prunes"!<br />
Beard's business was very successful, and at one stage he was reputed to be earning £125 a day. As<br />
his income became common knowledge many people began to use the daguerreotype process<br />
without paying any licence fee. This led to a number <strong>of</strong> lengthy lawsuits (one lasting over five years)<br />
and in June 1850 Beard became bankrupt. However, records seem to indicate that he continued to<br />
trade, and that seven years later he handed his business on to his son Richard Beard Junior.<br />
However, the relinquishment <strong>of</strong> the Talboy type patents and the unpatented Scott Archer process<br />
virtually sounded the death knell <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotype, and the premises were vacated in 1854.<br />
Though in his time Beard was making huge pr<strong>of</strong>its, it was his rival Claudet who gained Royal
ecognition.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
Postscript: Beard and Claudet compared<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2002.
BEATO, Felice<br />
b. 1825; d. 1907<br />
Beato was a Venetian photographer who teamed up with James Robertson and photographed scenes<br />
from the Middle East, as well as the some war photographs. He covered the Opium War (1870), and<br />
later he went to Japan and built up a fine collection <strong>of</strong> records <strong>of</strong> Japanese customs and people, as<br />
well as some stunning landscape pictures.<br />
The RPS has about 120 albumen pictures in two albums, and additional loose prints.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BEDFORD, Francis<br />
b. 1816; d. 15 May 1894<br />
Francis Bedford is known for some outstanding architectural photographs, some <strong>of</strong> which were for use<br />
with a stereoscope. In 1862 Queen Victoria appointed Bedford to tour the Middle East with the Prince<br />
<strong>of</strong> Wales (later Edward VII), after which over one hundred and seventy <strong>of</strong> his photographs were<br />
published. He also produced some stereoscopes and appears to have been commissioned to produce<br />
photographs for the company established by Francis Frith.<br />
Bedford was one <strong>of</strong> the founders and a Vice-President, for two years, <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society,<br />
which came into being in 1853.<br />
Picture, taken in Exmouth, 1864.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BENNETT, Henry Hamilton<br />
b. Jan 15, 1843, d. Jan 1, 1908<br />
Bennett was a noted landscape photographer, born in Canada. A carpenter by trade, this activity was<br />
cut short following a serious accidental discharge <strong>of</strong> his own gun during the Civil War. In 1865, he<br />
turned his hand towards photography, buying a tintype portait studio.<br />
He developed a considerable interest in stereo photography, producing a stereo catalogue in the early<br />
eighties.<br />
Bennett was also an inventor <strong>of</strong> several items that<br />
enhanced photography, in particular an instantaneous<br />
shutter which enabled him to freeze action. The<br />
picture shows part <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> his famous shots:<br />
"Leaping the Chasm at Stand Rock" - a quite<br />
remarkable photograph for the times.<br />
His "Story <strong>of</strong> Raftsmen's Life on the Wisconsin River"<br />
was published in 1886, and made the Winsconsin Dells a famous tourist area.<br />
It is a pity that Bennett's work does not feature much in histories <strong>of</strong> photography. He deserved<br />
better. More about this outstanding photographer can be found at the H.H.Bennett Studio and <strong>History</strong><br />
Centre.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2004.
BISSON Louis and Auguste<br />
Louis-Auguste: b. 1814; d. 1876 Auguste-Rosalie: b. 1826; d. 1900<br />
Louis Bisson opened up a photographic studio in the early 1841, and soon after, his brother Auguste<br />
entered into partnership with him. Their studio was in the Madeleine in Paris, and they became<br />
famous as the Bisson Brothers.<br />
In 1860 they were invited to accompany Napoleon as he visited the province <strong>of</strong> Savoy. These two<br />
brothers produced some superb images <strong>of</strong> the scenery. Encouraged by the response to his work, the<br />
following year Auguste ascended Mount Blanc, taking with him twenty-five porters to carry his<br />
equipment.<br />
The quality <strong>of</strong> the pictures, made almost entirely using the Collodion process, was remarkable, as was<br />
the size <strong>of</strong> the negatives - sometimes up to 30cm x 40cm!<br />
The Bisson brothers only practised for some four years. By this time the Carte-de-visite era was in full<br />
swing, and the brothers saw little point in reducing the finely detailed images to such a small size.<br />
Consequently, their business folded.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BLANCHARD, Valentine<br />
b. 1831; d. 4 Nov. 1901<br />
Blanchard made numerous photographs <strong>of</strong> Paris and London. He used the slowness <strong>of</strong> the wet<br />
collodion process to good advantage, being the first to recognise that a blur, far from spoiling a<br />
picture, can add to the sense <strong>of</strong> movement. Some <strong>of</strong> his pictures were taken from the ro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> a cab,<br />
and because the subjects were some distant away, one gains a general impression <strong>of</strong> the bustle <strong>of</strong><br />
life, with little blur.<br />
A genial and enthusiastic teacher, he joined the Secession and joined the Linked Ring, exhibiting at<br />
the Salon until the last few years <strong>of</strong> his life.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BLANQUART-EVRARD, Louis Desiree<br />
b. 1802; d. April 1872<br />
In 1850 Blanquart-Evrard introduced the Albumen paper print process, and from then onwards this<br />
became the main printing medium until the end <strong>of</strong> the century, when Gelatin-based papers superseded<br />
it.<br />
At this time the conventional method <strong>of</strong> printing was to use printing-out paper in the sun - a very slow<br />
process. Blanquart- Evrard's technique <strong>of</strong> developing prints instead <strong>of</strong> the conventional printing out<br />
process led to a much faster output <strong>of</strong> prints.<br />
In 1851 he opened an establishment for the mass production <strong>of</strong> photographic prints, producing<br />
photographs by Henri Le Secq, Charles Negre, and Maxime Du Camp amongst others.<br />
Together with Thomas Sutton, in 1856 he founded the magazine "Photographic Notes," a journal which<br />
continued for eleven years.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BOURNE, Samuel<br />
b. 1834; d. 24 Apr 1912<br />
Samuel Bourne, a pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer from Nottingham, was an outstanding landscape worker<br />
<strong>of</strong> his time. He also made a number <strong>of</strong> expeditions, starting with a ten-week tour in the Himalayas,<br />
followed by other much longer ones. It is said that on one <strong>of</strong> his journeys he employed as many as<br />
fifty servants to carry the vast array <strong>of</strong> equipment, liquids and personal effects for the tour. He used<br />
the collodion process.<br />
Writing in the British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, 1864, he recorded the pain and pleasure <strong>of</strong> his work:<br />
"With scenery like this it is very difficult to deal with the camera: it is altogether too gigantic and<br />
stupendous to be brought within the limits imposed on photography...."<br />
"My anxiety to get views <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> these fine combinations <strong>of</strong> rocks and water <strong>of</strong>ten induced me to<br />
leave he regular track, and put myself and my instruments innthe greatest danger by attempting an<br />
abrupt descent to some spot below....to command a fine picture. Though this was only accomplished<br />
with immense difficulty, sundry bruises, and great personal fatigue under a scorching sun, I was in<br />
every instance rewarded, always returning with pictures which the more sontented gazer from above<br />
would scarcely believe obtainable. But this toiling is almost too much for me, and, I must confess, it at<br />
the time greatly outweighed the pleasure." In a later article he writes <strong>of</strong> the power <strong>of</strong> photography to<br />
change the way we look at things: "...it teaches the mind to see the beauty and power <strong>of</strong> such scenes<br />
as these... For my own part, I may say that before I commenced photography I did not see half the<br />
beauties in nature that I do now, and the glory and power <strong>of</strong> a precious landscape has <strong>of</strong>ten passed<br />
before me and left but a feeble impression on my untutored mind; but it will never be so again." He<br />
must have been a pretty hard task-master! In the British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> (October 1866) he<br />
describes his reaction on discovering that there had been several loads abandoned by coolies: "This<br />
was getting serious, and I viewed vengeance against the rascals who had placed me in this<br />
difficulty.... Tking a stout stick in my hand I set out in search <strong>of</strong> them... I walked in... (one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
houses) ...and soon discovered my firneds hiding beneath a charpoy or bed, and dragging them forth<br />
made them feel the "quality" <strong>of</strong> my stock, amid ... cries and lamentations...." Bourne made well over<br />
three thousand negatives during his travels in the East. His work may be seen at the India Record<br />
Office, London, and at the Royal Photographic Society, Bath England.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997 .<br />
Last updated undefined
BRADY, Mathew<br />
b. 1823; d. Jan 15, 1896<br />
Though Roger Fenton was the first to document war in photographs, Mathew Brady, who documented<br />
the American Civil War (1861-1865), was probably one <strong>of</strong> the greatest <strong>of</strong> photographic documentary<br />
photographers.<br />
In 1839 Brady met, and became a student to Samuel Morse. That same year he met Louis Daguerre<br />
and went back to the United States to capitalise upon the invention <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype, establishing<br />
what proved to be a highly successful Gallery.<br />
The New York Illustrated News for 26 March 1851 reads:<br />
"M.B. BRADY, Esq., the eminent daguerreotypist, has lately opened a new saloon for<br />
the purposes <strong>of</strong> his art, in one <strong>of</strong> the best buildings on Broadway, New York. On the<br />
occasion <strong>of</strong> the first opening, a large number <strong>of</strong> ladies and gentlemen, comprising many<br />
distinguished persons, were invited, and partook <strong>of</strong> Mr. Brady's hospitality at a splendid<br />
dinner. The saloon is one hundred and fifty feet long, finished and furnished in the most<br />
costly manner.<br />
Mr. Brady is one <strong>of</strong> the oldest daguerreotype artists in the country, and one <strong>of</strong> the most<br />
successful, too. He is the author <strong>of</strong> many valuable improvements connected with the<br />
art, his pictures having a world-wide fame for fidelity and elegance."<br />
In 1856 William Gardner , a Scot, joined him, and the company's success became even more marked.<br />
Brady himself did not take many <strong>of</strong> the photographs which bear his name; he had set himself up as a<br />
portrait photographer, and had equipped a number <strong>of</strong> photographers (twenty, it is said) with what<br />
were to become known as "What-is-it?" darkroom wagons to cover the War, with the ruling that his<br />
name, as employer, rather than the names <strong>of</strong> the photographers themselves, would appear on the<br />
photographs themselves.<br />
Another photographer in Brady's team was Timothy O'Sullivan, who worked for him until 1863.
A comment attributed to Brady is "The<br />
camera is the eye <strong>of</strong> history." He clearly<br />
saw his mission as that <strong>of</strong> a<br />
photographic historian, and our<br />
knowledge <strong>of</strong> this important era <strong>of</strong><br />
American history is the better for it. The<br />
New York Times, 20 October 1862<br />
commented on the display <strong>of</strong> pictures<br />
taken at Antietam: "Mr. Brady has done<br />
something to bring home to us the<br />
terrible reality and earnestness <strong>of</strong> war. If<br />
he has not brought bodies and laid them<br />
in our door-yards and along the streets,<br />
he has done something very like it...."<br />
Perhaps they were too real and detailed.<br />
The editorial continued:<br />
The process Brady's team used was the<br />
collodion one, invented by Frederick<br />
Scott Archer. The limitations <strong>of</strong><br />
equipment and materials prevented any<br />
action shots, but such people brought<br />
back some seven thousand pictures<br />
which well portrayed the realities <strong>of</strong><br />
war. Perhaps the most famous <strong>of</strong> these<br />
is "Harvest <strong>of</strong> Death" photographed by<br />
O'Sullivan.<br />
"These pictures have a terrible<br />
distinctness. By the aid <strong>of</strong> the magnifying-glass, the very features <strong>of</strong> the slain may be<br />
distinguished. We would scarcely choose to be in the gallery, when one <strong>of</strong> the women<br />
bending over them should recognise a husband, son, or a brother in the still, lifeless<br />
lines <strong>of</strong> bodies, that lie ready for the gaping trenches."<br />
Though Brady's work was much admired at the time, he gained little in financial terms; tired <strong>of</strong> this<br />
long war, people did not want reminders <strong>of</strong> it and whereas Fenton had clearly taken his pictures with<br />
an eye to selling them, Brady's were honest - sometimes brutally so, and people no longer wanted his<br />
pictures. Brady had invested a fortune into this business, but faced bankruptcy. In 1875 Congress<br />
purchased his archive <strong>of</strong> photographs for $2,840 at public auction, and granted him $25,000, but this<br />
was not enough to cover his debts, and he died alone, an alcoholic, and penniless. "No one" he said "<br />
will ever know what I went through to secure those negatives. The world can never appreciate it. It<br />
changed the whole course <strong>of</strong> my life."<br />
Though financially his enterprise failed, Mathew Brady had a significant effect on the art <strong>of</strong><br />
photography, demonstrating that war photographs need not necessarily be purely posed ones. His<br />
work represents the first instance <strong>of</strong> what one may call documentary photography.
From 1845 Brady had embarked upon an ambitious project to photograph many famous people <strong>of</strong> the<br />
time, and in 1850 published "A Gallery <strong>of</strong> Illustrious Americans. Among his portraits was one <strong>of</strong><br />
Abraham Lincoln, which was reproduced and circulated during Lincoln's first Presidential campaign.<br />
Lincoln himself was to declare later: "Make no mistake, gentlemen, Brady made me President!"<br />
The majority <strong>of</strong> Brady's vast collection may be seen in the House <strong>of</strong> Congress in Washington.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
CAMERON, Julia Margaret<br />
b. 11 June 1815; d. 26 January 1879<br />
Julia Margaret Cameron was an English photographer<br />
known for her portraits <strong>of</strong> eminent people <strong>of</strong> the day,<br />
and for her romantic pictures which, despite their<br />
technical imperfections, stand the test <strong>of</strong> time.<br />
Her involvement in photography came about as a result <strong>of</strong> the kindness <strong>of</strong> her eldest daughter. Julia<br />
Margaret, by this time was aged forty-nine, her children had grown up, and her husband was <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
abroad on business. As a result she suffered from loneliness, and her daughter, to make her life more<br />
fulfilling, bought her a camera. From this simple beginning a new hobby began, which was to turn into<br />
an obsession. The comments in her book give a delightful glimpse <strong>of</strong> this lady:<br />
"I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been<br />
satisfied. Its difficulty enhanced the value <strong>of</strong> the pursuit. I began with no knowledge <strong>of</strong><br />
the art. I did not know where to place my dark box, how to focus my sitter, and my first<br />
picture I effaced to my consternation by rubbing my hand over the filmy side <strong>of</strong> the<br />
glass..."<br />
"I turned my coal-house into my dark room, and a glazed fowl-house I had given to my<br />
children became my glass house! The hens were liberated, I hope and believe not<br />
eaten. The pr<strong>of</strong>it <strong>of</strong> my boys upon new laid eggs was stopped, and all hands and hearts<br />
sympathised in my new labour, since the society <strong>of</strong> hens and chickens was soon<br />
changed for that <strong>of</strong> poets, prophets, painters and lovely maidens...."<br />
As to the delight that her first successful portrait brought her......<br />
"I took one child... appealing to her feelings and telling her <strong>of</strong> the waste <strong>of</strong> poor Mrs.<br />
Cameron's chemicals and strength if she moved. The appeal had its effect, and I now<br />
produced a picture which I called "My first success."
"I was in a transport <strong>of</strong> delight, I ran all over the house to search for gifts for the child.<br />
I felt as if she entirely had made the picture. I printed, toned, fixed and framed it, and<br />
presented it to her father that same day: size 11 by 9 inches."<br />
"Sweet, sunny haired little Annie! No later prize has effaced the memory <strong>of</strong> this joy....."<br />
It has to be said that Julia Margaret Cameron was not the best <strong>of</strong> technicians. Some <strong>of</strong> her negatives<br />
show uneven coating <strong>of</strong> collodion, and above all, dust particles. Many <strong>of</strong> her prints are faded. Indeed,<br />
a critical entry in the Photographic Journal commented: "Mrs. Cameron will do better when she has<br />
learned the proper use <strong>of</strong> her apparatus." Lewis Carroll's comments were in the same vein:<br />
"In the evening Mrs. Cameron and I had a mutual exhibition <strong>of</strong> photographs. Hers are<br />
all taken purposely out <strong>of</strong> focus - some are very picturesque - some merely hideous -<br />
however, she talks <strong>of</strong> them as if they were triumphs <strong>of</strong> art."<br />
Nevertheless, Cameron had a tremendous capacity to visualise a picture, and her portraits show a<br />
measure <strong>of</strong> vitality which the work <strong>of</strong> many others <strong>of</strong> the time did not. Among her most famous<br />
portraits are those <strong>of</strong> Herschel and Tennyson. She was greatly appreciated abroad, and won a number<br />
<strong>of</strong> major prizes. No less a person than Victor Hugo, the poet, wrote "No one has ever captured the<br />
rays <strong>of</strong> the sun and used them as you have. I throw myself at your feet". She must also have been a<br />
tremendously magnetic personality; Benjamin Jowett wrote <strong>of</strong> her: "Perhaps she has a tendency to<br />
make the house shake the moment she enters, but in this dull world that is a very excusable fault".<br />
She was also influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite school, which sought to return to artistic practices <strong>of</strong><br />
Europe in late Mediaeval times; a classic example is the delightful portrait <strong>of</strong> Alice Liddell (on whom<br />
the story <strong>of</strong> Alice in Wonderland is based), entitled "Alethea." Another is the "Kiss <strong>of</strong> Peace." Many <strong>of</strong><br />
her photographs <strong>of</strong> women and children are undisguisedly sentimental, others are delightful and<br />
penetrating studies.<br />
Exposures lasting between one minute and as many as seven, the fact that the pictures show such<br />
lack <strong>of</strong> self consciousness may be largely due to her overpowering personality.<br />
We tend to remember her best pictures. Some, to put it mildly, were pretty awful. "Idylls <strong>of</strong> the King" ,<br />
for example, has a very poor attempt at a moon on the top left, and cheesecloth to represent water,<br />
whilst "The Passing <strong>of</strong> Arthur" almost verges on the ridiculous! Looking beyond the banal, some<br />
remain as rather lovely pictures; an example is "Venus Chiding Cupid and Removing His Wings."<br />
One <strong>of</strong> photography's eccentrics, her work is still admired and greatly sought-after today. In her book<br />
"Annals <strong>of</strong> my Glass House", which was unfinished, she wrote <strong>of</strong> the distinguished people who faced<br />
her camera:<br />
"When I have such men before my camera my whole soul has endeavoured to do its<br />
duty towards them, in recording faithfully the greatness <strong>of</strong> the inner as well as the<br />
features <strong>of</strong> the outer man"<br />
The photographic press spoke harshly <strong>of</strong> her technical mastery <strong>of</strong> photography, or rather the lack <strong>of</strong><br />
it; Thomas Sutton wrote <strong>of</strong> her work:<br />
"Admirable, expressive and vigorous, but dreadfully opposed to photographic<br />
conventions and proprieties"<br />
whilst The Photographic Journal for 15 February 1865 reads:
"Mrs. Cameron exhibits her series <strong>of</strong> out <strong>of</strong> focus portraits <strong>of</strong> celebrities. We must give<br />
this lady credit for daring originality but at the expense <strong>of</strong> all other photographic<br />
qualities."<br />
The Photographic News, 20 March 1868, reporting upon one <strong>of</strong> her exhibitions in London, reads:<br />
"There is, in many cases, much evidence <strong>of</strong> art feeling, especially in the light and<br />
shade, and composition... <strong>of</strong>ten being awkward. The subjects... such as Sir John<br />
Herschel, Henry Taylor, Holman Hunt, Alfred Tennyson and others - are full <strong>of</strong> interest<br />
in themselves, and are <strong>of</strong>ten noble in form and appearance, a circumstance which alone<br />
gives value to the exhibition. Not even the distinguished character <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> the heads<br />
serve, however, to redeem the result <strong>of</strong> wilfully imperfect photography from being<br />
altogether repulsive: one portrait <strong>of</strong> the Poet Laureate presents him in a guise which<br />
would be sufficient to convict him, if he were ever charged as a rogue and vagabond,<br />
before any bench <strong>of</strong> magistrates in the kingdom......."<br />
Her force <strong>of</strong> personality made her a formidable photographer, capable <strong>of</strong> bullying anyone, however<br />
famous, into submission. Sitting for her could be quite an ordeal. Tennyson once brought Longfellow<br />
to her studio, warning him:<br />
"Longfellow, you will have to do whatever she tells you. I shall return soon and see<br />
what is left <strong>of</strong> you."<br />
Commenting about a portrait <strong>of</strong> Wilfred Ward, she once wrote to a friend:<br />
"I counted four hundred and five hundred and got one good picture. Poor Wilfrid said it<br />
was torture to sit so long, that he was a martyr! I bid him be still and be thankful. I<br />
said, I am the martyr. Just try the taking instead <strong>of</strong> the sitting!"<br />
Because she believed in subdued lighting and had large photographic plates, exposures could last<br />
several minutes. After each picture had been taken she would disappear into her coal-cellar cum<br />
darkroom, to prepare another plate, her victims having been warned not to move a muscle.<br />
She was clearly supported by a long-suffering family. In her book she writes:<br />
"Personal sympathy has helped me on very much. My husband from first to last has<br />
watched every picture with delight, and it is my daily habit to run to him with every<br />
glass upon which a fresh glory is newly stamped, and to listen to his enthusiastic<br />
applause. This habit <strong>of</strong> running into the dining-room with my wet pictures has stained<br />
such an immense quantity <strong>of</strong> table linen with nitrate <strong>of</strong> silver, indelible stains, that I<br />
should have been banished from any less indulgent household...."<br />
Cameron received honours abroad, but recognition did not come easily at home. She wrote:<br />
"The Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> London in their Journal would have dispirited me very<br />
much had I not valued that criticism at its worth. It was unsparing and too manifestly<br />
unjust for me to attend to it...."<br />
She presented an album to Sir John Herschel; this is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.<br />
Julia died in Ceylon in January 1879. In a lengthy obituary The Times gives a vivid picture <strong>of</strong> this<br />
remarkable lady:
"Mrs. Cameron appealed to a..wide...public by her pefectly original and unique<br />
photographic work and subject pictures in which, after a daring fashion <strong>of</strong> her own,<br />
forfeiting the sharpness <strong>of</strong> definition which ordinary photographers strive for, and which<br />
is one <strong>of</strong> the things artists most dislike in photographic portraiture...she produced a<br />
series <strong>of</strong> heads and groups... unique in their suggestiveness...<br />
Mrs. Cameron's singular ardour <strong>of</strong> enthusiasm, the energy with which she flung herself<br />
into whatever she undertook, her rare forgetfulness <strong>of</strong> self and readiness to help others,<br />
endeared her to a wide circle <strong>of</strong> friends.<br />
...so full <strong>of</strong> life and energy, so ripe with plans and projects, so buoyant <strong>of</strong> spirits, so<br />
vivid in her interests, so keen in her friendships, and so overflowing in her friendliness."<br />
The Royal Photographic Society owns nearly 800 <strong>of</strong> her albumen and carbon prints and portraits,<br />
together with a handwritten manuscript <strong>of</strong> her autobiography.<br />
A Trust has been set up to ensure the preservation <strong>of</strong> Dimbola Lodge and Cameron House, and to<br />
provide historical information on Julia Margaret Cameron's life and works. Details can be found at<br />
http://www.dimbola.co.uk<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
CARNARVON, George Edward Stanhope<br />
b. 26 June 1866; d. 5 April 1923<br />
The Earl <strong>of</strong> Carnarvon was a British egyptologist who was the patron and associate <strong>of</strong> the<br />
archaeologist Howard Carter in the discovery, in 1922, <strong>of</strong> King Tutankhamen's tomb, which he<br />
photographed. A keen amateur photographer, Carnarvon also worked with the platinum process. The<br />
Royal Photographic Society owns some 22 <strong>of</strong> these.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
CARROLL, Lewis<br />
b. 27 January 1832; d. 14 January 1898<br />
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym <strong>of</strong> the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an English writer and<br />
brilliant mathematician perhaps best known for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", written in 1865,<br />
and "Through the looking glass", written seven years later.<br />
He was a lecturer in Mathematics at Christ Church Oxford, and a clergyman. In his diaries he records<br />
that he learned photography by following his uncle, himself a photographer, on expeditions in the mid<br />
fifties.<br />
His speciality became portraiture, and among his subjects were some leading people <strong>of</strong> the day,<br />
including Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and Holman Hunt, the painter. He also photographed children.<br />
Alice Liddell, a daughter <strong>of</strong> the Dean <strong>of</strong> his college, was one <strong>of</strong> his many subjects, and it was she who<br />
became the model for Alice in Wonderland.<br />
To have one's portrait taken was <strong>of</strong>ten a pretty daunting business. Lewis Carroll described it very<br />
aptly in a poem:<br />
"From his shoulder Hiawatha<br />
Took the camera <strong>of</strong> rosewood.<br />
Made <strong>of</strong> sliding folding rosewood;<br />
Neatly put it all together....<br />
Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges,<br />
Till it looked all squared and oblongs....<br />
This he perched upon a tripod<br />
And the family in order<br />
Sat before him for their picture<br />
Mystic, awful was the process."<br />
Nevertheless, Carroll's portraits <strong>of</strong> children do not show this tension; doubtless he had a fund <strong>of</strong><br />
stories which would enable them to relax, and with exposures still in the order <strong>of</strong> 30 - 40 seconds, he<br />
was remarkably successful. The pictures <strong>of</strong> Alice Liddell are particularly delightful characterisations,<br />
with lovely pensive moods.<br />
Carroll in fact had a Naturalistic approach to photography well ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. Some <strong>of</strong> his prints<br />
are to be found in the Guildford Museum in Surrey.<br />
Lewis Carroll and relationships with children<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
CLIFFORD, Charles<br />
(b. 1819 d. Jan 1, 1863)<br />
Clifford was born in Wales, and lived in Madrid from 1850. He was also an outstanding photographer<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spanish scenery and architecture. His album "Vistas del Capricho" (1856), has some fifty pictures,<br />
some <strong>of</strong> the Palace at Guadalajara, some from the palace at Canillejas, near Madrid.<br />
The vast bulk <strong>of</strong> his work can be found at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. The Royal Palace has<br />
some, and the Prado in Madrid has one.<br />
And at this point there appear to be two versions <strong>of</strong> his appointment. A popular view is that he was<br />
appointed Court Photographer to Queen Isabela II, and that she sent Clifford to London to take a<br />
portrait <strong>of</strong> Queen Victoria. (Incidentally this picture, which depicts the Queen wearing a diamond<br />
coronet, was felt by many to be a welcome change from the many "homely" portraits which others<br />
had made.)<br />
However, there is evidence that suggests that, far from being court photographer to the Spanish<br />
Queen, he was a photographer who worked for Queen Victoria, but worked mainly in Spain.<br />
(I am greatly indebted to Gerardo F. Kurtz for additional information he has supplied about this<br />
remarkable photographer).<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
COBURN, Alvin Langdon<br />
b. 11 January 1882; d. 23 November 1966<br />
Coburn was another outstanding photographer who still, perhaps, is not given the acclaim he<br />
deserves. He was born in Boston, moving to England as a young man. He began taking photographs<br />
at the age <strong>of</strong> eight (inspired by his cousin F. Holland Day, became a founder-member <strong>of</strong> Photo-<br />
Secession and in 1903 was elected to the Linked Ring, and at the early age <strong>of</strong> twenty-five had<br />
exhibited a one-man show at the Royal Photographic Society.<br />
Coburn stressed the importance <strong>of</strong> learning the techniques <strong>of</strong> photography so that they became totally<br />
automatic, "leaving the mind free to devote itself to the really important matter: direct contact with<br />
what we wish to express."<br />
Coburn made a number <strong>of</strong> urban landscape pictures, with a definite mood. He was also an<br />
accomplished portrait photographer, and in 1913 and 1922 produced a two-volume collection <strong>of</strong><br />
photographs <strong>of</strong> celebrities, entitled "Men <strong>of</strong> Mark." He has a characteristic style in his portraits. The<br />
writer George Bernard Shaw, who sat for Coburn, and who also had developed an interest in<br />
photography, described him as "one <strong>of</strong> the most accomplished and sensitive artist photographers...<br />
living."<br />
Coburn passionately believed in liberating photography from the notion that it is only artistic if it<br />
depicted reality, and he is perhaps best known for producing Vortographs, non-objective photographs<br />
<strong>of</strong> such items as a piece <strong>of</strong> wood or crystal, through an arrangement <strong>of</strong> mirrors, resulting in multiple<br />
images. In 1916 Coburn designed an item the poet Ezra Pound called a Vortoscope, which consisted <strong>of</strong><br />
three mirrors arranged like a kaleidoscope, which enabled multiple-image photographs to be taken.<br />
The British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> (16 February 1917) comments on Coburn's fascination for his<br />
vortographs, and his assertion that the creating <strong>of</strong> these<br />
"was the most thrilling experience he had ever had in all the realms <strong>of</strong> photography. For over a<br />
quarter <strong>of</strong> a century he had been using a camera in one way or another, but never had he discovered<br />
a medium to compare with vortography for producing aesthetic excitement and enjoyment."<br />
Between 1903-1909 his work appeared in three editions <strong>of</strong> Camera Work. Unfortunately Coburn lost<br />
himself in astrology and the occult, and his enthusiasm for photography waned somewhat after the<br />
first world war, though he again began taking photographs in the 1950s.<br />
Thanks to the close friendship between Coburn and Dudley Johnston, Curator <strong>of</strong> the Royal<br />
Photographic Society's Collection, the Society owns a considerable number <strong>of</strong> his fine works.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
CUNDALL, Joseph<br />
b. 1818; d. 1875<br />
Trained as a painter, Joseph Cundall worked first as a bookseller, then as a publisher. In 1852 he<br />
established a photographic business, the "Photographic Institution" in Bond Street, London. He<br />
became associated with Philip Delamotte, and published his books. He wrote several books <strong>of</strong> his own,<br />
including "The Photographic Primer" (1854). He was also an active member <strong>of</strong> the Photographic<br />
Society <strong>of</strong> London.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DANCER, John Benjamin<br />
b. 8 October 1812; d. 24 November 1887<br />
Dancer described himself as "Optician, <strong>of</strong> Manchester, by appointment to HRH the Prince <strong>of</strong> Wales"<br />
and as an instrument maker. His early inventions were concerned with light. In 1837 he applied the<br />
"Drummond light" to optical projectors, and it was he who coined the term "lime-light". He also<br />
produced cheap microscopes, and used a solar one. Other inventions include an accurate thermometer<br />
and an apparatus for checking the accuracy <strong>of</strong> rifle barrels. He was also reputed to be a first class<br />
conjuror and juggler!<br />
Though he never invented any new photographic process, his contribution to photography lies in the<br />
fact that he saw new applications in existing techniques.<br />
In 1853 Dancer constructed the first twin-lens stereoscopic camera, taking up an idea by David<br />
Brewster. Up till that time any stereoscopic photography had been done by exposing, moving the<br />
camera and exposing a second time - so inevitably these pictures had been <strong>of</strong> still life! Dancer's new<br />
camera, an improved version <strong>of</strong> which was made three years later, produced two small negatives<br />
simultaneously, and had wide angle lenses, and this permitted virtually instantaneous photography<br />
and therefore the photographing <strong>of</strong> moving as opposed to static scenes.<br />
It is said that Dancer also made the first photographic lantern slides. Certainly the introduction <strong>of</strong> the<br />
wet Collodion process would have prompted such an application, but whether in fact he was the first<br />
to do this has not been confirmed.<br />
His photo-micrography work still exists. In July 1840 he made a daguerreotype photograph <strong>of</strong> a flea,<br />
using a gas-illuminated microscope, and he also used a solar microscope. Micro- photographs were<br />
then sold at one shilling (5p) each, or ten shillings and six pence (52.5p)for a dozen.<br />
Dancer was also an early secretary <strong>of</strong> the London Camera Club. His contribution to photography has<br />
not been sufficiently recognised (indeed, Beaumont Newhall, in his <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, does not<br />
even mention him) and it is only more recently that this omission has been rectified.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DAVIDSON, George<br />
b. 1854 or 1856; d. 1930<br />
Davidson was active in photography at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, when photographers were moving<br />
away from sharp images towards a more impressionistic type <strong>of</strong> photography, using differential<br />
focusing, sometimes entirely s<strong>of</strong>t focusing. (See Impressionism.)<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Davidson's main critics was Peter Henry Emerson, a brilliant but arrogant man who clearly had<br />
little regard for him, describing him as "an amateur without training and with superficial knowledge....<br />
He is... welcome to my cast-<strong>of</strong>f clothes if he likes" - a rather unkind response to someone who had<br />
been an enthusiastic follower <strong>of</strong> Emerson's ideas on Naturalistic photography!<br />
However, Davidson was evidently highly regarded by others, and his picture "The Onion Field"<br />
received much acclaim. That same year he was invited by the Royal Society <strong>of</strong> Arts to lecture on<br />
Impressionist <strong>Photography</strong>, something that established him as a leading figure.<br />
In 1891 Davidson and others left the Royal Photographic Society to set up their own organisation,<br />
known as the Linked Ring, <strong>of</strong> which Davidson was an important founder-member. The Linked Ring was<br />
committed to promote photographic pictorialism.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> Davidson's prints, including "The Onion Field" are to be found in the quarterly Camera Work.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DAVY, Humphry<br />
b. 1778; d. 1829<br />
Sir Humphrey Davy was an English chemist who worked closely with Thomas Wedgwood. Their work<br />
was very nearly a breakthrough, for they had made what one can best describe as photograms but<br />
unfortunately they were unable to find a method <strong>of</strong> fixing them.<br />
In the report to the Royal Society, June 1802, Davy wrote: "The copy <strong>of</strong> a painting, or the pr<strong>of</strong>ile,<br />
immediately after being taken, must be kept in an obscure place. It may indeed be examined in the<br />
shade, but, in this case, the exposure should be only for a few minutes; by the light <strong>of</strong> candles or<br />
lamps, as commonly employed, it is not sensibly affected."<br />
Davy also discovered the electric arc light.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
DAY, Fred Holland<br />
b. 8 July 1864; d. 12 November 1933<br />
Fred Holland Day was born in Massachusetts. A wealthy man, he spent much <strong>of</strong> his<br />
fortune on causes, and dressed and acted in a manner which labelled him as an<br />
eccentric. He first dabbled in painting, but then took up photography.<br />
Day was a prominent member amongst American photographers at the turn <strong>of</strong> the<br />
century, though he subsequently became somewhat eclipsed by the more outspoken<br />
Alfred Stieglitz who largely became the voice <strong>of</strong> American photography for the next<br />
couple <strong>of</strong> decades.<br />
Day's images depicting frontal nudity met with considerable opposition, though they<br />
were by no means tasteless. He deliberately used an uncorrected lens, which recorded<br />
a halo round highlights <strong>of</strong> the images. Just before the turn <strong>of</strong> the century Day decided<br />
to portray the last seven days <strong>of</strong> the life <strong>of</strong> Christ. This project he planned with<br />
meticulous care, and since he decided that he would play the part <strong>of</strong> Christ he grew his<br />
hair long and virtually starved himself before the photographs were taken.<br />
Alvin Langford Coburn, a relative, ascribed the beginning <strong>of</strong> his career as a photographer<br />
to Day, and together they sought to promote photography as an art-form.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Day's accomplishments was to organise a major exhibition <strong>of</strong> work by<br />
progressive American pictorialists such as Kasebier, White, Steichen, Eugene, Coburn<br />
and himself. This exhibition, which contained 375 photographs, over a hundred being<br />
by Day, was held at the Royal Photographic Society in 1900. It was controversial. One<br />
report stated that the exhibition "is not equalled by anything since the publication <strong>of</strong><br />
'Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong>'. In organising it the Royal Photographic Society has done<br />
more in the interests <strong>of</strong> pictorial photography than if it got up a hundred Salons, or<br />
made a chain <strong>of</strong> Linked Rings from the earth to the moon."<br />
whilst the "Photographic News" saw it as the product "<strong>of</strong> a diseased imagination, <strong>of</strong><br />
which much has been fostered by the ravings <strong>of</strong> a few lunatics...unacademic...and<br />
eccentric"<br />
In 1904 much <strong>of</strong> his collection <strong>of</strong> fine images were destroyed in a huge fire; the<br />
majority which remain were presented to the Royal Photographic Society by Frederick H.<br />
Evans in the 1930s.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the effects <strong>of</strong> the Russian Revolution and the first world war was that the<br />
production <strong>of</strong> platinum (which came from the Urals) virtually came to a stop. Becoming<br />
unhappy with any other existing process, Day lost interest in photography.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
DELAMOTTE, Philip Henry<br />
b. 1820; d. 1889<br />
Philip Delamotte was a calotype photographer, and one <strong>of</strong> the first to use photography for<br />
documentary purposes.<br />
In 1851 the Great Exhibition took place in Hyde Park, London. So successful was it that when it<br />
closed, some entrepreneurs bought a large site in Sydenham, near London, and arranged for the<br />
entire Crystal Palace, the main attraction, to be dismantled and re-erected at this new site.<br />
They also decided to hire a photographer to document the event, and commissioned Delamotte, who<br />
produced a painstaking and meticulous record <strong>of</strong> this interesting building. The Crystal Palace was<br />
opened on 10 June 1854. The following year Delamotte published his two volume work entitled<br />
"Photographic Views <strong>of</strong> the Progress <strong>of</strong> the Crystal Palace, Sydenham", containing 160 architectural<br />
photographs.<br />
The publisher Delamotte used was Joseph Cundall, and it was at his house that one <strong>of</strong> the first<br />
commercial photographic exhibitions took place, with some 350 photographs available for sale.<br />
Together with Roger Fenton he founded the Calotype Club in London. He taught drawing to members<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Royal Family, and later he was appointed Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Drawing at King's College, London.<br />
Delamotte also wrote a book entitled "The practice <strong>of</strong> photography: a manual for students" - a work<br />
which went into its third edition.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
de la RUE, Warren<br />
b. 1815; d. 1889<br />
Warren de la Rue was an astronomer at the Kew Observatory. Astronomers were among the earliest<br />
scientists attracted to photography; another was Herschel.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
De MEYER, Baron Gayne<br />
b. 1868; d. 1946<br />
Sometimes photographers <strong>of</strong> note become forgotten. De Meyer is one who does not feature very <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
in the lists <strong>of</strong> pioneers, but who in his time had significant influence on picture making.<br />
His real name was Demeyer Watson, a wealthy man who was created Baron de Meyer by the King <strong>of</strong><br />
Saxony and who, with his wife, settled in London.<br />
De Meyer was influenced by Stieglitz, but it has to be aid that his earliest work was pretty banal. Then<br />
his photography suddenly changed, as he began to experiment with s<strong>of</strong>t-focus lenses and backlighting,<br />
producing some truly exquisite pictures.<br />
Some twenty <strong>of</strong> his photographs were reproduced in the influential quarterly Camera Work. His other<br />
most memorable photographs include a fine collection <strong>of</strong> the distinguished ballet dancer Nijinsky in his<br />
most famous roles.<br />
De Meyer's lighting techniques had an influence in the early days <strong>of</strong> cinema. However, having<br />
switched allegiance from one publisher to another, returning to the first (Vogue) he was rejected, and<br />
he emigrated to California, where he died in poverty. The obituary in the Los Angeles Times was a<br />
measly two inches in length, and did not even mention his photography.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DEMACHY, Leon Robert<br />
b. 1859; d. 1937<br />
Demachy, a Frenchman, was a banker by pr<strong>of</strong>ession, and an amateur artist, becoming a leading<br />
photographer in the 1890s. He was the founder <strong>of</strong> the Photo Club <strong>of</strong> Paris, a member <strong>of</strong> London's<br />
Linked Ring, and <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession.<br />
An influential photographer <strong>of</strong> the time was Dr. P. Emerson, who fostered a more subjective approach<br />
to photography than hitherto. As a result, there was an emphasis on minimum detail and s<strong>of</strong>t focus.<br />
However, for some photographers this was as far as one should go; it was perfectly admissible to<br />
control one's photography at the camera stage, but one should not tamper with the photograph at the<br />
printing stage beyond employing very modest negative re-touching techniques.<br />
This was not sufficient for other photographers, and Robert Demachy, together with other<br />
photographers such as George Davidson and Alfred Maskell began to experiment at the printing stage<br />
as well. A familiar phrase attributed to Demachy is "The end justifies the means", which sums up his<br />
approach to picture making.<br />
His photographic work was quite diverse; he exhibited portraits, street scenes and figure studies, and<br />
wrote a a number <strong>of</strong> books and about a thousand articles on photography.<br />
He is an interesting photographer to study because his work epitomises the controversy which existed<br />
in the world <strong>of</strong> photography at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century. Demachy had little time for the "straight print"<br />
photographers, especially if they presumed to call themselves artists. No straight print, he declared,<br />
with "its false values, its lack <strong>of</strong> accents, its equal delineation <strong>of</strong> things important and useless" could<br />
really be called art. "A straight print may be beautiful, and it may prove.. that its author is an artist;<br />
but it cannot be a work <strong>of</strong> art... A work <strong>of</strong> art must be a transcription, not a copy, <strong>of</strong> nature...This<br />
special quality.." (which makes it a work <strong>of</strong> art) "is given in the artist's way <strong>of</strong> expressing himself... If<br />
a man slavishly copies nature, no matter if it is with hand and pencil or through a photographic lens,<br />
he may be a supreme artist all the while, but that particular work <strong>of</strong> his cannot be called a work <strong>of</strong><br />
art..."<br />
However, perhaps to counter argument, he also made the observation that manipulation was not<br />
necessarily art: "Too many pictorialists will meddle with their prints in the fond belief that any
alteration, however bungling, is the touchstone <strong>of</strong> art...."<br />
In addition to deliberately using s<strong>of</strong>t focus lenses to blur and s<strong>of</strong>ten the image, he also used printing<br />
processes which required manipulation. The final result was by no means pure photography, because<br />
the finished result in many <strong>of</strong> his pictures was achieved by using brushwork together with<br />
photography.<br />
An example <strong>of</strong> this technique is his Figure Study from an Etched Negative, a gum print produced in<br />
1906. One can readily see the long diagonal lines etched over the body greatly reducing photographic<br />
detail.<br />
Among his favourite subjects was young ballet dancers, in a style very much reminiscent <strong>of</strong> Degas'<br />
work. He also made studies <strong>of</strong> people.<br />
A powerful image is En Bretagne, which must be a composite from a number <strong>of</strong> negatives.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DIAMOND, Dr Hugh Welch<br />
b. 1809; d. 21 June 1886<br />
Hugh Welch Diamond was one <strong>of</strong> the earliest photographers, and made a major contribution to its<br />
progress.<br />
A doctor by pr<strong>of</strong>ession, he opened private practice in Soho, London, and then decided to specialise in<br />
the treatment <strong>of</strong> mental patients, being appointed to Bethlehem Hospital, the Surrey County Asylum.<br />
(Incidentally it is from this hospital's name that we have the word "bedlam", meaning a mad-house or<br />
scene <strong>of</strong> uproar).<br />
Diamond was one <strong>of</strong> the founders <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, was later its Secretary and also<br />
became the editor <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Journal.<br />
He used photography to treat mental disorders; some <strong>of</strong> his many calotypes depicting the expressions<br />
<strong>of</strong> people suffering from mental disorders are particularly moving. These were used not only for record<br />
purposes, but also, he claimed (though there is little evidence <strong>of</strong> success) in the treatment <strong>of</strong> patients.<br />
Perhaps it is for his attempts to popularise photography and to lessen its mystique that Diamond is<br />
best remembered. He wrote many articles and was a popular lecturer, and he also sought to<br />
encourage younger photographers. Amongst the latter was Henry Peach Robinson, who was later to<br />
refer to Diamond as a "father figure" <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Recognition for his encouragement and for his willingness to share his knowledge came in 1855 in the<br />
form <strong>of</strong> a testimonial amounting to £300 for services to photography; among those who subscribed<br />
were such people as Delamotte, Fenton and George Shadbolt. In 1867 the Photographic Society<br />
awarded its Medal in recognition <strong>of</strong> "his long and successful labours as one <strong>of</strong> the principal pioneers <strong>of</strong><br />
the photographic art and <strong>of</strong> his continuing endeavours for its advancement." The following year, at his<br />
own initiative, he relinquished any further salary as Secretary <strong>of</strong> the Society, and became its Hon.<br />
Secretary.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DIXON, Henry<br />
b. 1820; d. 1893<br />
It can sometimes take many years before the significance <strong>of</strong> someone's work can be fully appreciated.<br />
Such a person is Henry Dixon, the first exhibition devoted solely to his work taking place in 1999.<br />
Dixon stands out not because <strong>of</strong> his discoveries, or because he introduced a new technique in<br />
photography, but simply because he made what must be the very first systematic photographic record<br />
<strong>of</strong> London. He did this for the "Society for the Photographing <strong>of</strong> Relics <strong>of</strong> Old London"<br />
A fuller record, complete with a large numbers <strong>of</strong> his prints, can be found HERE. See also HERE - the<br />
quality if quite remarkable. Most <strong>of</strong> his work is held by the Guildhall Library Print Room, which houses<br />
a huge collection <strong>of</strong> visuals relating to London and its history.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
DRAPER, John William<br />
b. 5 May 1811; d. 4 January 1882<br />
Dr. William Draper, an Englishman by birth, was a pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> chemistry at New York University. In<br />
1837, two years in fact before the announcement <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotype, he had discovered<br />
photography. His early achievements include a photograph <strong>of</strong> the moon, and <strong>of</strong> objects through a<br />
microscope.<br />
He began to experiment with the process, making a camera out <strong>of</strong> a cigar box. One <strong>of</strong> his first<br />
successful portraits was that <strong>of</strong> his sister Catherine. Constrained by the considerable exposure times<br />
necessary, he first tried to overcome this by coating Catherine's face with flour, but this was not<br />
satisfactory. He then discovered that by increasing the aperture <strong>of</strong> the lens and reducing its focal<br />
length he could drastically reduce exposure time. In December 1840 he was using a lens with an f1.4<br />
aperture.<br />
Draper set up a partnership with Samuel Morse, a colleague at New York University.<br />
"Dorothy Draper", taken June 1840, is perhaps his first successful<br />
portrait. Draper and Morse have also been credited with the<br />
discovery that since the exposures were long, there would be no<br />
harm in blinking, so the eyes could be kept open - something that<br />
other photographers <strong>of</strong> their time had not grasped.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DUBOSCQ, Louis Jules<br />
b. 1817 d.Sept 24, 1886<br />
Duboscq was a French optical manufacturer who was instrumental in a number <strong>of</strong> innovations. In<br />
1849, together with Foucault, he devised arc lamps for projection. He also manucactured the Brewster<br />
stereoscope in 1851.<br />
Duboscq also made an apparatus for enlarging by electric light, and showed it to the Paris<br />
Photographic Society in 1861.<br />
In order to make it possible whilst travelling to produce a number <strong>of</strong> small pictures on a single plate in<br />
a camera, Duboscq built what he called his Polyconograph camera for travellers. This was an<br />
attachment that allowed for fifteen exposures on each plate.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
DU CAMP, Maxime<br />
b. 8 February 1822; d. 9 February 1894<br />
Du Camp was a French writer and journalist who travelled in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. He had a<br />
simple reason for taking up photography, as he recalled later:<br />
"I had realised on my previous travels that I wasted much valuable time trying to draw<br />
buildings and scenery I did not care to forget... I felt I needed an instrument <strong>of</strong><br />
precision to record my impressions..."<br />
He learned photography from Gustave Le Gray, and his calotypes started appearing from 1851. His<br />
book, "Le Nil, Egypte et Nubie", containing 220 calotypes, was one <strong>of</strong> the first to be illustrated with<br />
original photographs.<br />
Travel photography then, unlike today, one had to approach with something verging on missionary<br />
zeal. Do Camp once commented:<br />
"Learning photography is an easy matter. Transporting the equipment by mule, camel<br />
or human porters is a serious problem."<br />
Though he is perhaps the earliest <strong>of</strong> the travel photographers, du Camp's work is less striking than<br />
that <strong>of</strong> another contemporary, Francis Frith.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DU HAURON, Louis Ducas<br />
b. 1837; d. October 1920<br />
Du Hauron was a French scientist who made a major contribution to the development <strong>of</strong> colour<br />
photography. In his book, "Les Couleurs en Photographie" (1869) he proposed the subtractive<br />
methods <strong>of</strong> colour photography. Unfortunately, his theories could not be put to the test at the time,<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the lack <strong>of</strong> suitable materials. However, it is this principle which is used in present-day<br />
colour photography.<br />
He also patented, in 1891, the anaglyph method <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic photography.<br />
In 1900 Du Hauron was awarded the Progress Medal <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society for his work in<br />
colour photography.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Significant PEOPLE in the early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> E-H<br />
● Eastman, George<br />
● Emerson, Peter Henry<br />
● England, William<br />
● Eugene, Frank<br />
● Evans, Frederick Henry<br />
● Farmer, Ernest<br />
● Fenton, Roger<br />
● Fizeau, Armand Hippolyte<br />
● Fox Talbot<br />
● Frith, Francis<br />
● Gardner, Alexander<br />
● Goddard, John Frederick<br />
● Harman, Alfred Hugh<br />
● Hawarden, Lady Clementina<br />
● Hawes, Josiah<br />
● Herschel, John Frederick<br />
● Hill and Adamson<br />
● Hill, David Octavius<br />
● Hine, Lewis<br />
● Hinton, Horsley<br />
● Howlett, Robert<br />
● Hunt, Robert
EMERSON, Dr. Peter Henry<br />
b. 13 May 1856; d. 12 May 1936<br />
Many photographic historians claim that Peter Henry Emerson made a greater impression on Victorian<br />
photography than any <strong>of</strong> his contemporaries. An outstanding scholar, he practised medicine before<br />
abandoning it, at the age <strong>of</strong> 26, to take up photography. Though some <strong>of</strong> his work was included in<br />
books (he was an authority on wild life in Norfolk), he remained essentially an amateur.<br />
At this period perhaps the leading photographer <strong>of</strong> the day was Henry Peach Robinson, who had<br />
published an influential book, "Pictorial Effect in <strong>Photography</strong>" - a book which ran to several editions.<br />
Emerson condemned this book out <strong>of</strong> hand, particularly disliking the contrived photography by<br />
Robinson, Rejlander, and Julia Margaret Cameron and saw this approach as arresting the development<br />
<strong>of</strong> photography as a medium in its own right, with no need to emulate styles <strong>of</strong> painting.<br />
Perhaps by then the time was right for a new approach. Photographic materials had evolved<br />
somewhat; new faster materials were appearing, making photography outdoors rather different from<br />
what it had been in earlier times.<br />
In 1886 he was elected to the Council <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, and embarked upon a series <strong>of</strong><br />
lectures to put forward his views. Three years later he published an influential (if controversial) book<br />
entitled "Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong> for students <strong>of</strong> Art" which one writer described as "like dropping a<br />
bombshell at a tea-party." In it he made the case for photography in which truth and realism would<br />
replace contrived photography.<br />
"Photograph people as they really are - do not dress them up" was his main message: "The<br />
photographic technique is perfect and needs no...bungling"<br />
He also very firmly rejected the retouching <strong>of</strong> pictures, which he called "the process by which a good,<br />
bad, or indifferent photograph is converted into a bad drawing or painting".<br />
In effect he was advocating that one should treat photography as a technique in its own right, and not<br />
to seek to imitate other art forms.<br />
Emerson also argued that a photographer should imitate the eye. He claimed that one only sees<br />
sharpness in the centre, and that the image is slightly blurred at the periphery, and therefore<br />
suggested that one should make a photograph slightly out <strong>of</strong> focus in order to achieve that effect,<br />
merely ensuring that the image in the centre is sharp. In his book he wrote: "Nothing in nature has a<br />
hard outline, but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into<br />
something else, <strong>of</strong>ten so subtly that you cannot quite distinguish where one ends and the other<br />
begins. In this mingled decision and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the charm and mystery <strong>of</strong><br />
nature"<br />
This was a new departure. Up till then photographers had tried to get everything sharp; they may not<br />
always have succeeded, but that was their objective. Now Emerson was advocation that<br />
photographers should not<br />
Some photographers greeted Emerson's ideas with enthusiasm, particularly George Davidson. Another<br />
was Frank Sutcliff, who had a studio at Whitby. However, his ideas did not go down well with other<br />
contemporaries. H.P.Robinson wrote: "Healthy human eyes never saw any part <strong>of</strong> a scene out <strong>of</strong><br />
focus"
whilst Emerson retorted, in an uncompromising manner: "I have yet to learn that any one statement<br />
<strong>of</strong> photography <strong>of</strong> Mr. H.P.Robinson has ever had the slightest effect on me except as a warning <strong>of</strong><br />
what not to do...."<br />
and described Robinson's book (Pictorial Effect in <strong>Photography</strong>) as "the quintessence <strong>of</strong> literary<br />
fallacies and art anachronisms."<br />
Emerson was not the easiest <strong>of</strong> people to get on with, and was inclined not only to make sarcastic and<br />
vitriolic remarks but also to erupt into a fiery temper. His emphasis on technique is probably what led<br />
to his own undoing; he had begun to believe that photography could be reduced to technical rules and<br />
principles. Finding that he could not achieve this, he became frustrated and finally (possibly angered<br />
by the success <strong>of</strong> the Impressionism movement) he renounced naturalistic photography in a blackbordered<br />
pamphlet entitled "The death <strong>of</strong> Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong>" (1890). He wrote: "I have...I<br />
regret it deeply, compared photographs to great works <strong>of</strong> art, and photographers to great artists. It<br />
was rash and thoughtless, and my punishment is having to acknowledge it now... In short, I throw my<br />
lot in with those who say that <strong>Photography</strong> is a very limited art. I deeply regret that I have come to<br />
this conclusion..."<br />
In 1895 Emerson was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal for work in the<br />
advancement <strong>of</strong> artistic photography. Until then he had denounced medals, but in 1925, typical <strong>of</strong> his<br />
vanity, he then started awarding his own "Emerson" silver and bronze medals to others, some<br />
posthumously. Among the fifty-seven who gained his approval in this manner were Hill and Adamson,<br />
Nadar, Hippolyte Bayard, Julia Margaret Cameron, and an "unknown French photographer in Paris,<br />
1865, for an unknown lady with a cigarette"! The reason for these awards never became clear; some<br />
have suggested that this was yet another way <strong>of</strong> perpetuating his name.<br />
Despite his egotism and unforgiving nature to those who disagreed with him, his work succeeded in<br />
laying down the foundations <strong>of</strong> a new, unsentimental type <strong>of</strong> work, and laying the groundwork for the<br />
Photo-Secession movement.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ENGLAND, William<br />
(date <strong>of</strong> birth unknown; d. 1896)<br />
William England started as a portrait photographer, but then became involved in travel photography,<br />
specialising particularly in pictures <strong>of</strong> Switzerland. He was heavily involved in stereoscopic<br />
photography, producing thousands <strong>of</strong> pictures. He is best remembered, however, for having invented,<br />
in the early 1860s, the focal-plane shutter.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
EUGENE, Frank<br />
b. 1865; d. 1936<br />
His actual name was Frank Eugene Smith, though he chose to discard the last. Born in New York, he<br />
went to live in Munich when in his twenties, and just after the turn <strong>of</strong> the century he became a<br />
lecturer in photography in that city.<br />
He became a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring in 1900, and was a founder-member <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession,<br />
and his work was reproduced in various editions <strong>of</strong> Camera Work between 1904 and 1916. He was an<br />
expert etcher, and many <strong>of</strong> his pictures show the use <strong>of</strong> the etcher's needle. Coburn, writing <strong>of</strong><br />
Eugene, records "This talented worker ... etches with a needle upon his negative, and while not all the<br />
results obtained may by some be considered "pure photography" they are all acknowledged to be <strong>of</strong><br />
great beauty and merit."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
EVANS, Frederick Henry<br />
b. 26 June 1852; d. 24 June 1943<br />
Evans became involved in photography as an amateur in 1882, but was so successful with his<br />
photography <strong>of</strong> Architecture and Landscape that just after the turn <strong>of</strong> the century he retired from bookselling<br />
and became a pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer.<br />
Unlike some <strong>of</strong> his contemporaries such as Demachy, he refused to manipulate the negative or the<br />
print.<br />
Architectural photography had been undertaken before, but<br />
whereas it tended to be unimaginative and largely record<br />
photography, Evans looked for particular effects, for<br />
example depicting the strength <strong>of</strong> the stone. "The Sea <strong>of</strong><br />
Steps" (1903) shows some <strong>of</strong> the excellence <strong>of</strong> his work.<br />
It is worth comparing this with the photography <strong>of</strong> another<br />
very accomplished photographer, Francis Bedford. Bedford's<br />
photography was more concerned with factual rendering,<br />
whereas Evans' work is very different indeed, and one can<br />
immediately see his fascination for texture, and with his his<br />
concern to show the effects <strong>of</strong> weight and balance, space,<br />
light and shade.<br />
In 1901 he became a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring, a society<br />
which was opposed to the somewhat conservative approach<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society at that time; nevertheless<br />
his work was displayed at in the RPS twice during this<br />
period, and he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship <strong>of</strong> the Society in 1928.<br />
Whilst many <strong>of</strong> his contemporaries were using the gum bichromate process, he remained content with<br />
using the platinum one. He opposed the notion <strong>of</strong> manipulating the print, preferring "pure"<br />
photography. In a lecture to the Royal Photographic Society (25 April 1900) he said:<br />
"I have not been courageous enough as yet to try anything (if there is anything)<br />
beyond platinotype.... I have not worked carbon, and the new gum print is, I am afraid,<br />
beyond me. I am more interested... in making plain, simple, straightforward<br />
photography render, at its best and easiest, the effects <strong>of</strong> light and shade that so<br />
fascinate me... "my prints are all from untouched, undodged negatives, with no<br />
treatment <strong>of</strong> the print except ordinary spotting out <strong>of</strong> technical defects, or the<br />
occasional lowering <strong>of</strong> an obtrusive white light."<br />
A man <strong>of</strong> immense patience, it is said that he would sometimes wait for months to record the precise<br />
effect he was seeking. Some <strong>of</strong> his work was reproduced in a number <strong>of</strong> editions <strong>of</strong> Camera Work.<br />
George Bernard Shaw, writing the introduction to Evans' work, (October 1903) reveals both this sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> perfection and the way he managed to get things done: "He has been known to go up to the Dean<br />
<strong>of</strong> an English Cathedral - a dignitary compared to whom the President <strong>of</strong> the United States is the<br />
merest worm, and who is not approached by ordinary men save in their Sunday-clothes - Evans, I<br />
say, in an outlandish silk collar, blue tie, and crushed s<strong>of</strong>t hat, with a tripod under his arm, has<br />
accosted a Dean in his own cathedral and said, pointing to the multitude <strong>of</strong> chairs that hid the
venerable flagged floor <strong>of</strong> the fane, "I should like all those cleared away." And the Dean has had it<br />
done, only to be told then that he must have a certain door kept open during a two hours' exposure<br />
for the sake <strong>of</strong> completing his scale <strong>of</strong> light...."<br />
Evans gave up photography after the first world war, when platinum was no longer generally<br />
available.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2002.<br />
Last updated undefined
FARMER, Ernest Howard<br />
b. 1860; d. 1944<br />
Ernest Farmer was an English photographer who became the first Head <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> at the Regent<br />
Street Polytechnic (now the University <strong>of</strong> Westminster). He invented a solution, now known as<br />
Farmer's Reducer, which reduces the intensity <strong>of</strong> a negative.<br />
This reducer, invented in 1883, is still in use today. It consists <strong>of</strong> hypo with a small amount <strong>of</strong><br />
ferricyanide <strong>of</strong> potash.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
FENTON, Roger<br />
b. Mar 1819; d. 8 Aug 1869<br />
Roger Fenton is particularly known for his coverage <strong>of</strong> the Crimean War, which is a pity, because it<br />
only formed a small proportion <strong>of</strong> his output in other areas, notably landscape photography, and also<br />
somewhat obscures the major part he played in promoting photography in general.<br />
After studying at London University, Fenton studied art in London, and later in Paris under the<br />
painter Paul Delaroche. However, having had little success as a painter, in 1844 he returned to<br />
London and studied law.<br />
In January 1851 he visited Paris, and was impressed by the freedom that photographers in France<br />
had been granted as a result <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype process having been made available to all. By<br />
contrast, progress in England was slow because <strong>of</strong> Talbot's claims arising from his patent.<br />
In 1852 he visited Russia, and his photographs were amongst the first ever to be seen in England,<br />
guaranteeing him instant fame.<br />
Back in England, he proposed the formation <strong>of</strong> a Photographic Society, and on 10 January 1853 this<br />
came into being, and he served as its Secretary for three years. (This is now the Royal Photographic<br />
Society).<br />
Fenton photographed Queen Victoria's family, and also became the <strong>of</strong>ficial photographer to the<br />
British Museum.<br />
The Crimean War (1853-1956) was one <strong>of</strong> many between Russia and the Turks, but this time<br />
involved the British and French. William Russell, a journalist working for The Times, and one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
first war correspondents, began to send a series <strong>of</strong> disturbing accounts <strong>of</strong> the conduct <strong>of</strong> this war,<br />
and particularly the conditions under which the British forces were fighting. Less than 20% <strong>of</strong> the<br />
fatalities <strong>of</strong> the forces were due to war wounds; the majority <strong>of</strong> these were caused by disease and<br />
the freezing cold. When Russell began to report the inadequacy <strong>of</strong> the medical facilities and the fact<br />
that British soldiers, not having even been issued with winter uniforms, were dying with cold, feeling<br />
over the government's handling <strong>of</strong> the war began to mount.<br />
In 1855, in response to this continuous criticism <strong>of</strong> the government's handling <strong>of</strong> the war, Fenton<br />
was commissioned to photograph it, and produced over 350 pictures <strong>of</strong> the conflict.<br />
Though he is seen as a war photographer, his pictures showed a very one-sided cosmetic view:<br />
● as it was largely a propaganda exercise, he was bound to show the well-being <strong>of</strong> the troops;<br />
● he wanted to sell his pictures, and gruesome realistic ones were probably not very<br />
marketable!<br />
● many <strong>of</strong> his pictures were <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficers, a sign, perhaps, <strong>of</strong> his sound business sense! In<br />
fairness to him, he <strong>of</strong>ten felt obliged to photograph them: "If I refuse to take them," he<br />
complained, "I get no facilities for conveying my van from one locality to another."
Fenton's war pictures, therefore, tend<br />
to portray war as a gorgeous pageant;<br />
there are no dead bodies, and one<br />
might almost imagine that the Crimean<br />
war was almost like a picnic. There are<br />
no action shots (this for technical<br />
reasons), but those <strong>of</strong> soldiers are<br />
carefully posed groups, almost as if<br />
they were cricketers just about to go in<br />
to bat. It is this bias which makes one<br />
question slightly whether he was a true<br />
war photographer in the same league<br />
as the Mathew Brady team. Moreover,<br />
as an agent <strong>of</strong> the government, his<br />
portrayals were somewhat slanted; the<br />
charge <strong>of</strong> the Light Brigade, for<br />
example, was one disaster that was<br />
depicted as a glorious event.<br />
The picture shows an area <strong>of</strong> Balaklava.<br />
One has to bear in mind the considerable difficulties experienced at this time by photographers on<br />
location. Like all photographers <strong>of</strong> the time, he found it necessary to take with him all the sensitising<br />
and processing equipment. To do this, Fenton took with him a converted wine-wagon as a caravan,<br />
and this occasionally became the target, probably being mistaken for an ammunitions vehicle. In a<br />
lecture to the Photographic Society he gave an account <strong>of</strong> the conditions:<br />
"Though (the van) was painted a light colour externally, it grew so hot towards noon<br />
as to burn the hand when touched. As soon as the door was closed to commence the<br />
preparation <strong>of</strong> a plate, perspiration started from every pore; and the sense <strong>of</strong> relief<br />
was great when it was possible to open the door and breathe even the hot air outside."<br />
Fenton also had his own battles...<br />
"It was at this time that the plague <strong>of</strong> flies commenced. Before preparing a plate the<br />
first thing to be done was to battle with them for possession <strong>of</strong> the place. The<br />
necessary buffeting with handkerchiefs and towels having taken place, and the<br />
intruders having being expelled, the moment the last one was out, the door has to be<br />
rapidly closed for fear <strong>of</strong> a fresh invasion, and then some time allowed for the dust<br />
thus raised to settle before coating a plate...."<br />
As the summer arrived, Fenton found that the developing liquid became so hot that he could hardly<br />
put his hands in it! He also had to stop work earlier and earlier each day, many <strong>of</strong> his portraits<br />
having been taken before seven o'clock in the morning.<br />
Upon returning from the Crimea (but not before he too had endured cholera) he had published bound<br />
volumes <strong>of</strong> his prints. However, they did not sell too well, as people hardly wished to keep mementos<br />
<strong>of</strong> an event which most would wish to forget.<br />
Another reason for the lack <strong>of</strong> sales was that the prints, still on salted paper, had a tendency to fade.<br />
Fenton himself was sufficiently concerned about the fading <strong>of</strong> pictures, for he chaired a Photographic<br />
Society "Fading Committee."<br />
Fenton also produced a number <strong>of</strong> Stereoscopes <strong>of</strong> architecture, landscapes and still life subjects. He<br />
then produced a series <strong>of</strong> photographs <strong>of</strong> cathedrals. For reasons that are not clear, he gave up
taking photographs in 1861 and returned to the law; it has been suggested that this was because <strong>of</strong><br />
his dislike for the increasing commercialisation <strong>of</strong> photography<br />
It was probably his bout <strong>of</strong> cholera which led to his early death at the age <strong>of</strong> forty-nine. It is worth<br />
noting that this prolific output and contribution to photography was confined to just eleven years or<br />
so.<br />
Over six hundred <strong>of</strong> Fenton's prints are now preserved at the Photographic Museum in Bradford - the<br />
most comprehensive archive <strong>of</strong> his work.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2006<br />
Last updated undefined
FIZEAU, Armand Hippolyte<br />
b. 23 September 1819; d. 18 September 1896<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the disadvantages <strong>of</strong> the Daguerreotype was that it was extremely delicate, consisting <strong>of</strong> small<br />
particles <strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>t silver- mercury amalgam on the plate, which could be ruined simply by touching the<br />
surface. One solution was to frame the picture behind glass. However in August 1840 Fizeau, a French<br />
physicist, published a method <strong>of</strong> toning the daguerreotype, which in addition to increasing the<br />
contrast, made the image stronger. This consisted <strong>of</strong> treating the finished image in a solution <strong>of</strong><br />
sodium hyposulphite and gold chloride.<br />
In 1845 Fizeau also took the first pictures <strong>of</strong> the sun, on daguerreotypes.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
FRITH, Francis<br />
b. 7 October 1822; d. 25 February 1898<br />
If, in a public house, one were to see photographs <strong>of</strong> towns and villages <strong>of</strong> long ago, it is very likely<br />
that they will be by Francis Frith. Frith started in the cutlery business, abandoning this in 1850 to<br />
becoming a travelling photographer. He journeyed to the Middle East on three occasions, bearing with<br />
him very large cameras (16" x 20"), using the collodion process, which was a major achievement in<br />
such hot and dusty conditions.<br />
He faced considerable problems on his<br />
journeys in such a hot climate. On several<br />
occasions the collodion boiled on hitting the<br />
glass plates. It is said that on one occasion<br />
he was sleeping in a tomb at the foot <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Great Pyramid, he had to fight <strong>of</strong>f a pack <strong>of</strong><br />
hungry dogs "to the very point <strong>of</strong><br />
exhaustion."<br />
The Times, reporting on his pictures, commented that they<br />
"carry us far beyond anything that is in the power <strong>of</strong> the most accomplished artist to<br />
transfer to his canvas."<br />
The picture shown here shows part <strong>of</strong> the temple at Luxor, photographed in the 1870s.<br />
Frith's most famous work was yet to come. When he had finished his travels in the Middle East in<br />
1860 he married, settled in Reigate, Surrey, and then embarked upon a colossal project - to<br />
photograph every town and village in the United Kingdom, in particular notable historical or<br />
interesting sights. Initially he took the photographs himself, but as success came, he hired people to<br />
help him.<br />
Frith then set about establishing a postcard company, a firm which became one <strong>of</strong> the largest<br />
photographic ones in the world; soon over two thousand shops throughout the land were selling his<br />
postcards.<br />
I suppose it could be said that Frith was predominantly a traveller, and this comes out in his<br />
photographs. Rather than providing a stark geographical description, he sought to show what it was<br />
like to be there, on the spot. This is why his photographs still remain popular.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
GARDNER, Alexander<br />
b. October 17, 1821; d. 1882<br />
Alexander Gardner was a Scot who emigrated to the United States and was hired by Mathew Brady, for<br />
whom he photographed the American Civil War. However, Brady's practice <strong>of</strong> signing his employees'<br />
pictures did not meet with Gardner's approval, and after some years he left Brady's firm and opened<br />
his own gallery in Washington DC.<br />
Unlike the somewhat contrived war pictures taken by Fenton, Gardner's are so factual as to be almost<br />
macabre. His book, "Gardner's two-volume Photographic Sketchbook <strong>of</strong> the War" (meaning the Civil<br />
War) was published in 1866. The following year he recorded the building <strong>of</strong> the Union Pacific Railroad.<br />
He also documented the execution <strong>of</strong> the conspirators against Lincoln, and Lincoln's funeral. In<br />
addition, he embarked upon making a collection <strong>of</strong> photographs <strong>of</strong> convicted criminals, for the<br />
Washington police force.<br />
It should also be added, however, that<br />
amongst the genuine pictures <strong>of</strong> the<br />
war there appear to be a few which are<br />
contrived, further pro<strong>of</strong> that whilst the<br />
camera cannot lie, the person behind it<br />
can! For example, when Gardner<br />
arrived at the decisive scene <strong>of</strong> the war<br />
at Gettysburg two days after it had<br />
been fought, he set about<br />
photographing "Home <strong>of</strong> a rebel<br />
sharpshooter." However, before taking<br />
the picture he had dragged the body <strong>of</strong><br />
a Conferedate some thirty metres to<br />
where he lies in the picture, turning the<br />
head towards the camera.<br />
Gardner wrote:<br />
On the nineteenth <strong>of</strong> November,<br />
the artist attended the<br />
consecration <strong>of</strong> the Gettysburg Cemetery, and again visited the "Sharpshooter's Home."<br />
The musket, rusted by many storms, still leaned against the rock, and the skeleton <strong>of</strong><br />
the soldier lay undisturbed within the mouldering uniform, as did the cold form <strong>of</strong> the<br />
dead four months before. None <strong>of</strong> those who went up and down the fields to bury the<br />
fallen, had found him. "Missing," was all that could have been known <strong>of</strong> him at home,<br />
and some mother may yet be patiently watching for the return <strong>of</strong> her boy, whose bones<br />
lie bleaching, unrecognized and alone, between the rocks at Gettysburg.<br />
Fine words, indeed, adding to the drama. But hardly creditable. Souvenir hunters would have removed<br />
the rifle within days. In any case, the weapon in the photograph was not used by sharpshooters. It<br />
may have been Gardner's prop.<br />
This faked photographed has been well researched by William Frassanito in his book "Gettysburg: A<br />
Journey in Time" (1975)<br />
So, does the camera ever lie? Well, as digital photography grows apace, almost anything is<br />
achieveable! But what <strong>of</strong> the past? Like any artist, a photographer may want to portray some<br />
emotion, evoke a reaction, put out a thought <strong>of</strong> his own. The lens sees what it sees, but what appears
is inevitably subjective. And as anyone reading Garner's notes that accompany his photography<br />
shows, not only the picture itsdelf but also the works may influence how we perceive things.<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> Gardners pictures were Stereoscopic ones.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001.<br />
Last updated undefined
GODDARD, John Frederick<br />
b. 1795; d. 1866<br />
Goddard was a chemist and a lecturer in Science at the Polytechnic <strong>of</strong> Central London who later<br />
worked as an operator in Richard Beard's studio.<br />
The Daguerreotype process initially was very slow, and attempts were made to shorten the long<br />
expsoure times. One method was by using a fast lens, and Josef Petzval first made one in 1841, with<br />
a maximum aperture <strong>of</strong> f/3.6. This was a breakthrough as far as portaiture was concerned.<br />
A second solution was to make the plate faster by double sensitizing, and here is where Goddard<br />
comes in. He used bromine vapour in addition to iodine to increase the sensitivity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
daguerreotype. Goddard refumed the iodized surface <strong>of</strong> the plate with bromide, and his accelerator,<br />
which he called quickstuff could reduce a ten minute exposure to one minute. Details <strong>of</strong> the<br />
improvement were published in December 1840.<br />
His work was <strong>of</strong> considerable significance for daguerreotype photography, as it reduced the required<br />
exposure from some fifteen or even twenty minutes to as little as ten seconds.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
HARMAN, Alfred Hugh<br />
b. 1841; d. 23 May 1913<br />
Harman's name is relatively little known in history <strong>of</strong> photography circles, which is perhaps unkind, for<br />
his contribution to photography was considerable, having been the founder, in 1879, <strong>of</strong> the<br />
photographic manufacturing business which eventually came to be known as Ilford Limited.<br />
He started up business at the age <strong>of</strong> 22, in Peckham, South London. Four years later he was<br />
advertising a service providing enlargements using solar cameras and artificial light.<br />
In 1879 he gave up this business to concentrate on the manufacture <strong>of</strong> dry plates. He chose Ilford,<br />
Essex for the setting up <strong>of</strong> a company, originally known as the Britannia Works, and this eventually<br />
became known as "Ilford", employing thousands <strong>of</strong> people.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Harman's employees was John Houson who was responsible for producing the "Ilford Manual <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Photography</strong>" which continues to this day.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
HAWARDEN, Lady Clementina<br />
b. 1822; d. 1865<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1999 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London put on an exhibition <strong>of</strong> Lady<br />
Clementine Hawarden's photography. As one critic put it, it was difficult not to think <strong>of</strong> Tennyson's<br />
"Lady <strong>of</strong> Shalott" as one saw these pictures. In his poem, the Lady was imprisoned in a tower, and<br />
she could only see life indirectly, using a mirror. Unable to experience the real world, she had to<br />
recourse to weaving tapestries <strong>of</strong> the inverted image. The story <strong>of</strong> Lady Clementina Hawarden is very<br />
similar, for she was a prisoner <strong>of</strong> Victorian conventions, and sought to express herself using<br />
photography.<br />
There are relatively few early women photographers, for reasons outlined here. Little is known about<br />
the early life <strong>of</strong> Clementina Hawarden, except that her father died when she was seventeen, leaving<br />
her a fortune. In 1845 she married Viscount Hawarden, and left Scotland to live in South Kensington,<br />
London.<br />
In London, her photographic work flourished, and she was able (like Julia Margaret Cameron) to<br />
persuade many friends and relatives to pose for her photographs. These predate the work <strong>of</strong><br />
Cameron.<br />
Though she took landscapes and portraits, her best work consisted <strong>of</strong> photographs which showed the<br />
Pre-Raphaelite influence in her kind <strong>of</strong> work, and art historians maintain she was influenced, in her<br />
photography, by the portraiture by James Whistler.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> her strongest supporters was Charles Dodgson, more commonly known as Lewis Carroll.<br />
Despite her relatively short life Lady Clementina took a large number <strong>of</strong> pictures widely differing<br />
variety. The majority <strong>of</strong> her photographs can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.<br />
She was awarded a medal by the (then) Photographic Society, though she died before receiving the<br />
award.<br />
Those wishing to read further would find an excellent account in "Lady Celementine Hawarden: studies<br />
<strong>of</strong> life 1857-1864" by Virginia Dodier (ISBN 0-89381-815-1).<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
HAWES, Josiah Johnson<br />
b. 1808; d.1901<br />
Hawes was an American pioneer who went into partnership in 1843 with Albert Sands Southworth.<br />
The partnership, in Boston, lasted just under twenty years, and Hawes continued to practise<br />
photography until his death in 1901.<br />
A contemporary review drew a sharp distinction between the "rats" who produced shoddy work and<br />
consequently causing the lowering <strong>of</strong> esteem <strong>of</strong> the art <strong>of</strong> "Heliography" and this paretnership who,<br />
the review states, "have never lowered the dignity <strong>of</strong> their Art or their pr<strong>of</strong>ession by reducing their<br />
prices, but their fixed aim and undeviating rule has been to produce the finest specimens, <strong>of</strong> which<br />
they were capable,--the finest in every respect, artistic, mechanical, and chemical; graceful, pleasing<br />
in posture and arrangement, and exact in portraiture. Their style, indeed, is peculiar to themselves;<br />
presenting beautiful effects <strong>of</strong> light and shade, and giving depth and roundness together with a<br />
wonderful s<strong>of</strong>tness or mellowness."<br />
They were noted for their portraits <strong>of</strong> brides and wedding parties. They also patented (the review<br />
ssuggests "invented" but this is questionable) an instrument which which stereoscopic pictures may<br />
be viewed.<br />
Early in 1999 there was intense interest following the discovery <strong>of</strong> some 240 daguerreotypes produced<br />
by these two photographers. They went up for auction (read further here) , the total price exceeding<br />
two million pounds.<br />
Collections <strong>of</strong> their work exist at the JFK Library, Boston. Additional information can be seen at http://<br />
www.photographymuseum.com/sandh1.html. One <strong>of</strong> the leading experts on these two daguerreotypists<br />
is Ken Appollo.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000.<br />
Last updated undefined
HILL and ADAMSON<br />
Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were partners in the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography, their earliest<br />
known photograph being dated August 1843. Photographers <strong>of</strong> the day were either artistically inclined<br />
or had a strong scientific background, and this partnership was an ideal combination: Adamson was<br />
mainly responsible for the more mechanistic aspects <strong>of</strong> the process (exposure, development and<br />
printing), and Hill for the direction, posing and lighting. That, at least, is the way Hill saw it, though it<br />
is likely that Adamson, too, had an artistic bent.<br />
Restrictions on the Calotype process imposed by Fox Talbot had arrested the development <strong>of</strong><br />
photography in England, but since the patent did not apply to Scotland these two early photographers<br />
were able, in a very short partnership, to produce a considerable number <strong>of</strong> pictures.<br />
At this period, <strong>of</strong> course, sunlight was necessary, so even the interior photography will have been<br />
outside, with suitable props. In order to prevent movement on the part <strong>of</strong> the sitters all sorts <strong>of</strong><br />
strategies were needed to keep them still. In "The Bird Cage" for example, the girl in the foreground<br />
has her hand firmly on the cage, the girl to the right has her hand fixed on the shoulder <strong>of</strong> her<br />
companion, and her back is against the doorway. The little tell-tale shadows suggests that the girl at<br />
the back also had her head cradled - such devices were not uncommon then.<br />
One problem that Hill and Adamson failed to resolve was the control <strong>of</strong> the eye. Because the<br />
exposures were so long, it seems that Hill told the sitters to close their eyes rather than blink. So in<br />
several <strong>of</strong> their pictures eyes appear closed.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> the Hill and Adamson pictures were to be reproduced many years later in Camera Work, a<br />
very influential publication produced at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century. However, Adamson is not credited,<br />
and in a lengthy essay on the work <strong>of</strong> Hill by J. Craig Annan, he is only mentioned in passing.<br />
Their Calotypes are now greatly treasured, and many <strong>of</strong> these are stored in the Victoria and Albert<br />
Museum, London.<br />
A new web-site worth looking at is www.edinphoto.org.uk. It has a number <strong>of</strong> reproductions <strong>of</strong><br />
photographs relating to Hill and Adamson. Do give it a visit.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
HILL, David Octavius<br />
b. 1802; d. 17 May 1870<br />
David Octavius Hill devoted most <strong>of</strong> his life to improving the arts in Scotland. He published the first<br />
lithographic view <strong>of</strong> Scotland in "Sketches <strong>of</strong> Scenery in Perthshire" (1821), and also produced<br />
lithographs for "The Works <strong>of</strong> Robert Burns." He was a portrait painter, and once Secretary <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Scottish Academy <strong>of</strong> painting, an Academy which he himself had established.<br />
In 1843 a major upheaval in the Church <strong>of</strong> Scotland took place, resulting in the formation <strong>of</strong> the Free<br />
Church <strong>of</strong> Scotland. Its first meeting took place in May that year, and was considered sufficiently<br />
momentous to have the event commemorated in a painting. The task was quite formidable, as there<br />
were four hundred and seventy people present, and it was intended that each <strong>of</strong> these people should<br />
be present in the painting. Sketching each person individually would have been a colossal task. A<br />
much respected scientist <strong>of</strong> the day, Sir David Brewster, saw in the newly invented calotype process<br />
the solution, and suggested that Hill, who was secretary <strong>of</strong> the Scottish Academy, go into partnership<br />
with a chemist, Robert Adamson.<br />
To this end Hill and Adamson took individual portraits <strong>of</strong> the clerics. The painting, which took twentythree<br />
years to complete, is in the Hall <strong>of</strong> the Presbytery, Edinburgh, but the photograph is the more<br />
remembered. Hill was paid £1500 for the task. The painting is very large, measuring 12ft x 4ft 8ins.<br />
Hill and Adamson's pictures are all calotypes. One <strong>of</strong> them has, on the reverse, "Sol fecit" (the sun<br />
made it.)<br />
In 1847 Robert Adamson died, aged only 27, and Hill gave up photography and returned to painting.<br />
The short partnership is all the more remarkable for the large output; in the four years more than<br />
1500 calotypes had been produced. The Hill and Adamson photographs are much valued today, whilst<br />
Hill's paintings are ignored and forgotten.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000<br />
Last updated undefined
HINE, Lewis Wickes<br />
b. 26 September 1874; d. 3 November 1940<br />
Lewis Hine was an<br />
American sociologist who<br />
took up photography in<br />
1905 and used it as a<br />
documentary tool, to show<br />
the working class<br />
conditions <strong>of</strong> the poor<br />
immigrants from Europe.<br />
From 1911- 1916 he<br />
toured the US as <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
photographer for the<br />
National Labor Committee,<br />
where he depicted in a<br />
sensitive and heartrending<br />
manner the plight<br />
<strong>of</strong> children working in the<br />
mills. He <strong>of</strong>ten hid his<br />
camera so that he could<br />
take authentic<br />
photographs, and had first<br />
to learn how to get a<br />
presentable picture<br />
without using flash.<br />
Hine met with considerable opposition from the employers, who accused him <strong>of</strong> muck-raking.<br />
Sometimes he was banned from the premises, on other occasions the children were hidden from view<br />
when he arrived. On occasions Hine even posed as a fire inspector, Bible salesman or insurance agent<br />
in order to gain access to the premises! Where he was banned from premises, he would photograph<br />
the children arriving at or leaving the factory. Being anxious to provide evidence that could not be<br />
discredited, he even measured the children by the buttons on his jacket, having measured their<br />
height. In 1916-1917 he travelled some fifty thousand miles in his quest.<br />
Hine discovered and exposed some appalling conditions, such as children aged six or seven having to<br />
work as many as twelve hours a day. Some <strong>of</strong> his prints have comments on the back, recording the<br />
circumstances. One reads "Sandie Fiefer, 10; South Carolina", another "Mart Payne, picks 20 lbs.<br />
cotton a day."<br />
"I wanted to show things that had to be corrected", Hine declared. He produced several thousands <strong>of</strong><br />
pictures. It was not until the 1930s that his work bore fruit, and child labour became controlled.<br />
In 1910 he wrote saying: "I am sure I am right in my choice <strong>of</strong> work. My child labor photos have<br />
already set the authorities to work to see if such things can be possible, They try to get around the<br />
issue by crying forgery, but that is the value <strong>of</strong> the dates and the witnesses."<br />
Owen Lovejoy, General Secretary <strong>of</strong> the NCLC and Hine's contracting supervisor, wrote: "The work<br />
that you did under my direction was more responsible than any or all other efforts to bring the facts<br />
or conditions <strong>of</strong> child labor employment to public attention."<br />
The picture shows a little girl having a glimpse outside. Some <strong>of</strong> Hine's most evocative pictures are to
e found at http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/index.html<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2004.<br />
Last updated undefined
HINTON, Alfred Horsley<br />
b. 1863; d. 1908<br />
Horsley Hinton's name does not feature in many books on the history <strong>of</strong> photography, but just after the first world war J. Dudley<br />
Johnston said <strong>of</strong> him:<br />
"I think it was Horsley Hinton who has exercised the most pr<strong>of</strong>ound influence on British landscape photography and<br />
raised it to a higher plane <strong>of</strong> imaginative vision.....During his brief career - 1889 to 1907 - he was the greatest force<br />
operating in the sphere <strong>of</strong> British photography."<br />
Hinton was editor <strong>of</strong> the Amateur Photographer, and a leading member in<br />
the formation <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring. Some fine exhibition prints <strong>of</strong> his remain.<br />
"Beyond", shown here, comes from Camera Work, 1905.<br />
Horsley Hinton was a popular judge in pictorial photography at the turn <strong>of</strong><br />
the century.<br />
An item in the A.p. (January 16, 1902) which is probably attributable to<br />
Hinton, shows that he was prepared to speak his mind:<br />
“At the Royal Photographic Society there is just now on view a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> Mr. Henry Steven’s photographs which, as specimens <strong>of</strong><br />
lens definition and what extraordinary care and patience can<br />
achieve, are probably unique. What will probably strike the observer<br />
most forcibly is the pity that such consummate craftsmanship should<br />
be expended on subjects which, we hope, we shall not give <strong>of</strong>fence<br />
by calling them puerile. Cats and kittens, gods, and a small number<br />
<strong>of</strong> rabbits, some with and some without bunches <strong>of</strong> carrots and other vegetables….hardly seem worthy <strong>of</strong> being a<br />
theme <strong>of</strong> such a veritable tour de force as many a one <strong>of</strong> Mr. Steven’s prints are; whilst this gentleman’s photographs<br />
<strong>of</strong> greenhouse blooms and ferns, though wonderfully striking, are neither scientific records nor pictorial<br />
interpretations. Fine photography they undoubtedly are, if by that term we are to understand an exemplification <strong>of</strong><br />
what a lens can do in highly skilled and patient hands.”<br />
On February 6th he once again touched upon the poor Mr. Stevens’ photographs, and one can see where his preferences lay.<br />
Referring to his exhibition he writes:<br />
“Whilst photographic prints <strong>of</strong> this class are not, in our opinion, the kind to elevate photography to either a higher<br />
intellectual or s high artistic level, their attractiveness, and indeed their unique character, cannot be denied….”<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
HOWLETT, Robert<br />
b. 1831; d. 1858<br />
Robert Howlett was one <strong>of</strong> the earliest pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographers, and came into partnership with<br />
Joseph Cundall in London. He designed and sold his own portable darkroom tent, and a booklet<br />
entitled "On the Various Methods <strong>of</strong> Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for<br />
Their Preservation" (1856).<br />
He is perhaps best known for his coverage <strong>of</strong> the construction and launching <strong>of</strong> the ship "The Great<br />
Eastern", and particularly for his photograph <strong>of</strong> Bruner standing near this ship.<br />
He died at the age <strong>of</strong> twenty-seven, the cause <strong>of</strong> death being ascribed by some to the exposure to<br />
hazardous photographic chemicals.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
HUNT, Robert<br />
b. 1807; d. 1887<br />
Robert Hunt was a geologist and an advocate <strong>of</strong> photography, and played a leading part in forming<br />
the Photographic Society. He was also instrumental in persuading Fox Talbot to relinquish his patents<br />
on the Calotype process, which were serving to arrest the progress <strong>of</strong> photography. (See Tablot and<br />
Patents . He wrote books on photography, his first, "A Popular Treatise on the Art <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Photography</strong>" (published in Glasgow in 1841) being intended for the lay person. This, like all his<br />
publications, proved to be extremely popular.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Significant PEOPLE in the early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> J-M<br />
● Jackson, William Henry<br />
● Johnston, Frances Benjamin<br />
● Johnston, J. Dudley<br />
● Kasebier, Gertrude<br />
● Keighley, Alexander<br />
● Keith, Thomas<br />
● Kircher, Athanasius<br />
● Laroche, Martin<br />
● Lartigue, Jacques-Henri<br />
● Le Gray, Gustave<br />
● Le Secq, Henri<br />
● Llewelyn, John<br />
● Lumière brothers<br />
● Maddox, Richard Leach<br />
● Marey, Etienne Jules<br />
● Martin, Paul<br />
● Maxwell, James<br />
● Mayall, John Jabez<br />
● McKellen, Samuel Dunseith<br />
● Morse, Samuel Finley<br />
● Mortimer, Francis<br />
● Mudd, James<br />
● Muybridge, Eadweard
JACKSON, William Henry<br />
b. 4 April 1843; d. 30 June 1942<br />
Jackson was an American photographer, a veteran <strong>of</strong> the civil war, who explored the "Wild West" in<br />
the 1870s, and who was probably one <strong>of</strong> the most colourful and energetic travel photographers <strong>of</strong> all<br />
time, still being commissioned to take photographs whilst in his nineties. During his lifetime he was<br />
known as the "Grand old man <strong>of</strong> the National parks." He used a variety <strong>of</strong> cameras, including one<br />
which produced negatives 20 by 24 inches in size, and also produced a number <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic<br />
pictures.<br />
His work can be seen at the National Archives and the Library <strong>of</strong> Congress, both at Washington DC,<br />
and the Denver Library in Colorado.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
JOHNSTON, Frances Benjamin<br />
b. 1854; d.1952<br />
Frances studied art in Paris and Washington, and worked for periodicals, writing and illustrating her<br />
articles. She then began to take her own photographs, and embarked on a campaign to promote<br />
greater recognition <strong>of</strong> women in photographic circles in America.<br />
Women were among the early photo-journalists in the United States, and Frances Benjamin Johnston<br />
was a particularly noteworthy freelance photographer. In 1900 she collected 148 works by 28 women<br />
photographers for exhibition in Russia and at the World Exhibition in Paris, evidence that there was a<br />
niche for women keen to take advantage <strong>of</strong> an opportunity for self-expression that the traditional<br />
male-dominated visual arts denied.<br />
Johnston was also a member <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
KASEBIER, Gertrude<br />
b. 18 May 1852; d. 12 October 1934<br />
Gertrude Kasebier was born in Iowa, began taking photographs in the early nineties, and in 1897<br />
opened her first portrait studio in New York City. She was the first woman to be elected to the<br />
prestigious Linked Ring, and was also a founder-member <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession, her portraits<br />
standing out over the work <strong>of</strong> her contemporaries. A contemporary critic praised her for haing done<br />
more for artistic portraiture than any other <strong>of</strong> her time (painter or photographer) by her sense <strong>of</strong><br />
"what to leave out." Her work was featured in the first issue <strong>of</strong> Camera Work.<br />
She was keen on allegorical themes, and one <strong>of</strong> her series was on motherhood. It was said <strong>of</strong> her that<br />
her purpose in taking photographs was "not to inform, but to share an experience, to evoke an<br />
emotional response from the viewer."<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> her fine platinum prints remain.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000.<br />
Last updated undefined
KEIGHLEY, Alexander<br />
b. 1861; d. 2 August 1947<br />
Alexander Keighley was born in Yorkshire, son <strong>of</strong> a wealthy industrialist. Pressed into his father's<br />
business, his ambition was to be an artist, and he found in photography the outlet he so badly<br />
needed.<br />
At first Keighley took the view that photography should be a medium in its own right and not seek to<br />
emulate other forms <strong>of</strong> art. However, he subsequently changed his tune, his carbon prints being very<br />
heavily retouched.<br />
A founder-member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring, his work was widely acclaimed; some <strong>of</strong> his "camera paintings",<br />
as he called them, are still masterpieces.<br />
He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society in 1911.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
KEITH, Thomas<br />
b. 1827; d. 1895<br />
Dr. Thomas Keith was a gynaecologist in Edinburgh who took up amateur photography. His pictures <strong>of</strong><br />
architecture and landscape, on the waxed paper process, are <strong>of</strong> a high artistic appeal. He worked in<br />
Scotland in the mid 'fifties.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
KIRCHER, Athanasius<br />
b. 1601; d. 1688<br />
Athanasius Kircher was a leading scholar in his time <strong>of</strong> natural sciences and mathematics. His major<br />
work was "Ars magna lucis et umbrae" published in Rome in 1646. In his revised publication, printed<br />
twenty five years later, he shows a picture <strong>of</strong> a camera obscura with an opening in the floor through<br />
which the artist entered.<br />
Kircher also gave a description <strong>of</strong> a magic lantern:<br />
"Make ... a wooden box and put on it a chimney, so that the smoke <strong>of</strong> the lamp in the<br />
box is on a level with the opening, and insert in the opening a pipe or tube. The tube<br />
must contain a very good lens, but at the end <strong>of</strong> the tube...fasten the small glass plate,<br />
on which is painted an image in transparent water colours.<br />
Then the light <strong>of</strong> the lamp, penetrating through the lens and through the image on the<br />
glass (which is to be inserted... upside down) will throw an upright, enlarged coloured<br />
image on the white wall opposite. In order to increase the strength <strong>of</strong> the light, it is<br />
necessary to place a concave mirror behind .. the lamp."<br />
Actually, the illustrator got it wrong, in that he placed the transparency in front <strong>of</strong> the lens, which<br />
would not have projected it.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LAROCHE, Martin<br />
b. 1809; d. 1886<br />
Laroche (his real name was William Henry Sylvester) was a Canadian photographer who opened up a<br />
studio in Oxford Street, London, working with the collodion process. He is particularly remembered as<br />
the defendant, in 1854, in a test case pressed by Fox Talbot, who was claiming that the collodion<br />
process came under his own calotype one. On 20 December the case was thrown out. Later, Fox<br />
Talbot wrote to his wife Constance: "The jury understood little <strong>of</strong> the subject, trusting to the judge"<br />
whilst the judge, in summing up, had commented "It is....difficult to understand the subject,<br />
particularly as I know nothing about it...I am sorry to say the case kept me awake all last night...."<br />
The court's decision was significant, for it meant that the process, invented by Frederick Scott Archer,<br />
and made freely available by him, was now available for all to use either in an amateur or commercial<br />
capacity. Fox Talbot decided not to appeal against the decision and, now recognising that the collodion<br />
process was not only free but faster, did not renew his patent for the calotype process; from this time<br />
onwards another restriction to the development <strong>of</strong> photography had been removed.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LARTIGUE, Jacques-Henri<br />
b. 13 June 1894; d. 12 September 1986<br />
Lartigue was a French photographer, largely unknown until he was in his seventies, when he was<br />
immediately dubbed the "discovery <strong>of</strong> the century." He started taking pictures at the age <strong>of</strong> six, and<br />
one <strong>of</strong> his most famous pictures was taken at Grand Prix in 1912 when he was aged eighteen. In this<br />
picture he panned the camera so that the car is sharp. The elliptical shape <strong>of</strong> the wheel and the angle<br />
at which the spectators were standing are due to the fact that Lartigue used a focal-plane shutter. He<br />
had obviously panned the camera to keep the vehicle sharp; whether the effect caused by the focalplane<br />
shutter was intended or whether it was the result <strong>of</strong> a lucky accident we are not told!<br />
Lartigue's interest in photography waned after the first World War, in favour <strong>of</strong> painting.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LE GRAY, Gustave<br />
b. 1820; d.1882<br />
Le Grey was a French artist who began to take photographs towards the end <strong>of</strong> the 1840s, and who<br />
set up a portrait studio in Paris. He made pictures <strong>of</strong> landscapes and seascapes. However, he is better<br />
known for having introduced the waxed paper process, in which a negative was made on paper which<br />
had been permeated with wax. This improved the transparency <strong>of</strong> the paper, and therefore greater<br />
definition. Another advantage <strong>of</strong> this process was that this sensitised waxed paper (though a little<br />
slower than the calotype) would be kept for up to two weeks before use, whereas the conventional<br />
calotype could only be kept one day.<br />
In 1850 produced a book entitled "A practical treatise on <strong>Photography</strong>" by which time he was a<br />
practising teacher.<br />
Le Gray created a sensation in 1856 when his picture "Brig upon the Water" was exhibited at the<br />
Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> London's annual exhibition. Up till that time, because photographic materials<br />
were not sensitive to red and highly sensitive to blue, landscape pictures tended to have over-exposed<br />
skies which appeared white. Le Gray's picture showed a pleasing representation <strong>of</strong> sky and sea on one<br />
print. Some history books claim that this had been achieved on one negative because it so happened<br />
that the luminosity <strong>of</strong> the foreground was similar to that <strong>of</strong> the sky, others claim that two negatives<br />
were used, and that this was the first example <strong>of</strong> combination printing. Whatever the case, this<br />
prompted photographers all the more to address themselves to ensuring that outdoor scenes were<br />
more aesthetically rendered. The print itself remains in the possession <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic<br />
Society, and on the mount is written "The great sensation <strong>of</strong> 1856".<br />
In 1861 Le Gray retired from photography (ostensibly because <strong>of</strong> the carte-de-visite boom) and was<br />
appointed Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Drawing in Cairo.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LE SECQ, Henri<br />
b. 1818; d. 1882<br />
The French government, having made the Daguerreotype process free to the world, was quick to make<br />
use <strong>of</strong> photography, and one <strong>of</strong> its first actions, in 1851, was to assign five photographers to conduct<br />
a survey <strong>of</strong> monuments and buildings <strong>of</strong> architectural significance. Le Secq was one <strong>of</strong> these, others<br />
including Bayard and Le Gray.<br />
Le Secq's photographs include images <strong>of</strong> the cathedrals at Rheims and Chartres. Some <strong>of</strong> his other<br />
work (including an illustrated guide to Amiens) reveals him to have been an artist <strong>of</strong> considerable<br />
delicacy.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LLEWELYN, John Dillwyn<br />
b. 12 January 1810; d. 24 August 1882<br />
The eldest son and second child <strong>of</strong> Lewis Weston Dillwyn FRS, FLS and Mary. Lewis West Dillwyn was<br />
a distinguished botanist and a member <strong>of</strong> the First Reformed Parliament. John, originally Dillwyn,<br />
added his maternal grandfather's name upon coming <strong>of</strong> age and inheriting his estates near Swansea,<br />
south Wales. He married Emma Thomasina Talbot, a first cousin <strong>of</strong> Henry Fox Talbot. He was distantly<br />
related to his friend and fellow photographer Calvert Richard Jones.<br />
Llewelyn was making images within days <strong>of</strong> Talbot's announcement and it is possible he had prior<br />
knowledge from his mother-in-law, Lady Mary Cole, who had visited Talbot in 1838. Llewelyn was a<br />
founder Council Member <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> London, and remained on the Council until<br />
1857. He exhibited at their exhibitions and at the Exposition Universelle, Paris 1855, where he won a<br />
silver medal for his 'Motion Series' <strong>of</strong> four instantaneous images.<br />
Talbot regarded Llewelyn as the first botanical photographer, and botanical daguerreotypes are<br />
recorded by Kew Gardens as early as 1842, though these are now lost.<br />
In 1856 he discovered the Oxymel process, an early form <strong>of</strong> dry plate photography. He claimed to<br />
have used all the known early processes and continuously experimented with variations on these. He<br />
worked with Antoine Claudet on the daguerreotype process, though no details survive beyond diary<br />
references.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> his images were published in "The Sunbeam" by his friend Philip Delamotte and also in the<br />
Photographic Exchange albums.<br />
Other members <strong>of</strong> the family who were photographers were his wife Emma, who did all his printing,<br />
his daughter Thereza, his sister Mary Dillwyn, his uncle by marriage Richard Dykes Alexander <strong>of</strong><br />
Ipswich and his wife's cousin Jane St John.<br />
Llewelyn was also a member <strong>of</strong> the Amateur Photographic Association and was on their council.<br />
I am grateful to Richard Morris FRPS for information on John Llwelwyn.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
LUMIERE, Louis and Auguste<br />
Louis: b. 1862; d. 1954 Auguste: b. 1864; d. 1948<br />
The Lumière brothers made a distinctive contribution to photography in various areas. They are<br />
perhaps best known for having produced a Cinematograph camera in 1895, using a claw movement<br />
which advanced the film, a principle which still applies in motion photography today. They also<br />
produced the Autochrome plate in 1907, the first practical colour photography process. Louis received<br />
the Progress Medal <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society in 1909.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MAREY, Etienne Jules<br />
b. 5 March 1830; d. 15 May 1904<br />
Marey started his career as an assistant surgeon in 1855, and specialised in human and animal<br />
physiology. In 1867 he became Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Natural <strong>History</strong>.<br />
He was the inventor <strong>of</strong> the "chronophotograph" (1887) from which modern cinematography was<br />
developed. Some in fact see Marey, rather than the Lumière brothers, as the true father <strong>of</strong> cine<br />
photography.<br />
Whereas Muybridge (with whom Marey was frequently in contact) had used a number <strong>of</strong> cameras to<br />
study movement, Marey used only one, the movements being recorded on one photographic plate.<br />
Characteristic <strong>of</strong> his pictures were his studies <strong>of</strong> the human in motion, where the subjects wore black<br />
suits with metal strips or white lines, as they passed in front <strong>of</strong> the black backdrops.<br />
For those who think slow motion photography is relatively new, Marey also invented a slow motion<br />
camera in 1894, which took pictures at the rate <strong>of</strong> 700 per second!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2001<br />
Last updated undefined
MARTIN, Paul Augustus<br />
b. 16 April 1864; d. 7 July 1944<br />
Paul Martin was born in Alcase-Lorraine, but in the wake <strong>of</strong> the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris<br />
Commune his family fled to England when he was a child.<br />
His first experiments in photography started when he was ten years old, but he was nineteen before<br />
he started taking photography seriously. In 1892 he purchased an unusual camera called the "Facile",<br />
a large box that looked like a brown paper parcel which was held under the arm, and which gave him<br />
the opportunity to take some excellent candid photographs <strong>of</strong> scenes in London. He is particularly<br />
remembered for his striking pictures depicting London by night, taken in 1895-6. This series, known<br />
as "London by Gaslight" earned him the Royal Photographic Society medal. Because the pictures are<br />
candid, Martin's photographs have an honest, unpretentious style.<br />
Though some members <strong>of</strong> the photographic world looked down on this type <strong>of</strong> work, he was<br />
unperturbed, and his work gives us an insight into life in London which few photographs <strong>of</strong> the time<br />
come anywhere near to doing.<br />
Writing later about these times, Martin felt that there was far too l<strong>of</strong>ty and rigid an idea as to what<br />
constituted "good" photography: "....two principal exhibition societies, representing the <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
photographic sentiment <strong>of</strong> the day, were not encouraging towards the type <strong>of</strong> subject which I was<br />
then taking. There was more outlet in the suburban clubs, but even there many members regarded<br />
some <strong>of</strong> my studies as rather infra dig or even shocking. They felt that a plate demanded a noble and<br />
dignified subject, a cathedral or mountain."<br />
He was encouraged in his work by George Davidson, a fellow member <strong>of</strong> his local photographic society<br />
and an influential contemporary. He also became a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring.<br />
Martin would not have called himself a documentary photographer; his interest was simply to portray<br />
human beings candidly, without people posing.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MAXWELL, James Clerk<br />
b. 13 November 1831; d. 5 November 1879<br />
Dr. James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist who made some far-reaching advances on<br />
electromagnetism. He held Pr<strong>of</strong>essorships in a number <strong>of</strong> institutions, becoming the first Cavendish<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Physics at Cambridge University in 1871.<br />
His contribution in photography was in his studies <strong>of</strong> colour. Lecturing at the Royal Institution in<br />
London (May 1861) he was the first to demonstrate that by taking three pictures, each through a<br />
primary colour filter, and projecting the three using corresponding filters, so that they overlapped,<br />
colour pictures could be re-created. In working on his colour theories he collaborated with Thomas<br />
Sutton.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MAYALL, John Jabez Edwin<br />
b. 1810; d. 6 Mar 1901<br />
Mayall was an American photographer. After a period as a photographer in Philadelphia he came to<br />
work in London for nearly twenty years, for some time managing the studio owned by Antoine Claudet,<br />
and then practised in Brighton. He brought from France the albumen process in 1851.<br />
He then turned to the carte-de-visite, began mass production <strong>of</strong> these, from which he made a fortune,<br />
producing, it is said, some half a million <strong>of</strong> these a year.<br />
His series <strong>of</strong> portraits <strong>of</strong> the Royal Family, taken in the 1860s, were enormously successful.<br />
The Photographic News <strong>of</strong> 1861 relates an incident which took place in his studio: A lady who had<br />
been photographed by Mayall's assistant, and who had taken a dislike to the results, complained to<br />
Mayall who, having learned <strong>of</strong> the situation from the assistant immediately <strong>of</strong>fered to photograph her<br />
again. Placing a seat with its back towards the camera, he solemnly asked her to be seated. He then<br />
placed the headrest towards her forehead, and asked her to keep very still. At this point the lady<br />
exclaimed that he was about to take a photograph <strong>of</strong> the back <strong>of</strong> her head, whereupon Mayall, with<br />
utmost politeness, said that having seen the Daguerreotype pictures, which he thought to be good<br />
likenesses <strong>of</strong> her, the only option left was to try a portrait in which the face would be entirely absent!<br />
Fortunately the client saw the funny side <strong>of</strong> this charade, looked again at the previous pictures, and<br />
bought a few.<br />
Mayall was a strong supporter <strong>of</strong> Frederick Scott Archer, and upon his death he was instrumental in<br />
organising a Testimonial for his widow and three children.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
McKELLEN, Samuel Dunseith<br />
b.1836 d. Dec 26, 1906<br />
<strong>History</strong> can sometimes be unkind to those who do not publicise themselves, and this is certainly true<br />
in the case <strong>of</strong> Samuel McKellen, who died penniless and unknown and lies in an unmarked grave in<br />
Chorlton. And had it not been for a letter received recently from his grandson, I confess that I would<br />
not have known about this pioneer. It says much the Photographic Journal, announcing his death, felt<br />
it necessary to comment "The present generation may or may not be aware that Mr. McKellen was the<br />
father <strong>of</strong> the modern camera."<br />
Samual McKellen was a watch and clockmaker, and also had developed a passion for photography, his<br />
first camera, in the late 1850s, having been made out <strong>of</strong> a cigar box and spectacle lens!<br />
The British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> for Oct 31, 1884, describes enthusiastically his camera which was<br />
displayed at an exhibition by the Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> Great Britain. It almost did not make the<br />
exhibition at all, for the camera, ready for transport, was accidentally sold to a customer without<br />
McKellen's knowledge!<br />
Those who screw tripod or pan and tilt heads into cameras have McKellen to thank for, as it was he<br />
who in January 1884 patented the little opening in the bottom <strong>of</strong> a camera, into which the tripod<br />
screw is inserted.<br />
One novelty was McKellen's detective camera, shaped like an attache case. But it was his rack and<br />
pinion camera that most excited people at the time. Initially McKellen had no intention to sell cameras<br />
but simply wanted to advance photography; however the huge demand at the time caused him to<br />
change his course. According to the British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, his factory in Manchester<br />
developed to the extent <strong>of</strong> employing thirty-five skilled workmen.<br />
In the 1880s pr<strong>of</strong>essional cameras were heavy, so he decided to use his skills to design a light,<br />
versatile camera. Writing about his invention, McKellen states:<br />
"..an enthusiastic photographer, I had <strong>of</strong>ten realized that the labour and fatigue <strong>of</strong> a<br />
day's tramp with even a half-plate Camera and a dozen <strong>of</strong> plates, were considerably<br />
more than was pleasant, and not infrequently deprived the results obtained <strong>of</strong> much <strong>of</strong><br />
their value."<br />
The year 1884 saw McKellen being awarded the Photographic Society's Prize Medal for his camera. In<br />
fact, this was a singular honour; in presenting the prize the President <strong>of</strong> the Society, James Glashier<br />
commented:<br />
"The Society has never until now seern its way to giving a medal for apparatus, but<br />
your Camera has in it so many new points, is so compact, so easily worked, so light,<br />
yet so firm, so simple in its movements, and is such a distinct stride in advance, that<br />
they have felt constrained to grant a medal for it. And I congratulate you on what may<br />
fairly be called The Camera <strong>of</strong> the Future."<br />
A contemporary instrument called the "Tourist Portable camera" weighed in at approximately 40 lbs,<br />
and its cubic contents were about 2300 inches. By comparison McKellen's weighed only 15lbs, its<br />
cubic contents 850 inches.<br />
The letters <strong>of</strong> congratulation both to the inventor and to the British Jounral <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> were wildly
enthusiastic, to the extent that one finds it difficult to understand why he has subsequently become<br />
largely forgotten.<br />
Despite the lavish obituary in the Photographic Journal, regrettably McKellen died in poverty because<br />
though he was a brilliant inventor, he did not have much <strong>of</strong> a business sense, and did not pursue his<br />
patents.<br />
I am most grateful to McKellen's grandson, John McKellen, for this information, without which I<br />
confess I would never have heard <strong>of</strong> this remarkable man.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1998.<br />
Last updated undefined
MORSE, Samuel Finley Breese<br />
b. 27 April 1791; d. 2 April 1872<br />
Samuel Morse was an accomplished American artist, particularly <strong>of</strong> miniatures, and an inventor. He<br />
studied at Yale University, and then came to England for art training under the direction <strong>of</strong> Benjamin<br />
West.<br />
During his visit to France in 1838, Morse met Louis Daguerre, and they became good friends; Morse<br />
then became one <strong>of</strong> the first to practise using daguerreotypes in the United States, sharing a studio<br />
with John W. Draper, a chemistry expert. One <strong>of</strong> his students was Mathew Brady, who became one <strong>of</strong><br />
the greatest documentary photographers. Morse's first portraits were made using exposures <strong>of</strong><br />
between 10 and 20 minutes, which must have been an unbelievable ordeal to the sitters!<br />
His pictures <strong>of</strong> his class reunion, taken in 1840, is the first known group portrait. Morse is more<br />
popularly known for the signalling code that bears his name, and his development <strong>of</strong> the electric<br />
telegraph.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MORTIMER, Francis James<br />
b. 1874; d. 1944<br />
Francis Mortimer, a keen yachtsman, is<br />
best known for his dramatic sea-scapes,<br />
many being combination prints, coupled<br />
with other manipulations.<br />
He was elected a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked<br />
Ring in 1907; it was he, in fact, who was<br />
instrumental in its demise only a couple<br />
<strong>of</strong> years later, when editor <strong>of</strong> "Amateur<br />
Photographer." In fact, his main sphere<br />
<strong>of</strong> influence lay in the various editorships<br />
<strong>of</strong> photographic journals, including<br />
"Photograms <strong>of</strong> the Year."<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Mortimer's most famous pictures<br />
is the "Gate <strong>of</strong> Goodbye" - a<br />
combination print made from a number <strong>of</strong> negatives, the background being the archway leading to<br />
Waterloo station, where many families parted with their sons and husbands, as they set <strong>of</strong>f to the<br />
war.<br />
Mortimer was a close friend <strong>of</strong> Lord Carnarvon, an Egyptologist who was one <strong>of</strong> the two who<br />
discovered the Tutankhamen treasures. It is said that on one <strong>of</strong> his frequent visits to show<br />
photographs, he was <strong>of</strong>ten greeted with "What a wonderful lens your camera has", which he found<br />
distinctly irritating. He got his own back; when one <strong>of</strong> Carnarvon's guests displayed the grouse he had<br />
shot that day, Mortimer beamed with admiration, and then said "What a superb gun you must have!"<br />
Though Mortimer was an influential person who in his lifetime received many honours, his dislike for<br />
what he saw as "American temporary art crazes" left Britain somewhat isolated in the photographic<br />
world after the first World War. As a result he tends - quite undeservedly - to be largely ignored in<br />
modern photographic history books.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MUDD, James<br />
Little is known <strong>of</strong> this photographer other than he worked in Manchester as a portrait photographer<br />
and that he produced some interesting landscape pictures, one <strong>of</strong> which showed the effect <strong>of</strong> a damburst<br />
in 1864, near Sheffield. It would seem that he was also commissioned by Francis Frith to<br />
photograph scenes and buildings in his home city.<br />
In 1866 he wrote a book entitled "The Collodio-Albumen process" and other papers.<br />
The earliest <strong>of</strong> his pictures date to about 1852, and are to be found in the Kodak Museum, Manchester<br />
Central Library, and in the Manchester Museum <strong>of</strong> Science and Industry.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Significant PEOPLE in the early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> N-S<br />
● Nadar<br />
● Negre, Charles<br />
● Nicholls, Horace<br />
● Niépce, Joseph<br />
● O'Sullivan, Timothy<br />
● Petzval, Josef Max<br />
● Polak, Richard<br />
● Ponting, Herbert<br />
● Price, William Lake<br />
● Ray, Man<br />
● Rejlander, Oscar<br />
● Riis, Jacob<br />
● Roberts, Robert Evan<br />
● Robertson, James<br />
● Robinson, Henry Peach<br />
● Rosling, Alfred<br />
● Salomon, Erich<br />
● Schulze, Johann Heinrich<br />
● Shadbolt, George<br />
● Shaw, George Bernard<br />
● Snelling, Henry H<br />
● Steichen, Edward Jean<br />
● Stieglitz, Alfred<br />
● Stone, John Benjamin<br />
● Strand, Paul<br />
● Sutcliffe, Frank<br />
● Sutton, Thomas<br />
Last updated undefined
NADAR<br />
b. 5 April 1820; d. 1910<br />
His real name was Gaspard-Felix Tournachon. He was a colourful French caricaturist, writer, portrait<br />
photographer and balloonist, and flamboyant showman. Nadar was derived from his nickname<br />
("tourne a dard") meaning "bitter sting", which he earned for his caricatures. He owned a portrait<br />
studio with his brother Adrien, from 1853, in the Rue St. Lazare, Paris.<br />
Combining his interest in balloon flying, in 1858 he received a patent for this, and became the first to<br />
take pictures from the air. His balloon was enormous, had a two-story gondola, capable <strong>of</strong> carrying up<br />
to fifty men. The balloon had its own darkroom, the process at the time requiring exposure and<br />
development whilst the plate was still wet. Two years later capped this by photographing the Paris<br />
sewers, using electric light.<br />
He photographed many famous people, including Liszt, Balzac, Delacroix, Emile Zola and Rossini. One<br />
<strong>of</strong> his pictures is that <strong>of</strong> Victor Hugo, whom he had known for many years, on his death bed, 1885.<br />
Though he photographed many women, it is said that he preferred not to, saying that "the images are<br />
too true to Nature to please the sitters, even the most beautiful".<br />
His studio became the meeting place for great artists <strong>of</strong> the day, and in 1874 it housed the first<br />
Impressionist exhibition.<br />
In 1857, when establishing his right before a tribunal to use the name "Nadar" he made the following<br />
observation:<br />
"The theory <strong>of</strong> photography can be taught in an hour; the first ideas <strong>of</strong> how to go about it in a day.<br />
What can't be taught... is the feeling for light - the artistic appreciation <strong>of</strong> effects produced by<br />
different...sources; it's the understanding <strong>of</strong> this or that effect following the lines <strong>of</strong> the features which<br />
required your artistic perception.<br />
What is taught even less, is the immediate understanding <strong>of</strong> your subject - it's this immediate contact<br />
which can put you in sympathy with the sitter, helps you to sum them up, follow their normal<br />
attitudes, their ideas, according to their personality, and enables you to make not just a chancy,<br />
dreary cardboard copy typical <strong>of</strong> the merest hack in the darkroom, but a likeness <strong>of</strong> the most intimate<br />
and happy kind...."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
NEGRE, Charles<br />
b. 9 May 1820; d. 16 January 1880<br />
Negre was born in Grasse in 1820. At the age <strong>of</strong> 19 he went to Paris, where he enrolled as a pupil in<br />
the studio <strong>of</strong> a master painter Paul Delaroche. In 1844 he saw a demonstration <strong>of</strong> the daguerreotype<br />
process, and a few years later began to make his own. Three years later he turned to making<br />
calotypes.<br />
He <strong>of</strong>ten retouched his negatives, shading areas and accentuating tonal contrasts. His work includes<br />
the recording <strong>of</strong> lifestyles <strong>of</strong> working class people, studies <strong>of</strong> street life (for example, <strong>of</strong> chimney<br />
sweeps) and architecture.<br />
Though he was active as a photographer for only ten years or so, he is regarded as a particularly<br />
talented one. His architectural pictures (he photographed all the monuments in Paris - quite an<br />
undertaking) are far more than merely topographical, they are creative as well.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
NICHOLLS, Horace<br />
b. 1867; d. 1941<br />
Horace W. Nicholls is another <strong>of</strong> the early documentary photographers. He was born in Cambridge, and<br />
became a full-time freelance photo-journalist. He documented the Boer War (1899- 1901), and also<br />
produced pictures showing the harsh life in the gold and diamond mines in Africa, including the<br />
degrading examination <strong>of</strong> workers to ensure that they were not seeking to take away any diamonds<br />
after a day's work.<br />
Nicholls was also responsible for a famous series entitled "Women at War", in the first world war, in a<br />
remarkably modern style. He is also remembered for his pictures <strong>of</strong> people at social events such as<br />
Henley and Derby and Ascot days, just preceding the first World War. His photographs appeared in<br />
the Daily Mirror, Tatler and Illustrated London News.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
O'SULLIVAN, Timothy H.<br />
b. about 1840; d. 14 January 1882<br />
An American, O'Sullivan was the youngest and one <strong>of</strong> the most talented <strong>of</strong> the photographic team led<br />
by Mathew Brady, and a fine photographer <strong>of</strong> the American Civil War.<br />
Like Alexander Gardner, he left Brady's firm because he felt that he was not receiving sufficient reward<br />
either financially or in terms <strong>of</strong> reputation (Brady insisted that all photographs taken by his employees<br />
bear his name).<br />
Although he had a short life, dying at the age <strong>of</strong> 41 <strong>of</strong> tuberculosis, it was nevertheless an<br />
adventurous one. He was <strong>of</strong>ficial photographer on some U.S. government expeditions, from 1869, and<br />
was appointed chief photographer for the US Treasury in 1880.<br />
His work, much <strong>of</strong> which is quite spectacular, can be seen at the National Archives and at the Library<br />
<strong>of</strong> Congress, Washington DC, and at New York Public Library's Rare book room.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
PETZVAL, Josef Max<br />
b. 6 January 1807; d. 17 September 1891<br />
A Hungarian optician, Petzval was pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Mathematics at the University <strong>of</strong> Vienna. He played a<br />
leading part in early photography by devising a portrait lens with an aperture <strong>of</strong> approximately f3.6 -<br />
gathering sixteen times more light than lenses currently in use at the time. which brought exposure<br />
times down to less than a minute, therefore began to pave the way for portraiture. This lens, which<br />
was made by his compatriot Peter Friedrich Voigtlander in 1841, was popularly used well into this<br />
century.<br />
Sadly Petzval did not pr<strong>of</strong>it from this invention, unlike Voigtlander, with whom he had fallen out<br />
because he felt he had been cheated. Petzval died an embittered and impoverished man; Voigtlander<br />
old and rich two years later, having seen his firm expand from a small optical shop to a major<br />
industrial enterprise thanks to the success <strong>of</strong> the Petzval lens.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1998.<br />
Last updated undefined
POLAK, Richard<br />
b. 1870; d. 1957<br />
Richard Polak was born in Holland. His photographic career was short, starting in 1912 and ending<br />
three years later because he suffered from bad health. He sought to imitate the work <strong>of</strong> painters such<br />
as Vermeer, and some <strong>of</strong> his work imitates early Dutch paintings. He found it difficult to rent a<br />
suitable studio in Rotterdam, but eventually discovered the ideal room, with a good north light, the<br />
only drawback being that one had to approach it through a trap door. He then spent a considerable<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> money furnishing this with accessories bought at antique shops.<br />
His folio <strong>of</strong> pictures, "Photographs from Life in Old Dutch Costume" contains many repetitive and<br />
frankly unsuccessful attempts at recreating scenes from the past. At worst his work may be seen as<br />
that <strong>of</strong> someone with more money than sense, but there is nevertheless a quaintness in his work<br />
which makes his contribution worth mentioning.<br />
His best-known picture is "Artist and his Model" (1914)<br />
In January 1915 he was elected to the London Salon <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>. His photographic career was a<br />
short one; he had to give it up for health reasons.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
PONTING, Herbert<br />
b. 1870; d. 1935<br />
Herbert Pointing was a travel photographer active at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, and is particularly<br />
remembered for his coverage, in 1911, <strong>of</strong> the ill-fated expedition by Captain Robert Falcon Scott to<br />
the South Pole.<br />
It would seem that Ponting did not enjoy the long journey by ship; Scott wrote: "Pointing cannot face<br />
meals but sticks to his work constantly being sick...with a developing dish in one hand, and an<br />
ordinary basin in the other!"<br />
However, the results, when he reached the Antarctic, were spectacular.<br />
Those who find a tripod an encumbrance might spare some thought for Ponting who, when travelling<br />
had to pull a one-man sledge with 400lb. <strong>of</strong> photographic and camping equipment on it!<br />
Ponting did not go on the final journey and when, on the way back, Captain Scott and his team died,<br />
he sought to preserve the memory <strong>of</strong> his employer in a book published in 1921, and in a film several<br />
years later.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
PRICE, William Lake<br />
b. 1810; d.1896<br />
William Lake Price was a painter who specialised in watercolours. He exhibited at the Royal Academy,<br />
and published several illustrated books.<br />
In 1854 he began to take up photography, and soon became known as one <strong>of</strong> the leaders <strong>of</strong> a new art<br />
movement. Combination printing had been used by photographers to print clouds into an otherwise<br />
blank sky, but Price and others began to exploit this idea with the intention <strong>of</strong> creating compositions.<br />
In 1855 he exhibited reconstructed historical scenes, one <strong>of</strong> which was described by Henry Peach<br />
Robinson as "the most important completely studied picture up to that time", another as "picture <strong>of</strong><br />
the year."<br />
The public welcomed his pictures, but there were also many critics. One wrote "...photographic<br />
rendering <strong>of</strong> historical or poetic subjects give at best only the impression <strong>of</strong> a scene on a stage."<br />
He also took several stereoscopic pictures, and published a "Manual <strong>of</strong> Photographic<br />
Manipulation" (1858), a practical book which was revised some years later.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
RAY, Man<br />
b. 27 August 1890; d. 18 November 1975<br />
Man Ray (his real name was Emmanuel Rudnitsky) was born in Philadelphia, and studied at the<br />
Academy <strong>of</strong> Art, New York. He was a painter and sculptor in the surrealist and abstract movements <strong>of</strong><br />
the 1920s and beyond. He started photography in 1915, having been introduced to it by Alfred<br />
Stieglitz.<br />
He also made Rayographs, which were artistic photograms using three dimensional opaque and<br />
translucent objects.<br />
Man Ray was born somewhat later than the time when controversy over art "versus" photography<br />
raged (See Artists and <strong>Photography</strong>) but his comments put this issue into perspective:<br />
"There are purists in all forms <strong>of</strong> expression. There are photographers who maintain<br />
that this medium has no relation to painting. There are painters who despise<br />
photography, although in the last century have been inspired by it and used it. There<br />
are architects who refuse to hang a painting in their buildings maintaining that their<br />
own work is a complete expression. In the same spirit, when the automobile arrived,<br />
there were those that declared the horse to be the most perfect form <strong>of</strong> locomotion.<br />
All these attitudes result from a fear that the one will replace the other. Nothing <strong>of</strong> the<br />
kind happened. We have simply increased our range, our vocabulary. I see no one<br />
trying to abolish the automobile because we have the airplane.<br />
I was very fortunate in starting my career as a painter. When first confronted with a<br />
camera, I was very much intimidated. So I decided to investigate. But I maintained the<br />
approach <strong>of</strong> a painter to such a degree that I have been accused <strong>of</strong> trying to make a<br />
photograph look like a painting. I did not have to try, it just turned out that way<br />
because <strong>of</strong> my background and training. Many years ago I had conceived the idea <strong>of</strong><br />
making a painting look like a photograph! There was a valid reason for this. I wished to<br />
distract the attention from any manual dexterity, so that the basic idea stood out. Of<br />
course there will always be those who look at works with a magnifying glass and try to<br />
see "how", instead <strong>of</strong> using their brains and figure out "why". A book was once<br />
published <strong>of</strong> twenty photographs by twenty photographers, <strong>of</strong> the same model. They<br />
were as different as twenty paintings <strong>of</strong> the same model. Which was pro<strong>of</strong>, once and for<br />
all, <strong>of</strong> the flexibility <strong>of</strong> the camera and its validity as an instrument <strong>of</strong> expression. There<br />
are many paintings and buildings that are not works <strong>of</strong> art. It is the man behind<br />
whatever instrument who determines the work <strong>of</strong> art."<br />
"Some <strong>of</strong> the most complete and satisfying works <strong>of</strong> art have been produced when their<br />
authors had no idea <strong>of</strong> creating a work <strong>of</strong> art, but were concerned with the expression<br />
<strong>of</strong> an idea. Nature does not create works <strong>of</strong> art. It is we, and the faculty <strong>of</strong><br />
interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art."<br />
Man Ray eventually came to see painting as an obsolete form <strong>of</strong> expression, which photography would<br />
replace once the public was visually educated. One <strong>of</strong> his admirers, Jean Cocteau, called him the "poet<br />
<strong>of</strong> the darkroom."
© Robert Leggat, 2000.<br />
Last updated undefined
REJLANDER, OSCAR GUSTAVE<br />
b. 1817; d. 1875<br />
Rejlander was a Swede who studied painting in Italy. He settled in England in the 1840s, and<br />
inspired by one <strong>of</strong> Fox Talbot's assistants he turned his energies to photography, round about 1855,<br />
living first in Wolverhampton, later in London.<br />
His most famous photograph is allegorical; called "The two ways <strong>of</strong> life", it depicts a sage guiding two<br />
young men towards manhood. One looks with some eagerness towards gambling, wine, prostitution<br />
and idling, whilst the other looks (with somewhat less enthusiasm!) towards figures representing<br />
religion, industry, families and good works. In the centre appears the veiled, partly clothed figure<br />
symbolising repentance and turning towards the good.<br />
Shown in 1857 at an exhibition in Manchester, it provoked considerable controversy. Victorians were<br />
quite used to the portrayal <strong>of</strong> nakedness in paintings and sculptures, but photographs were so true to<br />
life that even though the posing was discreet, this was too much. At one stage this photograph went<br />
to Scotland to be exhibited and, so the story goes, the picture was considered so controversial that<br />
the left hand side <strong>of</strong> the picture was concealed, only the right side being shown. However, there were<br />
others who saw in this picture a valiant attempt to use photography in a domain which up to that<br />
time painters had dominated, and when Queen Victoria purchased a copy for her husband (at ten<br />
guineas), this seemed to make his photograph respectable!<br />
Such a picture would have required a large studio and an immense amount <strong>of</strong> light. What makes this<br />
photograph such a remarkable piece <strong>of</strong> work is that the event never took place, because it is a<br />
combination print using a number <strong>of</strong> negatives - no fewer than thirty. The groups were photographed<br />
individually, the models being strolling players.<br />
The print itself is huge (30" by 16"). A reviewer in Photographic Notes (28 April 1857) described it<br />
as:<br />
"....magnificent....decidedly the finest photograph <strong>of</strong> its class ever pronounced..."
In 1858 Rejlander read a paper to the Photographic Society, outlining the meaning <strong>of</strong> every figure in<br />
the photograph. Henry Peach Robinson, writing about him, found that his honesty and helpfulness<br />
sometimes went awfully wrong:<br />
"With the generous intention <strong>of</strong> being <strong>of</strong> use to photographers, and to further the<br />
cause <strong>of</strong> art he, unfortunately, described the method by which the picture had been<br />
done; the little tricks and dodges to which he had to resort; how, for want <strong>of</strong> classic<br />
architecture for his background, he had to be content with a small portico in a friend's<br />
garden; how bits <strong>of</strong> drapery had to do duty for voluminous curtains....<br />
(He) thereby gave the clever critics the clue they wanted, and enabled the little souls<br />
to declare that the picture was only a thing <strong>of</strong> shreds and patches. It is so much easier<br />
to call a picture a patchwork combination than to understand the inner meaning <strong>of</strong> so<br />
superb a work as this masterpiece <strong>of</strong> Rejlander's!"<br />
Rejlander, a man who, Robinson said, was never known to use a word that would hurt the feelings <strong>of</strong><br />
others, was clearly crushed by this reaction:<br />
"the time will come when a work will be judged on its merits, not by the method <strong>of</strong><br />
production....."<br />
The theme <strong>of</strong> this famous print most will now find quaint, but his painstaking perseverance no-one<br />
can help but admire greatly. It had taken Rejlander and his wife no less than six weeks to produce it<br />
(one could only print by daylight) and the exposures were up to two hours, each very carefully done<br />
with masks.<br />
Incidentally, there are two versions <strong>of</strong> this picture. In the second one the Philosopher is looking<br />
towards the side that shows virtue. We are not told why this second print was made, but given the<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> the subject it may well be that someone had pointed out to the poor couple that the<br />
Philosopher himself seemed more interested in vice than on virtue, so they felt obliged to have<br />
another go at printing it!<br />
Another popular one is a self-portrait depicting Rejlander the Artist introducing Rejlander the<br />
volunteer. The double exposure is not so successful; in the centre, on the lower part <strong>of</strong> the floor, one<br />
can see a darker tone where he has evidently attempted to shade the print.<br />
Rejlander, in fact, produced a number <strong>of</strong> pictures on other themes, and Charles Darwin used him to<br />
illustrate his book entitled "The expression <strong>of</strong> the Emotions in Man and Animals" (1872).<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> Rejlander's photographs are not very dissimilar from Surrealist photographs <strong>of</strong> the 1920s.<br />
Rejlander was an inventive person. His studio was unusual; shaped like a cone, the camera would be<br />
in the narrow part, the sitters at the opposite end. The camera was in shadow so that the sitters<br />
were less aware <strong>of</strong> it. It is said that he used to estimate his exposure by bringing his cat into the<br />
studio; if the cat's eyes were like slits he would give use a fairly short exposure. If they were a little<br />
more open than usual he would give extra exposure, whilst if the pupils were totally dilated he would<br />
admit defeat, put the lens cap on the lens and go out for a walk! This interesting man must surely be<br />
the first person to use a cat as an exposure meter!<br />
A number <strong>of</strong> his pictures were bought by Prince Albert. However, Rejlander remained in poverty. In<br />
1859 he wrote:
"I am tired <strong>of</strong> photography-for-the-public, particularly composite photographs, for<br />
there can be no gain and there is no honour, only cavil and misrepresentation."<br />
He eventually returned to painting, but to little gain, and died in poverty.<br />
The RPS has quite a large Rejlander collection <strong>of</strong> about 80 prints, some original albumen, some later<br />
platinum and carbon reprints and 57 wet collodion negatives.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
RIIS, Jacob<br />
b. 3 May 1849; d. 26 March 1914<br />
Jacob Riis arrived in America as an immigrant from Denmark at the age <strong>of</strong> 21. He found life hard, and<br />
only just made a living as a police court reporter for the New York Tribune.<br />
By the end <strong>of</strong> the 1880s photography was becoming cheaper, and he hit on the idea <strong>of</strong> using<br />
photography to draw attention to the conditions under which the poor in America (particularly the<br />
immigrants) were living. He was clearly committed to this cause, and as a Sunday school teacher he<br />
had successfully encouraged his students to become involved in numerous fund-raising activities to<br />
help the poor.<br />
His first book, "How the other half lives," exposed the appalling conditions <strong>of</strong> the time. It caused a<br />
considerable stir. One day Riis returned to his <strong>of</strong>fice to find a note reading "I have read your book and<br />
I have come to help." It was from the (then) head <strong>of</strong> the New York Police Board <strong>of</strong> Commissioners,<br />
Theodore Roosevelt, later to become President <strong>of</strong> the United States. Moved by the photographs Riis<br />
had taken he was instrumental in securing a number <strong>of</strong> reforms. Riis was <strong>of</strong>fered public <strong>of</strong>fice on more<br />
than one occasion, but always refused.<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> his photographs needed to be taken at night. His artificial lighting consisted <strong>of</strong> open flash, for<br />
which he used a frying pan. Twice he set fire to the places he visited, once he set fire to his own<br />
clothes, and on another occasion he almost blinded himself. An article in the Sun (New York) for 12<br />
February 1888 described his antics:<br />
"With their way illuminated by spasmodic flashes... a mysterious party<br />
has been startling the town o' nights. Somnolent policemen on the<br />
street... tramps and bummers in their so-called lodgings, and all the<br />
people <strong>of</strong> the wild and wonderful variety <strong>of</strong> New York night life have in<br />
their turn marvelled at and been frightened by the phenomenon. What<br />
they saw was three or four figures in the gloom, a ghostly tripod, some<br />
weird and uncanny movements, the blinding flash, and then they heard<br />
the patter <strong>of</strong> retreating footsteps, and the mysterious visitors were gone<br />
before they could collect their thoughts and try to find out what is was all<br />
about.... The party consisted <strong>of</strong> members <strong>of</strong> the Society <strong>of</strong> Amateur<br />
Photographers <strong>of</strong> New York experimenting with the process <strong>of</strong> taking<br />
instantaneous pictures by an artificial flash light, and their guide and<br />
conductor, an energetic gentleman who combines in his person... the two<br />
dignitaries <strong>of</strong> deacon in a Long Island church and a police reporter in New<br />
York....."<br />
Other books by Riis include "Children <strong>of</strong> the Tenements" (1903) and "Children <strong>of</strong> the Poor" (1892).<br />
"How the other half lives" can be seen here.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ROBERTS, Robert Evan<br />
In 1854 the governor <strong>of</strong> Bristol Gaol, James Gardener, produced a Home Office report advocating<br />
the use <strong>of</strong> photography as an aid to the administration <strong>of</strong> criminal justice. Robert Evan Roberts was<br />
the first known English prison governor to use photography for identification purposes. A governor<br />
at Bedford prison (1853- 1885), he was convinced that habitual <strong>of</strong>fenders were getting <strong>of</strong>f with<br />
relatively light sentences because there were inadequate records. In 1859 he started to photograph<br />
all the prisoners in his gaol, and two years later was given an allowance <strong>of</strong> seven pounds a year for<br />
materials. The practice was taken up by several other counties, but it was quite some time before<br />
photographic records became standard practice.<br />
However, he was not actually the first to take pictures <strong>of</strong> prisoners. The New York Illustrated News<br />
for 19 March, 1851 reads: "Major Gilpin, <strong>of</strong> Philadelphia, has had daguerreotypes taken <strong>of</strong> all the<br />
noted characters arrested within the past year or two, and he has now quite a gallery <strong>of</strong> the<br />
celebrities. This is an excellent police arrangement."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
ROBERTSON, James<br />
b. early 1900; date <strong>of</strong> death not known<br />
Robertson was an early war photographer, who covered the Crimean War (1855) and the Indian<br />
Mutiny (1857), a sequel to the work by Fenton. In 1857 he was appointed <strong>of</strong>ficial photographer to the<br />
British forces in India. Some <strong>of</strong> Robertson's photographs <strong>of</strong> the aftermath <strong>of</strong> the siege <strong>of</strong> Lucknow in<br />
1858 are quite harrowing.<br />
Together with his assistant, Felice Beato, he photographed views <strong>of</strong> Athens, Malta and Constantinople,<br />
and they both continued to visit the Middle East after the Crimean War.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> his work may be seen at the Indian Record Office, the Imperial War Museum and at the<br />
Victoria and Albert Museum, all in London.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ROBINSON, Henry Peach<br />
b. 9 July 1830; d. 21 February 1901<br />
Henry Peach Robinson was a pioneer <strong>of</strong> pictorialist photography, earned the term "the King <strong>of</strong><br />
photographic picture-making", and was certainly one <strong>of</strong> the greatest photographers <strong>of</strong> his time. He<br />
was very influential until the time <strong>of</strong> Peter Henry Emerson, who introduced naturalistic photography.<br />
He was greatly influenced by the paintings <strong>of</strong> J.M.W. Turner, and numerous references to him appear<br />
in his writings. At 19 he practised as an artist, and exhibited an oil painting at the Royal Academy <strong>of</strong><br />
Art, in 1852. That same year he began taking photographs, and five years later decided to make a<br />
living out it, and opened a studio in Leamington Spa, selling portraits. He later established another<br />
studio in Kent.<br />
The picture shown here is "Seascape at<br />
night", produced in 1870.<br />
In 1850 he was introduced to photography,<br />
being given instruction on the calotype<br />
process by Hugh Diamond, and he also<br />
learned how to use collodion. In fact, it was<br />
Diamond who most influenced his life and<br />
encouraged him to become pr<strong>of</strong>icient in<br />
photography.<br />
In 1857 he abandoned book-selling to<br />
become a pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer. His<br />
first advertisement, dated January 1857,<br />
gives details <strong>of</strong> the "going rate" at the<br />
time. A portrait up to whole plate (8" by<br />
6") cost 10/6 (just over fifty pence), 15/- (75p) if two sitters were in the same photograph.<br />
Additional services included tinting the hands and face, which doubled the cost <strong>of</strong> the portrait. The<br />
last paragraph contains some remarks on dress: "Dark Silks and Satins are most suitable for Ladies'<br />
Dresses, Black Velvet is somewhat objectionable. White and Light Blue should be avoided if<br />
possible."<br />
One <strong>of</strong> his novelties was the vignetting <strong>of</strong> prints; there remain some quite appealing examples <strong>of</strong> his<br />
portraiture using this technique.
Others, particularly the Lady <strong>of</strong> Shallot (1882), Autumn (1863) are in the Pre-Raphaelite style, which<br />
had greatly impressed him in the 1850s.<br />
The limitations <strong>of</strong> photography caused him to perfect the idea <strong>of</strong> combination printing, for which he is<br />
particularly remembered; it is possible that he was first introduced to this technique by Oscar<br />
Rejlander, one <strong>of</strong> his friends. The technical difficulty <strong>of</strong> portraying sky as well as subject on the same<br />
negative caused him to accumulate a stock <strong>of</strong> negatives <strong>of</strong> the sky, to be incorporated into his<br />
pictures.<br />
Perhaps the most<br />
famous <strong>of</strong> his pictures<br />
is Fading Away (1858),<br />
a composition <strong>of</strong> five<br />
negatives, in which he<br />
depicts a girl dying <strong>of</strong><br />
consumption (which<br />
we know as<br />
tuberculosis), and the<br />
despair <strong>of</strong> the other<br />
members <strong>of</strong> the family.<br />
This was a<br />
controversial<br />
photograph, and some<br />
felt that the subject<br />
was not suitable for<br />
photography. One<br />
critic said that<br />
Robinson had cashed<br />
in on "the most painful<br />
sentiments which it is the lot <strong>of</strong> human beings to experience." It would seem that it was perfectly in<br />
order for painters to paint pictures on such themes, but not for photographers to do so. However, the<br />
picture captured the imagination <strong>of</strong> Prince Albert, who bought a copy and issued an order for every<br />
composite portrait he produced subsequently.<br />
Fading Away is a composition <strong>of</strong> five negatives. If one examines a large copy <strong>of</strong> a print closely one<br />
can see the "joins", particularly the triangle <strong>of</strong> grey with no detail in it. One has to remember, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, that these were contact prints - there were no means <strong>of</strong> enlarging at that time.<br />
Already at this period there were shades <strong>of</strong> the conflict between the art and science <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
The Secretary <strong>of</strong> the Society and Editor <strong>of</strong> the Journal, Sir William Crookes, is quoted in Robinson's<br />
autobiography: "The secretary at that time was an unsympathetic chemist and all he could see in the<br />
picture in what he thought was a ''join,' an imaginary enormity which afforded a text on which he<br />
waxed eloquent." It is clear that many who admired "Fading Away" had no idea that it was a<br />
combination print and when, in 1860, Robinson outlined his methods at a meeting <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> Scotland, he was greeted with howls <strong>of</strong> protest from people who seemed to<br />
feel that they had been deceived. There was much discussion about what one correspondent referred<br />
to as "Patchwork", rather than composition, and Robinson began to conclude that perhaps it might<br />
be better in future not to divulge the secrets <strong>of</strong> his craft, but leave people to enjoy the finished<br />
product!<br />
However, in "Pictorial Effect in <strong>Photography</strong>" (1867), a major literary work, Robinson wrote: "Any<br />
dodge, trick and conjuration <strong>of</strong> any kind is open to the photographer's use.... It is his imperative duty<br />
to avoid the mean, the base and the ugly, and to aim to elevate his subject.... and to correct the<br />
unpicturesque....A great deal can be done and very beautiful pictures made, by a mixture <strong>of</strong> the real<br />
and the artificial in a picture."
At a time when the Photographic Society seemed unduly obsessed with the scientific aspects <strong>of</strong><br />
photography, Robinson was stressing the need to "see" a picture - advice which still holds good<br />
today: "However much a man might love beautiful scenery, his love for it would be greatly enhanced<br />
if he looked at it with the eye <strong>of</strong> an artist, and knew why it was beautiful. A new world is open to him<br />
who has learnt to distinguish and feel the effect <strong>of</strong> the beautiful and subtle harmonies that nature<br />
presents in all her varied aspects. Men usually see little <strong>of</strong> what is before their eyes unless they are<br />
trained to use them in a special manner." Some <strong>of</strong> his observations make sound advice today. Here<br />
is a comment on "rules" <strong>of</strong> composition: "I must warn you against a too close study <strong>of</strong> art to the<br />
exclusion <strong>of</strong> nature and the suppression <strong>of</strong> original thought.... Art rules should be a guide only to the<br />
study <strong>of</strong> nature, and not a set <strong>of</strong> fetters to confine the ideas or to depress the faculty <strong>of</strong> original<br />
interpretation in the artist, whether he be painter or photographer.... The object (<strong>of</strong> rules) is to train<br />
his mind so that he may select with ease, and, when he does select, know why one aspect <strong>of</strong> a<br />
subject is better than another."<br />
One <strong>of</strong> his most ambitious pictures was "Bringing Home the May", a large print (40 by 15 inches)<br />
composed from nine negatives. Again, this shows the same frieze-like qualities <strong>of</strong> the Pre-Raphaelite<br />
school.<br />
Perhaps the most famous is "When Day's Work is done." (See HERE for the picture and some<br />
details). The gentleman in the picture had appeared one day for a carte-de-visite, and Robinson<br />
earmarked him for this project. He then searched for a suitable old lady. Both were photographed in<br />
his studio separately and at different times, and then assembled. The print itself, which measures<br />
20" by 24"(50cm. by 61cm.) is made up from five negatives.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> his most bitter critics was Emerson, who despised contrived photography, <strong>of</strong> which "Red<br />
Riding Hood" would be a typical example. There was a fairly heated series <strong>of</strong> interchanges between<br />
Robinson and Emerson. Reviewing in "Amateur Photographer" Robinson's print entitled "Merry Fisher<br />
Maidens" , Emerson wrote: This is an inane, flat, vapid piece <strong>of</strong> work, bigger and more worthless<br />
than ever. Its composition is childish and its sentiment puerile." Robinson, reviewing Emerson's<br />
controversial book "Natural <strong>Photography</strong> for Students" was equally caustic: "...we cannot help feeling<br />
that his system is pernicious, and excusing bad photography by calling it art... we feel it to be the<br />
imperative duty <strong>of</strong> a journal like our own to produce a disinfectant, and stop the disorder..."<br />
In 1862 Robinson was elected to serve on the Council <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, and continued to<br />
serve on that body until 1891 when, frustrated by the failure <strong>of</strong> the Society to recognise the artistic<br />
dimensions <strong>of</strong> photography, he resigned (whilst still its Vice-President) and formed the Linked Ring, a<br />
brotherhood that was to be very influential in photographic circles for the next twenty years. In 1900<br />
the rift was healed when the (by now Royal) Photographic Society awarded him an Honorary<br />
Fellowship - its highest award - in recognition <strong>of</strong> his services to photography and to the Society.<br />
He is buried in Ben Hall Road Cemetery, Tunbridge Wells. He designed and carved the headstone <strong>of</strong><br />
his grave.<br />
Though Robinson is particularly known for his combination printing, he also produced a number <strong>of</strong><br />
pictorial photographs <strong>of</strong> woodland and other scenes.<br />
Purely as a light incidental comment, Robinson married in 1859, his wife recalling in later years that<br />
when they were married, she had been told in no unequivocal terms that it must be "photography<br />
first, wife afterwards", so she may have the distinction <strong>of</strong> being the first recorded photographic<br />
widow!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
Last updated undefined
ROSLING, Alfred<br />
b.1802<br />
Alfred Rosling was one <strong>of</strong> the earliest <strong>of</strong> photographers, and by 1846 his calotypes for the stereoscope<br />
were on sale in London.<br />
He was also involved in micro-photography. In December 1854 his "Specimens <strong>of</strong> exceedingly minute<br />
copies <strong>of</strong> Prints and Papers" together with a microscope, were on exhibition at the Royal Society <strong>of</strong><br />
Arts.<br />
Rosling was also the first Hon. Treasurer <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
SALOMON, Erich<br />
b. 28 April 1886; d 7 July 1944<br />
Salomon was a German photographer and one <strong>of</strong> the pioneers <strong>of</strong> modern photojournalism.<br />
He first worked as a carpenter, later reading Law at Munich. His interest in photography was aroused<br />
by the development, by Oskar Barnack <strong>of</strong> the 35mm miniature camera. Unlike its predecessors, this<br />
new format enabled one to take photographs by available light.<br />
He revelled in taking pictures in situations where cameras were not allowed, and <strong>of</strong> taking pictures <strong>of</strong><br />
celebrities when they were <strong>of</strong>f their guard, revealing expressions which they themselves might not<br />
wish to reveal in public. His camera was concealed in an attaché case.<br />
He became well known when he published pictures taken secretly at a murder trial. These proved so<br />
successful that he became a full-time pr<strong>of</strong>essional, specialising in pictures which showed the human<br />
qualities <strong>of</strong> celebrities and politicans <strong>of</strong> his time. He had quite a knack <strong>of</strong> gate-crashing, to the extent<br />
that one premier <strong>of</strong> France, Briand, once commented that meetings would never be deemed to be<br />
important unless Salomon was there.<br />
Salomon also worked briefly in England and in the United States, and in 1931 published a book called<br />
"Celebrated Contemporaries in unguarded moments" - containing photographs <strong>of</strong> some one hundred<br />
and fifty dignitaries and celebrities <strong>of</strong> the time.<br />
During the second World War he went into hiding, but was eventually arrested and sent to the<br />
concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he died.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
SHADBOLT, George<br />
b. 1819; d. 1901<br />
George Shadbolt was in the wood trade, a vocation which he retained throughout his working career,<br />
but he also made a distinctive contribution to the development <strong>of</strong> photography from the early 1850s.<br />
It is claimed that Shadbolt, an enthusiast in micro-photography, and sometime President <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Microscopic Society, made the first micro-photographs.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the founders <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, he was also editor <strong>of</strong> the Liverpool and Manchester<br />
Journal, which subsequently became the British Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>.<br />
He put on a number <strong>of</strong> exhibitions, using the collodion process. He had an intense dislike for albumen<br />
prints, whose glossy nature he dubbed as a "vulgar glare", and preferred salted paper.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
SHAW, George Bernard<br />
b. 26 July 1856; d. 2 November 1950<br />
George Bernard Shaw is best remembered for his fifty plays and his distinction as an essayist and wit, but he was also an<br />
enthusiastic amateur photographer, who began taking photographs in 1898.<br />
In a reply to Helmut Gernsheim as to why he had taken up photography, he wrote:<br />
"I always wanted to draw and paint. I had no literary ambition: I aspired to be a Michael Angelo, not a Shakespear<br />
(sic). But I could not draw well enough to satisfy myself; and the instruction I could get was worse than useless. So<br />
when dry plates and push buttons came into the market I bought a box camera and began pushing the button...."<br />
Evidently his success earlier on was not <strong>of</strong> the highest order. In an article written as an introduction to an exhibition by his friend<br />
Alvin Coburn (1906) he wrote:<br />
"Technically good negatives are more <strong>of</strong>ten the result <strong>of</strong> the survival <strong>of</strong> the fittest than <strong>of</strong> special creation: the<br />
photographer is like the cod, which lays a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity...."<br />
Shaw was an outspoken as well as knowledgeable writer and critic. He was very much against retouching; commenting in a<br />
newspaper (17 October 1888) he wrote:<br />
"....there is still far too much <strong>of</strong> the sort <strong>of</strong> work that can be seen for nothing in the shop-window, not to mention one<br />
or two examples <strong>of</strong> "retouching" which can only be compared to the pipes and moustaches with which portraits <strong>of</strong> the<br />
sovereigns <strong>of</strong> England get decorated in school histories.... Retouching claims to be an art within an art; and doubtless<br />
it is so in much the same way that conjuring as applied to table-turning is an art within an art. All the more reason for<br />
it to be artistically done. It ought, however, to be excluded from a photographic exhibition, on the simple grounds that<br />
it is not photography...."<br />
Commenting upon an exhibition in (12 October 1887) he was sufficiently unimpressed by the pictures being awarded medals to<br />
declare<br />
"At this rate <strong>of</strong> judging, a New Photographic Society will be needed unless the present one promptly mends its<br />
ways..."<br />
Indeed, only five years later this is precisely what happened, when the Linked Ring was created.<br />
In a more lighthearted vein, here is part <strong>of</strong> an article appearing in Amateur Photographer (16 October 1902). Shaw was writing<br />
about that year's exhibitions by the Royal Photographic Society and the Linked Ring, but <strong>of</strong> interest is his playful comments on what<br />
were then called "Life Studies", now more popularly known as photography <strong>of</strong> the nude:<br />
"It is impossible to contemplate the Salon walls without condoling with Mr. Steichen on the conflict between art and<br />
popular prudery. The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure<br />
without asking that figure to take it clothes <strong>of</strong>f. I delight in mankind as nature makes it, and take such a moderate<br />
interest in mere garments that my tailor...has..had to change his name to avoid the public discredit <strong>of</strong> my callous<br />
abuse <strong>of</strong> his masterpieces...."<br />
(Shaw's poor dress sense was notorious!:<br />
"It is monstrous that custom should force us to display our faces ostentatiously, however worn and wrinkled and<br />
mean they may be, whilst carefully concealing all our other points, however shapely and well-preserved... But the<br />
avenger has come in the person <strong>of</strong> the photographer. The photographer's model, knowing that her face is the only<br />
part <strong>of</strong> her person by which she can be identified, hides that, and displays the rest recklessly. The method <strong>of</strong><br />
concealment adopted by one <strong>of</strong> Mr. Steichen's sitters is to bury her face in a cat coiled up on the floor, thereby, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, throwing into the most extravagant prominence those contours the very existence <strong>of</strong> what is conventionally<br />
regarded as a deplorable indiscretion <strong>of</strong> Providence, to be kept a guilty secret at all hazards. The poor lady's dilemma<br />
recurs in nearly all the figure studies.... I venture to submit a plain proposition on this subject. If sitting for a<br />
complete life-study is a misdemeanour, it should not be committed, nor should the photographer make himself<br />
accessory to it. If it is not a misdemeanour, the sitter should not be ashamed <strong>of</strong> it. To make matters worse, Mr.<br />
Steichen actually labels the lady with the cat in the American language. He calls her a "nude." This may be American<br />
modesty; but in English the adjective is only used substantively by old-fashioned dealers to denote a naughty French<br />
picture. This use <strong>of</strong> the word is also exemplified on the books entitled Nudes from the Paris Salon. Consequently<br />
English artists use the term Life Study, which is more accurate descriptively, and better grammar to boot...."<br />
Shaw was deeply impressed by the photography by Frederick Evans, and the two became life-long friends.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
Last updated undefined
SNELLING, Henry H<br />
b. ?; d.?<br />
Henry Snelling, an American, wrote a book entitled "The <strong>History</strong> and Practice <strong>of</strong> the Art<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>." his work was published in 1849.<br />
He beings his work, quite uncompromisingly, with the observation:<br />
"As in all cases <strong>of</strong> great and valuable inventions in science and art the<br />
English lay claim to the honor <strong>of</strong> having first discovered that <strong>of</strong><br />
Photogenic drawing. But we shall see in the progress <strong>of</strong> this history, that<br />
like many other assumptions <strong>of</strong> their authors, priority in this is no more<br />
due them, then the invention <strong>of</strong> steamboats, or the cotton gin."<br />
Referring to Fox Talbot, he comments:<br />
He is a man <strong>of</strong> some wealth, I believe, but he demands so high a price<br />
for a single right in this country, that none can be found who have the<br />
temerity to purchase.<br />
The execution <strong>of</strong> his pictures is also inferior to those taken by the<br />
German artists, and I would remark en passant, that the Messrs. Mead<br />
exhibited at the last fair <strong>of</strong> the American Institute, (<strong>of</strong> 1848,) four<br />
Calotypes, which one <strong>of</strong> the firm brought from Germany last Spring, that<br />
for beauty, depth <strong>of</strong> tone and excellence <strong>of</strong> execution surpass the finest<br />
steel engraving.<br />
When Mr. Talbot's patent for the United States expires and our ingenious<br />
Yankee boys have the opportunity, I have not the slightest doubt <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Calotype, in their hands, entirely superceding the Daguerreotype.<br />
His work can be found here.
STEICHEN, Eduard Jean<br />
b. 27 March 1879; d. 25 March 1973<br />
Eduard Steichen (he later changed his name to Edward) was born in Luxembourg, and when he was<br />
still a baby the family emigrated to America. He studied painting in Paris, and had soon gained a<br />
reputation for his work in photography.<br />
In 1900 Clarence White saw his photographs and lent some encouragement to him. White also wrote<br />
to Stieglitz, who bought some <strong>of</strong> Steichen's photographs. In 1901 Steichen was elected to the Linked<br />
Ring, and the following year he became a founder <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession, and designed the cover for<br />
Camera Work.<br />
Until the first world war Steichen's work consisted largely <strong>of</strong> photographs in a post-impressionist style.<br />
Later he was to burn all his paintings and concentrate totally on photography.<br />
Initially his photographs show an impressionist influence, with s<strong>of</strong>t focus. He later turned his style to<br />
"straight" photography.<br />
In a somewhat whimsical mood Steichen once wrote: "Some day there may be... machinery that<br />
needs but to be wound up and sent roaming o'er hill and dale, through fields and meadows, by<br />
babbling brooks and shady woods - in short, a machine that will discriminately select its subject and,<br />
by means <strong>of</strong> a skillful arrangement <strong>of</strong> springs and screws, compose its motif, expose the plate,<br />
develop, print, and even mount and frame the result <strong>of</strong> its excursion, so that there will be nothing for<br />
us to do but to send it to the Royal Photographic Society's exhibition and gratefully to receive the<br />
'Royal Medal'."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
STIEGLITZ, ALFRED<br />
b. January 1, 1864; d. July 13, 1946<br />
Stieglitz, an American photographer, probably did more than any other individual to promote<br />
photography as an art at the same level as other arts, and has been dubbed the "patron saint <strong>of</strong><br />
straight photography."<br />
It is said that at the age <strong>of</strong> eleven he had begun to take an interest in photography, and learned by<br />
observing a local portrait photographer work in the darkroom. His blunt nature <strong>of</strong>ten came over: on<br />
one occasion he observed the photographer re-touching a plate, and on enquiry, was told that this<br />
made the subject look more natural - to which he replied "I wouldn't do that if I were you."<br />
He studied mechanical engineering and photography at the Polytechnic <strong>of</strong> Berlin. In 1883 Stieglitz<br />
saw a camera in a shop window in Berlin, bought it, and photography in earnest began. Many years<br />
later he wrote "I bought it and carried it to my room and began to fool around with it. It fascinated<br />
me, first as a passion, then as an obsession." From 1892 he was becoming famous for his<br />
photographs <strong>of</strong> everyday life in New York and Paris. There is a tremendous atmospheric quality in<br />
many <strong>of</strong> his outdoor scenes.<br />
In the 1890s Stieglitz took a pioneer step in moving towards a hand-held camera. In "The Hand<br />
Camera - its present importance" (1897) he wrote:<br />
"The writer does not approve <strong>of</strong> complicated mechanisms, as they are sure to get out<br />
<strong>of</strong> order at important moments, thus causing considerable unnecessary swearing, and<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten the loss <strong>of</strong> a precious opportunity. My own camera is <strong>of</strong> the simplest pattern and<br />
has never left me in the lurch, although it has had some very tough handling...<br />
A shutter working at a speed <strong>of</strong> one-fourth to one-twenty-fifth <strong>of</strong> a second will answer<br />
all purposes. A little blur in a moving subject will <strong>of</strong>ten aid to giving the impression <strong>of</strong><br />
action and motion.<br />
In order to obtain pictures by means <strong>of</strong> the hand camera it is well to choose your<br />
subject, regardless <strong>of</strong> figures, and carefully study the lines and lighting. After having<br />
determined upon these watch the passing figures and await the moment in which<br />
everything is in balance; that is, satisfied your eye. This <strong>of</strong>ten means hours <strong>of</strong> patient<br />
waiting. My picture, "Fifth Avenue, Winter" is the result <strong>of</strong> a three hours' stand during<br />
a fierce snow-storm on February 22nd 1893, awaiting the proper moment. My patience<br />
was duly rewarded. Of course, the result contained an element <strong>of</strong> chance, as I might<br />
have stood there for hours without succeeding in getting the desired pictures."<br />
In 1902 he became one <strong>of</strong> the founders <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession, a group <strong>of</strong> talented avant-garde<br />
artists. In 1905 he also founded and directed the Photo-Secession Gallery in 291 Fifth Avenue, New<br />
York, a gallery which came to be known as the "291", and which exhibited not only the work <strong>of</strong><br />
contemporary photographers, but also works <strong>of</strong> Picasso, Rodin, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec.<br />
Speaking in New York, in 1902, Stieglitz said<br />
"The result is the only fair basis for judgment. It is justifiable to use any means upon a<br />
negative or paper to attain the desired end."<br />
Stieglitz, committed to the idea <strong>of</strong> photography as art, <strong>of</strong>ten found this challenged.
"Artists who saw my early photographs began to tell me that they envied me; that my<br />
photographs were superior to their paintngs, but that unfortunately photography was<br />
not an art.... I could not understand why the artists should envy me for my work, yet,<br />
in the same breath, decry it because it was machine-made - their...'art' painting -<br />
because hand-made, being considered necessarily superior....There I started my fight...<br />
for the recongition <strong>of</strong> photography as a new medium <strong>of</strong> expressions, to be respected in<br />
its own right, on the same basis as any other art form."<br />
In 1903 Stieglitz launched, edited and published Camera Work - a magazine which became world<br />
famous and continued publication for a number <strong>of</strong> years. Amateur Photographer was most<br />
enthusiastic, and on its first edition <strong>of</strong> 1903 wrote:<br />
"For Camera Work as a whole we have no words <strong>of</strong> praise too high, it stands alone;<br />
and <strong>of</strong> Mr. Alfred Stieglitz American photographers may well be proud. It is difficult to<br />
estimate how much he has done for the good <strong>of</strong> photography, working for years<br />
against opposition and without sympathy, and it is to his extraordinary capacity for<br />
work, his masterful independence which compels conviction, and his self-sacrificing<br />
devotion that we owe the beautiful work before us."<br />
In 1907, it was during a trip to Europe that<br />
one <strong>of</strong> his most well-known photographs<br />
was taken It is called "The Steerage":<br />
"There were men and women and<br />
children on the lower deck <strong>of</strong> the steerage.... I longed to escape from my surroundings<br />
and join them.... A round straw hat, the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning<br />
right.... round shapes <strong>of</strong> iron machinery... I saw a picture <strong>of</strong> shapes and underlying<br />
that, the feeling I had about life..."<br />
Stieglitz did much to promote photography, and to get it talked about. There were two stages in his
life: at first he produced somewhat romanticised pictures <strong>of</strong> an Impressionistic style, then later<br />
moving over to realism <strong>of</strong> a high order.<br />
He also had pronounced views about the current controversy over amateur photographers and the<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional.<br />
Not the easiest <strong>of</strong> people to get on with, his leadership was little short <strong>of</strong> dictatorial and he was an<br />
insufferable egocentric windbag, but he made a distinct and influential contribution to the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> new styles <strong>of</strong> photography. He was a visionary <strong>of</strong> the highest order. His own<br />
photography alone makes him stand out as one <strong>of</strong> the greatest <strong>of</strong> photographers; his influence over<br />
photography has been enormous.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
STONE, John Benjamin<br />
b. 1836; d. 1914<br />
Born in Birmingham, Sir Benjamin Stone was M.P. for the city, and a scholar with wide interests. He became a documentary worker,<br />
who photographed an enormous variety <strong>of</strong> subjects, travelled widely, and wrote several books. He is remembered for his many<br />
photographs <strong>of</strong> everyday life in Victorian England.<br />
In 1895 Stone founded the National Photographic Record Association.<br />
A correspondent to Amateur Photographer (May 22, 1902) wrote:<br />
“I attended the Knutsford May Day Festival on the 1st May and<br />
succeeded in obtaining a few snapshots <strong>of</strong> Sir Benjamin Stone, who was busily at work securing records <strong>of</strong> that<br />
ancient festival. I enclose the photographs, which may be interesting to your readers. In a brief conversation with Sir<br />
Benjamin he expressed the opinion that record photography had a great future before it, and would be more and<br />
more appreciated as time went on.<br />
His heart and soul is in his work, and it was a pleasure to observe with what manifest enthusiasm he made his<br />
exposures.”<br />
His prophecy was fulfilled recently when some <strong>of</strong> his pictures <strong>of</strong> Windsor Castle proved <strong>of</strong> considerable value in the wake <strong>of</strong> a fire<br />
which damaged part <strong>of</strong> the castle. His pictures included state and private apartments, the royal chapel and the library, and English<br />
Heritage used these as a reference, to help restore the building and furniture.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> his many pictures (he left over thirty thousand negatives) are in the British Museum, others in the Birmingham Public<br />
Library.<br />
For further reading, an excellent book is CUSTOMS & FACES<br />
photographs by Sir Benjamin Stone 1938-1914<br />
by Bill Jay<br />
See also http://www.pijiu.co.uk/photos/benjaminstone/benjaminstone.htm<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
STRAND, Paul<br />
b. 16 October 1890; d. 31 March 1976<br />
Paul Strand was an American who was taught photography by one <strong>of</strong> his school teachers, Lewis Hine,<br />
and who became a successful photographer. He was greatly influenced by the Photo-Secession group,<br />
and made some superb abstract close-up pictures.<br />
Initially he did some experimental work in the medium, but then moved over to what we know as<br />
straight photography - work which relied totally upon subject, viewpoint and choice <strong>of</strong> lighting, rather<br />
than upon any manipulation at either the negative or the printing stage.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> his work appeared in the last two editions <strong>of</strong> Camera Work (1916-17). In what turned out to<br />
be the last edition, Alfred Stieglitz described Strand's work:<br />
"His work is rooted in the best tradition <strong>of</strong> photography. His vision is potential. His work<br />
is pure. It is direct. It does not rely upon tricks <strong>of</strong> process. In whatever he does there is<br />
applied intelligence. In the history <strong>of</strong> photography there are but few photographers<br />
who, from the point <strong>of</strong> view <strong>of</strong> expression, have really done much work <strong>of</strong> any<br />
importance. And by importance we mean work that has some relatively lasting quality,<br />
that element which gives all art its real significance... The work is brutally direct. Devoid<br />
<strong>of</strong> any flim-flams; devoid <strong>of</strong> trickery and any 'ism', devoid <strong>of</strong> any attempt to mystify an<br />
ignorant public...."<br />
In this edition are "Blind" and "The Fence." Both are well- known, the latter clearly ignoring the<br />
conventional rules <strong>of</strong> perspective.<br />
Strand himself wrote: "Objectivity is <strong>of</strong> the very essence <strong>of</strong> photography, its contribution and at the<br />
same time its limitation..." "Honesty no less than intensity <strong>of</strong> vision is the prerequisite <strong>of</strong> a living<br />
expression. This means a real respect for the thing in front <strong>of</strong>... the photographer... this is<br />
accomplished without tricks <strong>of</strong> process or manipulation through the use <strong>of</strong> straight photographic<br />
methods..."<br />
Strand's images were contact prints, many from 10" by 8" negatives.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
SUTCLIFFE, Frank Meadow<br />
b. 1853; d. 1941<br />
Sutcliffe originally started photography using wet collodion in 1875, but soon after turned towards dry plates. His artistic work<br />
centred round landscapes and life in around the fishing ports <strong>of</strong> Yorkshire.<br />
Sutcliffe followed in the wake <strong>of</strong> Emerson, whose fame lies in the<br />
photographing <strong>of</strong> the Whitby scene. His most famous image is called<br />
"Water rats" (1886), a delightful picture which caused considerable<br />
controversy, and the wrath <strong>of</strong> the Whitby clergy for corruption <strong>of</strong> the<br />
young; it is said that they excommunicated Sutcliffe for exhibiting what<br />
they felt to be an indecent print "to the corruption <strong>of</strong> the young and the<br />
other sex". By contrast the Prince <strong>of</strong> Wales (later Edward VII)<br />
purchased a copy <strong>of</strong> the picture.<br />
What is interesting is that he had followed Emerson's suggestion that<br />
instead <strong>of</strong> having the entire picture sharp (the aim <strong>of</strong> every early photographer whether or not they succeeded) he s<strong>of</strong>tened part <strong>of</strong><br />
the picture, and the background in "Water Rats" is very s<strong>of</strong>t and diffuse.<br />
Sutcliffe was a member <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, but being opposed to the emphasis at that time on technique, left it to become<br />
a founder-member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring Brotherhood, 1892.<br />
He retired from photography in 1922, but remained a curator <strong>of</strong> the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society from 1923 until<br />
shortly before his death.<br />
A photographer who is regarded as a pictorialist, there is also the documentary aspect <strong>of</strong> much <strong>of</strong> his work, portraying as it does the<br />
life <strong>of</strong> the times, with their street musicians, farmers, and other ordinary people. The full extent <strong>of</strong> his contribution was not<br />
recognised until long after his death.<br />
His work may be seen at the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, Whitby.<br />
He obviously had a good sense <strong>of</strong> humour, and describes in A.P. ( March 6th, 1902) an occasion when another photographer got into<br />
difficulties:<br />
"There are two piers at Whitby, which, though starting from points widely apart, almost touch each other where they<br />
end. The one pier is given up to fashion and frivolity, the other is deserted, except by fishermen and photographers.<br />
One evening last summer, when the band was playing ".Ehren on the Rhine,” an't the sitters on the seats were<br />
tapping their feet on the ground to prevent the band playing out <strong>of</strong> time, a solitary photographer might have been<br />
seen on the other pier unpacking his apparatus. At last he had got it all unpacked, and his polished mahogany camera<br />
and lens “shone like a burning flame together” in the rays <strong>of</strong> the setting sun, towards which it was pointed. Slowly the<br />
sun sank, till it nearly touched the sea.<br />
What was the solitary photographer going to take at this time <strong>of</strong> night? The crowd on the other pier began to be<br />
interested in him.
Soon the end <strong>of</strong> one pier was crowded with people watching the solitary photgrapher on the other pier.<br />
' He expects a ship coming in,” said one.<br />
“No, he is waiting till the lamps are lit,” said another.<br />
“He wants to take a moonlight photograph,” said a third.<br />
“No, he wants to take the sun as it dips into the sea,” said a fourth.<br />
"What beautiful legs he has got! ” said a fifth.<br />
“Yes, but his coat does not fit,” said a sixth.<br />
“And his ears stick out,” said a seventh.<br />
“Look! Look!” said everyone at once, "he is taking <strong>of</strong>f the cap.” And so he was, but just as he was putting it on again,<br />
the cap fell down on to the pier; it fell on its edge and began to roll. The photographer looked at the rolling cap, then<br />
at the lens, undecided whether to rush for the cap and put it on the lens, or to take his coat <strong>of</strong>f and throw over the<br />
whole camera. He decided to run after the cap, which by this time was perilously near the edge <strong>of</strong> the pier. As he did<br />
so, one <strong>of</strong> his legs got entangled with one <strong>of</strong> the tripod legs, which had called forth such admiration from one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
crowd. Down came the tripod, camera, and all, with a crash; the cap gave a little jump and went into the sea. The<br />
photographer stood aghast. The crowd cheered to a man.<br />
The photographer slowly picked up the pieces and went home."<br />
The Sutcliffe Galleries still exist, as does a web-site on his work. See www.sutcliffe-gallery.co.uk/<br />
Since writing this piece from the Amateur Photographer, Mr. H. Bell has written pointing out what would seem to be an<br />
inconsistency. He writes: "Reading the account <strong>of</strong> the photographer on the Whitby pier supposedly awaiting the setting sun over the<br />
sea, Whitby is on the east coast and as such the wait would have been infinite, as most photographers could tell you the sun sets in<br />
a westerly location which is variable according to time <strong>of</strong> year, but easterly, never!"<br />
Never too late to learn new things!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
SUTTON, Thomas<br />
b. 1819; d. 1875<br />
Thomas Sutton set up a photographic firm in Jersey in 1855, together with Blanquart-Evrard, but he is<br />
remembered as a prolific writer on photography. For eleven years he edited "Photographic Notes", a<br />
journal which he had founded together with Blanquart-Evrard. He was responsible for the first English<br />
Dictionary <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> (1858).<br />
Sutton also had the distinction <strong>of</strong> being the first to develop a true single-lens reflex camera. This he<br />
patented in 1861. The camera was manufactured by Thomas Ross and J. Dallymeyer. Brian Coe, in his<br />
excellent book "From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures" states that Dallymeyer used to charge<br />
£2.75 for a quarter-plate model.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Significant PEOPLE in the early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> T-Z<br />
● Talbot, William Henry Fox<br />
● Thomson, John<br />
● Tripe, Linnaeus<br />
● Turner, Benjamin Breckell<br />
● Vogel, Herman<br />
● Watkins, Carleton E.<br />
● Wedgwood, Thomas<br />
● Wellington, James Booker Blakemore<br />
● Wheatstone, Charles<br />
● White, Clarence Hudson<br />
● Wilson, Edward L.<br />
● Wilson, George Washington<br />
● Wolcott, Alexander<br />
● Women Photographers<br />
● Woodbury, Walter Bentley<br />
● Young, William D
THOMSON, JOHN<br />
b. 14 June 1837; d. October 1921<br />
Together with Paul Martin, and Jacob Riis in America, John Thomson is widely regarded as one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
fathers <strong>of</strong> what we now term documentary or social-documentary photography. The work <strong>of</strong> these<br />
photographers show far more than a mere record; there is a great deal <strong>of</strong> humanity expressed in<br />
many <strong>of</strong> their pictures.<br />
John Thomson was born in Edinburgh, and studied at the University. He became involved in<br />
photography, but his passion was geography, and he travelled extensively, his travels being published<br />
in a series <strong>of</strong> books, the last <strong>of</strong> which contained over two hundred photographs. In the introduction to<br />
this book (Illustrations <strong>of</strong> China and its People, 1873) he writes<br />
"I made the camera a constant companion <strong>of</strong> my wanderings and to it I am indebted for the faithful<br />
reproduction <strong>of</strong> the scenes I visited."<br />
In 1866 Thomson was appointed instructor in photography at the Royal Geographic Society. Whilst<br />
there he was approached by an otherwise unknown Adolphe Smith, with a view to illustrating Smith's<br />
book (Street Life in London, 1877) on the poor <strong>of</strong> London. This book consists <strong>of</strong> thirty-six case<br />
histories illustrated with photographs.<br />
The book contains woodburytype reproductions, a process invented in 1864, and just what was needed<br />
for wide distribution. It was not a printing process - each illustration had to be inserted manually into<br />
the book - but production speed and the quality <strong>of</strong> the work were a feature <strong>of</strong> this invention, as is the<br />
distinctive red-brown colour <strong>of</strong> the finished work.<br />
In 1879 Thomson set up a studio in Buckingham Palace Road, London, and later on in Mayfair. When<br />
he died, the Royal Geographical Society printed a biography which detailed much <strong>of</strong> his work in the<br />
Far East, but made no mention <strong>of</strong> his greatest work, "Street Life <strong>of</strong> London." It may be that people <strong>of</strong><br />
the time preferred not to have to come to terms with what was being portrayed. What comes over is<br />
his sensitivity and vision - good honest photography without any pretensions.<br />
Thomson continued to work until his death at the age <strong>of</strong> 84, writing papers for the Royal Geographical<br />
Society on the uses <strong>of</strong> photography. Some <strong>of</strong> his work may be seen at the Society's headquarters in<br />
London.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1998.<br />
Last updated undefined
TRIPE, Linnaeus<br />
b. 14 April 1822; d. 2 March 1902<br />
days.<br />
In 1855 Captain Linnaeus Tripe, serving in<br />
the Madras Native Infantry, became <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
photographer to Burma. The following year<br />
he became government photographer to the<br />
Madras Presidency, and travelled round<br />
India compiling a large collection <strong>of</strong> calotype<br />
photographs <strong>of</strong> sculptures, forts and<br />
temples, including a number <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic<br />
photographs. What is particularly<br />
remarkable is that so soon after the<br />
invention <strong>of</strong> photography, an <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
photographer was being appointed in the<br />
Services.<br />
Tripe's pictures are all calotypes, so are<br />
contact prints, and since these pictures<br />
measure 15" by 12" it shows just how bulky<br />
the equipment would have been in those<br />
Tripe also made a number <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic pictures, which were subsequently published.<br />
If Linnaeus' name seems unusual, spare a thought for his brothers and sisters, whose names included<br />
Cornelia, Theophilus, Cornelius, Octavius, Algernon, Septimus and Lorenzo!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
TURNER, Benjamin Breckell<br />
b. 1815; d. 1894<br />
Turner took up photography in 1849, exhibiting at the Great Exhibition <strong>of</strong> 1851. Regarded as a first<br />
class calotype worker, his photographs were much praised. One <strong>of</strong> his prints, "Scotch firs" was<br />
particularly admired by Prince Albert who, <strong>of</strong> course, was duly presented with a copy.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WATKINS, Carleton E<br />
b 1829; d. 1916<br />
A prolific and outstanding American photographer, Watkins was famous for his panoramic views. In<br />
the early 1860s he explored the Yosemite Valley to take photographs. At that time, <strong>of</strong> course,<br />
sensitising, exposing and processing had to be done on the spot, so he had taken with him twelve<br />
mules for his equipment, together with a converted wagon, which became his dark room. He used<br />
huge glass plates measuring 40 by 50 centimetres.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> his best known photographs is<br />
Cathedral Rock, taken in the 1860s, an<br />
Albumen print now in the Metropolitan<br />
Museum <strong>of</strong> Art.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WELLINGTON, James Booker Blakemore<br />
b. 1858; d. 1939<br />
negative intensifier.<br />
J.B.B. Wellington studied architecture but soon turned to photography. In the 1880s he<br />
worked with George Eastman in New York, and then returned to England to become<br />
manager <strong>of</strong> Kodak at Harrow, before eventually setting up his own firm.<br />
He developed POP paper, canvas bromide, a fast-grained emulsion and, in 1889, a<br />
An accomplished pictorial photographer, his work is clearly influenced by paintings <strong>of</strong> John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. He<br />
was a member <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WHEATSTONE, Sir Charles<br />
b. 6 February 1802; d. 19 October 1875<br />
Wheatstone started his working life as a musical instrument maker. In his<br />
early thirties he became Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Experimental Philosophy at Kings<br />
College, London, and in 1836 was elected a Fellow <strong>of</strong> the Royal Society.<br />
He was a physicist who is remembered for his studies in acoustics<br />
(including the invention <strong>of</strong> the concertina) and for his contribution to the<br />
invention <strong>of</strong> telegraphy.<br />
His particular contribution to photography was in his development <strong>of</strong><br />
stereoscopy; in 1838 he described the theory <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic vision and<br />
his invention <strong>of</strong> the stereoscope to the Royal Society.<br />
His mirror stereoscopic viewer required that both pictures in the pair be<br />
reversed laterally. The advantage <strong>of</strong> the arrangement was that one could<br />
cope with large pictures, which is why the principle is still in use today<br />
when viewing Xray stereoscopic pictures.<br />
Wheatstone was a member <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society and served on its<br />
Council.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WHITE, Clarence Hudson<br />
b. 8 April 1871; d. 7 July 1925<br />
An American, Clarence White began his career as a book-keeper, but a few years later took up<br />
photography. His work was highly praised by Stieglitz, and was printed in various editions <strong>of</strong> Camera<br />
Work. In 1902 he became a co-founder <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession group, and in 1907 became a teacher<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> at Teachers' College, Columbia University, a post he occupied until his death. Together<br />
with Gertrude Kasebier he founded the Pictorial Photographers <strong>of</strong> America, an organization that<br />
continues to exist today.<br />
Clarence White's portraits and landscapes showing a<br />
particular interest in chiaoscuro (the technique <strong>of</strong><br />
representing three dimensions by carefully using<br />
light and shadow). None <strong>of</strong> his pictures have heavy<br />
shadows or dark tones; he specialised in light,<br />
delicate pictures.<br />
White was one <strong>of</strong> the photographers promoted by<br />
Stieglitz as the 'Photo-Secession', exhibiting his work in their exhibitions and publishing it in Camera<br />
Work - including a whole issue in 1908. His pictures are characterised by his use <strong>of</strong> light, <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
creating a virtual glow from the highlights. He experimented widely with printing processes, including<br />
platinum and gum bichromate.<br />
Shown here is "The Orchard", made in 1905. Many <strong>of</strong> his pictures are platinum prints, though some<br />
also were made using the gum bichromate process.<br />
For other pictures see here.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WILSON, Edward L.<br />
b. 1838; d. 1903<br />
Edward Wilson was an American pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer, who is <strong>of</strong> interest inasmuch as he<br />
prepared a lengthy pamphlet entitled "To my Patrons," giving advice to those who were to come to<br />
him to have a portrait taken. Though well-meaning, it comes over as a bit <strong>of</strong> a sermon, but it does<br />
show reveal some <strong>of</strong> the limitations which made portraiture in the 1870s quite a difficult task. The<br />
following is a short portion <strong>of</strong> the pamphlet:<br />
"The intention <strong>of</strong> this little book is to say a few words in a kindly way to those who have<br />
photographs taken, in order that the intercourse between them and their photographer<br />
may be pleasant, and result in the most successful pictures.<br />
People who desire pictures, generally seem unwilling to give the necessary time to<br />
secure good ones. As time is precious, therefore, we publish this that you may be<br />
informed beforehand on certain points, a knowledge <strong>of</strong> which will save time.....<br />
To produce pictures.... requires skill, good taste, culture, much study and practice, to<br />
say nothing <strong>of</strong> an expensive outfit and a properly arranged studio. With all these the<br />
photographer must know how to manage a most obstreperous class <strong>of</strong> chemicals, fickle<br />
as the wind, and, therefore, he needs all the assistance from you that you are able to<br />
give him. He is entitled to the same respect and consideration from you as your<br />
minister, your physician, or your lawyer.... Remember...that it is he who takes the<br />
pictures, not you; that it is he whom you hold responsible for the result and not<br />
yourself; that it is he who knows best (or ought to) how to take it, and not you, and<br />
that his reputation suffers if he fails, not yours. For the sake <strong>of</strong> a good result, then, try<br />
to submit to the suggestions <strong>of</strong> your photographer. We guarantee satisfaction....<br />
When to come A bright day is not necessary. In fact, the light is best when the<br />
heavens are clouded... Light-haired and light-eyes subjects should avoid a very bright<br />
day if convenient.<br />
How to come Never come in a hurry or a flurry. Red takes black and red faces take<br />
black. Moreover, if you are pushed for time, your pictures will present a worn and<br />
wearied expression, which you will not like....<br />
How to dress Dress is a matter which should have your careful attention. The<br />
photographer is very much tried by his patrons sometimes, who place upon their<br />
persons, when about to sit for a picture, all sorts <strong>of</strong> gee-gaws and haberdasheries which<br />
they never wear at home, or when mingling among their friends. The consequence is<br />
some miserable distortions and caricatures... Dress naturally, and think a little while<br />
you are about it... The best materials to wear, for ladies, are such as will fold or drape<br />
nicely; for example, ....poplins, satins and silks. Materials with too much gloss are<br />
objectionable, though we can generally overcome that. The various colours in the dry<br />
goods market take about as follows: Lavender, Lilac, Blue Purple... take very light, and<br />
are worse photographically than pure white. Corn color and Salmon are better. Rose<br />
pink, crimson, pea green... show a pretty light gray in the photograph. Scarlet, Claret,<br />
Sea Green, Light Orange.... take still darker... Cherry, Wine colour, Bottle Green, Dark<br />
Orange... show nearly the same agreeable color in the picture, which is dark but not<br />
black. Striped goods, or goods having bold patterns in them, should never be worn for a<br />
picture. Avoid anything that will look streaky or spotty."
And so it goes on! One should bear in mind, <strong>of</strong> course, that at this time photographic plates were<br />
sensitive only to blue light.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999<br />
Last updated undefined
WILSON, George Washington<br />
b. 7 Feb 1823; d. 9 March 1893<br />
George Washington Wilson was born in Scotland, and was one <strong>of</strong> the early royal photographers.<br />
In 1849 he set up business as a portrait miniaturist; a brave feat at a time when photography was<br />
becoming an ever-increasing challenge <strong>of</strong>fering cheaper pictures and becoming fashionable. After a<br />
while he began a short partnership with John Hay, setting up a portrait studio.<br />
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were keen on photography, and commissioned the partners to<br />
document the building <strong>of</strong> Balmoral, their new highland home, from 1853 onwards. Thus began a long<br />
association with the Royal Family, and in 1868 Wilson illustrated one <strong>of</strong> the Queen's "Leaves from the<br />
Journal or our Life in the Highlands." In 1873 he was awarded a royal warrant.<br />
His fame spread widely, and in 1864 claimed to have sold over half a million prints. He was the<br />
photographer whose photographs were first sold in Cabinet size.<br />
In 1876 Wilson built new premises, perhaps the first to mass-produce photographs. This large firm<br />
rivalled that <strong>of</strong> Frith over the border. He also produced a number <strong>of</strong> Stereoscopic pictures, notable<br />
for the fact that the exposures were very short - less than one second.<br />
By the 1880s his was one <strong>of</strong> the largest photographic publishers in the world. He employed over<br />
thirty assistants in his Aberdeen firm, and was particularly keen to ensure that his prints were<br />
carefully washed and gold-toned, so as to remove all residual chemicals. As a result, Wilson's albumen<br />
prints were more stable than others made in the same era.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
WOLCOTT, Alexander<br />
b. 1804; d. 1844<br />
Wolcott was an American Daguerreotype photographer and instrument maker. He is particularly<br />
remembered for having invented a camera which, instead <strong>of</strong> a lens, had inside it a large concave<br />
mirror which reflected intense light on to the plate, thus greatly lessening the required exposure time.<br />
It also had another advantage for Daguerreotype photographers in that the image was no longer<br />
laterally reversed. The disadvantage was that the size <strong>of</strong> the pictures were limited to 2 square inches.<br />
Wolcott opened the world's first portrait studio in March 1840, and a year later sold exclusive rights to<br />
Richard Beard, who opened the first studio in Europe a year later.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Women Pioneers <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
Few women photographers are cited in the most popular books on the history <strong>of</strong><br />
photography, for which there could be several reasons. One is that history has a habit<br />
<strong>of</strong> becoming repeated and in turn quoted, with the result that it becomes the<br />
established lore even when the story may have been incorrect. In fact, women were<br />
very active in this field and deserve far greater prominence than has been accorded<br />
to them. This brief article can only scratch at the surface; those wishing to pursue this<br />
further are well advised to read "A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> Women Photographers" by Naomi<br />
Rosenblum, published by the Abbeville Press (ISBN 1-55859-761-1). This book<br />
makes illuminating and compelling reading, and the author <strong>of</strong> this article has drawn<br />
heavily upon it.<br />
Those familiar with the ordeal <strong>of</strong> taking photographs in the earliest days would<br />
sympathise if women were to regard this new activity as not being their cup <strong>of</strong> tea. In<br />
the earliest days, development would be needed immediately after exposure;<br />
consequently the equipment needed for photographs outside a studio would be<br />
cumbersome. In addition, the chemicals could be smelly, and the whole process<br />
initially was a bit <strong>of</strong> a hit-and-miss affair. However, this clearly did not deter women<br />
from being actively involved in picture-making.<br />
There is also evidence that women did not receive the acknowledgement due to them<br />
inasmuch as many accepted a more supportive role for their husbands. Of those who<br />
participated, a number would be relatives <strong>of</strong> a male photographer. Fox Talbot had a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> female relatives who were active in this field, and indeed his own wife,<br />
Constance, both took pictures and developed and printed them. Emma Llwelyn<br />
printed for her husband, John Llwelyn. Robert Tytler photographed the ruins<br />
following the Indian Mutiny <strong>of</strong> 1858; his wife Harriet accompanied him, and though the<br />
work received much acclaim, the records only mention the husband's name.<br />
Elizabeth, wife <strong>of</strong> Disderi, famous for his carte-de-visites, was in partnership with<br />
her husband, and continued to operate in Paris after his death, until her own death in<br />
1878. It says much <strong>of</strong> the times that her death certificate cites "without pr<strong>of</strong>ession, 61<br />
years old."<br />
There follows the names <strong>of</strong> a few women who practised photography in the earliest<br />
years:<br />
Laure Albin-Guillot (b. 1880; d. 1962) together with her husband, spent many years<br />
photographing specimens, plant cells and animal organisms. She also produced<br />
nudes and s<strong>of</strong>t-focus portraits, and wrote articles on photomicrography.<br />
Berenice Abbott studied with Man Ray in the early 1920s, and was almost solely<br />
responsible for preserving the work by Eugene Atget.<br />
Anna Atkins(b.1799; d. 1871) became the first person to print and publish a book,<br />
photographically illustrated. On her tombtone in Halstead, Essex, her husband is
eferred to as a JP, but she is simply referred to as "Daughter <strong>of</strong>..." - again a sign <strong>of</strong><br />
those times.<br />
Alice Austen (b. 1866; d.1952) was an American photographer. She received a<br />
camera at the age <strong>of</strong> ten, and never looked back! In addition to many family and local<br />
interest photography, she became involved in documentary work. Having lost her<br />
money and home in the 1920s stock crash, she was for a while in the equivalent <strong>of</strong> a<br />
poor house, though her work ultimately became recognised and she was able to live<br />
comfortably for the last years <strong>of</strong> her life.<br />
Emma Barton (b. 1872; d. 1938) lived and worked in Birmingham and in the Isle <strong>of</strong><br />
Wight. One <strong>of</strong> her pictures, "The awakening", gained her a medal from the Royal<br />
Photographic Society in 1903.<br />
Alice Boughton (b. 1866; d. 1943) was an American photographer whose work<br />
included pictures <strong>of</strong> children, portraits and theatre. For a while she worked in the<br />
studio <strong>of</strong> Gertrude Kasebier. She became a member <strong>of</strong> the Photo Secessionist<br />
movement. Some <strong>of</strong> her pictures are in Camera Work.<br />
Anne W. Brigman (b. 1869, d. 1950) was an American who produced a number <strong>of</strong><br />
nude and draped figures in landscape. She was a close friend <strong>of</strong> Edward Steichen,<br />
and exhibited in the Photo-Secession exhibitions. She too had some pictures<br />
published in Camera Work.<br />
Christina Broom (b. 1863, d. 1939) has sometimes been referred to as the first<br />
British woman press photographer. The number <strong>of</strong> events she covered included<br />
Derby Day, at Epsom, Surrey, investitures <strong>of</strong> monarchs, women suffrage<br />
demonstrations, the Oxford and Cambridge Boat race, and the Royal Mews at<br />
Buckingham Palace.<br />
Bessie Buehrmann was an associate <strong>of</strong> the Photo-Secession group. Her consisted<br />
mainly <strong>of</strong> portraiture.<br />
Julia Margaret Cameron b.1815; d.1879, is without question the most well-known<br />
woman pioneer in photography.<br />
Mary Cassatt (b.1844, d. 1926) was an American-born impressionist, famous for her<br />
paintings <strong>of</strong> mothers and children. One <strong>of</strong> her pictures was published in Camera<br />
Work.<br />
Nancy Ford Cones (b. 1869, d. 1962) worked in photography in the latter stages <strong>of</strong><br />
the period covered by this work. She operated in Ohio. Kodak used some <strong>of</strong> her work<br />
for publicity purposes. In a Kodak competition <strong>of</strong> 1905, she received second prize for<br />
a photograph entitled "Threading the needle", Edward Steichen winning the<br />
competition, and Alfred Stieglitz coming third.
Clementina Hawarden (born 1822, died 1865) operated in South Kensington,<br />
London, and produced hundreds <strong>of</strong> images <strong>of</strong> her family and nearby surroundings.<br />
She was awarded a medal by the (then) Photographic Society, though she died aged<br />
forty-two, before receiving the award. Many <strong>of</strong> her prints are owned by the Victoria<br />
and Albert Museum, London.<br />
Frances Benjamin Johnston (born 1864, died 1952) was an American photographer<br />
who opened a studio in Washington in 1890. She was much in demand<br />
photographing celebrities <strong>of</strong> her day, and had several assignments photographing in<br />
the White House. In 1897 she published an article entitled "What a woman can do<br />
with her camera."<br />
Gertrude Kasebier (b. 1852; d.1934) was the first woman to be elected to the<br />
prestigious Linked Ring.<br />
Theresa Llwelyn, a distant relative <strong>of</strong> Fox Talbot used "photogenic<br />
drawing" (photograms) <strong>of</strong> seaweed specimens.<br />
Agnes Warburg (b.1872; d.1953) was inspired by her elder brother to take up<br />
photography. She exhibited at the Photographic Salon <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring and at the<br />
Royal Photographic Society, where she was highly active. She was a foundermember<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Society's Pictorial and Colour Groups. She specialised in landscapes<br />
and portraits, and also experimented with the autochrome colour process.<br />
Catharine Barnes Ward (b.1851; d. 1913) was an American photographer who later<br />
lived in England. She became associate Editor <strong>of</strong> the American Amateur<br />
Photographer in 1890, was a popular lecturer, and a strong supporter <strong>of</strong> women<br />
photographers. She joined the Photographic Society in 1893. In 1893 she married<br />
Henry Ward, the founder and editor <strong>of</strong> the magazine "Practical Photographer." Her<br />
works included a well-illustrated "Shakespeare's Town and Times" , books on Dickens<br />
and the land <strong>of</strong> Lorna Doone.<br />
Jane Wigley, an English photographer, purchased the franchise to operate from<br />
Beard, and worked in Newcastle and London. It is stated that she was one <strong>of</strong> the first<br />
to use a prism in the camera so as to reverse the daguerreotype image.<br />
These are just a few <strong>of</strong> the many women early pioneers <strong>of</strong> photography, doubtless<br />
many more being unheralded and, at present, unknown. Again, those wishing to<br />
pursue this area further should read Dr. Rosenblum's remarkable book, which covers<br />
the entire period <strong>of</strong> photography from the earliest days up to the present.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
WOODBURY, Walter Bentley<br />
b. 26 June 1834; d. 5 Sept 1885<br />
The inventor <strong>of</strong> what came to be called the Woodburytype process, he was born in Manchester,<br />
England, and lived for some time in Australia and Java, establishing photographic studios there, using<br />
the Collodion process, before returning to England. Here, whilst working on the Carbon process, he<br />
developed a new mode <strong>of</strong> photographic engraving, demonstrating this to the Photographic Society on<br />
5 December 1865. This he patented in July the following year.<br />
He also invented a method <strong>of</strong> water-marking, calling it "filigrane".<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
YOUNG, William D.<br />
Young produced a number <strong>of</strong> photographs recording the building <strong>of</strong> the railways in Uganda and<br />
Tanzania, in the 1890s.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Processes, styles and movements in photography<br />
● Additive colour process<br />
● Albumen process<br />
● Amateur photographers<br />
● Amateur photographer Magazine<br />
● Ambrotype process<br />
● Anaglyphs<br />
● Architectural photography<br />
● Artists and <strong>Photography</strong><br />
● Autochrome process<br />
● Beginnings <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong><br />
● Bromoil print process<br />
● Calotype process<br />
● Camera Lucida<br />
● Camera Obscura<br />
● Camera Work<br />
● Carbon process<br />
● Cartes-de-visite<br />
● Collodion Process<br />
● Colour, photography in<br />
● Combination Printing<br />
● Cyanotype process<br />
● Daguerreotype<br />
● Development<br />
● Documentary photography<br />
● Dry-Plate Process<br />
● Enlargers<br />
● Fading <strong>of</strong> prints<br />
● Film<br />
● Fixing<br />
● Gelatin<br />
● Gum Bichromate Process<br />
● Heliographs<br />
● Impressionism<br />
● Kodak<br />
● Landscape <strong>Photography</strong><br />
● Latent Image<br />
● Lighting<br />
● Linked Ring<br />
● Melainotype process<br />
● Micro-photography<br />
● Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong><br />
● ozotype<br />
● Photo-Secession<br />
● Pictorialism<br />
● Platinum Process<br />
● Portraiture<br />
● Pre-Raphaelites<br />
● Salted prints<br />
● Separation Negatives<br />
● Social Reform, <strong>Photography</strong> for<br />
● Stereoscopic photography<br />
● Subtractive colour process<br />
● The "291"<br />
● Tintype process<br />
● Toning<br />
● Travel <strong>Photography</strong><br />
● Unusual equipment, processes and<br />
stories<br />
● Vorticism<br />
● War, <strong>Photography</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
● Waxed paper process<br />
● Wet plate process<br />
● Women pioneers <strong>of</strong> photography<br />
● Woodburytype process
The ADDITIVE colour process<br />
There are two different ways <strong>of</strong> producing a colour, the additive and the subtractive. In the additive<br />
process, all colours can be made by mixing three primary colours: red, green and blue. Yellow, for<br />
example, is a mixture <strong>of</strong> green and red light.<br />
This process was first demonstrated, in 1861, by Sir James Clerk Maxwell. Though this was the first <strong>of</strong><br />
the two, it was the subtractive process which was to become the standard colour one in our lifetime.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
AMATEUR photographers<br />
In many areas - music, drama, and sport for example, the term "Amateur" has its own connotation.<br />
This is no less the case in photography, and still continues to present a difficulty. In the recently<br />
developed City & Guilds photography scheme for non- pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographers there was<br />
considerable debate as to whether the term should be used, because it seemed to carry a pejorative<br />
innuendo. Too many people confuse "amateur" with "amateurish." Many <strong>of</strong> the candidates for this<br />
examination are undoubtedly pr<strong>of</strong>essionals in all kinds <strong>of</strong> areas. Some may be pursuing courses as a<br />
creative leisure pursuit, others may be doing so because they wish to use photography as an adjunct<br />
to their pr<strong>of</strong>essional activities. For example, is a teacher who uses photography in the classroom as a<br />
tool to enable his children to attain educational objectives other than photography a pr<strong>of</strong>essional? He<br />
may be a pr<strong>of</strong>essional teacher; is he a pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer?<br />
The Royal Photographic Society does not distinguish between pr<strong>of</strong>essional and amateur; whether a<br />
print is saleable is irrelevant. Nevertheless amongst photographers there still remains a slight tension<br />
which is not easily resolved; the reality is that there is ample room for both.<br />
If some <strong>of</strong> the quotations below are anything to go by, the controversy was as vociferous in the early<br />
days <strong>of</strong> photography. Here, with little comment, are some <strong>of</strong> the stances that were being taken in the<br />
previous century, and it may be a useful exercise to identify the prejudices and misunderstandings,<br />
where they exist, and compare that with one's own view.<br />
Thomas Sutton, in 1857:<br />
"<strong>Photography</strong> is yet in its infancy, and it <strong>of</strong>fers to the intelligent amateur a field for<br />
readily gaining distinction as the author <strong>of</strong> valuable experiments. Let him consider<br />
whether he will occupy his spare time and cash in producing photographs <strong>of</strong> more or<br />
less merit and which may be doomed to fade before his eyes, or whether he will employ<br />
the same opportunities to advance the art. Pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographers have rarely the<br />
time to bestow on experiments, and they are generally too ready to "pooh, pooh" all<br />
innovations. On the other hand, a large class <strong>of</strong> amateurs are equally ready to "try" all<br />
new processes, good or bad."<br />
Jabez Hughes, in 1863:<br />
"..it is not to be wondered that the impulses forward should emanate rather from the<br />
amateur than the pr<strong>of</strong>essional. The former pursues the art for pleasure, the latter for<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>it. The one can try all manner <strong>of</strong> experiments, and whether he succeed or fail he<br />
secures his object - agreeable occupation. The pr<strong>of</strong>essional, however, has all his<br />
energies directed to make things pay. He has too much at stake to speculate. He<br />
chooses the safest way. He is the true conservative, and when he gets hold <strong>of</strong> anything<br />
that works passable well, changes with reluctance. If an amateur experiments with a<br />
new toning bath on a batch <strong>of</strong> perhaps half-a-dozen prints, and fails, well the loss is not<br />
great, and he gains in knowledge and experience. But the pr<strong>of</strong>essional has his batch <strong>of</strong><br />
perhaps six hundred, and if he fail, the loss is something considerable.... The advance<br />
<strong>of</strong> photography is something like the progress <strong>of</strong> an army. The main body keeps in safe<br />
marching order, while the more daring and adventurous are the pioneers who lead the<br />
army - rushing here, feeling their way there; always skirmishing, <strong>of</strong>ten retiring, but<br />
eventually succeeding in finding new tracks and safe paths for the main body to<br />
securely pass along."<br />
Article appearing in "Amateur Photographer", 27 March 1885:
"The amateur is, presumably, a man <strong>of</strong> more cultivated education and greater leisure<br />
than the pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographer, and may reasonably be expected to have a keener<br />
sense <strong>of</strong> the aesthetic principles, and a more educated knowledge <strong>of</strong> the history and<br />
science <strong>of</strong> art than his pr<strong>of</strong>essional brother - better skilled though the latter may be in<br />
the technique <strong>of</strong> his art."<br />
Peter Henry Emerson, in his book "Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong>" took precisely the opposite point <strong>of</strong> view:<br />
"In reality pr<strong>of</strong>essional photographers are those who have studied one branch <strong>of</strong><br />
photography thoroughly, and are masters <strong>of</strong> all its resources and no others. It is not a<br />
question <strong>of</strong> £.s.d., this "pr<strong>of</strong>essional" and "amateur" question, but a question <strong>of</strong><br />
knowledge and capacity. An amateur is a dabbler without aim, without knowledge and<br />
without capacity, no matter how many <strong>of</strong> his productions he may sell."<br />
Alfred Stieglitz, in 1899:<br />
"Let me here call attention to one <strong>of</strong> the most universally popular mistakes that have to<br />
do with photography - that <strong>of</strong> classing supposedly excellent work as pr<strong>of</strong>essional, and<br />
using the term amateur to convey the idea <strong>of</strong> immature productions and to excuse<br />
atrociously poor photographs. As a matter <strong>of</strong> fact nearly all the greatest work is being,<br />
and has always been done, by those who are following photography for the love <strong>of</strong> it,<br />
and not merely for financial reasons. As the name implies, an amateur is one who<br />
works for love; and viewed in this light the incorrectness <strong>of</strong> the popular classification is<br />
readily apparent."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER magazine<br />
The contribution which The Amateur Photographer, affectionately known as the AP, made to the development and encouragement <strong>of</strong><br />
photography has seldom been noted, which is surprising, given the stature <strong>of</strong> many <strong>of</strong> its contributors right from its beginnings on<br />
October 10, 1884.<br />
By this time photography had been in existence some fifty years. However, this was also a period when those who practised<br />
photography varied enormously in their styles, and there was considerable intolerance <strong>of</strong> other peoples' methods.<br />
Up till this period photographs, like paintings, had to be viewed at exhibitions. However, that year saw the beginning <strong>of</strong> photography<br />
reproduction in printing, and also coincided with the publication <strong>of</strong> H. P. Robinson's "Picture Making by <strong>Photography</strong>."<br />
Being well aware <strong>of</strong> the rivalry between Robinson and P.H.Emerson the astute editors <strong>of</strong> the AP invited each to review exhibitions,<br />
especially those which contained each other's work, and were duly rewarded! Emerson described a piece <strong>of</strong> work by Robinson as<br />
"inane, flat...worthless. Its composition is childish and its sentiment puerile..."<br />
whilst Robinson, reviewing Emerson's book "Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong> for Students" wrote:<br />
"We cannot help feeling his system is pernicious, and excusing bad photography by calling it art... We feel it to be<br />
the...duty <strong>of</strong> a journal like our own to produce a disinfectant, and stop the disorder..." In 1891 the rejection by the<br />
Photographic Society <strong>of</strong> George Davidson's picture "The Onion Field" from its annual exhibition precipitated many<br />
resignations from the Society and led to the formation <strong>of</strong> the Linked Ring. This new Society formed its own annual<br />
exhibition called the Photographic Salon. Meetings <strong>of</strong> this group were <strong>of</strong>ten held at AP's <strong>of</strong>fices in London.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the most long-serving editors was F.J.Mortimer who kept a tight rein on the magazine, ensuring in particular that alternative<br />
movements like the Photo Secessionists were kept at bay.<br />
AP has continued to this day, though it is very different from the rather stuffy and text-ridden journal it once was. It becomes<br />
fashionable (a form <strong>of</strong> one-upmanship perhaps) to decry the magazine once one has gained some expertise in photography, but this<br />
is misplaced. Photographers, whether they practise for pr<strong>of</strong>it or as amateurs , can always gain from the experiences <strong>of</strong> others, and <strong>of</strong><br />
course there is always a new generation <strong>of</strong> beginners who can gain much from reading it. Moreover, for those interested in the<br />
history <strong>of</strong> photography there is a wealth <strong>of</strong> data in the early copies showing the rise and fall <strong>of</strong> certain models <strong>of</strong> cameras, and the<br />
fads <strong>of</strong> the time.<br />
For example, Sir Henry Wood, <strong>of</strong> Promenade Concert fame, does not feature as a photographer, but “Amateur Photographer” (Jan 2,<br />
1902) provides details <strong>of</strong> a Christmas lecture for children at the (now) Royal Society <strong>of</strong> Arts, where he presented a few experiments<br />
on the properties <strong>of</strong> light, including spherical and chromatic aberration and, in a second lecture, the use <strong>of</strong> the camera for scientific<br />
investigation. He also gave a demonstration <strong>of</strong> the principles <strong>of</strong> colour photography. Obviously Sir Henry was not only a man <strong>of</strong><br />
distinction in music!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
ANAGLYPHS<br />
The conventional method <strong>of</strong> viewing stereoscopic photographs in the last century was to use a viewer<br />
which held a pair <strong>of</strong> images, and which enabled each eye to see only one; by fusing these together a<br />
three dimensional effect was recreated.<br />
It was W. Rollman who in 1853 first illustrated the principle <strong>of</strong> the anaglyph using blue and red lines<br />
on a black field with red and blue glasses to perceive the effect, but this was for line drawings only.<br />
In 1858 Joseph D'Almeida began projecting three-dimensional magic lantern slide shows using red<br />
and green filters with the audience wearing red and green goggles.<br />
It is to Louis Ducas du Hauron that we owe the first printed anaglyphs, produced in 1891. This<br />
process consisted <strong>of</strong> printing the two negatives which form a stereoscopic photograph on to the same<br />
paper, one in blue (or green), one in red.<br />
The viewer would then use coloured glasses with red (for the left eye) and blue or green (right eye).<br />
The left eye would see the blue image which would appear black, whilst it would not see the red;<br />
similarly the right eye would see the red image, this registering as black. Thus a three dimensional<br />
image would result.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
AUTOCHROME process<br />
The Autochrome was the first viable colour photograph process, and was introduced in 1907 by the<br />
Lumière brothers. The Autochrome "screen" was created by forming a layer <strong>of</strong> minute starch grains<br />
dyed in the primary colours (red, blue and green)**, behind which was a layer <strong>of</strong> panchromatic film.<br />
When the picture was taken these starch grains acted as tiny filters on the film. The film was then<br />
subjected to reversal development, and then viewed, as a transparency, though an identical screen.<br />
The pictures, though dark by present day standards, were delicate and <strong>of</strong> a s<strong>of</strong>t pastel nature.<br />
** The colours are disputed. See here. Most writers however stick to the primary colours.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
BROMOIL PRINT process<br />
This process was introduced in 1907 by E.J. Wall, and consisted <strong>of</strong> a positive image on a paper<br />
support. It was based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Once an enlargement was made,<br />
it was bleached in a solution <strong>of</strong> potassium bichromate. to remove the black silver image. This left it in<br />
a condition in which it was possible to apply greasy inks <strong>of</strong> various colours to pigment the surface <strong>of</strong><br />
the gelatin, using special brushes.<br />
In time this replaced the gum bichromate process, which had been invented in the previous decade.<br />
Both processes, incidentally, received the term "muck spreading" by their detractors!<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
CAMERA LUCIDA<br />
The Camera Lucida, designed in 1807 by Dr. William Wollaston,<br />
was an aid to drawing It was a reflecting prism which enabled<br />
artists to draw outlines in correct perspective. No darkroom<br />
was needed. The paper was laid flat on the drawing board, and<br />
the artist would look through a lens containing the prism, so<br />
that he could see both the paper and a faint image <strong>of</strong> the<br />
subject to be drawn. He would then fill in the image. However,<br />
as anyone who has tried using these will know only too well,<br />
that too required artistic skills, as Fox Talbot also discovered.<br />
See also Camera Obscura.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.
CAMERA WORK<br />
This is the title given to an influential quarterly journal which appeared in 1903 in the wake <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Photo-Secession movement. It was edited by Alfred Stieglitz, and among the many contributors were<br />
Frank Eugene, Clarence White and Edward Jean Steichen.<br />
The first edition reads:<br />
"Only examples <strong>of</strong> such work as gives evidence <strong>of</strong> individuality and artistic worth,<br />
regardless <strong>of</strong> school, or contains some exceptional feature <strong>of</strong> technical merit, or such<br />
as exemplifies some treatment worthy <strong>of</strong> consideration, will find recognition in these<br />
pages."<br />
This magazine was beautifully produced. Some <strong>of</strong> the pictures were printed on fine Japanese tissue,<br />
and pasted in by hand. Many <strong>of</strong> the articles were written by leading authors.<br />
The reception by British photographers to the publication was immediately favourable. That same<br />
year "<strong>Photography</strong>" reported:<br />
"There can be no other verdict but that Camera Work beats all previous records for<br />
dignity, good taste, and...value."<br />
"Amateur Photographer" for 1st January 1903 also was full <strong>of</strong> praise. (See Stieglitz). There were in<br />
total fifty editions. The last publication was in June 1917, when the Photo-Secession movement had<br />
begun to lose its way. The script clearly shows that further editions were at the planning stage. The<br />
June edition contains a letter (17 November 1916), addressed to Stieglitz, from Frank Eugene, which<br />
reads as follows:<br />
"I have not received Camera Work for a very long time, probably due to the war,<br />
censorship, etc. etc....<br />
The older I grow the more I appreciate what you have accomplished with your very<br />
wonderful publication. When I see you I shall be delighted to tell you how largely the<br />
possession <strong>of</strong> Camera Work has helped me in my work as a teacher, and what an<br />
incentive it has always been to my pupils towards a higher standard. It does...for the<br />
man with the camera, what the Bible has...for centuries, tried to do for the man with<br />
the conscience...."<br />
Sadly this, the fiftieth edition, turned out to be the last <strong>of</strong> this remarkable series, <strong>of</strong> which few copies<br />
now remain.<br />
Since this was written, Camera Work has been republished by Taschen Publications (ISBN 3-8228-<br />
8072-8) The book contains all the illustrations, and a masterly introduction by Pam Roberts, who is<br />
the Curator <strong>of</strong> the Royal Photographic Society. It comes in paperback, and if one were only allowed<br />
to recommend one book, it must surely be this one, as it contains a simply excellent collection <strong>of</strong><br />
outstanding photographs. A "must" for any serious photographic historian.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
CARBON process, The<br />
Print fading was a common occurrence in the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography, and several people sought<br />
to address themselves to this problem. In the mid 1850s some began to experiment with carbon, and<br />
in 1864 Joseph Wilson Swan perfected the process, which he also patented.<br />
Prints made using this process came in any colour, and were permanent. The sensitising solution<br />
consisted <strong>of</strong> a mixture <strong>of</strong> carbon, gelatin, the colouring material, and potassium bichromate. Once the<br />
paper was exposed to light, the areas exposed became insoluble in water. Development consisted <strong>of</strong><br />
washing the unexposed soluble material away in warm water.<br />
The image being laterally reversed, it needed to be transferred to another base which was usually<br />
paper, but which could be leather or wood; the image was in relief.<br />
A variation on the carbon process was the Woodburytype, introduced a year later.<br />
Prints made by this process would come in any colour, and were permanent. Carbon prints became<br />
very popular, and the process is still used occasionally.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
COLOUR, <strong>Photography</strong> in<br />
Though the invention <strong>of</strong> photography had an immediate impact on the whole art world, the early<br />
photographs were in monochrome. As an additional service, daguerreotypes could be hand- painted,<br />
which kept a number <strong>of</strong> painters <strong>of</strong> miniatures in business. However, it was to be some time before<br />
colour photography was to become a reality.<br />
In the 1860s James Clerk Maxwell, using as a subject a tartan ribbon, showed that three monochrome<br />
images could be formed <strong>of</strong> a subject, each one taken using a different colour filter (red, blue and<br />
green). By projecting these images using three lanterns, each equipped with a corresponding filter,<br />
the colours could be recreated.<br />
The results were somewhat disappointing to Maxwell and his collaborator Thomas Sutton, but<br />
nevertheless they deserve the credit for laying the foundations <strong>of</strong> trichromate colour photography.<br />
Interestingly, strictly speaking this experiment should never have worked! Maxwell did not know this,<br />
but at that time the emulsion in use only responded to light at the blue end <strong>of</strong> the spectrum. So how<br />
could anything have been recorded on the "red" and "green" slides? It was not until one hundred<br />
years later that when the experiment was repeated, it was discovered that the green filter had also<br />
passed some blue light, whilst the ribbon's red colours were also reflecting ultra-violet rays, which had<br />
been recorded on the red plate. However, though this (by sheer coincidence) produced the right<br />
effect, it does not detract from Maxwell's discovery, for with an appropriate emulsion responding to all<br />
colours the method works well.<br />
In 1873 Herman Vogel discovered sensitising dyes, which was a step forward in the pursuit <strong>of</strong> full<br />
colour photography. As a result <strong>of</strong> his work, "orthochromatic" plates, sensitive to all colours with the<br />
exception <strong>of</strong> red, were produced.<br />
When in 1906 "panchromatic" films, sensitive to all colours, came into production, some<br />
photographers began taking three "separation" negatives, using a viewer which enabled one to see all<br />
three slides superimposed upon one another.<br />
In 1907 Auguste and Louis Lumière produced plates they called Autochrome, using a different system<br />
from that above. The colours appeared in delicate pastel shades, <strong>of</strong>ten looking very dark, but were<br />
well received at the time.<br />
Back in 1869 Ducas du Hauron had published a book <strong>of</strong>fering another method - the subtractive one -<br />
by which colour could be re-created. One <strong>of</strong> his suggestions had been that instead <strong>of</strong> mixing colour<br />
lights, one could combine dyed images; film could be coated with three very thin layers <strong>of</strong> emulsion,<br />
each sensitive to the primary colours; once processed as positives, the transparency could then be<br />
viewed as a full colour photograph. At the time, however, the emulsions were such that none <strong>of</strong> his<br />
proposals could be tested. It was not until the mid 1930s that Kodak was to produce a film based on<br />
this principle, to be named Kodachrome; up till then the additive methods suggested by Maxwell had<br />
been used.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
COMBINATION PRINTING<br />
In the early days <strong>of</strong> photography the material <strong>of</strong> the time was not sensitive to red; it was highly<br />
sensitive to blue, and therefore blue sky was rendered in a very light tone. Most <strong>of</strong> the photographs<br />
taken in the 40s and 50s were usually <strong>of</strong> foreground landcapes with blank skies - very little detail (if<br />
any) in the sky. Roger Fenton, an architectural and landscape photographer and one <strong>of</strong> the fine<br />
photographers <strong>of</strong> this period, did a lot <strong>of</strong> experimental work on this. The solution he adopted was to<br />
make negatives a little thin in the foreground and then to over-expose when making the prints. This<br />
however was not an ideal solution, and it was the problem <strong>of</strong> this attempt to record sky that led<br />
photographers to probably one <strong>of</strong> the most interesting early concepts in photography which we now<br />
call "combination printing."<br />
Combination Printing is the term given to the technique <strong>of</strong> making pictures from more than one<br />
negative or print. It can take various forms:<br />
● printing two or more negatives, one after the other, on the sheet <strong>of</strong> paper;<br />
● superimposing two negatives, printing them both together;<br />
● cutting out parts <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> prints, and arranging, perhaps pasting them on card or<br />
photographed background, and then photographing the finished result (montage).<br />
Hippolyte Bayard was the first to suggest that separate negatives <strong>of</strong> clouds be used to print in the<br />
skies.<br />
However, others, particularly William Lake Price, began to explore the idea <strong>of</strong> using combination<br />
printing to produce compositions. The most famous <strong>of</strong> the early combination prints is "The two ways<br />
<strong>of</strong> life", by Rejlander, who masked all areas <strong>of</strong> the photograph other than the area being printed.<br />
Rather different is the technique by Henry Peach Robinson, who made photomontages; his classic<br />
example is "Fading Away."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The CYANOTYPE process<br />
This is an early process first introduced by John Herschel in 1842. It is still in use today, and is more<br />
commonly known as the blue-print process.<br />
In the early days paper was impregnated with iron salts and then used in contact printing. The paper<br />
was then washed in water, and the image would come out as a white image on deep blue. Long<br />
expsoure times were required, but one advantage was that since the chemicals were mainly sensitive<br />
to Ultra-Violet rays, the solutions can be prepared in subdued light, rather than in a darkroom.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the earliest users <strong>of</strong> the process was Anna Atkins, who produced the first photographically<br />
illustrated book.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DEVELOPMENT<br />
The function <strong>of</strong> a developer is to convert the invisible (latent) image into a visible form. In the very<br />
earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography exposures had to continue until an image had been formed, hence the<br />
need for very long exposures.<br />
It is said that Daguerre discovered development accidentally, having placed some unsuccessful<br />
sensitised plates into a cupboard, and having returned later to discover that the plates bore an image.<br />
By further experimentation he concluded that the mercury in the same cupboard was responsible for<br />
producing the image.<br />
Fox Talbot also discovered that there was such a thing as a latent image that could be developed, and<br />
as a result was able to reduce drastically his exposure time - from as much as an hour to a minute or<br />
less.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
The history <strong>of</strong> photography is full <strong>of</strong> people who with great intensity put forward theories on the<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> photography, or who denigrated the work <strong>of</strong> others, or set up break-away groups. These<br />
people have their place, but fortunately there were others who avoided controversy and who set about<br />
recording the life and times <strong>of</strong> the period in which they lived, either from a sense <strong>of</strong> mission, or simply<br />
to leave an accurate version <strong>of</strong> their life and times for others.<br />
Up to the time photography was invented events were portrayed by means <strong>of</strong> painting, and whilst<br />
many <strong>of</strong> them evoke an emotional response it is difficult to be sure that what we are being presented<br />
with is not fanciful, incorrect, or even blatantly dishonest. There are, for example, so many different<br />
paintings <strong>of</strong> Queen Elizabeth I that it is not clear what she looked like! (See also Alfred Chalon's<br />
comments in Artists and <strong>Photography</strong>.)<br />
<strong>Photography</strong> does add to authenticity, but the <strong>of</strong>t-quoted adage that "the camera cannot lie" is a very<br />
misleading one. Even with "straight" photography (i.e. where neither negative not print has been<br />
retouched), there are many ways by which the process can be used to manipulate and mislead, for<br />
example by selection <strong>of</strong> viewpoint, or by using a picture out <strong>of</strong> context. Used honestly, however,<br />
photography has the capacity to capture a particular moment in time, to reproduce images in<br />
considerable detail, to overcome language barriers, and compellingly to draw attention to situations<br />
about which we might otherwise be unaware. This capacity was immediately recognised by early<br />
photographers.<br />
For specific aspects <strong>of</strong> documentary photography, see Architectural, Landscape, Portraiture, Social<br />
Reform, Travel and War.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
ENLARGERS<br />
The earliest enlargers used direct sunlight,<br />
and thus came to be known as "solar<br />
cameras". It was an American, D.A.<br />
Woodward, who in 1857 first constructed<br />
an enlarger. It was a cumbersome object.<br />
The sun was collected by means <strong>of</strong> a<br />
convex lens, and the camera has to be<br />
turned with the sun. This design became<br />
the model for a number <strong>of</strong> solar cameras.<br />
The picture shows an advert for his<br />
cameras, and a medal that he had been<br />
awarded to him at a major exhibition.<br />
Another pioneer was Wothly, from Aachen,<br />
who made a few improvements to Woodward's solar camera, and exhibited portraits almost at life size.<br />
Wothly's solar camera was a monstrosity! The condenser had a diameter <strong>of</strong> 1 metre. The heat <strong>of</strong> the<br />
condensed rays <strong>of</strong> sun was such that one had to have water troughs built in.<br />
However, perhaps the first ever reference to an enlarging process can be attributed to Draper. In 1840<br />
he wrote:<br />
"Exposures are made with a very small camera on very small plates. They are<br />
subsequently enlarged to the required size in a larger camera on a rigid stand. This<br />
method will probably contribute very much to the practice <strong>of</strong> the art."<br />
Louis Jules Duboscq (1817-1886) made an apparatus for enlarging by electric light, and showed it to<br />
the Paris Photographic Society in 1861.<br />
Eventually, <strong>of</strong> course, the solar camera disappeared from the photographic industry and was replaced<br />
by enlarging cameras that used arc lamps. As the sensitivity <strong>of</strong> papers increased, so it was possible to<br />
use other sources <strong>of</strong> light.
However, even at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century<br />
it was possible to buy simple daylight<br />
enlargers. This one was made by Griffin<br />
and Sons. The advert. in the A.P. read<br />
as follows:<br />
Messrs. J. J. Griffith and Sons<br />
Ltd. have introduced an instrument which should find a cordial welcome at the hands <strong>of</strong><br />
many an amateur who desires to make bromide enlargements without elaborate<br />
apparatus. They are inexpensive, and whilst folding into small space can be erected<br />
quickly and by one movement, there being no loose screws or bolts. .... Having set up<br />
the instrument, the user places his negative in the groove at the small end and<br />
sensitive paper in the box at the large end. The camera is then taken into daylight and<br />
exposed to the clear sky for a period varying between a few seconds and a minute or<br />
two. Upon development <strong>of</strong> the exposed paper a sharp, bright enlargement will be the<br />
result.<br />
The price <strong>of</strong> the enlarger to take quarter-plate and enlarge to whole plate, including<br />
meral exposure shutter and achromatic lens, is 12s 6d (62p).<br />
May we also ask your<br />
attention to our gaslight<br />
attachment for enlargers?<br />
This consists <strong>of</strong> a<br />
parabolic reflector, in from<br />
<strong>of</strong> which are fixed two<br />
incandescent gas burners<br />
<strong>of</strong> a special type. ... The<br />
attachment can be fitted<br />
to almost any enlarger on<br />
the market." (Cost, 10s<br />
6d - 50p).<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
FADING <strong>of</strong> prints<br />
Though (unlike Wedgwood), the early photographers had learned to remove the unused light-sensitive<br />
solutions by fixing prints, they still had a major problem in that many <strong>of</strong> the early photographs had a<br />
tendency to fade.<br />
So serious was the problem that in 1855 the Photographic Society formed a committee to examine the<br />
causes <strong>of</strong> fading; this committee, chaired by Roger Fenton, received support from an equally<br />
concerned Prince Albert, who contributed £50 to its funds.<br />
The major causes <strong>of</strong> fading which were identified by the committee included the presence <strong>of</strong> sulphur<br />
in the prints, the presence <strong>of</strong> fixer because <strong>of</strong> insufficient washing, and (in some instances) the type <strong>of</strong><br />
mounting used. They recommended more careful washing <strong>of</strong> prints. Most members <strong>of</strong> the committee<br />
concluded that gold toning would enhance the life <strong>of</strong> prints (which indeed it did) and also that some<br />
experimenting with protective coatings on the print might be helpful.<br />
In 1856 Robert Howlett published a booklet on the preservation <strong>of</strong> prints. In the 1860s the carbon print<br />
process, using pigment, became popular, the process being perfected by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan in<br />
1866.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2000.<br />
Last updated undefined
FIXING<br />
Fixing is the process <strong>of</strong> removing from photographic materials the unused light-sensitive solutions,<br />
thus making the image more permanent.<br />
Had Thomas Wedgwood been able to fix his pictures, the invention <strong>of</strong> photography would have been<br />
attributable to him. However, it was not until after his death that Sir John Herschel discovered what<br />
Wedgwood had found so elusive. In a paper printed in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal ( 8 January<br />
1819) Herschel wrote "Muriate <strong>of</strong> silver (now known as silver chloride), newly precipitated, dissolves<br />
in this salt (hyposulphite)....almost as readily as sugar in water."<br />
Sodium thiosulphate (incorrectly known as Hypo) is still, in fact, a fixing agent used today.<br />
Though fixing made prints more stable, fading was at first a problem that needed to be addressed.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the causes was inadequate washing <strong>of</strong> prints after processing. It was this instability that<br />
caused people to investigate more lasting processes such as the Carbon one.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
GUM BICHROMATE PROCESS<br />
The gum process was introduced in 1894, and was one <strong>of</strong> several introduced about this period,<br />
enabling photographers to obliterate many <strong>of</strong> the photographic qualities. A gum bichromate<br />
practitioner could alter the tones, get rid <strong>of</strong> details, and using a brush, pencil or rubber, could change<br />
an image so much that it looked more like a painting than a photograph.<br />
The paper would be coated with gum arabic mixed with a sensitive chemical, which would harden on<br />
exposure to light. The exposed gum layer containing a pigment was then washed with water, leaving<br />
the hardened parts behind. The print could then be treated with brushes and thus be modified<br />
considerably. Gum bichromate prints have little detail, but may sometimes appear almost like<br />
charcoal drawings.<br />
Stieglitz, writing about the process, said that in it "the artist has a medium that permits the production<br />
<strong>of</strong> any effect desired. These effects are so "unphotographic" in the popular sense <strong>of</strong> that word as to be<br />
described as illegitimate by those ignorant <strong>of</strong> the method <strong>of</strong> producing them. In this process the<br />
photographer prepares his own paper, using any kind <strong>of</strong> surface most suited to the result wanted,<br />
from the even-surfaced plate paper to rough drawing parchment; he is also at liberty to select the<br />
color in which he wishes to finish his picture, and can produce at will in india-ink, red-chalk or any<br />
other color desired. The print having been made he moistens it, and with a spray <strong>of</strong> water or brush<br />
can thin-out, shade, or remove any portion <strong>of</strong> its surface. Besides this, by a system <strong>of</strong> re-coating,<br />
printing-over, etc., he can combine almost any tone color- effect."<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the leading exponents <strong>of</strong> this process was Robert Demachy. It was eventually superseded by<br />
the bromoil one.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
HELIOGRAPHS<br />
The name was coined by Nicephore Niépce (pronounced Nee-ps) to describe the new process he had<br />
discovered, when he produced what is generally agreed to be the first photograph, in 1827.<br />
The solution he used for this first image was Bitumen <strong>of</strong><br />
Judea, a derivation <strong>of</strong> asphalt, found in Syria. It was a varnish<br />
which, when coated and dried, hardened when exposed to<br />
light. The areas not affected by light were then dissolved<br />
using oil <strong>of</strong> lavender and white petroleum. The light areas,<br />
then, were shown by the bitumen, the dark ones by the bare<br />
metal.<br />
In fact this process has greater resemblance to lithography<br />
than to photography, and though it was the first permanent<br />
method <strong>of</strong> recording an image, it was in fact a cul-de-sac as<br />
far as photography was concerned.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
IMPRESSIONISM<br />
This movement developed from naturalistic painting, particularly landscape, a central feature <strong>of</strong><br />
19th Century art. It carried the realist landscape painting <strong>of</strong> Courbet and others a stage further, the<br />
accent being on colour and light in rapid brush- strokes.<br />
The term itself comes<br />
from a Monet painting<br />
entitled "Impression:<br />
Sunrise", painted in<br />
1872, a picture <strong>of</strong> Le<br />
Havre in the mist. A<br />
malicious critic, Louis<br />
Leroy, dubbed his work<br />
"impressionist", using<br />
the term in a derogatory<br />
way, but others warmed<br />
to Monet's style and<br />
happily adopted the<br />
name; from then<br />
onwards Impressionism<br />
was a term representing<br />
an experience arising<br />
from a fleeting<br />
impression, rather than<br />
laborious detail. Their<br />
work is characterised by<br />
a variety <strong>of</strong> brush- strokes, and by high-key colours.<br />
Other impressionists in the art world included Degas, Renoir and Pissarro.<br />
Sir Ernst Gombrich, the art historian, commenting upon the impressionists, writes:<br />
"They discovered that if we look at nature in the open, we do not see<br />
individual objects each with its own colour but rather a bright medley <strong>of</strong><br />
cones which blend in our eye or really in our mind."<br />
What brought these artists together was not their strategies or general approach, for they were<br />
widely different; what united them was an intense dislike for the art establishment <strong>of</strong> the time, and<br />
repeated rejections by the Salon jury in France.<br />
They looked with a measure <strong>of</strong> contempt at the current establishment; it is said that Sir Joshua<br />
Reynolds was nicknamed "Sir Sloshua" by them.<br />
<strong>Photography</strong> also had its impressionists. In May 1874 a group <strong>of</strong> them in Paris began to exhibit<br />
photographs at the studio belonging to Nadar. The group continued in being for the next twelve<br />
years, and work was exhibited by, among others, Cezanne and Gaugin. Another photographer
who was influenced by the impressionists was George Davidson, who contended that a sharp<br />
photograph was not always to be striven for. For one <strong>of</strong> his photographs, "The Onion field" (1890)<br />
he used rough-surfaced paper and a s<strong>of</strong>t-focus technique.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The KODAK Story<br />
Or part <strong>of</strong> it, at any rate! Kodak's name will be remembered, not because <strong>of</strong> any major technical<br />
development, but because it was the first company to produce equipment that could be used by<br />
anyone. Up till this time would-be photographers virtually had to be chemists as well as artists; they<br />
were picture makers in a very real sense! When Kodak cameras appeared on the scene, picture taking<br />
came to the fore, and this paved the way for people to concentrate on the image, and leave the<br />
preparation and the development processes to others.<br />
The genius behind the Kodak camera - and its name - was George Eastman. His first box camera (the<br />
Eastman Cossitt) was produced in 1886, but it was too costly. In July 1888 the Kodak camera was<br />
exhibited for the first time in Minneapolis, and became an instant success.<br />
Why the name Kodak? It was short, and easy to pronounce. In the 1920s Eastman wrote: The letter<br />
"K" had been a favourite with me - it seems a strong, incisive sort <strong>of</strong> letter. It became a question <strong>of</strong><br />
trying out a great number <strong>of</strong> combinations <strong>of</strong> letters that made words starting and ending with "K".<br />
The Kodak was relatively small (approximately 6"x3"x3") and though it weighed nearly three pounds,<br />
was still much lighter than current cameras. There was no film counter, and was sold with film for 100<br />
exposures (paper-based, incidentally). The lens was wide, with a sixty degree angle <strong>of</strong> view, thus<br />
anything from four feet onwards would be in sharp focus. Because <strong>of</strong> the wide angle, it was not<br />
considered necessary to have a viewfinder. However, the wide angle lens had very poor definition at<br />
the edges, so a circular mask was placed in front <strong>of</strong> the film at the focal plane - which was not to<br />
everybody's liking.<br />
What features did the first Kodak have which caused it to have such an impact?<br />
● It contained a 20 foot roll <strong>of</strong> light-sensitive film, sufficient to allow for as many as a hundred<br />
pictures approximately 2 1/2" in diameter.<br />
● it could be used in the hand<br />
● the shutter worked at roughly 1/25s., which ensured that pictures were sharp provided that<br />
one kept the camera still<br />
● the camera had an f9 lens which ensured that all subjects beyond eight feet or would be in<br />
sharp focus.<br />
In effect, it opened the door for photographers to take pictures, without having to learn about<br />
processing or chemicals. It was a watershed as far as photography for the ordinary person was<br />
concerned.<br />
As the advertisements claimed, there were only three simple movements to make: setting the<br />
shutter, pressing the exposure button, and winding the film on. And at the end <strong>of</strong> the film one simply<br />
sent the entire camera for processing, and it would be returned with a new film installed. Hence the<br />
famous advertising slogan "You Press the Button, We do the Rest!" The Kodak reached Britain<br />
towards the end <strong>of</strong> 1888, and was immediately acclaimed. The Amateur Photographer review stated:<br />
We venture to say that it is, without exception, the most beautiful instrument that has ever been<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered for the public in connection with photography." It rapidly became the tourist's camera. From<br />
the Photographic News Almanac, 1891: "In my varied wanderings I have met the gentleman with the<br />
black leather covered box everywhere.... where the American tourists swarm, the Kodak seems as<br />
necessary a part <strong>of</strong> their belongings as the portmanteau" ( a leather trunk for clothes etc., opening<br />
into two equal parts). Other versions soon followed, the No.2 Kodak camera introducing transparent<br />
celluloid film for the first time.<br />
If you are visitng the UK or already live there, the National Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> Film and Television<br />
is a must. The Kodak Gallery will take you through the history <strong>of</strong> popular photography from its earliest<br />
days up to the present.
© Robert Leggat, 2002.<br />
Last updated undefined
LANDSCAPE photography<br />
From the earliest days <strong>of</strong> photography, landscape work was popular, even though it <strong>of</strong>ten involved<br />
considerable trial and inconvenience, particularly when the collodion process was used.<br />
An interesting catalogue <strong>of</strong> landscape photography is to be found in a somewhat poetically-delivered<br />
lecture by James Mudd, to the Manchester Photographic Society in 1858: "Landscape photography!<br />
How pleasantly the words fall upon the ear <strong>of</strong> the enthusiastic photographer. What agreeable<br />
association are connected with our excursions into the country. How <strong>of</strong>ten have we wandered along<br />
the rough sea-shore or climbed the breezy hill-side, or descended the shady valley, or toiled along the<br />
rock bed <strong>of</strong> some mountain stream, forgetting, in the excitement <strong>of</strong> our pursuit, the burdens we<br />
carried, or the roughness <strong>of</strong> the path we trod. What delightful hours we passed in wandering through<br />
the quiet ruins <strong>of</strong> some venerable abbey, impressing, with wondrous truth, upon the delicate tablets<br />
we carried, the marvellous beauty <strong>of</strong> Gothic window, <strong>of</strong> broken column, and ivy wreathed arch. How<br />
pleasant our visits to moss-green old churches and picturesque cottages and stately castles and a<br />
thousand pretty nooks, in the shady wood, by the river side, or in the hedgerow, where the wild<br />
convolvulus, the bramble and luxuriant fern have arrested us in our wanderings...."<br />
Among the leading landscape photographers <strong>of</strong> this period were Roger Fenton, P.H. Delamotte, and<br />
Francis Bedford.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
LATENT IMAGE, The<br />
The earliest exposures were very long indeed, and photographers would peer into the camera to<br />
inspect the image as it appeared. At the time it had been assumed that if the image did not appear,<br />
no change had occurred. Then Daguerre and Fox Talbot both independently and, it seems, accidentally,<br />
discovered that whilst short exposures produced no visible image, if one were to treat exposed plates<br />
with the fumes <strong>of</strong> heated mercury, an image would start to appear. This was a major breakthrough,<br />
because it enabled much shorter exposures to be made.<br />
In his record dated 23 September 1840 Talbot wrote about his calotype:<br />
"Some very remarkable results were obtained. Half a minute suffices for the Camera, the paper when<br />
removed is <strong>of</strong>ten perfectly blank but when kept in the dark the picture begins to appear<br />
spontaneously, and keeps improving for several minutes, after which it should be washed and fixed<br />
with (iodine <strong>of</strong> potassium)."<br />
For latent, then, read "hidden."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MELAINOTYPE process, The<br />
This is the name given by some to the Tintype process. The Melaiontype was the name given by its<br />
inventor, Peter Neff Jr.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
MICRO-PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
This is photography made on a vastly reduced scale, to be observed using a microscope or projected<br />
using a "magic lantern." Though George Shadbolt is credited with being the inventor <strong>of</strong> microphotography,<br />
the first known example <strong>of</strong> micro-photography was by John Benjamin Dancer, in 1839,<br />
when he produced photographs 15mm in diameter.<br />
Thomas Sutton , in his 1858 Dictionary <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, had little time for this kind <strong>of</strong> work, which he<br />
dismissed as "<strong>of</strong> little or no practical utility" and "somewhat childish and trivial."<br />
However, Sir David Brewster, a prominent physicist and Principal <strong>of</strong> Edinburgh University, was most<br />
enthusiastic about Dancer's work, and predicted that micro-photographs might one day be used to<br />
send secret messages in the event <strong>of</strong> war. In the 1857 edition <strong>of</strong> the Encyclopaedia Britannica he<br />
wrote:<br />
"Microscopic copies <strong>of</strong> despatches and valuable papers and plans might be placed in<br />
spaces not larger than a full stop <strong>of</strong> a small blot <strong>of</strong> ink."<br />
Brewster also took some <strong>of</strong> Dancer's work on a tour in Europe. It was probably as a result <strong>of</strong> this tour<br />
that several opticians in France began producing micro-photographs. Among these was Rene Dagron,<br />
who produced curios, placing microphotographs in penholders, signet rings and other objects. At one<br />
stage Dargon employed over a hundred in this flourishing trade.<br />
Only a few years later, in the Siege <strong>of</strong> Paris in 1870, Brewster's prediction came true. Many people<br />
were able to escape from Paris by balloon, but because <strong>of</strong> the prevailing wind a journey to Paris was<br />
not possible. To maintain communication with Paris, Dargon and his assistant escaped from the city<br />
by balloon, and when they reached the unoccupied zone, he set about preparing a pigeon post<br />
service. Messages were printed in microphotographic form, and then were attached to the tails <strong>of</strong><br />
carrier pigeons. (For further details <strong>of</strong> this interesting story see HERE). The messages were<br />
subsequently enlarged by projection. It is also said that during the Russo-Japanese War <strong>of</strong> 1904,<br />
spies used to smuggle secret reports in micro-photographic form.<br />
The term should not be (but <strong>of</strong>ten is!) confused with photo-micrography; the micro-photographic<br />
process is taken to mean a substantial reduction <strong>of</strong> the "real thing" either for archival, portability or,<br />
as shown above, clandestine purposes.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
NATURALISTIC <strong>Photography</strong><br />
In 1889 P.H. Emerson produced a book entitled "Naturalistic <strong>Photography</strong> for Students <strong>of</strong> Art." This<br />
was at the time pictorialism was in vogue, and Emerson was making the plea that contrived<br />
photography, with such manipulation as combination printing, should have no place in<br />
photography.<br />
Emerson's main claim was that one should treat photography as a legitimate art in its own right,<br />
rather than seek to imitate other art forms; imitation was not needed - it could confer its own<br />
legitimacy without it.<br />
Emerson's feeling was that pictorialism was becoming somewhat bogged down due to<br />
sentimentalism and artificiality. At the same time, others were becoming dissatisfied with the fact<br />
that the Photographic Society had become too concerned with scientific rather than with artistic<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> photography.<br />
Emerson urged that photographic students should look at nature rather than paintings, that one<br />
should look at the range-finder or focusing screen and see what kind <strong>of</strong> pictures this created. He felt<br />
every student should<br />
"..try to produce one picture <strong>of</strong> his own...which shall show the author has something to say and<br />
knows how to say it; that is something to have accomplished..."<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
OZOTYPE PROCESS, The<br />
The Ozotope is a pigment process introduced by Thomas Manley in 1898, for which he was granted a<br />
patent. A gelatine silver bromide was transferred by contact to pigment paper.<br />
The method did not prove to be very popular<br />
at the time. Curiously enough, sometimes<br />
one reads <strong>of</strong> modern day attempts, and a<br />
search might prove pr<strong>of</strong>itable!<br />
Picture: On Yarmouth Fish Quay, Rev. Henry<br />
Dick, 1903<br />
© Robert Leggat, 2003.<br />
Last updated undefined
PICTORIALISM<br />
The modern usage <strong>of</strong> this term may give a misleading picture <strong>of</strong> the movement as it arose in the<br />
second half <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century; in any case, like the all-embracing word "art" it is a most<br />
elusive, intangible, and highly subjective term. In modern parlance it is sometimes taken to suggest<br />
conservatism, and the unwillingness to explore new approaches. In its original meaning anything<br />
that put the finished picture first and the subject second was pictorialism. Given such a meaning,<br />
pictorialism by no means excluded more modern trends; any photograph that stressed atmosphere<br />
or viewpoint rather than the subject would come under this category.<br />
By the second half <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century the novelty <strong>of</strong> capturing images was beginning to wear<br />
<strong>of</strong>f, and some people were now beginning to question whether the camera, as it was then being<br />
used, was in fact too accurate and too detailed in what it recorded. This, coupled with the fact that<br />
painting enjoyed a much higher status than this new mechanistic process, caused some<br />
photographers to adopt new techniques which, as they saw it, made photography more <strong>of</strong> an art<br />
form. These new techniques came also to be known as High-Art photography.<br />
In effect, the term Pictorialism is used to describe photographs in which the actual scene depicted is<br />
<strong>of</strong> less importance than the artistic quality <strong>of</strong> the image. Pictorialists would be more concerned with<br />
the aesthetics and, sometimes, the emotional impact <strong>of</strong> the image, rather than what actually was in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> their camera.<br />
Because pictorialism was seen as artistic photography, one would not be surprised that current<br />
styles <strong>of</strong> art would be reflected in their work; as impressionism was in vogue at the time, many<br />
photographs have more than a passing resemblance to paintings in this style.<br />
Examples <strong>of</strong> this approach include combination printing, the use <strong>of</strong> focus, the manipulation <strong>of</strong> the<br />
negative, and the use <strong>of</strong> techniques such as gum bichromate, which greatly lessened the detail<br />
and produced a more artistic image.<br />
Among the major workers who are associated with this approach to photography were Oscar<br />
Rejlander, Henry Peach Robinson (who wrote a major book entitled "Pictorial Effect in<br />
<strong>Photography</strong>"), Robert Demachy, and George Davidson.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
PLATINUM printing<br />
This process dates from 1873, when it was introduced by William Willis. Plain paper with sensitive iron<br />
salts (no silver) was exposed in contact with a negative. The print would then be developed in a<br />
potassium oxalate solution.<br />
The process produced an image with beautifully rich black tones, and a tremendous tonal range, that<br />
makes platinum prints stand out. It was also, unlike other processes, permanent.<br />
Amongst those who used this medium were Peter Henry Emerson, Clarence White , Frederick Evans, and<br />
Gertrude Kasebier.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the reasons why this and the gum-bichromate process became more popular amongst serious<br />
photographers was that these were ways <strong>of</strong> distancing themselves from the snapshooters which<br />
began to proliferate as a result <strong>of</strong> the introduction <strong>of</strong> the first Kodak cameras and film; both processes<br />
required skills above the level <strong>of</strong> the casual amateur photographer.<br />
Its use declined after the first world war because <strong>of</strong> the rising cost <strong>of</strong> platinum, when palladium largely<br />
replaced it.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
PORTRAITURE<br />
Throughout history people have sought to produce images either <strong>of</strong> themselves or <strong>of</strong> others. The<br />
problem is that the skills required to make portraits are in short supply, and therefore expensive. Until<br />
the eighteenth century, therefore, portraits were generally regarded as the privilege <strong>of</strong> the wealthy.<br />
In any case, artists are able, through this medium, not only to depict what they see, but what they<br />
believe or prefer to portray. There are several instances in which a famous personality has been<br />
painted on numerous occasions, and have such striking differences that it is difficult to know what the<br />
sitter really looked like!<br />
The eighteenth century saw a demand for portraits which were less expensive, and this resulted in<br />
two developments. One was the use <strong>of</strong> miniature portraits, which were relatively much less<br />
expensive; the other was the popularity <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ile pictures, usually traces from the shadow cast by a<br />
lamp, sometimes cut freehand from paper. This technique was named after Etienne de Silhouette<br />
(1709-1767), who made pr<strong>of</strong>iles, and such silhouettes, <strong>of</strong>ten embellished with gold, became very<br />
popular.<br />
The invention <strong>of</strong> photography marked a watershed as far as portraiture was concerned, and it is not<br />
difficult to understand why photography, from the earliest days, had such an instant appeal both in<br />
America and in Europe, particularly in this area. Portraiture, once only for the well-to-do, was now<br />
available to all, as a natural leveller. There was a lot <strong>of</strong> money to be made out <strong>of</strong> the practice. One <strong>of</strong><br />
the earliest photographers, Richard Beard, was said to have earned forty thousand pounds in one year<br />
(a large sum today - a fortune then!)<br />
However, this pr<strong>of</strong>ession could also be precarious. Beard himself became bankrupt in 1847, and Scott<br />
Archer, who invented the Wet Collodion process, died penniless. Sutcliffe, the brilliant photographer <strong>of</strong><br />
Whitby, failed in Tunbridge Wells, and had to sell out and return to Whitby. Consequently some<br />
photographers diversified. Thomson in addition to being a photographer, was a tobacconist, and like<br />
others, would <strong>of</strong>fer a photograph and a cigar for six pence (2.5p) Others combined photography with<br />
more traditional art.<br />
The portrait, though much sought after, was <strong>of</strong>ten an event which one had good cause to remember:<br />
● As the process was only sensitive to blue or white, one had to dress in appropriate colours.<br />
Henry Peach Robinson used to provide very specific hints;<br />
● the portrait could only be taken if the weather was suitable; clients would <strong>of</strong>ten have to climb<br />
a number <strong>of</strong> stairs, as most <strong>of</strong> the studios were located on the top <strong>of</strong> a building;<br />
● there were various methods <strong>of</strong> keeping a sitter still, a popular one being a metal clamp (hidden<br />
from the camera) behind the sitter's head. (This was not new to photography, one must add -<br />
it was quite commonly used on conventional portraiture).<br />
One sitter recalled the ordeal:<br />
"(He sat) for eight minutes, with strong sunlight shining on his face and tears trickling<br />
down his cheeks while...the operator promenaded the room with watch in hand, calling<br />
out the time every five seconds, until the fountains <strong>of</strong> his eyes were dry."
Full length portraits <strong>of</strong>ten reveal how<br />
carefully one posed people in order to<br />
keep them still and yet provide a natural<br />
posture. An interesting photograph is<br />
"The Bird Cage" by Hill and Adamson (a<br />
section <strong>of</strong> which is shown on the left);<br />
one should note how carefully the hands<br />
are placed in this picture, and note also<br />
the tell-tale shadow behind the head <strong>of</strong><br />
the lady on the right, which suggests that<br />
there was some device to keep her head<br />
still during exposure.<br />
One problem which Hill and Adamson were not able to resolve was eye control. Exposures were very<br />
long indeed, and it is likely that Hill (the artist <strong>of</strong> the two) advised sitters to close their eyes unless<br />
they were very good at keeping their eyes open without blinking.<br />
Here is one way to solve the problem! One <strong>of</strong> Fox<br />
Talbot's pictures, <strong>of</strong> his wife and daughters: they<br />
are facing the other way, and we only see their<br />
hats! (Picture dated 19th April 1842)<br />
Trying to keep a sitter still for this long process<br />
must sometimes have been quite a feat. The most<br />
extreme form <strong>of</strong> persuasion comes from an article<br />
in the American Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>, 1861,<br />
where we read <strong>of</strong> one operator who had tried all<br />
sorts <strong>of</strong> means <strong>of</strong> persuasion,<br />
"...when it occurred to him that the<br />
strongest <strong>of</strong> all human motives is fear. As<br />
soon as he had completed his adjustments,<br />
he suddenly draws a revolver, and levelling<br />
it at the sitter's head, he explains in a voice<br />
and with a look suggestive <strong>of</strong> lead and gunpowder: 'Dare to move a muscle and I'll<br />
blow your brains out....'"<br />
Another, advertising photography "without pain" proposed to use gas on his sitters, and once they<br />
were out for the count, he would take the picture. Yet another suggested<br />
"A good dose <strong>of</strong> laudanum (opium) will effectively prevent the sitters from being<br />
conscious <strong>of</strong> themselves, <strong>of</strong> the camera, or anything else. They become most<br />
delightfully tractable, and you can do anything with them under such circumstances....."<br />
Though there are many examples <strong>of</strong> work before the invention <strong>of</strong> Collodion, it was the discovery <strong>of</strong><br />
this process which triggered <strong>of</strong>f the enormous boom in portraiture. In April 1857 Lady Elizabeth<br />
Eastlake, whose husband had been the first President <strong>of</strong> the Photographic Society, wrote: "Who can<br />
number the legion <strong>of</strong> petty dabblers, who display their trays <strong>of</strong> specimens along every great
thoroughfare in London, executing for our lowest servants, for one shilling, that which no money<br />
would have commanded... twenty years ago? Not that photographers flock especially to the<br />
metropolis; they are wanted everywhere and found everywhere. The large provincial cities abound<br />
with the sun's votaries, the smallest town is not without them; and if there be a village so poor and<br />
remote as not to maintain a regular establishment, a visit from a photographic travelling man gives it<br />
the advantages which the rest <strong>of</strong> the world are enjoying. Thus, where not half a generation ago the<br />
existence <strong>of</strong> such a vocation was not dreamt <strong>of</strong>, tens <strong>of</strong> thousands.... are now following a new<br />
business, practising a new pleasure, speaking in a new language, and bound together by a new<br />
sympathy."<br />
It has to be said that this was a period in which portraiture was perhaps more characterised for the<br />
quantity <strong>of</strong> production, rather than by its quality. To some extent the early photographers may be<br />
exonerated, because <strong>of</strong> the technical aspects which so dominated the process. Nevertheless, many <strong>of</strong><br />
the Carte-de-visite portraits were verging on the banal, their authors being apparently more concerned<br />
with making a quick pr<strong>of</strong>it than to "portray" the sitter. The lighting for many <strong>of</strong> these was<br />
uninteresting, the setting <strong>of</strong>ten so stereotyped that one can almost date the photographs by the<br />
props! Bluntly, many images show evidence <strong>of</strong> very fast impersonal photography where the<br />
practitioner was out to make a quick kill and had little time or interest for the sitter as a person.<br />
The length <strong>of</strong> exposure, coupled with a conveyor-belt mentality by some photographers, is the main<br />
reason why so many pictures, particularly daguerreotypes, appear so impersonal. Sitters would either<br />
stare into the camera or would look into the distance, as Lewis Carroll put it in Hiawatha's<br />
photography:<br />
"With a look <strong>of</strong> pensive meaning<br />
As <strong>of</strong> ducks that die in tempests"<br />
The "style" being used was not only determined by financial considerations but to some extent by the<br />
demands <strong>of</strong> the sitter; it was fashionable to have pictures which took people out <strong>of</strong> the real, possibly<br />
harsh world and presented them as more well-to-do than in real life, hence the use <strong>of</strong> standard props<br />
which provided such an image. Not all photographers <strong>of</strong> the period may have welcomed this, but the<br />
customer has always to be right; Robinson is said to have commented upon the many people who buy<br />
clothes specially for the occasion, and to have said "How am I to get a likeness <strong>of</strong> a person who does<br />
not look like herself?"<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> the images are full-length photographs, which show more <strong>of</strong> the props and mock glamour<br />
than the faces being portrayed, and given the fact that a straight photograph (unlike a portrait) can<br />
be cruel, such an arrangement may have satisfied the needs <strong>of</strong> both photographer and sitter!<br />
Nevertheless, there are some remarkable exceptions to this rather dismal trend, where there is<br />
evidence that the photographer went to great lengths to portray the sitter as would a painter, by<br />
making them feel at ease, by producing close-ups <strong>of</strong> the face that revealed their personality, by using<br />
more adventurous lighting, and by discarding trite backgrounds. Some interesting advice to patrons<br />
was provided by Edward Wilson, especially on what to wear.<br />
For such photographers, the motive was not pr<strong>of</strong>it but quality. Among such workers are Hill and<br />
Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll and, sometime later, Alvin Langdon Coburn. Another<br />
photographer who used portraiture, but for medical reasons, was Hugh Welch Diamond.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.
PRE-RAPHAELITES, The<br />
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood was founded in 1848, and consisted <strong>of</strong> a group <strong>of</strong> mainly British<br />
artists, all in their twenties, who rejected the neoclassical style which at that time was in vogue,<br />
wishing to return to what they felt to be purer Early Renaissance art. Their name comes from the fact<br />
that they believed that Raphael had introduced the art they so disliked. Though the movement lasted<br />
only ten years or so, the impact they had upon art in Britain at the time was considerable.<br />
The movement had in the main three phases:<br />
● realist - where the emphasis was upon historical and religious paintings (eg Rossetti, Hunt)<br />
● "truth to nature" - where the stress was upon contemporary scenes, almost <strong>of</strong> surreal detail;<br />
● a fascination for the Middle Ages, leading to painting <strong>of</strong> Arturian legend, and mediaeval themes<br />
and styles.<br />
They tended to look to the past for their inspiration, and thus their pictures had religious, mythological<br />
or historical bases, particularly mediaeval themes. Their message appeared to be that truth was ugly,<br />
that to beautify it to make "high art" dress people up - contrive the situations.<br />
Initially they all exhibited pictures anonymously, all using the same initials PRB. When a few years<br />
later the names <strong>of</strong> the painters became known, they were quite harshly taken to task by Charles<br />
Dickens,<br />
Amongst their number are names such as Holman Hunt - who painted "The Light <strong>of</strong> the<br />
World" (1853), and Dante Rossetti. John Ruskin actively promoted this trend, and though the group<br />
disbanded in 1855, its ideas continued for quite some time.<br />
Among those who one might suggest were influenced by the Pre- Raphaelite movement were Lewis<br />
Carroll, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Peach Robinson and Francis Bedford. It would be wrong to<br />
imagine that a school <strong>of</strong> Pre-Raphaelite photography existed, but rather that a number <strong>of</strong><br />
photographers shared some <strong>of</strong> the sentiments typical <strong>of</strong> those who were in the Brotherhood.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1998.<br />
Last updated undefined
SALTED PAPER<br />
Until 1850, the earliest prints were salt-paper ones. They were made by coating sheets <strong>of</strong> paper with<br />
salt dissolved in water, and then sensitising the paper.<br />
Salted papers were not subjected to development. They were printed out; that is to say they were<br />
contact prints, placed in a frame with the negative, but left to print out in the sun, a process that<br />
would take approximately thirty minutes. It would then be fixed in the normal way.<br />
Because the paper had been sensitised in this manner, the image was in the paper, rather than on it.<br />
The texture <strong>of</strong> the paper, then, also appeared on the image, and this caused a loss <strong>of</strong> definition. Some<br />
actually preferred this, and were not taken by the glossy appearance <strong>of</strong> the albumen paper which<br />
began to supersede it (see for example Shadbolt), preferring the matte form <strong>of</strong> salted-paper.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.<br />
Last updated undefined
SEPARATION negatives<br />
It was James Clerk Maxwell who first showed that by taking three separate pictures, each through a<br />
filter (red, blue and green) and by superimposing the lantern slides (again with the appropriate filter<br />
in each projector), colours could be re- created. The three negatives produced in this way are called<br />
colour separation negatives, because the visible spectrum has been separated into three parts.<br />
Early attempts to reproduce colour began at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, but were out <strong>of</strong> the reach <strong>of</strong> all<br />
but the more dedicated and wealthy photographer. Initially the subjects were still-life ones (obviously<br />
the three images had to be exactly the same), though cameras were then produced which exposed<br />
three pictures simultaneously.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The SUBTRACTIVE process<br />
There are two ways <strong>of</strong> producing a colour, the additive process and the subtractive one. In the<br />
subtractive process a colour is produced by subtracting colours from white light. So to produce<br />
yellow, for example, blue is subtracted from white.<br />
The three filters associated with this process are<br />
● blue-green (called cyan) which is white minus red,<br />
● magenta, which is white minus green, and<br />
● yellow, which is white minus blue.<br />
This forms the basis <strong>of</strong> the current colour photographic systems.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The "291"<br />
A growing dissatisfaction with the photographic establishment in England and in America at the turn <strong>of</strong><br />
the century led to the formation <strong>of</strong> new groups such as the Linked Ring in the UK, and a group <strong>of</strong><br />
avante-garde photographers in the United States, spearhearded by Stieglitz The American group came<br />
to be known as the Photo-Secession.<br />
From November 1905 this group laid on exhibitions <strong>of</strong> work at "The Little Galleries <strong>of</strong> the Photo-<br />
Secession" at 291 Fifth Avenue, New York, which came to be known simply as "291." Though the idea<br />
initially had been to display the new form <strong>of</strong> photography, the 291 evolved to become a major focal<br />
point <strong>of</strong> modern art. Paintings exhibited included those <strong>of</strong> Cezanne, Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, and<br />
Toulouse-Lautrec. In 1917 the 291, in financial difficulties, closed its doors, though Stieglitz operated<br />
other similar galleries up to the 1940s.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1998.
The TINTYPE process<br />
First, see Ambrotype. The tintype, also known as a ferrotype, is a variation on this, but produced on<br />
metallic sheet (not, actually, tin) instead <strong>of</strong> glass. The plate was coated with collodion and sensitized<br />
just before use, as in the wet plate process. It was introduced by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in<br />
1853**, and became instantly popular, particularly in the United States, though it was also widely<br />
used by street photographers in Great Britain.<br />
That this process appealed to street photographers was not surprising:<br />
● the process was simple enough to enable one to set up business without much capital.<br />
● It was much faster than other processes <strong>of</strong> the time: first, the base did not need drying, and<br />
secondly, no negative was needed, so it was a one-stage process.<br />
● Cheap to produce, a typical price for a tintype was 6d (2 1/2p) and 1 shilling (5p).<br />
● being more robust than ambrotypes it could be carried about, sent in the post, or mounted in<br />
an album.<br />
● The material could easily be cut up and therefore fitted into lockets, brooches, etc.<br />
The most common size was about the same as the carte-de-visite, 2 1/4'' x 3 1/2'', but both larger<br />
and smaller ferrotypes were made. The smallest were "Little Gem" tintypes, about the size <strong>of</strong> a<br />
postage-stamp, made simultaneously on a single plate in a camera with 12 or 16 lenses.<br />
Compared with other processes the tintype tones seem uninteresting. They were <strong>of</strong>ten made by<br />
unskilled photographers, and their quality was very variable. They do have some significance,<br />
however, in that they made photography available to working classes, not just to the more well-to-do.<br />
Whereas up till then the taking <strong>of</strong> a portrait had been more <strong>of</strong> a special "event" from the introduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> tintypes, we see more relaxed, spontaneous poses.<br />
Some tintypes that remain are somewhat poignant. The one<br />
shown here is <strong>of</strong> a child who has died. If this seems bizarre, it<br />
would seem to have been quite a practice in the last century.<br />
In fact, the original name for Tintype was "Melainotype." It is<br />
perhaps worth adding that there was no tin in them. Some have<br />
suggested that the name after the tin shears used to separate the<br />
images from the whole plate, others that it was just a way <strong>of</strong><br />
saying "cheap metal" (ie non-silver).<br />
The print would come out laterally reversed (as one sees oneself<br />
in a mirror); either people did not worry about this, or just<br />
possibly they did not discover it until after the photographer had<br />
disappeared!***<br />
Being quite rugged, tintypes could be sent by post, and many<br />
astute tintypists did quite a trade in America during the Civil War,<br />
visiting the encampments. Later, some even had their shop on<br />
river-boats.<br />
Tintypes were eventually superseded by gelatin emulsion dry plates in the 1880s, though street<br />
photographers in various parts <strong>of</strong> the world continued with this process until the 1950s; the writer<br />
well remembers being photographed by one <strong>of</strong> these street photographers in Argentina, when he was<br />
a boy. Eventually, <strong>of</strong> course, 35mm and Polaroid photography were to replace these entirely.<br />
** Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Hamilton L. Smith was the first to make ferrotypes in the Unites States, and he and
Victor Moreau Griswold introduced the process to the photographic industry.<br />
*** Sometimes failure to recognise this has led to false assumptions. One reader<br />
kindly drew my attention to an article in the Guardian, regarding Billy the Kid,<br />
whose picture is shown on the right. (See HERE). He was not, as has been<br />
assumed by many, left-handed.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
TONING, Print<br />
Toning was a chemical process which changed the colour <strong>of</strong> a photograph. It had a further benefit in<br />
that a toned image would be far more permanent. Gold toning came into use in the 1850s, using gold<br />
chloride.<br />
The tone <strong>of</strong> the prints varied considerably, as the toning depended upon such factors as the density <strong>of</strong><br />
the negative, the light, and even the way the paper had been sized. (For example, one finds that<br />
prints made in England seem warmer than those made in France, which was due to the fact that<br />
paper sizing in England was with gelatin).<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
VORTOGRAPHS and VORTICISM<br />
With its roots in Futurism and Cubism, Vorticism was a movement introduced by the painter and<br />
writer Wynham Lewis when he published "Blast: Review <strong>of</strong> the Great English Vortex." In this the<br />
traditional values were ridiculed, and modern technology exalted. This movement was championed by<br />
the poet Ezra Pound, and made popular by Alvin Langdon Coburn, who was one <strong>of</strong> its leading<br />
exponents.<br />
Like all movements, a concise definition can be misleading, but one <strong>of</strong> the aims <strong>of</strong> the Vorticist<br />
photographer was to mirror the complexity <strong>of</strong> industrialised civilisation. The roots <strong>of</strong> this were in<br />
Cubism.<br />
Another exponent <strong>of</strong> this relatively short-lived movement (three years or so) was Malcolm Arbuthnot,<br />
a regular contributor to the Amateur Photographer in the early part <strong>of</strong> the 20th century.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
WAXED PAPER Process<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the problems <strong>of</strong> the calotype process was that as one had to print through the paper negative,<br />
the imperfections <strong>of</strong> the paper would also show. Care was taken to ensure that the right kind <strong>of</strong> paper<br />
was used. However, the more transparent the paper, the greater the definition.<br />
It was quite a common practice to wax the calotype negative after it had been developed and fixed.<br />
However, Gustave Le Gray introduced, in 1851, a process whereby waxing was part <strong>of</strong> the process<br />
prior to exposure and development.<br />
Le Gray's process also enabled the paper to be kept a week or so before use. However, though it<br />
showed a definite improvement in definition, it was also slower than the calotype process; sometimes<br />
exposures <strong>of</strong> up to fifteen minutes in sunshine were sometimes required. It was for this reason that<br />
most <strong>of</strong> the subjects using this process were inanimate.<br />
Last updated undefined<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1997.
WET PLATE PROCESS<br />
The more popular name for the wet plate process is Collodion, invented by Scott Archer. It is called<br />
such because the entire process <strong>of</strong> coating the plate, exposing it, and processing had to be completed<br />
before the collodion dried.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
The WOODBURYTYPE process<br />
This is a form <strong>of</strong> photographic printing, mentioned here because it appears almost identical as a<br />
photograph. The process was patented by Walter Woodbury in 1866, and is similar to the carbon<br />
process. The great feature <strong>of</strong> the Woodbury process is that a photograph in gelatine is caused by<br />
enormous pressure to indent a sheet <strong>of</strong> lead.<br />
The quality <strong>of</strong> the pictures was remarkable, with no grain, and the process was widely used until the<br />
turn <strong>of</strong> the century.<br />
© Robert Leggat, 1999.<br />
Last updated undefined
Awards to this site<br />
Back to main index<br />
A <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> from its beginnings<br />
till the 1920s. Rating: ****<br />
Resource for information about the early<br />
years <strong>of</strong> photography. Includes an essay<br />
tracing the stages <strong>of</strong> development from<br />
daguerrotypes through calotypes and the<br />
collodion process to the dry plate process.<br />
Provides brief biographies for an extensive list<br />
<strong>of</strong> important early photographers such as<br />
Louis Daguerre, George Eastman, Eadweard<br />
Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, and William Henry<br />
Fox Talbot. Also defines and describes<br />
various processes, movements, and terms.<br />
Offers a bibliography and list <strong>of</strong> British<br />
museums with large photography collections.<br />
"This site is a very good source <strong>of</strong> information<br />
on the beginnings <strong>of</strong> photography until the<br />
1920s. It provides thumbnail biographies <strong>of</strong><br />
people who made significant contributions<br />
and reasonably extensive information on the<br />
processes, styles and movements involved. It<br />
also includes an extensive bibliography<br />
organised in terms <strong>of</strong> level <strong>of</strong> study and a list<br />
<strong>of</strong> museums where you can see the real<br />
thing. Unfortunately, no photographs are<br />
included due to copyright restrictions. "<br />
Education Index Top Site<br />
"Summarizing photography from its<br />
beginnings through 1920, this is a text<br />
presentation with information on the<br />
contributions <strong>of</strong> dozens <strong>of</strong> people and<br />
processes in early photography. It's an<br />
excellent resource, well organized for ease <strong>of</strong><br />
use."
StudyWeb<br />
Links 2 Go: <strong>Photography</strong><br />
Top 5% in K-12 Education<br />
Dr. Leggat provides a readable and well<br />
organized history <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong><br />
photography.<br />
Los Angeles Times<br />
http://www.studyweb.com<br />
Schoolsnet.com<br />
Schoolzone.co.uk