HF The History of Photography 600pág

Mammoth and miniature photographs 315
It will have become clear from the preceding pages that before the advent of fast
bromide paper in the l88os, enlarging was troublesome, and apart from leading
portrait photographers who had a frequent demand, it was confined to specialists who
took in outside work, both for professionals and amateurs. Quite a number of
amateurs used stereoscopic cameras and other comparatively small plate sizes, such
as 3± in. x 4± in. and 5 in. x 4 in., with the result that photographic journals from the
early l86os onward frequently contained advertisements of enlarging services.
Aldis of Baker Street, London, advertised in the Photographic News of l January 1864
that 'he is prepared to enlarge photographs by artificial light to any size up to 40 in. x
26 in.' stipulating that 'Heads intended for life-size ought not to measure less than i
of an inch in the negative.' R. L. Elliott of London advertised, for example, in July
l 868 'bold and sharp life-size enlargements by the sun or by limelight, according to
the state of the weather', and guaranteed delivery within three days. His charges
were 3s. 6d. for a 15 in. x 12 in. enlargement, 5s. for 20 in. x 16 in., and l7s. for 40 in.
x 26 in., the largest size he could undertake.
It was no doubt because Julia Margaret Cameron was afraid lest some of her
imposing portraits might be mistaken for enlargements that she sometimes felt it
necessary to inscribe them 'From life, not enlarged.' But if she disdained the convenience
of working with normal sized plates, fearing that the quality of her work
would suffer by enlarging, Mrs Cameron failed to realize that the impact of her
powerful portraits on the spectator was lost in the carte and cabinet sizes which she
published at Colnaghi's.
MAMMOTH PHOTOGRAPHS
In Paris, producing mammoth photographs became a favourite advertising stunt of
photographers in 1860-r. Edouard Delessert's 6 ft x 5 ft (190 cm. x 155 cm.) photograph
of a pony, made on nine sheets of paper, and Mayer & Pierson's full-length
life-size portrait of Napoleon III drew gaping crowds, few of whom had any idea
how the pictures were made.10 ' cHAM ' (Amedee de Noe) poked fun at the 'life-size' Fig 46
Fig 46 Caricature by 'Cham' of Disderi's
'life-size' portraits, 1861
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