Introduction to the History of Photography

John Thomson (1837-1921) 'Street Life in London England, 1877-8 Carbon print (woodburytype) Victoria and Albert Museum The Photographs In the late 1870s Thomson embarked on his most well known project, photographing the lives the people living on the streets of London. 'Street Life in London' was published in twelve instalments throughout 1877 and the beginning of 1878. Three of Thomson's photographs appeared in each edition with three stories mainly written by the journalist Adolphe Smith, who held reformist views and worked as the official interpreter for the TUC from 1886 to 1905. With social problems gaining increased attention in the 1870s through the work of such men as Charles Dickens and the founder of homes for destitute children, Dr Barnado, these vignettes of survival among the poor proved popular with the public. The hopes and aspirations, values and needs of those portrayed were recognisable to the readers of other classes. The photogr...

A Manchu bride, Beijing - ca 1871      The Island Pagoda , Min River , Fukien, circa 1871. Street Gamblers , circa 1868 - 1871. Modern albumen print from wet-collodion negative   Through China with a Camera by John Thomson (1899) http://www.archive.org/details/throughchinawit04thomgoog John Thomson,   Honan Soldiers , 1871 (self portrait with Honan Soldiers) . Albumen stereograph from wet-collodion negative. Taken in Amoy in 1871, one of the few images of Thomson in the Far East, also considered one of the few self-portraits of the photographer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomson,_Honan_Soldiers.jpg links: The photographs of John Thomson - National Library of Scotland John Thomson at the Victoria & Albert Museum