Background to the Talbotype or calotype

Sketch of Lake Como - Talbot - 1833
Drawing created using a Camera Lucida

source: http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_p/1_photographers_talbot_smm_sketch.htm

"(In) October, 1833, I was amusing myself on the lovely shores of the Lake of Como in Italy, taking sketches with a Camera Lucida, or rather, I should say, attempting to make them; but with the smallest possible amount of success...

After various fruitless attempts I laid aside the instrument and came to the conclusion that its use required a previous knowledge of drawing which unfortunately I did not possess.

I then thought of trying again a method which I had tried many years before. This method was to take a Camera Obscura and to throw the image of the objects on a piece of paper in its focus - fairy pictures, creations of a moment, and destined as rapidly to fade away...

It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me... how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably and remain fixed on the paper!"

Henry Fox Talbot

source: http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/index.html

Illustration showing the use of the Camera Lucida
source: http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/C.html

Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum
Country house created out of a medieval abbey,
the home of William Henry Fox Talbot
source: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lacockabbeyvillage.htm

Comments

Group f/64 Manifesto (1932)

Ansel Adams by Dorothea Lange Group f/64 Manifesto The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image which is an important element in the work of members of this Group. The chief object of the Group is to present in frequent shows what it considers the best contemporary photography of the West; in addition to the showing of the work of its members, it will include prints from other photographers who evidence tendencies in their work similar to that of the Group. Group f/64 is not pretending to cover the entire of photography or to indicate through its selection of members any deprecating opinion of the photographers who are not included in its shows. There are great number of serious workers in photography whose style and technique does not relate to the metier of the Group. Group f/64 limits its members and invitational names to those worke...

Mission Héliographique, 1851

Roman Arch at Orange], 1851 Édouard Baldus (French, born Prussia, 1813–1889) Salted paper print from paper negative 35.3 x 26.2 cm "In 1851, the Commission des Monuments Historiques, an agency of the French government, selected five photographers to make photographic surveys of the nation's architectural patrimony. These Missions Héliographiques, as they were called, were intended to aid the Paris-based commission in determining the nature and urgency of the preservation and restoration of work required at historic sites throughout France. The French rail network was still in its infancy and many of the commissioners had never visited the monuments in their care; photography promised a record of such sites that would be produced more quickly and accurately than the architectural drawings on which they had previously relied. " Malcolm Daniel Department of Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Source: Mission Héliographique, 1851 | Thematic Essay | Heilb...

The Photography of Everyday Life: Paul Martin (1864-1942)

Blind beggar at the cattle market, c.1890 Paul Martin British, 1864 - 1942 Platinum print 18 x 22.8cm Dancing to the organ, Lambeth, 1893 Platinum print 10 x 7.5cm The Old Empire Platinum print 17.5 x 23.5cm Southend Beach, 1905 Yarmouth sands, 1892 Link: Victoria and Albert Museum: Exploring Photography

Introduction to the History of Photography

Search This Blog