Departed Dead Photographer of the Moment: Julia Margaret Cameron
The world is full of photographers, and it's not unusual to be asked, "Have you heard of this-or-that photographer?" and the answer for most of us, many times, is, "No." There are lots of great photographers out there, and it's always a wonderful surprise to discover someone whose work you really like, but whose name you've never heard before.
In the quest to get your work out there, living photographers have one great advantage, namely that we're still around to promote ourselves. Build that Website, use paid search advertising, Linkedin and Facebook. Tweet away!
But what of those who've made the trip to the ultimate darkroom? Some have work that that's made it onto gallery walls, or into the history of photography books. Regardless of the accomplishments of a lifetime, there are a lot of great photographers — some famous and many not — who have passed away, but whose work deserves to be remembered, studied, and showcased.
We started this series as "Dead Photographer of the Moment" but in response to a handful of people who wrote to register a protest that the title is too coarse, we've euphemistically renamed it "Departed Photographer of the Moment." The purpose is still the same: To bring to our readers' attention the life and work of an interesting photographer whose picture-taking days are over. In the coming months, we'll profile the work of photographers of note, both the famous and the not-so-famous, whose work we think merits the attention of all photographers.
In this installment we turn to an English photographer who was born before the invention of photography — Julia Margaret Cameron.
We hope you're enjoying our appreciations of these important figures. Comments about our name change or anything else, including suggestions for future installments are always welcome. Just send them to
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 – 1879)
by NYI Associate Dean Jerry Rice
The 19th century was a century of discovery and exploration — in science, industry, the arts, geography, education, and government. Among its major contributions was the invention of photography around 1839, the work of such prominent figures as William Henry Fox Talbot, L.J.M. Daguerre, and Niepce Nicephore.
Photography rapidly moved from a novel curiosity to the status of folk art whose widespread popularity was astonishing not only in its growth but also in the rapidity of that growth. In short, photography seemed to be almost everywhere in almost no time at all.
There was an English lady named Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), a member of the upper class gentry. She took up photography as a hobby in 1863. Although she was born in Calcutta, India and died in Sri Lanka, she did most of her photography on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.
At first, Mrs. Cameron used her camera in much the same way as many of us do — countless snapshots of her large family and close friends (and pets, live stock, estate buildings, etc.).
Her second phase of photography took her into the realm of staged literary illustrations, allegorical interpretations, recollections of dreams, and the like. Often she inveigled friends, relatives, and even servants to pose (in costumes) as mythical and imaginary figures in tableaux. There is nothing wrong in that; it's harmless enough, I suppose, unless, of course, one starts to take it too seriously. If you begin to think of that kind of photography as the be-all and end-all there may be some questions raised about your taste (or lack of same). But. I suppose, that one man's meat is another man's poison, and photography should be big enough, broad enough to encompass kinds of activity.
There is, though, a third and very serious side to Julia Margaret Cameron's work: her portraits of important members of the intelligentsia including England's poet laureate Lord Tennyson, the historian Thomas Carlyle, scientists like Charles Darwin and the photo chemist Sir John Herschel (who is credited with coining the terms "photography," "positive" and "negative"), and the great English actress Ellen Terry.
Cameron's techniques were not flawless, her equipment less than ideal. But she achieved a remarkable level of portraiture not often accomplished in her own day and seldom matched in the years that followed. A remarkable photographer, largely self-taught, who has left us a legacy of images of the great men and women of her time!
She certainly did not invent the technique of tight cropping in her portraiture, but she often employed this method very effectively. Ms. Cameron also photographed largely with existing light, thus giving her portraits a soft natural diffused appearance that attracts viewers easily. We are not distracted by the obvious tricks of staged lighting.
Her influence on the photography of the 19th century, especially in portraiture, was keenly felt and is still a factor in modern photographic portraiture.
At first, Mrs. Cameron used her camera in much the same way as many of us do — countless snapshots of her large family and close friends (and pets, live stock, estate buildings, etc.).
