Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was born on June 11,1815 in Calcutta, India. She was born into a family of celebrated beauties, but was considered the ugly one of her sisters. Julia was educated in France, but moved to London later. She made a huge impact on modern photography. For example, she cropped her portraits closely, which is still used today. She owned a house called Dimbola Lodge on the Isle of Wight, which can be visited today. Julia passed in 1879.

Julia's career as a photographer didn't come until later in life, when her daughter gave her a camera as a present, but only lasted about 12 years. Within a year, she become a member of the Photographic Societies of London and Scotland. She was known for her portraits of celebrities of her time, which are often the only existing photographs of the figures of this time. Also for "Arthurian and legendary themed" pictures. In her work, she sought to capture beauty. She said, "I longed to arrest all the beauty that came before me and at length the longing has been satisfied." Her work is considered to hold a certain spontaneity which was not common of photographers of that time. When I look at her photographs, even though they are old, and not what we are used to looking at, I do see that sense of beauty in her chosen subjects. Due to the "oldness" they tend to not possess a whole lot of contrast, but they're nice all the same.

Sorry, this one's a little large. I recognized this one right away as Charles Darwin. This is a very famous picture that you'll find in text books, but I never knew who took it. Unlike some of her other work, this one does have nice contrast for the time period. He has a nice white head and beard, and deep darks in his suit and the background. This one doesn't portray beauty necessarily (it's not the first word that pops into my head), but it shows his character. He seems deep in thought and serious.

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This is called Beatrice. In this one I definitely do see beauty. But also a sad kind of beauty. Her face seems pained with something. The light source from the right hits her face just right and casts a beautiful shadow. I like the detail in her head scarf as well.

I love this. This is John Herschel, a scientist of his time. You look at it and get the impression of a crazy old mad. His hair is everywhere, his forehead is creased and wrinkled, his eyes are sagging, and they have an almost crazed look. The light is great again.

I really like this one as well. Like the previous Beatrice, this one shows beauty and sadness. She is beautiful, but looks like she is hiding something.

This is adorable! Aside from the pissed expression on her face, she is beautiful and innocent. I think the angel wings were added to give her portrait a more beautiful and innocent feel.

Assignment 1- Conclusion

For this assignment, we experimented with two different speeds of film. 100 and 400. For printing, we took an image from each of these rolls that resembled eachother and printed one small, on medium, and one really large. It was really interesting and different using fiber paper instead of RC. First of all, it took a lot more time to develop! And second, it dries bendy, which consumes more of your time for the hot and cold press. I personally liked the outcome of the 100 (I'm pretty sure it was this speed...) more, but that may be because it was a better image overall, the lighting was really nice, and the other was focused in a strange spot. Other than that, I honestly couldn't tell a drastic difference between the two different speeds, in the end, I mean. Though it is true that they each required different times.

My favorite image, when comparing size, was definitely the small. When an image is blown up really big, you can see every little detail (dust... grrr) and it almost looks grainy. But when the image is small, it's flaws aren't yelling at you, and it looks clean. I really like and appreciate how we are using these two rolls for further assignments. It's not that I don't enjoy shooting, (if I didn't, I wouldn't be taking photography...) it's just a lot less time-consuming, so, thanks Mr. Patteson!