Talk to Edinburgh University - Celtic and Scottish Studies

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Photographic Society

of Scotland

From 1856

Background

The Great Exhibition was held in the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It included a Photography Section with examples of the recently invented collodion process. This opened up photography to a wider public.
Over the next few years, photographic societies opened in various cities around Britain, including:
                                      - Leeds                1852
                                      - London *          1853
                                      - Liverpool        1853
                                      - Manchester    1855
                                      - Edinburgh ** 1856

* This society became the Royal Photographic Society

** This society was named The Photographic Society of Scotland.
Sir David Brewster

Calotype by Hill & Adamson

© Reproduced by courtesy of Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services
Brewster was born in Jedburgh in 1787
Attended Edinburgh University from the age of 12
Awarded an Arts Degree by Edinburgh University in 1800
Became editor of the Edinburgh Magazine, later Scots Magazine, aged 20.
Editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica for 22 years
President of Photographic Society of Scotland from 1856
President of Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1864
Principal of Edinburgh University, from age 78 until his death, 9 years later.

Horatio Ross

Self portrait, preparing a collodion plate

Horatio Ross was born in 1801.
Named after his godfather, Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.
He was a wealthy landowner.
1832-34: MP for Arbroath.
Won the first steeplechase on record.
Represented Scotland at shooting.
He once walked from the Dee to Inverness, 97 miles without stopping
Horatio Ross and his wife were both photographers. Here is one of a set of photos taken by Horatio's wife in the Scottish Highlands.

The Scottish Highlands

Photograph by Mrs Horatio Ross?

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PSS Exhibitions

Their first PSS exhibition in 1856 attracted 1,050 prints and 8,000 visitors.

Press Reports

Press reports show how the public and the press still regarded photography with some astonishment, even seventeen years after its discovery.
Here are some extracts from press:

"Another Exhibition has opened to delight our pleasure-loving Auld Reekieites who are noted as dillettántí and Fine-Art rhapsodists.

Photography already appears scarcely less marvellous than the electric telegraph."

[Caledonian Mercury 22 December 1856]

The Courant included some poetry when it commented on the exhibition!

“ Old Sol had scarcely spoken thus, when forth I went straightway

To his Great Exhibition-Room, my shilling there to pay;

And scarcely had I passed the door, and laid my money down

When I exclaimed 'A shilling’s worth! Why this is worth a crown.'

He really is a painter! His own account is true.

I only wish we saw him here far oft’ner than we do.”

[The Courant 22 January 1857]

Composition Pictures

Henry Peach Robinson composition pictures - i.e. pictures that used multiple negatives to create the images that he wanted. Here are some of his results:

'Fading Away'

Copies on sale at 15s 0d each in 3rd PSS Annual Exhibition

Henry Peach Robinson won many Medals for his photography - and he let people know about them by adding them to his notepaper:

Letter from H P Robinson.

Two Ways of Life

O G Rejlander

Rejlander is another photographer who produced composition pictures. Here is one that he sent to a Photographic Society of Scotland's Second Exhibition, held in 1857.

'Two Ways of Life'

Controversy

Composition pictures (where several different negatives were used to make a print) were somewhat controversial in the 1850s, some photographers believing them to be 'cheating'.
But this photo, produced from 32 negatives by OG Rejlander and submitted to the Photographic Society of Scotland's 1857 Exhibition, was more controversial than most.
O G Rejlander considered his photography to be Fine Art, and his photo had been highly praised when exhibited in Manchester.
However, the PSS Hanging Committee declined it because of its semi-nude female figures.

Press Comment

The Daily Express was vexed with the decision and wrote:

“O G Rejlander's ‘Two Ways of Life’ was exhibited in the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester. The Prince Consort has three copies of it.

Sir David Brewster, the President has one copy. It will scarcely be credited that the amateur ‘hanging committee’ of PSS rejected it because there were half-draped female figures in it.

Call at Mr Wood’s, 88 Princes Street, where the rejected photograph may be seen.”

A compromise may have been reached. I have read a report that the picture was displayed with one half hidden behind a draped cloth, though I'm not sure where it was on display in this way.

The Outcome

Professional photographers tried for more representation on the 'Hanging Committee', but were not successful, so they began to hold their own informal meetings.
In 1861, together with a number of amateur photographers, they formed Edinburgh Photographic Society. The earlier society, The Photographic Society of Scotland, then began to go into decline

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Edinburgh

Photographic Society