Talk to Museum of Edinburgh - February 4, 2013 - Page 1

Museum of Edinburgh Talk 4 February, 2013 PAGE INDEX The History of Edinburgh Old Town & Royal Mile in Pictures
0.	Introduction	Lots of photos to see. EdinPhoto web site.
1.	Early Photography and Engravings	Talbot, Daguerre, Hill & Adamson, Engravings.
2.	Edinburgh Photographic Societies	Edinburgh Calotype Club PSS, EPS.
3.	Old Town - Houses and Streets	Dumbiedykes, St Leonard's.
4.	Old Town - Shops and Police Boxes	Shops, Shops and Cars, Police Boxes.
5.	Royal Mile - Earlier Views	Festivals and Processions, Closes, Castle to Palace
6.	Royal Mile - Recent Photos 2013	Castle to Palace
7.	Panoramas	Royal Mile. From Camera Obscura,

Talbot and Daguerre

There were some earlier experiments in photography, but it was not until 1839 that any reliable process was invented - then two came along together - one in England and one in France.

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Talbot

In England, it was William Henry Fox Talbot, born 1800, Dorset, who announced his Calotype method. It produced a negative image on paper which could then be used to make multiple prints.

- Talbot was a member of the Astronomical Society and the Royal Society in London.

- He studied Classics and Mathematics at Cambridge.

- He was a Biblical scholar and a botanist, and helped to decipher cuneiform script.

- He corresponded with Herschel who had knowledge of chemistry and Brewster who had knowledge of optics.

- He began to experiment with photography in 1834.

The Latticed Window

This is a print is from the earliest negative known to have survived, 'The Latticed Window', an early print by Talbot from his home at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.

© Reproduced from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television collection,
by courtesy of the Science and Society Picture Library.

The negative and print above are both very small - only about 1 inch square. This is the type of small, simple camera that Talbot was using around 1840.

Cameras used by Talbot

© Reproduced from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television collection,
by courtesy of the Science and Society Picture Library. Click here for link to web site.

Portraits

Here are two photos of Talbot taken by Ivan Sjabo, one of the prominent photographers in St Andrews. It seems that bot Sjabo and Talbot must have had a sense of humour!

Talbot

'Hair down, Collar up'

'Hair up, Collar down'

Talbot visited Edinburgh in the early-1840s to take photos for his book, 'Sun Pictures of Scotland'. Here is one of his photos, showing the Scott Monument under construction:

Talbot was elected an Honorary Member of Edinburgh Photographic Society in 1862 and in later life lived in Edinburgh at several different addresses.

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Daguerre

In Paris, it was Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, born 1787, France, who announced his Daguerreotype process. This process was very different from that discovered by Talbot. Daguerre's process produced a single delicate image on metal.

- Daguerre was a painter who designed diorama scenes for the theatre.

- He had partnered Nicéphore Niépce for his photographic experiments, until Niépce's death in 1833.

Here is an engraving of Daguerre from one of the early photographic journals.

Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh

I've not found any evidence that Daguerre ever visited Edinburgh, but he did paint this large picture of Holyrood Abbey,

© Reproduced by courtesy of The Board of Trustees of the National Museums & Galleries
on Merseyside (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)

Daguerreotype

A Daguerreotype has to be turned at the right angle to the light for the image to be seen clearly, as in this example. When viewed from other angles, the image might almost disappear.

Hill & Adamson

Photography was possible from around 1840, but there were not very many photographers around. Skill was needed and exposures of several seconds were required for both Calotype and Daguerreotype photographs.

The Daguerreotype process needed special equipment and was hazardous. One of the steps in the process of producing a Daguerreo-type was to expose the metal plate with the image to vapour from heated mercury!

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Hill & Adamson

The Hill & Adamson partnership had a studio at their home, 'Rock House', beside the steps leading up from Regent Road to Calton Hill. They produced some remarkable results in 1843-47. The partnership was cut short by the early death of Robert Adamson.

DO Hill

Here is one of their Calotype photos of The Scott Monument under construction ...

The Scott Monument

... and here are two of their photos taken in the Old Town:

John Knox House

White Horse Close

Hill & Adamson also took many documentary photos of the fishwives and fishermen of Newhaven, about 3 miles north of the centre of Edinburgh.

Newhaven Fishwives

Further Progress in Photography

Professional Photographers

Several advances were made in photography in the 1850s. The collodion process - producing a negative image on a glass plate which was then used to make an albumen print, took over from both the Calotype and Daguerreotype processes.

More photographers set up in business. Edinburgh had less than twenty photographic studios in 1855, but the number increased to around sixty by 1865. Later in the century, competition increased and the prices charged by some of the studios reduced significantly.

Amateur Photographers

It was not until around 1890 that photography became more widely practiced by amateurs. This was helped by the arrival of dry collodion plates which required shorter exposures, and cameras and film from Kodak who arrived on the scene with their slogan, 'You press the button; we do the rest.'

Film and Silver Prints

By the early-20th century, many photographers had moved from using glass plates to film, and had begun to produce 'silver prints' rather than albumen. Both film and silver prints continued to be the norm until digital photography took over about a hundred years later.

Other Processes and Formats

Carte de Visite

Victorian photograph albums were usually designed to hold just two sizes of photo, cartes de visit (small) and cabinet prints (larger) between around the 1860s and 1900.

Front and Back of a carte de visite

Cartes de visite were usually bought by the half-dozen or dozen so that they could be shared with family and friends, so the same image would be likely to be added to several photograph albums.

Ambrotype

Photographers might also offer Ambrotypes. They were sold as individual images, and mounted behind glass in cases, with folding lids.

Occasionally two photos, such as husband and wife would be mounted in a single case, one inside the body of the case and the other inside the lid.

Bromoil

and other processes

Several other types of photo had periods of being popular - platinum. palladium, bromoil, all favoured by photographers looking for photos that would not fade with time.

DUNURE CASTLE, AYRSHIRE

"Ruins - Old In Story" - Bromoil by John M Whitehead

Stereo Views

Stereo photos were popular for about a decade around the 1860s and again for about a decade around the 1890s.

Stereo Viewer - and view of Grassmarket and Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle from Johnson Terrace
View looking up to the castle from the South East

Edinburgh Castle from the Castle Esplanade
View looking up to the castle from the East

Colour Photography

In Victorian times, some of the monochrome photos might be hand tinted, with photographers employing specialist staff to carry out this type of work.

Colour photography became possible in the early 20th century but only very limited use was made of it.

It was from around the 1960s that many keen amateur photographers started to use colour slide film, often Kodachrome.

From around the 1970s onwards colour prints became more affordable, so the photos being brought back for the family album change from being perhaps 2 1/4 ins square black and white prints to perhaps 6ins x 4 ins colour prints.

Now, in the 21st century, with digital photography, family photos might be viewed on the camera screen and exchanged by email, with only a very small proportion of them ever being printed for the family album.

Pictures in Books

Usually engravings in 19th Century

Photos

Despite all the advances in photography between 1840 and 1900, very few photos appeared in books over that period.

In the early 1840s, Talbot had produced a couple of books illustrated by his photography, but there was no mechanical method to print these photos onto the page, so he had to print all the photos individually then attach them to the book pages.

Engravings

Most books continued to be illustrated by engravings, just as they had been before the days of photography. Here are some engravings from a couple of books.

The engravings in the books were not coloured, but it has become common practice for dealers to break up the books and arrange for the individual engravings to be hand-coloured, then mounted on card.

Below are examples of a few of the engravings, both as published and as subsequently published

Modern Athens

Published 1829

Old Town and North Bridge - from Princes Street

Edinburgh Old Town and Bank of Scotland - from Princes Street

Edinburgh Castle - view from below Ramsay Garden, the Mound

Edinburgh Castle - The Interior Quadrangle

Edinburgh Castle - from the Vennel

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Old & New Edinburgh

Published c.1890

Edinburgh from the south

Edinburgh from Corstorphine Hill

Edinburgh from King's Bastion at Edinburgh Castle - 1825

Edinburgh Castle from Port Hopetoun - 1825

Museum of Edinburgh Talk 4 February, 2013 PAGE INDEX
0.	Introduction	Lots of photos to see. EdinPhoto web site.
1.	Early Photography and Engravings	Talbot, Daguerre, Hill & Adamson, Engravings.
2.	Photographic Societies	Edinburgh Calotype Club PSS, EPS.
3.	Old Town - Houses and Streets	Dumbiedykes, St Leonard's.
4.	Old Town - Shops and Police Boxes	Shops, Shops and Cars, Police Boxes.
5.	Royal Mile - Earlier Views	Festivals and Processions, Closes, Castle to Palace
6.	Royal Mile - Recent Photos 2013	Castle to Palace
7.	Panoramas	Royal Mile. From Camera Obscura,
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh Web site: www.edinphoto.org.uk