Was Roger Fenton the first war photographer?
Supriya Joshi takes you back in time to explore the life and times of Roger Fenton, one of the world’s first ever war photographers. This article was originally published in October 2011. There are times when we look back at a particular genre of photography and wonder, how did it all begin?
Who is Roger Fenton?
Roger Fenton is a towering figure in the history of photography, the most celebrated and influential photographer in England during the medium’s “golden age” of the 1850s. Before taking up the camera, he studied law in London and painting in Paris.
What did John Fenton do for photography?
He was a passionate advocate of photography, and in 1853 Fenton became the founder and first secretary of the Photographic Society. His status as one of the leading photographers of his day was confirmed by his invitation to make several portraits of the royal family in 1854.
What did Roger Fenton do in the Crimean War?
Roger Fenton. He became a leading British photographer and instrumental in founding the Photographic Society (later the Royal Photographic Society ). In 1854, he was commissioned to document events occurring in Crimea, where he became one of a small group of photographers to produce images of the final stages of the Crimean War .
What did Roger Fenton take pictures of?
Fenton's extensive documentation of the war—the first such use of photography—included pictures of the port of Balaklava, the camps, the terrain of battle, and portraits of officers, soldiers, and support staff of the various allied armies.
Who was the first real war photojournalist?
Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer and the first to attempt a systematic coverage of war for the benefit of the public. Hired by Thomas Agnew, he landed at Balaclava in 1854.
What was the first photographed war?
The Civil WarIntroduction. The Civil War was the first large and prolonged conflict recorded by photography.
Was Fenton the first photographer sent to cover the Crimean War?
In Crimea, Fenton created more than 350 negatives and his work is regarded as the first systematic coverage of a conflict. Most of his subjects were officials and soldiers of the French and British regiments.
What is the most famous war photo?
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (1945) Fifty years after the picture was taken, the Associated Press wrote that it may be the world's most widely reproduced.
What is the oldest war footage?
The earliest footage of war that still exists was filmed on12 November 1899 by John Bennett (UK) during England's campaign at Orange River, South Africa during the Boer War (1899-1902).
Why did they not smile in old photos?
1) Very early technology made it harder to capture smiles One common explanation for the lack of smiles in old photos is that long exposure times — the time a camera needs to take a picture — made it important for the subject of a picture to stay as still as possible. That way, the picture wouldn't look blurry.
What is the oldest photo ever taken?
View from the Window at Le GrasThis photo, simply titled, "View from the Window at Le Gras," is said to be the world's earliest surviving photograph. And it was almost lost forever. It was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in a commune in France called Saint-Loup-de-Varennes somewhere between 1826 and 1827.
Who was the first person photographed?
Photo via: Mashable. Taken in 1838, Louis Daguerre's photograph of a Paris street scene shows a man standing along the Boulevard du Temple getting his shoes shined. It is widely believed to be the earliest extant photograph of human figures.
Who won the Crimean War?
The British won thanks to the dogged determination of their infantry, who were supported as the day went on by French reinforcements. The British suffered 2,500 killed and the French 1,700. Russians losses amounted to 12,000.
Where did Roger Fenton live?
Roger Fenton, (born 1819, Heywood, near Rochdale, Lancashire, England—died August 8, 1869, London), English photographer best known for his pictures of the Crimean War, which were the first extensive photographic documents of a war.
Who coined the term photography?
Sir John HerschelThe word “photography” literally means “drawing with light”. The word was supposedly first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839 from the Greek words phos, (genitive: phōtós) meaning “light”, and graphê meaning “drawing or writing”.
What was Dorothea Lange known for?
Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA).
Who were some of the most influential photojournalists in early photojournalism?
A lot of photographers that coined photojournalism for the next decades started their careers in the 1930s. Those include famous photographers such as Henri-Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, and W. Eugene-Smith.
What is the origin of photojournalism?
The beginning of modern photojournalism took place in 1925, in Germany. The event was the invention of the first 35 mm camera, the Leica. It was designed as a way to use surplus movie film, then shot in the 35 mm format.
What did Dorothea Lange have to do with the Farm Security Administration?
Photographer Dorothea Lange, working with the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration from 1935 to 1939, recorded the physical burdens and the psychological effects of the Depression within the lives of small farmers and laborers.
What was the purpose of the photographs Fenton took?
Fenton’s photographs were the first large-scale photographic documentation of war; therefore there were no precedents for him to follow. The images he produced are not considered objective photojournalism today, nor was it his purpose at the time. His commission was largely an exercise in propaganda, and the images depict a somewhat one-sided view. Fenton also hoped to sell his photographs to the general public, and knew that gruesome, realistic images would not be marketable. Of the more than 350 plates he produced, many are carefully posed groups of officers. Fenton knew the co-operation of the officers was essential to his success. He said, “If I refuse to take them, I get no facilities for conveying my van from one locality to another.” After four months of photographing the war, and ill from cholera, he sold his van and packed his equipment. He returned to England, and the remainder of the war was photographed by James Robertson.
Who was Roger Fenton?
Though best known for his photographs of the Crimean War, Roger Fenton was one of the most accomplished landscape and architectural photographers of his time. "The valley of the shadow of death" Crimean War photograph. Dirt road in ravine scattered with cannonballs. 1855. Fenton was born into an affluent family near Manchester, England, ...
Why was Fenton commissioned to photograph the Crimean War?
Share history with the world at IPHF. In response to the growing criticism of the British government’s handling of the Crimean War, Fenton was commissioned by the Agnew firm to produce photographs of the conflict. It was hoped that the photographs would counteract the negative portrayal of the war by the British press.
How many plates did Fenton make?
Fenton also hoped to sell his photographs to the general public, and knew that gruesome, realistic images would not be marketable. Of the more than 350 plates he produced, many are carefully posed groups of officers.
How many photographs did Thomas Agnew and Sons publish?
Thomas Agnew and Sons, Fenton’s publishers, issued 337 photographs on mounts, individually and as parts of sets, but sales were less than anticipated. Few wished to purchase images of a war most people wanted to forget.
Why did Fenton get letters of introduction?
To gain the cooperation of the war ministry and commanders in the field, he obtained letters of introduction from Prince Albert. Fenton, along with his equipment and a small staff, sailed to the region with the blessings and assistance of the British government, arriving in March 1855.
When did Fenton abandon photography?
Though his work is considered among the finest of his era, Fenton enjoyed little financial reward for his efforts. He completely abandoned photography in 1862, sold all of his equipment and images and returned to his law practice. Fenton died in 1869 at the age of 49. By Tina Miller, Angelo State University, for IPHF.
What was the subject of the photograph Fenton took?
As a photographer of architecture, Fenton was without equal in England. He assigned himself the task of photographing the major churches and abbeys of Great Britain and, working most often in a format as large as 14 x 18 inches, wedded perfect technique with an unerring ability to choose the precise vantage point and lighting conditions that would best render the smallest details of architecture, convey a sense of monumentality, and imbue his pictures with a Romantic spirit. His subjects include the Gothic cathedrals of Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, and Lichfield; Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and the British Museum; Windsor and Balmoral Castles; and the ruined abbeys of Rievaulx, Fountains, Rosslyn, and Lindisfarne.
What did Fenton demonstrate about photography?
In the course of a single decade, Fenton had played a pivotal role—by advocacy and example—in demonstrating that photography could rival drawing and painting not only as a means of conveying information, but also as a medium of visual delight and powerful expression.
What is the most compelling aspect of Fenton's landscape photography?
In landscape photography, too, Fenton was without parallel among his countrymen. The most compelling of his views of the English, Welsh, and Scottish countryside call to mind the paintings of Constable and Turner as well as Romantic poems by William Wordsworth that celebrate man’s ties to nature. Fenton possessed a particular sensitivity for the play of light and atmosphere in the natural world, a subject he explored throughout the decade of his career with as much determination and success as he did architecture. “No one can touch Fenton in landscape,” wrote the critic for the Journal of the Photographic Society in a review of the annual exhibition in 1858. “There is such an artistic feeling about the whole of these pictures … that they cannot fail to strike the beholder as being something more than mere photographs.”
What war did Fenton fight in?
Fenton’s most widespread acclaim came in 1855, with photographs of the Crimean War, a conflict in which British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops battled Russia’s attempt to expand its influence into European territory of the Ottoman empire.
What was the first use of photography in the war?
Fenton’s extensive documentation of the war—the first such use of photography—included pictures of the port of Balaklava, the camps, the terrain of battle, and portraits of officers, soldiers, and support staff of the various allied armies.
Who is Roger Fenton?
Roger Fenton is a towering figure in the history of photography, the most celebrated and influential photographer in England during the medium’s “golden age” of the 1850s. Before taking up the camera, he studied law in London and painting in Paris.
Who invented photography?
Daniel, Malcolm. “ William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) and the Invention of Photography .” (October 2004)
How many photographs did Fenton take?
Using the wet-collodion photographic process of the times, they took approximately 360 photographs of the war. As an agent of the government, however, Fenton portrayed only the “acceptable” parts of the conflict.
Who was Roger Fenton?
... (Show more) Full Article. Roger Fenton, (born 1819, Heywood, near Rochdale, Lancashire, England—died August 8, 1869, London), English photographer best known for his pictures of the Crimean War, which were the first extensive photographic documents of a war. Fenton studied painting and then law.
What did Fenton do in the Crimean War?
In the winter of 1855 his governmental connections as the founder (1853) and first honorary secretary of the Royal Photographic Society helped him gain an appointment as official photographer of the Crimean War. Fenton and his assistant, Marcus Sparling, arrived on the ship Heclaand set up their darkroom in a wagon. Using the wet-collodion photographic process of the times, they took approximately 360 photographs of the war. As an agent of the government, however, Fenton portrayed only the “acceptable” parts of the conflict. Even the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade—so movingly recounted by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem of the same name—was depicted as glorious. Although little of the real action or agony of war was shown, the images were nevertheless the first to depict the more mundaneaspects of modern warfare.
Who took the picture of the Mortar Battery?
A Quiet Day in the Mortar Battery, photograph by Roger Fenton, 1855; in the George Eastman House Collection, Rochester, New York.
Where is the photograph of a quiet day in the mortar battery?
A Quiet Day in the Mortar Battery, photograph by Roger Fenton, 1855; in the George Eastman House Collection, Rochester, New York. Courtesy of the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Upon Fenton’s return to England, his war images were successfully exhibited in London and Paris, and wood engravings of the particularly notable photographs were ...
What was the first photographic process to produce a negative from which an unlimited number of prints could be made?
By this time Fenton was using the wet-collodian method, which required shorter exposure times than previous methods. It was also the first photographic process to produce a negative from which an unlimited number of prints could be made. The disadvantage was that the entire process, from coating glass plates with light-sensitive emulsion to exposing and developing the image, had to be done in the ten minutes or so before the emulsion dried.
Why was Fenton sent to the battle zone?
The war was unpopular and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Partly to counteract growing criticism of the war , Fenton was sent to the battle zone as the first official war photographer, under the patronage of Prince Albert.
How long did Roger Fenton's career last?
Roger Fenton?s career as a photographer lasted little more than ten years. Nevertheless, his achievements included founding the Photographic Society (later the Royal Photographic Society), covering the Crimean War as the first
What happened to Fenton's son in 1860?
In April 1860 Fenton?s only son died at the age of 15 months. In the same month, his assistant, Marcus Sparling, also died. These events, together with the abrupt end to the reliable income that resulted from the closure of the family mill, are thought to have prompted a decisive change of direction in Fenton?s life.
When did Fenton make his final portraits?
In 1858 Fenton made a number of studio portraits with an ?Orientalist? theme, which were followed by a series of beautiful still life studies in 1860. However, these images were among his final photographs.
Who was the first photographer to go to the Crimean War?
The official declaration of the Crimean War also took place in 1854, which was a conflict between the British Empire and its allies and the Russian Empire. The war was unpopular and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Partly to counteract growing criticism of the war, Fenton was sent to the battle zone as the first official war photographer, under the patronage of Prince Albert. He undertook the journey on assignment for the publishing firm Thomas Agnew & Sons, which hoped to sell his photographs.
What type of camera did Fenton use?
Fenton used large format glass plate cameras and the collodion, or wet plate, process which required long exposure times—up to 20 seconds or more. Moreover, each plate had to be sensitised immediately before exposure and developed immediately after exposure, before the emulsion dried, necessitating the use of some form of mobile darkroom. In Fenton’s case this took the form of a converted wine merchant’s wagon which, unfortunately, also proved itself to be a very tempting target for Turkish artillery.
How many pictures did Fenton take of the war?
Indeed, it is remarkable that he was able to achieve what he did—over 300 photographs showing scenes of camp life, portraits of commanders and heroes, panoramas of sights of battles and carefully posed tableaux vivants —the beginnings of a long tradition of ‘staged’ war images.
Why did Fenton not photograph the Crimean War?
However, the Crimean War was extremely unpopular with the British public and press, and the government hoped that Fenton’s photographs would counteract the negative reports of military mismanagement.
What battle did the Light Brigade fight in?
The Light Brigade, in particular, suffered many casualities at the Battle of Balaklava. The French Redoubt at Inkermann, 1855, Roger Fenton, The Royal Photographic Society Collection. British, French Turkish and Sardinian soldiers all fought in the Crimean War.
How did camera technology affect war photography?
Changes in camera technology and photographic processes have profoundly influenced war photography—from the Crimean War to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Technological innovations such as shorter exposure times, portable cameras and improved lenses transformed the photography of conflict. However, as well as purely technical considerations, ...
Why did Fenton not record the horror of war?
It is because he only took ‘positive’ images of the war, that some critics do not consider Fenton to be a true war photographer.
Who was the photographer in Crimea?
A number of photographers subsequently worked in the Crimea. The most famous of these was undoubtedly Roger Fenton —a leading figure in British photography who was commissioned by a firm of publishers, Thomas Agnew and Son, to create a photographic record of the war.
