Here's my critical review on Julia Margaret Cameron and Jane Bown
Introduction
All through this whole OCA
course, which I have been working on since 2008) I have been tasked to research
photographers. Time and again I have
found myself studying women photographers and have always felt that they have
not been given enough recognition about the barriers that they have had to
overcome on their way to recognition. With
this in mind I have chosen two women photographers that I feel deserve to be
brought to the attention of all photographers as being pioneers in their own
right. They are Julia Margaret Cameron, (1815-1879)
and Jane Bown (1925-2014). Julia
Margaret Cameron’s name has often arisen during my photographic studies and I
am aware of the many difficulties that women in the 19th century
faced when they tried to step out of the normal duties expected of their
class. Also, I am particularly
interested in Jane Bown, as my submissions have been likened to her work over
the years. I find this immensely pleasing,
as, before I started at Photography Level 2, I had never heard of her.
Section 1 – Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron was
born in Calcutta when her father was employed by the East India Company. It was unusual for women of that era to take
up photography, as it would be extremely expensive. Julia married Charles Hay
Cameron in 1835 and became a leading society hostess in Calcutta.
There
was much said about Cameron that she started photography in her late 40s after
being given a camera by her daughter to give her an interest once her family
had grown up. In fact, according to the
V&A museum, Cameron took photographs as a hobby well before then but only
began serious photography when she was 48 and given the said camera. I’ve tried to find out what camera she used
but have only managed to glean that it would have been a standard plate camera,
which produced albumen prints from wet collodion glass negatives. One interesting fact gleaned from the V&A
website was that she didn’t mind making mistakes in the processing and thought
they added to her portraits. In fact she
turned her mistakes into her signature style as she became more accomplished. Initially Julia used her family and friends
as subjects (including Alfred Lord Tennyson) and developed a fairy like quality
to her images. In 1865 Julie exhibited
her work, which was like Marmite – loved or hated – in Scotland, Berlin and
Dublin but some judges dismissed her work for its technical deficiencies and
unconventionality.
Cameron
moved to the Isle of Wight (Dimbola Lodge) in 1860 when her daughter died in
childbirth and abandoned exhibitions concentrating more on selling portraits
and allegories. In 1875 the Camerons
emigrated to Ceylon to be with their coffee-farming sons but she did very
little photography during her later years.
She died in 1879 after a short illness.
I
find her portraits rather fanciful and unrealistic when they illustrate fairy
tales and parables. I admire the amount
of dedication needed to create images in the early days of photography as each
individual plate had to be prepared separately.
It was usual to prepare only about 5 or 6 plates for use at a single
sitting.
YouTube video on Julia
Margaret Cameron, March 2016, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ya7XWByKks
, accessed 21 March 2017
YouTube video on Masters
in Photography Julia Margaret Cameron, Sep
25, 2008, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqnVLwRagbs,
accessed 21 March 2017
Section 2 - Jane Bown
Since I became aware of Jane Bown I have
researched her work and obtained copies of some of her books from my local
library. She worked for 6 decades mainly
for the Guardian and Observer and took pictures of all the notable individuals during
that time.
One interesting fact was that Jane studied at
Guildford College of Art in the 1960s and I actually taught at the college, now
known as Guildford College of Further Education from 1999-2009, although in the
computing/photography department.
I was very interested to read her
quote from her book “A Lifetime of Looking”, Bown J. (15 Oct 2015) Guardian Faber Publishing; that
‘some people take pictures, I find them’.
Jane’s images are mainly formal that allow the viewer to identify with
them. Many times I’ve looked at images
by ‘famous photographers’ that completely remove the person from what would
show their real personality. Jane says,
in her book, that she’s a ‘one-shot photographer and always has been’.
Jane
always used black and white film but was expected to change to colour pictures
in the 1960s but never really enjoyed the change as printing all her own work, she
felt that there was no control over coloured images. During my level 1 work in Portraiture my
tutor compared some of my work to that of Jane’s. When I explored her work I
had to agree that it was in a similar genre to her’s. Having watched the YouTube interview with ITV
News broadcaster Jon Snow she gave some insights into how she approached her
work. ITN News (March 2016);
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySDJe-mz2WU (Accessed: 3 March
2017). One comment she made was that she
often found the first shot or the last shot was her most successful one.
I
find her portraits especially fascinating when subjects are looking directly at
the camera. This makes for a very strong
image and even with her image entitled ‘Teddy Bear Exhibition’ in 1979 she had
the bears staring at the camera. It can
be very difficult to catch that exact moment that makes the image and Jane
captures the moment time and again. Even
her own self-portrait had her looking straight at the camera holding her own
favourite camera.
Websites:
YouTube video on Masters
in Photography Julia Margaret Cameron, Mar
17, 2015, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySDJe-mz2WU&t=13s,
accessed 21 March 2017
Section 3 - Areas of comparison
between Julia Margaret Cameron and Jane Bown
When it comes down to
comparing these two women photographers initial complications come from the
fact that they worked in different centuries – Julia in the 19th
century and Jane in the 20th century. Julia worked with cameras and glass slides at
the beginning of photography and Jane was able to take advantage of both 120
and 35mm roll film, which was invented in the beginning of the 20th
century. Julia would have had to create
her own collodion glass slides which could be highly dangerous whilst Jane
would have bought film from a local dealer and either processed it herself or
taken it to a commercial processor.
Another
subtle difference between the two women was that Julia was self-taught at home
whilst Jane attended Guildford College of Art (after service in the Wrens
during WW2) and was taught by her tutor Ifor Thomas. He advised her to create a portfolio of her
work to submit to London agencies and she hawked it round to gain professional
work.
Although
Julia had dabbled in photography at home she only started working
professionally at the age of 48 with a plate camera given to her by her
daughter. Jane initially used a twin
lens Rolleiflex camera but her favourite was an Olympus
camera with an 85mm lens, and she invariably set it at a shutter speed of
1/60th of a second with the aperture at f2.8.
Whilst Julia worked mainly in
her studio (nicknamed the glass house) and had unlimited time to set up her
portraits, Jane had to be able to work using natural light and a limited amount
of time to ‘get’ her portraits. Jane had
the uncanny knack of finding the punctum (an object or image that jumps out at the viewer within
a photograph) in her portraits and reportage
work. Not only was Jane well known for
her portrait work she was also renowned for her street photography work.
Julia
stayed with her glass plate system whilst Jane would have had the benefit of
progress in photography and having used black and white film for most of her
working life, was asked to transfer to colour film in the 1960s when film
became more satisfactory. Although she
used colour film in some of her work, she had a distinct preference for black
and white film. When digital cameras
were developed in the 1990s Jane felt it was time to retire as she felt it was
not an acceptable alternative to her beloved Olympus film cameras.
Whilst
it would seem that working in the 20th/21st century in
photography was easier than the 19th century, the bottom line was
really did the photographer have a ‘good eye’ for composing an acceptable
image? While anyone can learn the rules
to basic picture design, it comes down to the individual. Whilst Bown’s photographs were sought after
and her skills were in demand until she retired, Julia’s portraits and
illustrated legends were either loved or hated.
While she was learning she had a tendency to be careless with her processing
and considered it an extra to the image whilst other people felt it was
unacceptable.
Conclusion
I must admit to being
grateful that I live in the 21st century when it comes to
photography after researching the obstacles that photographers had to overcome
in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Whilst I wasn’t around during the initial
development of image making with the likes of Henry Fox Talbot and Julia
Margaret Cameron, I took up film photography in the 1960s and have carried on photographing
since. In the 1990s, once digital
cameras became available and their quality improved enough to compare with film
scans, I moved to digital cameras and Photoshop software and have continued
since.
Once
I had received tuition in the basics of developing film and printing images I
had my own darkroom in my loft, freezing in winter and boiling hot in summer
but it taught me how to control my development and printing. Like Julia Margaret Cameron I had my own
problems with processing images including simple mistakes such as fingernail
marks on prints. I should imagine that
Jane Bown had also processed her own images from her initial tuition at the
Guildford College of Art but I haven’t been able to find out whether she had to
carry on or had her films processed commercially when she worked for the
Observer.
One
thing I think I would have found strange is having an unlimited amount of time
to produce pictures to my own specification.
Cameron was in such a position as, coming from a well to do household
where her main duties would be that of managing a household with servants to
assist, would be able to devote as much time as she wanted ordering her models
(family and friends) to produce her masterpieces. I understand she wasn’t above ordering
visitors to Dimbola Lodge to partake in her ethereal studies whether they
wanted to or not. Watching the BBC 4 iPlayer
programme ‘ Britain in Focus: a Photographic History’, commentated by Eamonn
McCabe, he describes the wet collodion process and how, when the silver nitrate
solution was added to the paper negative, the photographer had a very short
time to take the picture.
Jane
Bown would have had a completely different attitude towards her photography, as
she was required to travel, at short notice, and with little time to prepare
herself to get a unique image of her subject.
Very often she had as few as 10 minutes to ‘get’ her pictures, as she
would be accompanied by a journalist to interview the subject as the same
time. Jane preferred to take her images
by natural light and would organise the subject to be lit by a nearby
window. By dint of hard work Jane was in
demand, as people knew she would be thorough and quick but at the same time was
able to produce an unusual image that covered her brief.
I
worked for British Airways from 1986-1998 when I was a part time photographer
commissioned for photo opportunities in my sections including cargo, flight
crew and cabin crew, not as paparazzi photographing well known people coming
and going through the passenger terminals.
I was called upon to work quickly and efficiently as most people had
little time for ‘sitting round’ waiting for me to set up. It taught me to scope out the location in
advance and make quick decisions to get a good image.
It’s
been extremely interesting researching these two women from different
centuries. I found that, as I’ve mentioned before, my work seems to emulate
Jane’s style. Having studied her quiet but
insightful ways of working I find that my photography has improved immeasurably.
Bibliography
Newspaper article
Websites
YouTube video on Julia
Margaret Cameron, March 2016, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ya7XWByKks
, accessed 21 March 2017
YouTube video on Masters
in Photography Julia Margaret Cameron, Sep
25, 2008, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqnVLwRagbs,
accessed 21 March 2017
YouTube interview with ITV
News broadcaster Jon Snow, ITN News shown
March 2016, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySDJe-mz2WU
Accessed: 3 March 2017.
Books
Amanda Hopkinson, 1986, Julia
Margaret Cameron, Virago Pioneers,
Jane Bown, Exposures, Guardian
Books; 22 Oct. 2009
Jane Bown: A Lifetime of
Looking Hardcover, Guardian Books,
Oct 2015
