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Malcolm Daniel: The photography of Julia Margaret Cameron
In December 1863, little more than a year after Roger Fenton retired from photography and sold his equipment, Julia Margaret Cameron received her first camera. It was a gift from her daughter and son-in-law, given with the words “It may amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude at Freshwater.” Cameron was forty-eight, a mother of six, and a deeply religious, well read, somewhat…
Julia Margaret Cameron: Photograph of Julia Jackson (1867)
Title: Julia JacksonArtist: Julia Margaret Cameron (British, born India, Calcutta 1815–1879 Kalutara, Ceylon)Date: 1867Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negativeDimensions: 27.4 x 20.6 cm (10 13/16 x 8 1/8 in.) About the photograph: The effusive, eccentric associate of Carlyle, Herschel, Ruskin, Rossetti, and Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron earned the admiration of her eminent colleagues…
Week 4: Inspiration – Reflections So Far
Well, it’s only the first video and I’m inspired already. I love hearing Camille Seaman talk about learning to see the trees as individual beings. And clouds, too: “When I look at that cloud I’m seeing Sally or Susie… I’m seeing a unique expression of being –in just a slightly different state than I am - and so when I’m looking at an iceberg I know I’m looking at a very ancient soul.”
This brings tears to my eyes. It is what I feel when I’m doing the portraits of wild animals: my aim is to create portraits in which you can look into the animals’ eyes and see the soul of the world looking back at you. I have heard very few (if any) other photographers speak like this.
This segment is reminding me about what I love about photography. The past few months I've been watching lots of training videos about how to set up a photography business, set pricing, market yourself… There is certainly importance and value in that, but for me the heart of it—the reason I was drawn to photography in the first place—was being lost. This course—reconnecting with photography with the purpose of making a difference in the world— is bringing me back home. I am grateful for that.
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While reading about Anne Wilkes Tucker I was excited to discover that WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath will be coming to the Annenberg in the spring, so I’ll get to see it. I’m interested not just as a photographer, but also as a peace educator. This kind of photography gives me an opportunity to bring my educator and photographer selves together.
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While reading the article about Malcolm Daniel and seeing a 19th century photograph of a tree and some rocks, right away I thought about that individual tree, its being, its soul. I wonder if it is still alive today, 150 years later. If so, she must be a fine old oak by now.
Some of my favorite quotes from Malcolm Daniel:
“… I think photographs actually do have some sort of magical power over most [people]… there is something about a photograph - say, a photographic portrait - that is different than a painted portrait, no matter how beautiful.
… But even the most humble snapshot of somebody you love has a quality that is hard to explain… somehow you feel that picture has a quality of the soul there.”
There's somebody who says, "I would rather have the most humble picture of someone I dearly loved than the finest work of a great master." … there's a spiritual connection there.. It's just in the nature of photography…there is a feeling of authenticity and of connection.
Speaking of his exhibits: “I think - I hope - that when people come to this, they are moved. Their lives change. Their actions change. The world becomes a better place…”
For me that’s what photography and my work as an educator is about: moving people, changing lives, changing actions, making the world a better place.
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And.. snowflakes
Kenneth Libbrecht's snowflake book review led me to the video. My mouth dropped wide open. Good thing there weren't any flies around(!) I know I've heard about the individuality of snowflakes before but seeing them like this and knowing they’re photographs—it’s just staggering.
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