1. FAMILY ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHY
PICTURING THE FAMILY
FAMILY ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHY

2. In praise of the Snapshot
The snapshot is a photographer’s touchstone with sanity….[it] serves to remind us that photography is not an end result, but a means to an end – the communication of information and love between humans.
In praise of the Snapshot
Bill Jay
Creative Camera 1971, reproduced in Creative Camera, 30 Years of Writing, Edited by David Brittain, Manchester University Press, 1999, Manchester

3. Family Day Out

4. Family Photos Family albums are full of smiling faces
Family albums include photographs of weddings, birthdays, holidays and other celebrations such as Christmas
Nobody photographs things that they want to forget
Our family albums make our lives look leisurely, relaxed, and even joyous!

5. Family Holiday

6. Family Holiday

7. In praise of the Snapshot
Snapshot photography is instinctive and direct. It is not concerned with creating a good image. It is interested only in the subject, the action and in creating a record of the moment. (Bill Jay)

9. Family Christmas

10. Visiting Relatives

11. Portraiture before photography
Portraiture was the first major commercial application of photography
Mechanized production of a portrait. The market was established quickly
Even before photography was invented most sectors of society had acquired the habit of buying portraits…
Working class purchased penny profiles or silhouettes cut from black paper
Middle classes bought painted miniatures or watercolours
Upper classes commissioned their portraits in oils
All clients, whatever their class, had expectations and attitudes about photographic portraits based on their existing knowledge of portraiture
When photography was invented, photographers were confronted with a ready-made set of ideas about the portrait and its purpose.

13. Madonna of the Pomegranate Sandro Botticelli c1487
Early paintings of family groups usually featured the Madonna and child. The central figures would be surrounded by shepherds, kings or angels. The Madonna would usually be the central pivot in the image – the figure around which all are clustered.
Botticelli
Rubens
Poussin

14. The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c1627 Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594–1665)

15. Mr and Mrs Andrews Thomas Gainsborough c1750
Mr and Mrs Andrews are landowners that commissioned a painting by Thomas Gainsborough
They had themselves pictured with their own land in the background. They own the land that surrounds them and this is reflected in their poses
Their poses are proprietorial– they are clearly the proud owners of the land
Part of the pleasure this portrait gives to the subjects is seeing themselves portrayed as landowners – as landed gentry. (John Berger: Ways of Seeing. Chapter 5 page )

16. Mr and Mrs Andrews Thomas Gainsborough c1750

17. Thomas Gainsborough The Gravenor Family, c. 1754

18. Thomas Gainsborough The Gravenor Family, c. 1754
The Gravenor family is portrayed as a close-knit family unit
Surrounded by intertwining trees and stalks of wheat, both symbolic of marital fidelity
The youngest daughter sits at her mother’s feet and leans in towards her, further suggesting a feeling of closeness and unity
Family enclosed by the landscape – their landscape.

19. Thomas Gainsborough The Baille Family, c. 1784

20. Thomas Gainsborough The Baille Family, c. 1784
This large portrait shows the London merchant James Baillie ( ), with his wife and their four young children.
The painting is a formal portrait, but Gainsborough portrays them as affectionate family.
Mrs Baillie is seated roughly in the centre of the composition. Her youngest child is on her knee. She appears to be the centre of the family.

21. Conventions of picturing families
Conventions of photographing families were established by the conventions of painting families
Painterly conventions observed by photographers
Portrayal of the family as a united group
Female at centre

22. Family Focus
So - since the beginning of photography the family has been a focus for attention.
Having a photograph taken was an important event. This was in part due to the technology being very new. A sense of occasion can be seen in the photographs.
But portraiture itself was a serious event… this is a convention inherited from painting

23. Daguerreotypes
First opportunity for a commercially available personal photographic portrait. Expensive, but considerably cheaper than a painting
1840s Daguerreomania!
Richard Beard – photography’s first millionaire
Many daguerreotypists photographed in informal manner – before conventions of photography have been properly established.

24. Maria Edgeworth Richard Beard 1841

25. Robert Curzon Richard Beard 1840s

26. Daguerreotypes

27. Sir Charles Wheatstone and his Family Antoine Claudet Stereo Daguerreotype c1851/52

28. Early Photographers
Early photographers, in particular WHF Talbot, Lewis Carroll and Hill & Adamson photographed more informal family groups, before photography was properly established in the high street – before the studio photography craze and the carte de visite.

29. The Adamson Family David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson c1844/5

30. Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and his family at Croft Rectory Probably by Skeffington Lutwidge c

31. David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson c1843 David Octavius Hill with his daughter, Charlotte

32. The Royal Family on the Terrace of Osborne House Leonida Caldisi 1857

33. 19th Century Family Photograph Albums
Photographers / collectors of photographs were known as ‘hobbyists’.
Photography was seen as a suitable hobby for wealthy women – eg Julia Margaret Cameron.
Photography was not an option for working class women who needed to work.
In turn - it was often was just the wealthy that kept family albums. They were often used to show that the home as a site of leisure – croquet, tea on the lawn, houseguests etc.

34. John Murray With Eleven Members Of His Family Unknown Photographer 1880s

35. 19th Century Family Photograph Albums: Social reform led to increased leisure time.
19thC social reform led to the shortening of the working week and the convention of time off at weekends. The working classes began to enjoy greater leisure time. New sporting and leisure activities developed
Working class started to be able to organise themselves and then make a record of their leisure time, for their own consumption and pleasure
Expanding railways meant that trips to the coast became an option
Increased leisure time in turn led to the rise of the itinerant photographer, who set up temporary studios in the street, at the fairground, at the seaside, at local beauty spots and in the parks – anywhere where town dwellers went for relaxation and entertainment on Sundays and holidays.

37. Susan Sontag On Photography
..photography develops in tandem with one of the most characteristic of modern activities: tourism. For the first time in history, large numbers of people regularly travel out of their habitual environments for short periods of time. It seems positively unnatural to travel for pleasure without taking a camera along. Photographs will offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, that the program was carried out, that fun was had.
- Sontag On Photography Penguin Books 1978 Page 9

38. 19th Century Family Photograph Albums
Itinerant photographers who worked these venues would set up shop for the day, the week or longer, depending on situation and circumstance. Photographed using tintypes or ambrotypes, and later, produced carte de visites.

39. Family in a Boat Anonymous c1865 Ambrotype (NMeM Collection)
In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer announced new photographic process – glass negatives – made with collodian.
Major breakthrough
Highly detailed negatives - multiple copies possible. Public by were used to daguerreotype process – presented in small glass fronted case.
Ambrotypes were introduced to compete with Daguerreotype.
Collodion negatives made as usual – as per Archer’s invention.
After exposure the emulsion on the glass was bleached to whiten it.
When this bleached negative was placed against a black background it formed a positive image which looked like a daguerreotype – but not reflective. Over the 1850s the ambrotype replaced the daguerreotype as the preferred method of taking portraits

40. Mr George Thorne Ambrotype Anonymous c1864

42. Tintypes
The glass positive was gradually replaced by the still cheaper ferrotype or tintype
In the tintype the glass base was replaced by a thin sheet of enameled iron
The tintype was cheaper and less liable to break but also generally poorer in quality since the highlights were rarely white.
Tintypes could be produced in multiple copies using cameras with multiple lenses
Scissors were used to cut the thin sheets of iron after exposure and processing
The tintype became popular in Britain from the 1870s.

47. Later, Carte de Visites were produced at tourist sites
Later, Carte de Visites were produced at tourist sites. Sometimes with props.

49. School Photographs
School photographs began to be taken in late nineteenth century, following the Education Acts of 1870 and 1893 which introduced free universal schooling
For many working class families, the school photograph was the only photographic record of their children.

50. A typical late 19th century school photograph showing a primary age class

51. Victorian photographs of families
People usually look stern & serious
Photographs of serious Victorians have affected our view of the past
Photography was seen as an important event
Photography was informed by conventions of painted portraiture

52. Early Family Albums
Early family albums sometimes didn’t feature the family at all, and often belonged only to prosperous families who had money and leisure time available to them.

53. Carte de Visites
1854 Andre Adolphe Disderi invented the carte de visite
The carte de visite enabled the mass production of photographs
Cartes were affordable to many more people – photography starts to become more widely available to the working class
New craze for collecting carte de visites of famous people developed – celebrities, politicians and especially royalty. Collecting carte de visites was seen as a genteel activity for middle class women.

54. John Jabez Edwin Mayall 1813-1901
Mayall is a photographer associated with large number of carte de visite portraits
Known for formal family portraiture
Initially opened a daguerreotype studio in Philadelphia in the early 1840s
Moved to Britain where he helped to establish the American Daguerreotype Association in London
1851 set up his own studio in London, photographing Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family throughout the 1860s
Became famous with his cartes-de-visite of the Queen and Prince Albert which sold tens of thousands of copies
Cartes of royalty offered template for other portraits
The National Portrait Gallery holds more than 160 of his photographs

55. Prince Consort; The Queen and Prince Consort John Jabez Edwin Mayall 1860

56. HRH Prince Leopold, 1861 HRH the Prince of Wales 1859 John Jabez Edwin Mayall

57. 19th Century Family Photograph Albums
Along with photographs of famous people, family albums included landscape views – both local and distant. These views would be kept as mementoes in family albums.
Family albums also reflected an interest in exotic and strange – and the beginnings of the heritage industry. As we have seen, interest in landscape views grew in tandem with availability of travel and time off for working class people.
Successful travel photographers of the period included Francis Frith, George Bedford and George Washington Wilson who made large sales of photographs.

58. Ilfracombe, Rocks at Wildersmouth Francis Bedford c1880
1860s and 1870s Bedford travelled all over Britain.
Used large format cameras and portable wet plate equipment.
Published hundreds of prints of landscapes as cartes de visite, single prints, stereoscopic pairs, and book illustrations.
Bedford photographed mostly in west. Not further north than Blackpool.
Preferred sites of scenic beauty, or established tourist attractions.
The advent of the railways early 19thC
Organised tours by Thomas Cook from 1836
Cheap workman’s trains in the 1860’s
Establishment of Bank Holidays in 1871
All helped business

59. Torquay, The Giant Rock At Watcombe Francis Bedford c1880
FRANCIS BEDFORD INFO

60. 1860s and 1870s Bedford travelled all over Britain.
Used large format cameras and portable wet plate equipment.
Published hundreds of prints of landscapes as cartes de visite, single prints, stereoscopic pairs, and book illustrations.
Bedford photographed mostly in west. Not further north than Blackpool.
Preferred sites of scenic beauty, or established tourist attractions.
The advent of the railways early 19thC
Organised tours by Thomas Cook from 1836
Cheap workman’s trains in the 1860’s
Establishment of Bank Holidays in 1871
All helped business

61. 19th Century Family Photograph Albums
High mortality rates meant that death was a central part of family life and this was reflected in photography.
Memorial pictures of the dead were common. Babies that had died were dressed in their best and photographed in their mothers arms.
Later photography becomes more celebratory, and more informal.

62. Memento Mori

64. Family Photograph Albums - Postcards
Towards end of the nineteenth century – postcard sales became popular. Postcards would also be kept in the family album. They usually featured
Local Scenes
Places of Work
Local events

65. Increasing informality
Albums of the 1880s, compared to those of the 1860s, look much more relaxed and informal
This was largely due to the invention of the hand held camera which meant that photographs could be taken out of the studio
Albums changed significantly with the advent of the hand held camera, and started to become more informal
The hand held camera also gave rise to the candid photograph – photographs that were taken without consent

66. The Candid Camera
Paul Martin and Frank Meadows Sutcliffe began photographing people and scenes candidly.

67. A Thames Lock (Boultors Lock) Paul Martin 1888 (NMeM Collection)
Paul Martin was interested in social events such as parades and state occasions.
Mostly remembered for his informal images on beaches and in the busy streets of London.
As one of the first reporters and ‘candid’ photographers, Martin used a disguised hand-held camera to supply magazines with photographs of street scenes that seemed astonishingly natural. (V&A)

68. Paul Martin was interested in social events such as parades and state occasions
Mostly remembered for his informal images on beaches and in the busy streets of London
As one of the first reporters and ‘candid’ photographers, Martin used a disguised hand-held camera to supply magazines with photographs of street scenes that seemed astonishingly natural. (V&A)

69. Fairground Drinks Stall Paul Martin c1898 (NMeM Collection)
PAUL MARTIN INFO

70. An escape artist entertains a crowd in a park Paul Martin c1900 (NMeM Collection)
PAUL MARTIN INFO

71. Children playing in a River Paul Martin 1900 (NMeM Collection)

72. Frank Meadows Sutcliffe

74. 19th Century Social, Political & Economic Developments
The developments of the late 19thC had meant that life was being transformed for the working classes – railways, sanitation, new housing schemes, plus mass literacy
New mass markets developed in lots of areas and the advertising industry was expanding rapidly
New printing techniques enabled the production of popular newspapers with large readerships
Photography at the centre of these developments
1903 The Daily Illustrated Mirror (Daily Mirror) was launched as the first newspaper to use photographic illustrations. Popular press soon began to rely on photography as big part of news reporting
Photographs of celebrities and royalty that had previously found their way into family albums as carte de visites were now finding their way into the newspapers, and later, into consumer magazines.

75. 19th Century Social, Political & Economic Developments
Gas lighting and piped water meant that working class homes were becoming more comfortable
People more likely to photograph in their own homes than before
Camera ownership expanded and peaked around 1917 as cameras were bought to photograph soldiers leaving for the war
Many domestic albums include poignant photographs of young men in uniform, many of which never returned home

79. Kodak
Everything changed with the introduction of the Kodak Camera in 1888
Within a few years snapshot photography had become a national craze
George Eastman was a master marketer. He managed to place snapshot photography at the centre of leisure based society, and at the centre of the family life. Snapshots are still essential to family life
Became used as a verb
Kodak as you go!
Lets go Kodaking!

80. Kodak ‘Number 1’ Camera 1888 KODAK SNAPS
Most significant event in the history of amateur photography - intro of the Kodak #1 camera in 1888.
Invented and marketed by George Eastman (1854–1932).
The Kodak was a simple box camera that came loaded with a 100-exposure roll of film.
When the roll was finished, the entire machine was sent back to the factory in Rochester, where it was reloaded and returned to the customer while the first roll was being processed.
The Kodak was made possible by the development of roll film and small, fixed-focus cameras.
Eastman's real genius lay in his marketing strategy.
By simplifying the apparatus and even processing the film for the consumer, he made photography accessible to millions of casual amateurs with no particular professional training, technical expertise, or aesthetic credentials.
To underscore the ease of the Kodak system, Eastman launched an advertising campaign featuring women and children operating the camera, and coined the memorable slogan: "You press the button, we do the rest.“
HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY
WEB RESOURCE
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART HISTORY

81. Family Photography
The appeal of home camera ownership expanded further with the launch of the Box Brownie in The Brownie was a new hand held camera, which was cheaper than The Kodak.
Photography becomes more accessible to wider range of people although the cost was still approximately 25% of average weekly wage.
The Brownie helped to further establish the working class identity.

83. The Kodak Girl
The ‘Kodak girl’ was introduced in as an independent, stylish and youthful amateur who would typify the new brand. In 1910 she gained her smart but comfortable blue and white striped dress, easily adapted to changing fashions in skirt length and outline, which always seemed to be blowing in some breeze or other. Variously drawn by a number of well-known artists, she balanced her camera casually in her hand in Kodak advertisements for nearly 80 years’
- Liz Wells

84. Kodak’s marketing suggested that taking a photograph was an intrinsic part of being a tourist.
Often the marketing pictured photographs of ordinary women with their cameras – ‘normalising’ photography into women’s lives

86. The Kodak Girl
The over-riding theme was make (an exclusive) record of your family. The advertising was largely directed at middle class women.

87. Vanity Kodaks
New range of cameras brought out in fashion colours
‘Vanity Kodaks’ were brought out with a matching lipstick, mirror and compact holder. Known as Vanity Kodaks

88. Kodak Coquette 1930 – 31 Lightening bolt design
Kodak Coquette 1930 – 31 Lightening bolt design. Compact and lipstick included

89. Professionals photographing as amateurs…
Kodak employed professional photographers to produce ‘amateur style’ photographs for their advertising. They showed the public what a happy, functioning family should look like…

90. Family picnicking by car Kodak snapshot c1935 (NMeM Collection)

91. Open-topped bus Kodak snapshot c1930 (NMeM Collection)

92. Professionals photographing as amateurs…
Photographing the unfamiliar – families were seen away from home!
Kodak adverts turned towards photographing the unfamiliar – in order to develop the holiday snapshot market
Holidays – days out - motor cars were all regularly used by Kodak’s photographers….They showed family cameras documenting the unfamiliar scenes as well as the familiar ones
Kodak encouraged people to be
Aspirational
Optimistic
Kodak portrayed the wealthier & healthier working & lower middle class
Kodak was phenomenally successful!

93. The Family
The family was an important tool of social cohesion in the twentieth century – ravaged as it was by two world wars
Women were required to return to the home to may way for the men returning from war, to take up their former jobs
Twentieth century family photographs remains dominated by images of happy families – happy memories. Politics and current affairs are relegated in importance
Rise of the working class as a coherent social group between the wars
Housing improved
Increased leisure time
More snapshots. Children the central icons – less children per household meant that more time could be given to individual children, and there was more time for birthday celebrations, Christmas trees and snapshots (see page 146 Liz Wells)
Domestic camera becomes the mainstay. It becomes part of the celebrations.

94. Family Photograph Albums
Domestic albums confirm our identity – the context and history of our lives
They include school photographs and even high street photos
They depend on the context of the album or collection for meaning
Out of context they are inconsequential
They tell us about fashion, style etc..
They tell us about public ideology – how things are and the way people think things ought to be
Today snapshot photography celebrates trivial events. It is playful and casual
ABOVE ALL: It creates a favourable representation of family life.

95. Family Albums - Most cherished of objects
Family Albums hold the past, and our memories, in front of our eyes
The poses we adopt and (the often traditional) circumstances in which we are photographed can create a myth of happy family life which may mask the reality
Can create family cohesion at a personal level
Photograph albums can represent both fantasy and real memories.

98. Recap – remember:
Photographs are shaped by a set of conventions based on ideas and practices which are not immediately apparent;
Photographs, like other documentary records, are partial and biased;
Photographs, like other documentary records, require critical analysis and careful interpretation;
Remember the importance of contextualisation in analysing photographs.

99. End Pieces 1. A Baby in a Bin

100. End Pieces 2. A Family Camping by the Roadside in Devon Daily Herald Archive 1965 (NMeM Collection)
DAIL HERALD ARCHIVE

101. End Pieces 3. Susan Sontag On Photography 1978
Through photographs each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself – a portable kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness. It hardly matters what activities are photographed so longs as the photographs are cherished…