HON 205 Photography

           Julia Margaret Cameron’s work moved away from conventional photography of the 1850s and 1860s. She believed that the photographs of the time were uninspired and undeserving of the status and prestige of distinguished art (Wolf). When Cameron decided to partake in photography as a career, she was committed to standing out from the ordinary photographs of the time. Cameron wanted to deviate from the “normal”, an action that would seem difficult for anyone, especially women, who wanted to challenge the customs of Victorian society in England. The mere…

Julia Margaret Cameron, Mary Mother, 1867. Albumen print, 307 x 257mm, Prints & Drawings Study Room.

The photograph depicts a portrait of a woman dressed in drapes. From the name of the photograph and the way the woman is dressed, one can deduce that the woman in the picture is a reference to the Virgin Mary. Cameron was a devout Christian and regarded Christian love as the only possible answer to the cruel nature surrounding us (Wolf). The woman’s head takes up almost half the frame, and her clothing and surroundings are nearly shrouded by soft focus in…

Julia Margaret Cameron is able to portray so much into her photos without the use of a lot of different advanced techniques. In some cases, it is said that she lacks a certain set of professional techniques that many photographers used at the time. However, after looking past this fact many were able to see her photos for what they truly were.

The way in which she took pictures is important to initially bring up since this was an issue for many that had critiqued her professionalism. Her photo taking was explained with, “Mrs. Cameron was so obsessed by the spiritual quality of her…

May Day by Julia Margaret Cameron was a photograph that was taken in 1866. This photo has five people with the centered woman being the focus. This photo is mainly explained with, “Cameron’s maid Mary Ryan plays the title character of Tennyson’s poem ‘The May Queen’. The photograph shows the English rural custom of crowning a young and beautiful girl as Queen of the May on the first of that month” (May day V&A). There is also a resemblance to the painting called “The Beloved” by Rossetti. 

In this image, the maid that is centered in the photo is portrayed to have…

Julia Margaret Cameron (born Julia Margaret Pattle) was born in Calcutta, India, in 1815 to James Pattle and Adeline de l’Etang (Green-Lewis 616). Cameron’s parents both grew up in colonized communities in India, giving them bourgeois status even though they had little wealth (Detjen 58). Cameron married her husband, Charles Hay Cameron in 1838 in Calcutta. They had six biological children, took care of five orphaned children to whom they were related, and had one foster child (Detjen 61). Hay was 20 years older than her and a lawyer, which allowed them a privileged position within Anglo-…

One of Julia Julia Margaret Cameron’s well-known and photographs is entitled The Mountain Nymph of Sweet Liberty and it depicts a pale woman with flowy hair, from the bust up, looking directly at the camera. It was taken in 1866, three years after Cameron was gifted her first camera, and a 14 1/8 inch x 11 1/8 inch print of the photograph is currently displayed at Dimbola, Cameron’s former house (Detjen 57). The title of the portrait is in reference to lines from a poem titled L’Allegro by Jon Milton, “Com, and trip it as ye go / On the light fantastic toe / And in my…