The Passion of Former Days: United Kingdom

Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts

12 October, 2014

Edinburgh in Calotype

David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were a pair of Scottish photographers working in the 1840s. They are best known for their wonderful portraits, but over the course of their sadly short partnership (Adamson died only five years in, aged 27) they also created quite a few city views. This blog has previously featured a selection of their photographs of St. Andrews, Adamson's hometown; today is Edinburgh, the city in which they worked. At a time when most photographers worked with daguerreotypes, Hill and Adamson used the negative-positive process, creating negatives on paper (calotypes) which could then be printed on salted paper. The Special Collections at the University of Glasgow holds large numbers of their original negatives, and their online collection provides digitally reversed positive images.

The photographs are wonderful not only as some of the earliest views of a beautiful city, but for the aesthetic of the early paper negative. Even with skill level like Hill and Adamson's, the process was still highly unpredictable. The photographs are imperfect--which, I feel, is ultimately a testament to the incredible fact of their existence.

University of Glasgow Special Collections

View of the Mound, 1843. Inverted negative--the writing in the sky is a watermark in the paper, made visible by the process of negative scanning. Source

University of Glasgow Special Collections

A view of the Old Town. Source

University of Glasgow Special Collections

Edinburgh Castle and the Grassmarket. Source

Scramble!

Scrambling, in WW2, was the order for pilots to get to their planes and in the air right away, because approaching enemy aircraft had been detected. Of course, as soon as you know enemy aircraft are on their way you want to be after them really, really fast, so pilots trained to scramble really, really fast. One moment you'd be chilling at the base (in your gear, of course), the next you'd be off to risk your life in the skies.

A pilot of 175 Squadron RAF scrambles to his plane, Britain, 1944. Source

William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Pilots to scramble to their planes, Britain, 1940. Source

American pilots of the RAF scramble to their planes, Britain, 1942. Source

A Time of War

Photographs taken in London in the days right before and after the declaration of World War Two, late August and early September 1939.

By William Vandivert for LIFE, although they don't seem to have been published in it.

William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Headlines of the days leading up to the war's outbreak. Source

William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Soldiers filling sand bags for air raid protection. Source

William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Putting masks on a traffic light (so they can't be seen in a blackout). Source

Cornwall by Photochrom

Our favourite photolithographic process is back! Yes, the photochrom, today bringing us views of Cornwall, England. Cornwall is the subject this time around because English photochroms are fairly new on the LoC's Flickr photostream, it's a wonderful place to visit, and I have ancestry there. In fact my great-great grandfather was just leaving about the time these were being made.

ca. 1890s-1900.

Library of Congress

St. Ives. Source

Library of Congress

The entrance to the harbour at Boscastle. Source

Library of Congress

Calstock, Morwell Rock. Source

St. Andrews in the 1840s

Photographs of St. Andrews, Scotland, a town that is dear to my heart. Not only that, but photographs from the 1840s, essentially the first decade of photography. You may remember Hill and Adamson for their portraits of the 1840s; if not, have a look, they are amazing.

Notes on the images: Hill and Adamson were using Talbot's calotype process, creating paper negatives (calotypes) and making prints from them (salt paper prints). Some of the images in this postare original salted paper prints; these have experienced noticeably more deterioration with colour shift and fading and losing detail and other fun stuff that happens when photos deteriorate. The others come from images of the negatives themselves, digitally transferred into positive images by the University of Glasgow Library (let us pause and thank them). Paper negatives are more stable than salt prints, and much of the original detail and contrast is preserved. Originally, the salted paper prints would have looked more like the digitally altered images. So, I thought I'd use both.

There are many more things to say, but enough with the text, let's look at the pictures!

From the special collections of the University of Glasgow.

University of Glasgow

St. Andrews Cathedral and St. Rule's Tower. From negative. Source

University of Glasgow

The cathedral and tower, original salted paper print. Source

University of Glasgow

South Street, from negative. Source

Life in a London Hospital

A series of photographs capturing the experiences of workers and patients at a busy hospital in London, 1941.

From the Imperial War Museum.

Stretcher bearers carry a casualty into the hospital, while a 'tally man' (usually a student doctor) assigns a number. Source

A view of the hospital reception ward, with a doctor in the foreground preparing to take a x-ray with a mobile machine. Source

A doctor and nurse tend to a patient, while an almoner takes personal details. Source

The Art of Abram Games

Some of the striking posters of Abram Games, British Official War Poster Designer in World War Two (he also did many of these posters). After the war he worked freelance, creating striking images throughout the century, including some great ones for London Transport (see this post). He was also known by the name "Olympic" Games, which is just plain awesome.

From the Imperial War Museum (except one from the London Transport Museum).

Source

Allied Soldiers Like London and London Likes Them

A nice set of photos from the Ministry of Information capturing some of the non-British Empire troops in London, 1940. They came with the title.

From the Imperial War Museum.

Czech soldiers walk down a London street. Source

A policeman gives directions to a group of Free French soldiers. Source

Czech soldiers and airmen buy tobacco. Source

Wales by Photochrom

Photochrom time! Today, Wales. (as a side note, I've been to most of these places-- they come highly recommended!)

c. 1890-1900.

Dolbadarn Castle (free to visit!), Llanberis. Source

Capel Curig and Snowdon. Source

Beddgelert (an adorable town). Source

War Posters on the Street

We've seen all kinds of wartime posters, from "enlist now" to "buy war bonds" to "save food". However, seeing the nicely scanned image on the page is something different to seeing it in context. Today, a collection of World War Two posters where they were meant to be seen.

War Savings posters on the base of Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London,. 1941. Source

A row of posters on an unknown street in Britain, 1942. Source

Children and posters advertising the War Savings Scheme, Canterbury, 1941. Source

In The City of Dreaming Spires

American (and some Canadian) officers in Oxford for a special course, 1943.

By David E. Scherman for LIFE.

American soldiers do some Oxford sightseeing. Source

An Oxford professor gives a lecture on modern psychology to American and Canadian soldiers. Source

An American soldier talks to an English student. Source

Soldiers visiting the library of Merton College. Source

American soldiers and English students eat in the dining hall. Source

Soldiers and students. Source

An American soldier talks with British students. Source

Picturesque sightseeing. Source

American and Canadian soldiers eat in the college dining hall. Source

Soldiers study a globe with a librarian. Source

Strolling through one of Oxford's medieval doorways. Source

An American soldier talks with a law professor. Source

Americans have tea with English students. Source

An English student shows how to sneakily make tea in your quarters. Source

Studying in the library (let's hope the lack of light is just for the photographer's sake!). Source

An American gazes out an old Oxford window. Source

04 April, 2012

A Foggy Day in London Town

The famous "London Fog", in actuality, is smog. Early to mid- twentieth century, smoke from millions of chimneys combined with the damp air to hang over the city on a semi-permanent basis. Still, it's pretty, isn't it? 1947.