Photography: a Victorian Sensation

Fabulous exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland looking at the invention of photography and how quickly it took off in the Victorian era.

The show was based on the galleries own collection as well as that of Bernard Howarth-Loomes which has been on loan to the gallery since 2003. It began by looking at the rival developer of photography Fox Talbot and Daguere and paralleled their experiments and early use of their techniques and included the first book of photographs ever published in 1844 by Talbot.

The show was beautifully designed with pictures shown in mock ups of old cameras and later on in faux shop windows. There was a lot of pictures but the show managed to strike a good balance between telling the story and the detail.

It looked at the development of the professional studios and the fashion for having you photograph. This moved on to talk about the Carte de viste, a smaller format that was developed and which were not only taken for private use but also for sale fuelling the start of a celebrity culture. I liked the room with case after case of these shown in themes.  It also looked at how photography was used to show people the world and I loved a wonderfully composed picture of Fingal’s Cave.

The last gallery looked at developments in the 20th century with a nostalgic case of cameras. It was interesting to try aging people by which camera they said was their first! I’m a 110m girl! It also talked about the impact of digital photography and the fact that there are more pictures taken in two minutes today than in the whole of the 19th century!

Closes on 22 November 2015.

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