Summer pleasures: Off to the Seaside

31 Jul 2015: Taken in the cool mist of winter, Talbot’s view of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion provides a fleeting visual escape from the present summer heat. The seaside has always been associated with summer days, defying the pressures of everyday life, days tempered by the cooling effect of the ocean. About 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Lacock …

Summer pleasures: Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond

24 Jul 2015: With our current hot and muggy weather, this refreshingly calm wintry view encourages the imagination to wander. It is such a timeless photograph – converted to more conventional black and white tones it might well have been taken by a pictorial photographer in the 1890s, or a proud member of a camera club in the …

Summer pleasures: ‘The Handshake’

17 Jul 2015: I must confess that I prefer some of Talbot’s images in the negative (as did he), so even though there are several unusually interesting prints extant from this calotype negative, I think that none can rival the sheer visual pleasure of the actual sheet of paper that faced the sunshine that day. Taken at Lacock …

Summer pleasures: Neapolitan Conveyance

10 Jul 2015: Talbot’s Neapolitan Conveyance is a copy of an oil painting then at Lacock Abbey. Art historians sometimes conveniently overlook the fact that Talbot has been their main tutor, for far more works of art have been considered by them via photographic reproductions than in the original. Whether it was from faded examples drawn from the …

Summer pleasures: Suspending Time

3 Jul 2015: Myself and the cats were amused to get a staff notice from the University this week, warning that the temperature in Oxfordshire might approach 30 degrees C (86 F) and offering advice on how to cope with the extreme heat. Here at the colonial Rock House editorial office in Baltimore, we grumble only slightly when …