Monday - August 03, 2009

First shots of combat photography in new exhibition of Crimean War !!!!!!!!!!!!

How I wish I could get to London for the exhibition.  Be like 7th heaven to me. Crave this sort of thing and never get enough.

We have a newspaper in town that has published without interruption since 1772.  I love their archives of old woodcuts and especially when photography came into use.  Hey .. the paper today printed a tiny snapshot of a man who lived to 107, his name was Conrad Heyer, (1749-1856) and he crossed the Delaware with Washington.  DAMN!  I never knew the name of one person who was with Washington. Let alone see a photo of that person in later years.
That’s so unbelievable tho. 107?  No health and safety or info on cholesterol and fatty food and smoking etc.  Though mainly I know they died pretty young back then.

The Telegraph didn’t publish on line the other two photos.  Not as large or dramatic as this one so maybe it doesn’t matter.

The first shots of war ever captured by photographers are to appear in a new exhibition.

By Richard Edwards
Published: 7:00AM BST 03 Aug 2009

Entente Cordiale?, 1855 Photo: Roger Fenton
The pictures are taken from the Crimean War (1848-1856) and the Second Sikh War (1848) by four pioneers of photography, including Roger Fenton.

He was sent to the Crimea by Prince Albert in an attempt to alter public opposition to the war and was told before he departed for the frontline: “No dead bodies.”

His pictures were taken on glass plates and processed and printed in a converted wine merchant’s horse-drawn wagon. One picture of troops posing shows a group of British and French soldiers enjoying a drink and a smoke in an image called “L’Entente Cordiale”.

He was unable to photograph the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, but documented the cannonball-strewn aftermath of the Valley of Death in 1855.

The work of James Robertson and Felice Beato is also going on show from the Crimean War.

Fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of troops from Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, it is considered the first “modern” conflict in terms of tactics, weaponry, communications and propaganda.

The earliest images on display are taken by Josh McCosh in 1848 during the war between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire in the Punjab.

The National Army Museum will be showcasing the work in the exhibition First Shots: Early War Photography 1848–1860 at the White Space Gallery in Chelsea, west London, next month

A spokesman said: “First Shots will document war photography in its infancy. Using some of the earliest photos in the museum’s collection it will explore what drove its pioneers, the technical, social and environmental pressures which shaped their work and the impact which the images they produced had upon culture and society”.

SOURCE

If nobody minds too much, as long as I’m banging on about olde photos and a bit of history, here’s a photo of my wife’s great,great uncle. He died seving in India at the age of 27, in 1911.
He was William Edward Gammon

Posted by peiper     on 08/03/2009 at 07:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • History • UK • War-Stories •  
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