I have been travelling recently and in two very different locations I was able to admire the work of Roger Fenton, a photographer who features strongly in the history of The Society.
The first occasion was in Washington DC where I was attending meetings on photographic image permanence at their National Archives. Just across the road was their National Gallery of Art, showing an exhibition on 19th Century Photographs. In this was a beautiful Roger Fenton still life albumen print from a collodion negative, all the more remarkable as it dates from 1860!
A few weeks later I was in London talking to the folks at The Photographers Gallery. On show was Feast for the Eyes - The Story of Food Photography and in amongst the still life was a very similar Fenton print, this time from The RPS Collection.
Inspired to try some still life once more...
Image credit "Fruit and Flowers" by Roger Fenton, 1860. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Paul Mellon Fund