The early photographs that we see in television documentaries and history books are often faded and grainy. It would be reasonable to assume that this is because the cameras available at the time were incapable of taking sharp, high resolution, good-contrast photographs. This is not the case.
From the mid-1800s, professional photographers, using the most expensive cameras with high quality lenses, took remarkable photographs of city streets, rural life, industry, ships, railways etc. but for every one of these fine images, thousands of middling and poor quality photographs were taken by amateur and less-able professional photographers and it is their efforts that we now accept as the norm for the period and see on television and in books.
Some of the most skilful photographers manufactured glass, ‘magic lantern’, projection slides which sold in their millions in the 1880/90s and are now a source of pin-sharp, high resolution, early photographs. The 26 photos of Tasmania in this album are from the Keasbury-Gordon Photograph Archive, a remarkable collection of historical images taken mainly from Victorian lantern slides produced by the best professional photographers.
From the mid-1800s, professional photographers, using the most expensive cameras with high quality lenses, took remarkable photographs of city streets, rural life, industry, ships, railways etc. but for every one of these fine images, thousands of middling and poor quality photographs were taken by amateur and less-able professional photographers and it is their efforts that we now accept as the norm for the period and see on television and in books.
Some of the most skilful photographers manufactured glass, ‘magic lantern’, projection slides which sold in their millions in the 1880/90s and are now a source of pin-sharp, high resolution, early photographs. The 26 photos of Tasmania in this album are from the Keasbury-Gordon Photograph Archive, a remarkable collection of historical images taken mainly from Victorian lantern slides produced by the best professional photographers.
