1870 JOURNAL OF THE
PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF LONDON
Vol. XIV
ver: June 13, 2008
START:
NOTES:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which use them for both titles as well as emphasis. To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.
--Spelling and typos: Nineteenth-century spellings occasionally differs from currently accepted norms. In addition, British spellings also differ from American usage. Common examples are: “colour” vs. “color”; “centre” vs. “center’” the use of “s” for “z” as in “recognise” vs. “recognize; and the use of one “l” instead of “ll” as in “fulfilment”. While great care has been exercised in transcribing the 19th-century journals exactly as printed, “spell check” automatically corrects many of these differences. An attempt has been made to recorrect these automatic changes, but no doubt some have slipped through. As for typographical errors, these have been checked although no doubt some have managed to slip through the editorial process. For matters of consequence, I will be happy to recheck the original sources if need be for specific references.
--Image numbers listed in articles can be either an entry number in an exhibition, or the photographer’s own image number as found on labels.
--All names have been bolded for easy location. Numbers frequently refer to the photographer’s image number, but can also refer to a number in a catalog for a show. Decide whether to bold or not if can tell.
--It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company. Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed. Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.
-- Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber; parenthesis
( ) are used in the original sources. If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.
--“illus” means that I have the view mentioned and should be scanned and included.
--Articles by photographers about technical matters – when transcribed, only names and titles have been listed. If other names are associated with the paper they are listed as well.
--Meetings of Societies – Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. If the reports are very short or discuss photographs, then the articles have been copied; if administrative or technical in nature, they have not.
--“[Selection]” = This has been used when not all portions of a feature are copied, such as The Photographic News’ “Talk In The Studio”. If the word does not appear, then the entire feature was transcribed.
-- Some journals, e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer and painting/drawing. As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated. If there is doubt, it will be included but a note will be added stating that the names listed may in fact not be photographers.
--Mostly articles totally discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. are not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to transcribe that is noted.
--Cultural sensitivity – these are direct transcriptions of texts written in the 19th-century and reflect social comments being made at that time. Allowances must be made when reading some texts, particularly those dealing with other cultures.
1870: JPS, Jan. 15, vol. XIV, #213, p. 190-191:
Photograph in the Arctic Ocean.
In June last Mr. J. L. Dunmore, of Boston, proceeded to Greenland for the purpose of taking some pictures of icebergs and of life in the far north. His narrative, which appears in the Philadelphia Photographer, is deeply interesting, and shows how many hardships and how much suffering a man will undergo in the pursuit of a calling to which he has given up his whole time and energy. After enumerating the details of his outfit and the various mishaps and accidents which were continually occurring during its transit, he thus announces his arrival at the field of operations:--
“On July 10th we made the Greenland coast, a place called Cape Desolation. We went ashore, and found the place was rightly named; for there was not a living being on it, nothing but rocks and icebergs to be seen. We intended to leave the next day, but it blew a gale and we had to lay there four or five days. All hands began to get home-sick. We made a few pictures in the rain.
“It cleared up on the 15th, and we sailed for Julianshaab, one of the larges places in South Greenland. The natives were all scared when we blew off steam, having never seen a steamer before. In the morning we went ashore and called on the Governor, who entertained us with a little whisky and cigars. In the afternoon new made some pictures of the Governor and his family, and some views of the Esquimaux huts. The next morning, about four o’clock, we went about twenty miles in a boat (which they call ‘oomiack’), paddled by six Esquimaux girls, who were all dressed in seal-skin suits. We took a picture of a cathedral, built 900 years ago by the Northmen, and did not get back until two o’clock the next morning, almost eaten up with flies and mosquitoes. We sailed again for a place called Kaksimuet, about a hundred miles farther north. In the evening we went on shore to the house of the Governor, who was a jolly old fellow with twenty-two children. he celebrated our arrival with a dance, and entertained us in good shape. The next day we sailed about sixty miles to the mouth of a glacier, where the icebergs break off, to take some views; worked all the forenoon; went on board to dinner; after dinner went back again, and had quite a narrow escape. Just as we were landing, a large berg broke off, which sent the water up 20 feet all over us, and washed away collodion, developing glass, green baize, &c., and came very near taking us along with them. As good luck would have it, our camera and tent were up high and dry on the hill. We had to go on board and change our clothes, and the captain did not think it was safe to stop there any longer, so we got up anchor and steamed across the fiord two and a half miles into a snug harbour. We had not been there more than half an hour when a large berg, 200 feet high, broke off, which sent the water up 40 feet, and, if we had been in the old place, the steamer would have gone up 20 feet on the rocks.
“The glacier comes moving slowly down from the mountains, a great river of ice, thousands of feet deep. sometimes ten miles wide, to the fiord or bay at the foot of the mountain. The alpine glaciers roll down into the warm valleys, and there, warmed by the sun, melt away like a piece of wax before a candle, and form brooks and rivers. But in Greenland they cannot do that, it is too cold; therefore as the ice at the mouth of the glacier is pushed forward to the water’s edge, it must break off in pieces and fall in, and such pieces are icebergs. When they break off, the glacier is said, by the natives to ‘calve,’ or ‘an iceberg is born.’
On the 31st July Mr. Dunmore crossed the Arctic Circle, sailing along for several days and taking instantaneous pictures of icebergs. On the 4th of August the sun shone for twenty-four hours for the first time, and a picture of a mountain 4500 feet high was taken. Next day Melville Bay was reached, and at a place called Tursuesaqk a picture of a house was secured, which is said to be the farthest house north in the world. It froze so hard that the ice made 2 ½ inches at night. Mr. Dunmore goes on to say:--
“I made some pictures on the ice, but with poor success, owing to so much reflected light. I could not use my bath stronger than 18 grains. I made negatives, 14x18, with a view-tube, smallest opening, in two seconds. The next day the wind changed and broke the ice up. That night we moored alongside of an iceberg. It snowed all night. We worked all the next day, making some views of icebergs, and at night took the midnight sun, three negatives, at ten, eleven, and twelve o’clock.”
On August 19th the party proceeded south, and, after a further course of adventures, arrived back at St. John’s on the 26th September, No one, it is believed, has ever photographer farther north or in colder weather than here described; many almost insuperable difficulties had to be overcome, besides those connected with the actual practice of photography. In regard to working, Mr. Dunmore briefly concludes as follows:--“My great trouble, while away, was reflected light. Everything worked flat, and I could not force the negatives up; the stronger the bath the flatter the negative.”