Brush up on RPS founder Roger Fenton with our quick guide
The founder of the RPS was a leading Victorian photographer who shot memorable wartime images
Roger Fenton was one of the key photographic pioneers of the 19th century.
He was the first official war photographer and founded the Photographic Society, later re-named the Royal Photographic Society.
Although he’s best known for his war photographs, most of his photographs were landscapes, architectural studies, still-lifes and portraits of sitters, including Royal Family members.
What was his early life like?
Fenton was born in 1819, near Rochdale in Lancashire, and had a privileged background. He was the son of the local MP, who had made his fortune from banking. After a taking a degree at Oxford he qualified as a barrister, but also studied painting and exhibited some work at the Royal Academy.
How did Fenton get started in photography?
After being inspired by seeing the first photographic exhibition at The Great Exhibition in 1851, Fenton became passionate about photography and abandoned his law practice. His first exhibition was held in 1852 and the following year he became the founder and first Secretary of the Photographic Society, later the RPS.
By 1854 his status as one of the leading photographers of the day was confirmed when he was invited to make portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
How did he come to photograph the Crimean War?
The war began in 1854; the following year Fenton was invited by a publisher to provide a record of Army personnel and battlefields, under Prince Albert’s patronage, ultimately for the British Government. He travelled there with his assistant Marcus Sparling and a servant only known as William. His transport was a horse-drawn converted wine merchant’s van, which was both his darkroom and sleeping quarters. He was in the war zone for over three months.
What difficulties did he face?
Fenton was using the wet-collodion process, which meant the large-format glass plates had to be coated in lightsensitive chemicals, then both exposed and developed before they dried. The darkroom chemicals were hazardous and Fenton almost died from inhaling them. He contracted cholera, broke several ribs and was fired on by Russian troops who thought his vehicle was a munitions van.
Despite these conditions, Fenton made over 350 large-format negatives. His most famous image was Valley of the
Shadow of Death, which showed a deserted Crimean battlefield strewn with cannonballs.
What brought his photographic career to an end?
The reasons are not known for sure, but in 1862 Fenton gave up photography, sold his equipment and negatives and resigned from the Photographic Society. It’s thought that the closure of the family mill affected his finances and the popularity of cheap ‘carte de visite’ portraits undermined his photographic business. He returned to work as a barrister and died in 1869, at the age of 50.
Where can I see Fenton’s work?
60 of Fenton’s images of the Crimean War, originally acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, are on show in Shadows of War: Roger Fenton’s Photographs of the Crimea, 1855 until 26th November at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. www.royalcollection.org.uk/ visit/the-queens-gallery-palaceof-holyroodhouse