Historic Photographer: Roger Fenton

Biography: Roger Fenton (March 20, 1819 - August 8, 1869) was an early British photographer. Fenton graduated from University College London in 1840 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, having studied English, mathematics, and logic. In 1841, he began to study law at University College, becoming a solicitor in 1847. Fenton became interested in photography after visiting an exhibition in Hyde Park in London. He then went to Paris to learn the waxed paper calotype process. By 1852, his work was exhibited in England. He traveled to Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg to take photographs, and he also photographed architecture and landscapes around Britain. He gave up photography and returned to law in 1861, likely because he was unhappy with the increasing commercialization of photography. He died at age 49, possibly from cholera.



The Terrace and Park, Harewood House, 1861.
Albumen print. Royal Photographic Society Bath, England.

Significance: Fenton was a fashionable architectural, still-life, portrait, and landscape photographer. Aesthetically sensitive and technically adept, he was the most acclaimed and influential photographer in England during this period and did much to establish photography as both an art and a profession. Fenton had a strong interest in Orientalist subjects and he also made (1852) a series of photographs of Moscow and Kiev. Sponsored by the royal family, he was commissioned in 1855 to document the Crimean War. Working under appalling conditions, he made 360 photographs emphasizing the romantic aspects of an unpopular war. His few combat pictures are among the earliest photographs of battle. Fenton photographed Queen Victoria's family, and also became the official photographer to the British Museum. Roger Fenton was a founding member of the Royal Photographic Society and one of the most influential photographers of the 1850s.
Techniques: Because his photographic equipment was large and heavy, Fenton was limited in his choice of motifs. And because of the not very photosensitive material of his time, he was only able to produce pictures of unmoving objects, mostly posed pictures and landscapes.
Motivations: Fenton wanted to use the new technology of photography to show people what the world was like. His photographs from Russia were the first to be seen in England. He was very interested in photographing foreign subjects and places.