Shadows and Light: Bath in Camera, 1849-61 - Calotypes by Rev.Francis Lockey

by David McLaughlin, Michael Gray

64 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 1989

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim volume makes accessible the photographic work of Bath and the surrounding area by one Rev. Lockey, taken circa 1850s. This is obviously a valuable service to amateur historians but it also shows Lockey to have had a keen eye for a good image - and not always the obvious one, either. Some of them show views of buildings that, whilst still existing, are not readily accessible to the public now. Others show scenes that have sinced evolved beyond all recognition. Some show a common Bath phenomenon; scenes that are readily recognisable from unchanged buildings but with streets that indicate the era they were made in. Here, it's unpaved roads, gas lamps and horse-drawn vehicles.

Lockey demonstrates that techniques common from the more recent eras of film photography started early: He painted negatives and took stereoscope pairs, for instance. (Exposure times were too long to capture fleeting cloud formations, so he would paint clouds in!) Stereoscopes, which allowed a 3-D effect, were a huge fad in the Victorian era.

The book makes good, large reproductions of the images - this is no mean feat, considering the technical challenges involved with dealing with very old prints and negatives at a time when digitisation was not a practical option.