On Sunday I went to see an exhibition of photographs by French photographer Camille Silvy, at the National Portrait Gallery. In 1859 he moved from France to London and set up one of the largest, most important photographic studios in the capital; photographing on average, one portrait sitting every 12 minutes. With the time and labour intensive process of Wet Plate Collodion, the photographic medium of the era, Silvy had a staff of 40 to develop the plates and produce more than 700,00 cartes in three years. It was truly an operation of epic proportions, and a workload testament to his reputation.
Aside from commercial projects, Silvy made some incredible personal photographs, and my favourites from the exhibition. I love the dusty tones and darkness within his 1859 Studies on Light series, and especially the print Twilight (above left). This was supposedly made by combining four separate negatives, with exposures of suitable length made for the lamp, foggy sky, people and architecture. Unlike modern photographic processes where the spectral sensitivity of film (or digital sensor) is relatively linear, the Collodion process rendered colours in an unusual, seemingly illogical mix of greyscale values. Combining negatives, a tricky and time consuming process, would allow the photographer to manipulate the tonal values of the print; bringing them in line with a result more expressive, or photorealistic.
The exhibition runs until the 24th of October and features more than 100 images. It is well worth a visit, while the book that accompanies the show features even more stunning photographs, with brilliant supporting text from Mark Haworth-Booth.
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