Julia Margaret Cameron: Biography and Creativity

Julia Margaret Cameron, whose biography is described in this article, was a famous British photographer of the nineteenth century. Her creativity inspired earlier and continues to excite people so far. Julia is considered the best portraitist. Her work entered the history of photography.

Childhood

Julia Margaret Cameron was born on June 11, 1815 in India, in Calcutta. Mother, Adeline de L'Etan, was a French aristocrat, and her father, James Pattl, was an English official of the East Indian company. In Calcutta and passed all the childhood of Julia. Many called her "ugly duckling", although the sisters were considered beautiful. But no one denied that Julia has her talents.

Perhaps, this division of beauty later played a big role in her life, when she, being already an adult lady, took up photography. Julia received an excellent education in France. But after the death of her parents, she had to return to India.

Gift that changed life

The life of Julia Cameron changed greatly after her husband moved to the Isle of Wight. It was a real countryside. There were no balls and high-society entertainment, to which Julia was accustomed in London. From boredom she was saved by the poet Lord Alfred Tennyson. The children have already grown up, everyone "flew", and Julia was overcome by depression. The daughter with the son-in-law, wanting to take the mother out of prostration, gave her an expensive camera for her on the 48th anniversary. And life for Julia has acquired a new meaning and colors.

The first photos

Cameron had several teachers, who then mercilessly criticized her for her style. One of the photographers who liked the pictures was David Wilkie Winfield. But Julia Margaret Cameron wanted to find her own special style. The first objects of filming were domestic - family members, servants and workers from her husband's plantations. Then Julia introduced the creativity and neighbors, making them models.

Many complained that it is difficult to sustain such long filming. At that time, the photo was still developing, and excerpts were staged up to seven minutes or more. But Julia has developed her own special style. Her photographs were thoughtful poses, sullen shadows and a slight blurriness.

Julia Margaret Cameron created not ordinary portraits, but illustrations for biblical and literary themes. For each pose she tried to find special coverage. Julia's maid, Maria Hiller, suffered most from such long filming. She had to sit still for 8 minutes. But the maid eventually became famous.

First photo studio

Her first photo studio Julia equipped in a room where chickens were previously kept. Under the laboratory for making pictures, a barn for coal was assigned. At first the photos turned out to be very unsuccessful. In many pictures, spots and cracks were visible. The photos quickly faded. There was a lot of marriage. But Julia persevered in cultivation.

Her studio became a "gallery of saints." She created not just good pictures, but practically icons. Julia photographed not only to know, but also ordinary people. But these pictures were uninteresting. Immediately felt that Julia did not put their soul in them.

Perfection in photography

Some photographers mercilessly criticized the work of Cameron. But most people found the pictures magnificent. Julia Margaret Cameron herself mastered the process of fixing images with the help of colloidal plates. Cameron had a distinctive feature - cropping the photo around the figures and blurring the images. This she achieved especially with the help of a soft focus.

As a result, Julia received plasticity, expressiveness of feelings. She stylized her work under painting. Removed small unnecessary visual details. As a result, her contemporaries turned out to be heroes of the prosaic world.

Exhibitions

After a while among photographers began to sound more often her name - Julia Margaret Cameron. Her work was exhibited in London, Dublin, Paris and Edinburgh. And in Berlin, Julia was awarded the gold medal of V. Vogel. It was a chemist photographer who perfected color photographs. In 1867, at the Paris World Exhibition, Julia was awarded the highest recognition.

How did the photographs of Julia survive?

She was a member of the English photo club. As soon as the pictures became really good, Julia decided to sell her works to the director of the museum. At the same time, she carefully recorded every photo and registered her copyright. And then she sold her works for a lot of money with the authorship of Julia Margaret Cameron. The exhibition, which was organized by the director of the museum, was constantly replenished with new pictures.

The character of Julia

Contemporaries of Julia spoke of as an energetic, impulsive and assertive lady, capable of persuading anyone to become a model. She was posed even by respectable officials of the ministry with a poker in her hands, which depicted a scepter. Julia was fond of theatrical performances. Therefore, relatives and friends often forced to change into costumes of different characters.

Personal life

Julia Margaret Cameron, photo of which is in this article, in 1838, married with legal counsel Charles Cameron. He was older than his wife for twenty years. But, despite the great difference in age, this marriage turned out to be happy. Both spouses were very fond of art. Julia and Charles had six children.

Camerons made friends with many artists and writers. Julia even wrote short stories and did translations. After the wedding, the couple left to live in Ceylon. There they lived the first ten years of marriage. After the resignation of Charles, the family moved to England and settled in London.

End of career and life

Julia Margaret Cameron, whose work has survived until our times, over eleven years of photography has created more than 900 works. Then he and Charles decided to go to Ceylon. There, the wife of Julia had coffee plantations and lived two of their sons. Cameron tried to study photography on the island. But it did not have the right ingredients for working in the laboratory: pure water and reagents.

As a result, Julia stopped taking pictures. She died on January 26, 1879, on the island of Ceylon. At that time, she was only 59 years old. The cause of death was sadly banal - an ordinary cold.

Pictures of Julia were valued not so much for quality, as for "soul." It was her that Cameron always wanted to see and pass on in her works. And the camera in her hands was like the brush of a talented artist. Julia sought to capture in photographs not just faces, but their expressions. Pass feelings. The works of Julia are distinguished by a special spirituality and romance.