The Photographer's Burden

The Photographer's Burden

Early photographic negatives were made out of glass, and photographers had to immerse them in chemicals immediately after exposing them. To capture a good view, a photographer might have to carry heavy, delicate negatives, chemicals, and camera equipment up a mountain and down it again. For most of the nineteenth century, tourists purchased their souvenir photographs from professional photographers like G. P. Abraham, Ltd (the local firm that produced these negatives), rather than taking their own pictures.

G. P. Abraham, Ltd.

Glass negatives of The Screes, Wastwater; The Grisedale Pass; Stanley Ghyll, Eskdale; In the Glen, Caldbeck. Purchased with the generous support of Mrs Shirley Wilkinson.

2006.5.2; 2006.5.8; 2006.5.24; 2006.5.64