William Henry Fox Talbot

Through two introductory essays, the book examines how Talbot's invention of photography in the 1830s, evolved to establish the artistic, scientific and industrial possibilities for photography. As a radically new way of seeing, Talbot set out how the medium of photography had the ability to open up the visual world to a different kind of scrutiny, as well as to reaffirm what was considered to be 'real'. Such experiments make Talbot's practice and thinking all the more complex and lasting but also provocative as he sits between ambitions of art and science through photography, and economic gain. The book furthermore discusses the relationships between a network of photographers who gravitated towards Talbot's process but each of whom took photography into different territory. Assessing their artistic contribution and social legacy, it reflects on how enthusiasm for photography was initially limited to a small close-knit, elite group of people.