511
through various publications that included Du Camp’s
pictures. One of these was Egypt, Nubie, Palestine, &
Syrie, published in 1852 by the printing establishment
of Blanquart-Evrard. In short, Du Camp and others such
as Félix Teynard, John B. Greene, and later Francis
Frith contributed to a growing ethos in Western culture,
in which entrepreneurship united with the acquisition
of visual knowledge to entertain as well as to inform a
fascinated public.
Photography was adopted in the following decade
as an important agent in civil and military exploration
and reconnaissance. This could be a matter of either
individual initiative or team effort. Offi cers in the Brit-
ish administrative, medical, and military establishment
in India were encouraged to use the camera as early as- Two of the earliest known cases of photographic
expeditions in the Indian Himalayas were solitary mis-
sions by an army engineer, Captain Melville Clark, and
a deputy commissioner, Philip Henry Egerton. Their
explorations of 1861 and 1863, respectively, resulted in
singular publications that augmented the conventionally
produced pictorial records of previous explorations in
the Himalayas while offering the novelty of authenticity
associated with photographic documentation. Clarke’s
From Simla through Ladac and Cashmere (1862) pro-
vides a glimpse of the terrain and the types of habitations
encountered on his journey, from the higher arid regions
with their Tibetan settlements—where the photographer
engineer makes clear his astonishment that anyone
could dwell in such “desolate country”—to the more
hospitable Srinagar, the former Mughal summer capital
in the Kashmir valley. Egerton’s photographs and ac-
companying narrative in his Journal of a Tour Through
Spiti, to the Frontier of Chinese Thibet (1864) indicates
the author’s interest in geology and ethnography, and is
also explicit in proclaiming his confi dence in English
commerce and civilizing mission.
Photography’s contribution to nationalist interests
and imperial designs can be easily overstated, but its
deployment as an instrument in tactical missions to
remote areas leaves little doubt that such motives were
at work. The Abyssinia Campaign of 1867–8 yielded
upwards of 1500 photographs produced by specially
trained Royal Engineers. The venture is important
for understanding the politics of science as a facet of
Britain’s imperialistic project during the age of Victo-
ria. Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal
Geographical Society, who had already initiated David
Livingston’s Zambezi Expedition of 1858–64, once
again wielded his formidable authority by making cer-
tain that the scientifi c community would benefi t from
geographic knowledge acquired by the expeditionary
party that was sent ostensibly to gather military intel-
ligence and seek stability in the region. As it had for the
Zambezi Expedition, photography proved a signifi cant
validation of Murchison’s geographical and strategic
concerns in support of empire.
The study of photography’s place in the exploration of
the American West in the years following the Civil War
offers further opportunity to study the sometimes con-
fl icting agendas of scientifi c and utilitarian enterprise.
George M. Wheeler, a fi rst Lieutenant in the Army Corp
of Engineers, spearheaded the US Geographic Surveys
West of the One Hundredth Meridian. Wheeler had the
Army’s support based on his ultimate (but unrealized)
objective to produce a comprehensive engineering map
of the Western Territories. Nonetheless, he engaged the
services of scientifi c and other non-military personnel
on his campaigns beginning in 1871, including the
photographers Timothy O’Sullivan and William Bell.
Beginning in 1869, with government sponsorship, Ferdi-
nand V. Hayden led the US Geological and Geographical
Survey of the Territories, in which the civilian scientist
and his associates pushed into Colorado, Wyoming,
Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, and Montana to survey and
ascertain the natural resources of these vast expanses.
Hayden, however, well exceeded the practical objectives
mandated by the latter with his overriding concerns for
the scientifi c and social value of his explorations. Here
the signifi cance of photography was understood through
the prolifi c work of William Henry Jackson, which,
together with the art of Thomas Moran, were able to
convey better than words to the public and a skeptical
Congress the incredible beauty and fantastic features
of places like the geologically dynamic Yellowstone
region. The concept of wilderness, seemingly limitless,
yet perceived as fragile and subject to radical change
through future settlement was brought home through
Hayden’s efforts and the witness of images, leading to
the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872,
the fi rst in the U.S. national park system.
A critical facet of the production of photographs
during such arduous journeys was the photographer’s
subjective achievement in the act of exploration, dis-
covery (or re-discovery), and successful securing of
images under the duress of environmental extremes. A
well-outfi tted party might have twenty porters or more
to transport supplies and equipment, depending on the
planned duration of the expedition. The exploration of
desert and mountain wilderness areas made trekking
with the camera particularly challenging, not only ow-
ing to dramatic changes in climate and altitude and the
uncertainty of route conditions, but also because the
labors of making photographs on the spot demanded a
physical constitution and agility well beyond the skills
of most practitioners. The degree to which expedition-
ary photographers would push themselves and their
entourage to get the view is astonishing, particularly
in cases where the operator either was the very man
responsible for taking the lead or else given license toEXPEDITION PHOTOGRAPHY
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