33
enabling each person to view a wide range of work and
processes. The Amateur Photographic Exchange Club
asked that photographs be labeled with a title, date of
printing, and process. In return a letter might be sent,
with criticisms, questions, advice and perhaps a print,
and a personal correspondence would ensue. The general
tenor of the exchange clubs was one of congeniality and
active sharing of information, more of a recreation than
a scientifi c pursuit.
Communication among amateur photographers
became more formalized in the 1850s. Many of these
organizations began publishing their own journal, and
independent titles appeared as well, all of which func-
tioned as a central distribution point for information to
an increasingly far fl ung membership. In these pages
photographers found the texts of papers and transactions
of meetings and debates of the societies, articles and
news about every aspect of photography, pages where
the editor supplied answers to readers queries concern-
ing practical problems, as well as advertisements for
equipment and supplies.
While scientifi c and technical concerns mainly oc-
cupied the early amateurs, many saw themselves as
artists as well. Particularly in Europe, amateurs worked
to have photography accepted as a fi ne art, on an equal
footing with painting and sculpture. Photographers cre-
ated genre scenes, landscapes, and still lifes, borrowing
from accepted traditions in painting and printmaking to
make similar subjects and compositions. British pho-
tographer Julia Margaret Cameron took photography
to a new level of artistry with her staged scenes from
literary works and softly focused portraits of cultural
luminaries, while in France in the 1850s, amateurs
like Charles Nègre and Henri Le Secq, using the paper
negative process for artistic ends, created beautiful
landscapes and architectural photographs which have
been compared to Impressionist paintings.
The growth of the fi eld called for increased special-
ization and professionalization, and eventually the early
amateurs were displaced by trained scientists with an
education more focused on photographic chemistry
and optics, while manufacturers took over many of
the developments and improvements in apparatus and
supplies. With the introduction of the wet collodion
process in 1851, and its widespread adoption by the
1860s, the fi eld hits a sort of plateau, and photographic
methods change only subtly for the next two decades.
More and more men and women take up photography
as a pastime or hobby, and the number of clubs and
societies grows, with groups forming in many major
cities. The most important technical contribution by
amateurs in this period is the effort to develop a dry
plate negative process that did not require sensitization
and processing of plates while still wet in the fi eld. In-
dividuals initially experimented with dry collodion, and
upon the announcement of a silver bromide emulsion
developed by Richard Maddox in 1871, continued using
that formula as a basis for their research. The journals
of the period are fi lled with reports of their successes
and failures, leading eventually to a commercially viable
dry plate process.
A major change in amateur practice occurs in the
1880s. By this time, reliable gelatin dry plates have
been developed and mass marketed by manufacturers.
The speed of the plates allowed for hand held cameras,
and manufacturers came out with “detective” cameras,
named after their ability to be used inconspicuously.
New, more sensitive printing papers also eased the pho-
tographer’s burden, and equipment in general becomes
less expensive. George Eastman, founder of the Eastman
Kodak Company brought about the next important ad-
vancement. In the 1880s his company developed a roll
holder and fl exible fi lm that resulted in the 1888 Kodak
camera, which allowed even greater simplifi cation of the
process, essentially opening up photography to any level
of practitioner. Photography was defi nitely no longer for
the wealthy and the learned but appealed to a broader
section of society, allowing people of more modest
means and education to take up the hobby. Photography
caught the fancy of the late nineteenth century middle-
class. People joined clubs in droves, and the number of
organizations grew exponentially yet again. As earlier,
the clubs served both technical and social needs of ama-
teurs. They usually had offi ces with meeting rooms, and
spaces for dark rooms and printing with communal appa-
ratus. Lantern slide shows by individuals were regularly
presented, offering a chance to show personal work and
share travels. There is a revival of postal print exchanges
in the last decade of the century as well as lantern slide
exchanges among clubs. Manufacturers understood
the fi nancial power of amateurs, their keen interest in
the newest cameras and equipment, and became more
involved with their practice. They sponsored contests
and marketed heavily to them, fostering a symbiotic
relationship. New journals appeared such as the British
Amateur Photographer and American Amateur Photog-
rapher, which catered specifi cally to amateur interests,
as well as manuals which brought simpler instructions
and a lighter attitude. Women joined clubs which did
not allow them previously, and their presence becomes
common. The American photographer Catharine Weed
Barnes Ward became a spokesperson and advocate for
women photographers, and wrote on subjects of interest
to amateurs in her many articles in American photo-jour-
nals, in particular her column for women in the American
Amateur Photographer, which she eventually coedited.
She published several illustrated books and regularly
contributed to journals before becoming coeditor, with
her husband H. Snowden Ward, of the British journal
The Photogram and several other periodicals.