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preferred the idyllic charms of the countryside and
picturesque ruin. Unlike trees and distant landscape
portraiture presented very real challenges to every
photographer who sought to reach beyond the exterior
surface and express something of the personality of his
sitters. Popular myth portrays Dodgson as a shy, retir-
ing individual, ill at ease in company and hesitant in
conversation. Based on the evidence of his portraits the
very reverse seems to have been the case as Dodgson
clearly enjoys a wide social circle of relatives, friends
and acquaintances who invariably appear comfortable
before his camera. He posed his family groups with great
care and characteristic attention to detail, creating a vital
composition dependent upon the willing co-operation
of all concerned. With children he often set his camera
below their eye line, looking upwards slightly to dignify
their features, and one can well imagine him kneeling
beside the tripod engaging the child’s attention before
lifting the lens cap to make the exposure. How differ-
ent to commercial studios where formulaic poses and
wooden expressions were commonplace.
The photograph which best exemplifi es this early
period is his portrait of Alice Liddell as The Beggar
Maid, made during the summer of 1858. Dodgson’s
relationship with the Liddell family and the story of how
he took the children rowing to Godstow one summer’s
afternoon and invented the story that was to become
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) is part of the
myth and legend that surrounds the man. Much has also
been made of his supposed association with Alice, which
has him falling in love, proposing marriage, and being
rejected by Mrs Liddell. This speculative narrative has
no basis in fact as Dodgson’s diary, the usual source
of day-to-day knowledge, is missing for this crucial
period. Further speculation surrounds his study of The
Beggar Maid, which is frequently offered in evidence
of his alleged unhealthy fi xation with the six year old
Alice whose exposed nipple is seen as a corroborative
truth. But this study photograph is most frequently seen
out of context and separate the paired study made at
the same time showing Alice dressed as a young lady
in her best outfi t. Following Rejlander’s example, it is
easy to believe that Dodgson originally intended both
photographs to be seen as a diptych contrasting wealth
and poverty. The aesthetic and technical quality of The
Beggar Maid ensured its primacy, relegating the other
study to little more than a Liddell family photograph.
The second phase of Dodgson’s photography covers
the period from 1863 to 1871 and is characterised by his
rented use of a photographic studio in Badcock’s Yard,
close to Christ Church, Oxford. Here, for the fi rst time,
Dodgson had a place he could dedicate exclusively to
photography, with a darkroom to prepare and develop
his collodion plates. However, he rarely printed his own
photographs, preferring to hand the task to professional
photographic printers in London, and later in Oxford,
where consistent results were ensured. Working within
a studio setting imposes its own limitations upon a pho-
tographer, not least the amount and quality of available
light, which in the case of Badcock’s Yard seems to have
been less than ideal as many of the portraits Dodgson
made there lack the spontaneity of his outdoor portraits.
It was however a base, a proper photographic studio
where he could invite distinguished individuals and
colleagues to sit before his camera. Even so, his work
in Badcock’s Yard was only one part of his photogra-
phy with increasing numbers of photographic forays
into London and elsewhere dominating the pattern of
his vacations. The nine years of this middle period are
those of his greatest creativity and maturity as he not
only added the better part of twelve hundred negatives
to his inventory but also published Wonderland (1865),
Phantasmagoria (1869), and Looking Glass (1871)
under his pseudonym of Lewis Carroll.
In October 1868 Dodgson had the good fortune to
move into new accommodation at Christ Church. With
ten rooms on two fl oors they were far larger than any-
thing he had previously occupied and it was here, on
the roof which was readily accessible, that he came to
build his own photographic studio. It took almost four
years for Dodgson to obtain the necessary permissions
and build the studio but clearly he thought the effort and
expense worthwhile as it allowed him to bring together
all his photographic activities under one roof and in
March 1872 he made his fi rst portrait there. This fi nal
phase of his photographic career is perhaps character-
ised as the period when he might have fl ourished given
the ideal circumstances of his studio, but which saw
him less actively involved than ever before, taking on
average between sixty and eighty photographs a year.
In some years he barely photographed at all and seldom
took his camera with him when he travelled. Teaching,
writing, and family commitments all made demands
upon his time and little by little he began to turn away
from photography as other interests took precedence.
His most frequent and favourite sitter was Alexandra
Kitchin, better known by her pet name of “Xie.” Over
the years he photographed her more often and in a wider
variety of costumes and settings than any other person
and so she, above all others, has come to epitomise the
period of the Christ Church studio.
Whenever Dodgson’s photographs are reviewed or
mentioned the one issue which dominates the discussion
is his relationship with children and young, prepubes-
cent girls in particular. There is a widespread notion that
Dodgson was a pedophile, someone who preyed upon
children, using photography as his primary means of
approach and gratifi cation, a claim that is given credence
by the photographs he took of children in the nude. But
there is not a shred of evidence or a single photograph