Example of proto-photojournalism: Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1855, by Roger Fenton. Fenton was perhaps the first true photojournalist, and the Crimean War was probably the first photographed war. Large cameras with slow emulsions necessitated slow shutter speeds, which meant no action shots. Despite that, I think this is one of the most poignant war photographs ever. Partly because you can look at it and not even notice that it’s a war photograph. I should probaby be embarassed to admit it, but I had to look at it several times before I understood what the cannonballs were.
I think it’s interesting that, thanks to photography and faster communication over distance, the Crimean war was “modern” in the sense that reports about it to the public were available, if not instantly, then at least with a delay that was negligible compared to previous wars. I can only speculate, but I imagine it must have felt much realer, much more visceral to the general public, even though it happened far away, than any previous war they had not personally experienced, because it was reported to them as it happened, and scenes from the war were photographed. Yet today, the war, which cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives and involved the major players in Europe at the time — Russia, the Ottoman Empire, France and Britain — is largely forgotten. (It was also the war that made Florence Nightingale.) Maybe I’m simply ignorant, but of all the major events in 19th century Europe — and I’m actively interested, though admittedly not especially knowledgeable — this war is the one I know the least about. I was fed the story about The Lady with the Lamp several times throughout my childhood, and no one mentioned or explained the Crimean War. In fact, the first time I heard about it was in connection with Fenton’s photograph.
That is the power of photography.
(For more on the war, see here and wiki. The background seems to be that the major players in Europe were vying for influence in the sphere dominated by the Ottoman Empire, an ancient behemoth that had outlasted the Middle Ages, but was clearly in decline by the mid-19th century.)
Sep 8, 2010
