Julia Margaret Cameron

I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied. - Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was an English photographer was born in Calcutta, India. She was well known for her portraits of eminent people and for her romantic pictures. Despite many technical imperfections her images are stand out all time.

Her involvement in photography came about as a result of the kindness of her eldest daughter. She suffered from loneliness as her children had grown up, and her husband was often abroad on business. As a result, and her daughter, to make her life more fulfilling, bought her a camera. From this simple beginning a new hobby began, which was to turn into an obsession.

Julia was in search of beauty of always and bulk of her work consists of portraits of women.
Using dramatic lighting and soft focus, Cameron made mesmerizing psychological portraits that exhibit an intensity of emotion not often publicly revealed in Victorian society.

The Kiss of Peace

A classic example are the delightful portrait of Alice Liddell (on whom the story of Alice in Wonderland is based), entitled “Alethea and The Kiss of Peace. Many of her photographs of women and children are undisguisedly sentimental, others are delightful and penetrating studies.

Her portraits of women are variously bold, blunt, melancholy, or languidly sensual, offering, when seen together, an unexpectedly complex view of the photographer and her time.