LIFE AND WORK:

In 1859, Sutton developed the earliest panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens. The lens consisted of a glass sphere filled with water, which projected an image onto a curved plate. The camera was capable of capturing an image in a 120 degree arc.

In 1861, Sutton created the first single lens reflex camera. Sutton was the photographer for James Clerk Maxwell’s pioneering 1861 demonstration of colour photography. In a practical trial of a thought-experiment Maxwell had published in 1855, Sutton took three separate black-and-white photographs of a multicoloured ribbon, one through a blue filter, one through a green filter, and one through a red filter. Using three projectors equipped with similar filters, the three photographs were projected superimposed on a screen. The additive primaries variously blended to reproduce a gamut of colour. The photographic materials available to Sutton were mainly sensitive to blue light, barely sensitive to green and practically insensitive to red, so the result was only a partial success. Forty years later, adequately panchromatic plates and films had made excellent colour reproduction possible by this method, as demonstrated by the work of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. The principle of reproducing a full range of colour by three-colour analysis and synthesis is based on the nature of human colour vision and underlies nearly all practical chemical and electronic colour imaging technologies. Sutton’s ribbon image is sometimes called the first colour photograph. There were, in fact, earlier and possibly better colour photographs made by experimenters who used a completely different, more purely chemical process, but the colours rapidly faded when exposed to light for viewing. Sutton’s photographs preserved the colour information in black-and-white silver images containing no actual colouring matter, so they are very light-fast and durable and the set may reasonably be described as the first permanent colour photograph.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

VISUAL:

In the image above, the initial feeling which I get is dystopia and war through the very plain background and black and white color scheme. The ripped fabric which is flowing in the wind also portrays this, it gives a flow to the photo leading from the hot air balloon basket to the actual balloon on the right hand side of the image. There is no clear understanding of the location of the image therefore the viewer is kept guessing. The shapes within the image are also very circular and round, giving a sense of pattern and continuity. Due to the time frame of when this photo was taken and the technology available at the time, the image is monochromatic with very little variation in tone or texture. The image is a little grainy, but it adds to the overall aesthetic of historic images. Furthermore, due to the monochromatic nature of the image, the people are left as silhouettes, especially the first man in the back.

TECHNICAL:

In terms of the technology available at the time, the light sensitive paper which was used for the production of this image means that neither color or minor shadows can be produced in the image, resulting in a very flat and one dimensional image. In order to produce clear images, the camera had to be propped up on a tripod to keep it steady and the subjects also have to be very still. In the early 1800s, the camera obscura had become a portable, light-tight box that contained materials and chemicals that would momentarily record the image through the lens. Cameras created in the 1800s were often crafted for looks as well as functionality. For instance, fine woods were used with brass fixtures to showcase the equipment. Wood had the advantage over metal as it was lighter and the camera could be made larger, which would give the photographer more movement and extension. The wood was also exceptional for dampening vibration, which could affect a metal camera and blur the picture. On the other hand, the metal cameras had the advantage of less flexibility for long extensions. The metal cameras could be knocked over with little damage, while the wooden cameras could be shattered if they hit the floor.

CONCEPTUAL/CONTEXTUAL:

Sutton had a workshop and studio in St Brelade’s Bay from 1848 until it burnt down in about 1854. He was in partnership with the famous French photographer Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, who pioneered the calotype (negative and paper print) process in France. Their business was patronised by Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert and, according to its advertisements, was founded at the suggestion of the prince, who was a collector of photographs.

Sutton produced the first photographic publication of the island – Souvenir de Jersey – and was a prolific writer on photography. He wrote his Dictionary of Photography, the major work on the subject at the time, in 1858, and in 1867 he and photography lecturer George Dawson produced a revised edition. Sutton’s calotype manual was another often reprinted and updated work that kept its popularity through at least 10 editions.

source:
https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Thomas_Sutton