The photographer I want to study in more detail and analyse his work is Henry Mullins. Henry Mullins is a very famous photographer especially in Jersey’s history as he was one of the first famous photographers to influence Jersey photography. The unique thing about his photography is that all his images were portraits of people. This is quite important and powerful for our history as it shows us visually what individuals of different class looked and dressed lie in the 80s. His photography allows us to see a visually representation of Jersey’s culture back in the day and how much it has evolved over all these years up until now, such as fashion

Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Initially he was in partnership with a Mr Millward, about whom very little is known. By the following year he was working alone and he continued to work out of the same studio for another 26 years.

For a brief period in the 1860s he also worked in London, but judging by the collection of his photographs which is now held by La Société Jersiaise, he found plenty of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay half a guinea (promoted as “one half of that in London”) to have their portrait taken by him.

analysis of one of Henry’s photographs-

As you can see this photo is a portrait photo that has been taken in black and white. His face and body has a much darker tone compared to the background that is just all plain white, this nicely contrasts together and makes him stand out in the portrait. Mullins would have mostly likely used natural lighting and photographed this young man in a studio as the background is all white or even in his own home. He’s positioned to be photographed directly in the center of the image which makes him the main subject and focus, as this is a portrait photograph. You can probably figure out his class and wealth status just by having a look at what he’s wearing. He’s dressed in a neat dark suit with a tie which suggests he’s most likely middle or upper class as he would definitely need to have money to buy a good looking suit instead of just being in old slacks and photographed in a farm. Him being dressed well also suggests he probably has a good earning job and his hair looks well put together too. This is why Mullins taking portraits is very important and empowering as you can see and tell so much just from one image.

Some more examples of Henry’s photographs-