Henry Mullins, a photographer in the circle of the first photography studio in Europe.

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, 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.

Cartes de visite

His speciality was cartes de visite and the photographic archive of La Société contains a massive collection of these. Their online archive contains 9600 images, but the majority of these are sets of up to 16 photographs taken at a single sitting. In those times even 10s 6d was a substantial sum to pay to have one’s photograph taken, and included among his subjects are many of the island’s affluent and influential people.

He was also popular with officers of the Royal Militia Island of Jersey, for whom it was very popular to have portraits taken, as well as of their wives and children, for the more senior and more affluent officers. The pictures of these officers show clearly the fashion for long hair, whiskers and beards in the mid-1800s. Indeed, so similar is their appearance and so stylised the portraits, it is very hard to detect much difference between a large number of officers of the same rank and social standing.

Diamond Cameo , a technique used under licence by Henry Mullins.

Philip Baudains

Diamond Cameo photography is four small oval portraits which were placed on a carte de visite in the shape of a diamond, each portrait being of the same person photographed in a different position.

 albumen print

 Albumen prints were the most common type of photographic print made during the nineteenth century. They are characterized by a smooth, shiny surface, which is the result of a coating of egg whites.

Who is Henry Mullins?

Henry Mullins started working in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848. He set up a studio known as “the Royal Saloon”, at 7 Royal Square. He was initially in a partnership with Mr Millward, but a year later he was working alone, he continued to do so for 26 years in the same studio. His photographs are now held by La Societe Jersiaise, and he found many people willing to have their photos taken.

Cartes de visite

His speciality was Cartes de visite, La Societe Jersiaise holds 9600 of these images, but the majority are 16 photographs taken in a single sitting. “The carte de visite was a format of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero” The size of a carte de visite is 54.0 × 89 mm normally mounted on a card sized 64 × 100 mm. In Mullins case he mounted his carted de visite into an album.

Albumen Print

Cartes de visite photographs were taken as a albumen print, this was published in January 1847 by, Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard. It used the albumen found in egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper and became the dominant form of photographic positives from 1855 to the start of the 20th century. During the mid 19th century, the carte de visite became one of the more popular uses for the albumen print.

Henry Mullins Work

Image Analysis

Henry Mullins photographs portray something like a passport photo, no shadows, uniform lighting, light grey/cream background, eyes are open and clearly visible, with no flash reflections, facial expression are neutral (neither frowning nor smiling), with the mouth closed, photos show both edges of the face clearly, photos show a full front view of face and shoulders, squared to the camera, the face and shoulder image must be centred in the photo; the subject must not be looking over one shoulder (portrait style), or tilting their head to one side or backwards or forwards, there is no hair across the eyes, photos with shadows on the face are unacceptable.

Henry Mullins uses different poses within his photos, such as looking directly ahead, to the right, to the left, up and down. This creates framing which almost changes the look of the models face, allowing for different interpretation and eye contact with the camera, or a side angle pose.

My responses

I took inspiration from Henry Mullins’ photos by using his poses, by taking photos from left, right or central angles, to portray all different sides of the face to show how a person can come across different depending on the angle you view them from, which also touches on the perception of the human eye, how everyone views everyone differently depending on their perception.

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.

Between 1850-73 Henry Mullins made over 9000 carte de visite portraits of Jersey’s ruling elite and wealthy upper classes.

It’s not known when he was deceased, however he spent over 20 years in Jersey and produced 4 albums with 2 and half thousand in each album, he also put the most important people at the at pof the albums eg, people in chareg of state cham,bers and piut togther a social higharchoty with it going own to fame nd i mportamnce in his albums.

Cartes de visite

His speciality was cartes de visite and the photographic archive of La Société contains a massive collection of these. Their on line archive contains 9600 images, but the majority of these are sets of up to 16 photographs taken at a single sitting. In those times even 10s 6d was a substantial sum to pay to have one’s photograph taken, and included among his subjects are many of the island’s affluent and influential people.

He was also popular with officers of the Royal Militia Island of Jersey, for whom it was very popular to have portraits taken, as well as of their wives and children, for the more senior and more affluent officers. The pictures of these officers show clearly the fashion for long hair, whiskers and beards in the mid-1800s. Indeed, so similar is their appearance and so stylised the portraits, it is very hard to detect much difference between a large number of officers of the same rank and social standing.

An advertisement in the Jersey Times of 5 June 1849 states that “Portraits are taken in groups of two or three, or the single figure, or bust, and of various sizes, even small enough for a ring, the charge for which is reduced to one half of that in London.

Here is some of his grids that he took.

ALBUMEN PRINT

Invented in 1850, and commonly used in the late nineteenth century, the albumen print is a type of photographic print made from paper coated with albumen (egg white).

The albumen print became popular because it produced a rich sharp image. The process involves coating a sheet of paper with albumen (egg white), making the paper’s surface glossy and smooth. It is then coated in a solution of silver nitrate. The albumen and the silver nitrate form light-sensitive silver salts on the paper. When a glass negative is placed directly on the paper and exposed to light, it forms an image on the paper.

Here are some more recent images of his.

This technique is called diamond cameo, licenced by Henry Mullins. Some cameo carvers are well known and signed cameos are valuable. Hardstone cameos are more highly valued than the softer Shell cameos.

Diamond Cameo photograph was registered by F.R. Window of London in 1864. Four small oval portraits were placed on a carte de visite in the shape of a diamond, each portrait being of the same person photographed in a different position.

Their on line archive contains 9600 images, but the majority of these are sets of up to 16 photographs taken at a single sitting.

JUXTAPOSITION

Juxtaposition is placing two images together to show contrast or similarities.

Here is some of my examples’ of headshots, as well as an examples of diamond cameo.

Rembrandt lighting is a technique utilizing one light and one reflector or two separate lights. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural. It’s predominantly characterized by a lit-up triangle underneath the subject’s eye on the less illuminated area of the face 

for the photos bellow I used three point Rembrandt lighting with one light behind one light to the right side and a light reflector to the left, this creates a lighter effect than traditional Rembrandt lighting

i like these photos because i think it demonstrates the signature triangle on the left cheek while still achieving a soft overall atmosphere to the photos

here is my editing process when trying to create a high quality photo and I believe I achieved this for the most part creating the traditional triangle shape on the left cheek.

my pictures bellow are using traditional Rembrandt lighting at its most basic, Rembrandt lighting consists of a single light source placed on a 45 degree offset from the subject, about 5 feet away. Positioned roughly two feet higher than eye level, the light source is angled slightly downward and hits the side of the face that is farthest away from the camera.

the photos above are what I believe to be the best i have of this photo style, I believe Rembrandt lighting is not what I am strongest in but I think I have managed to achieve the desired effect in a good amount of my photos specifically the ones listed above.

above is my editing process when creating these images, i edited the photos not to change the images but to enhance the key features of this photography style .

Henry Mullins is one of the most prolific photographers represented in the Société Jersiase photo-archive. He has produced over 9,000 portraits of islanders in jersey channel island from 1852 to 1873 at a time when the population was around 55,000. The records of his work comes from his albums, in which he placed his clients in a social hierarchy which basically means he categorized them depending on their class. The arrangement of Mullins’ portraits of ‘who’s who’ in 19th century Jersey are highly politicised.

Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and then shortly moved to Jersey in July 1848, where he set up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. In his studio he would photograph Jersey political elite (The Bailiff, Lt Governor, Jurats, Deputies etc), mercantile families (Robin, Janvrin, Hemery, Nicolle and more) military officers and professional classes (advocates, bankers, clergy, doctors etc).

Mood board:

Diamond Cameo: The Patent Diamond Cameo photograph was registered by F.R. Window of London in 1864. It is basically four small oval portraits ,usually 1″ x ³/₄“, were placed on a carte de visite in the shape of a diamond. Each portrait of the subject are headshot photographed in a different position.