The Invented Eye

Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1955

Dr. John Adamson, Mrs. Godwin, 1850s

Ansel Adams,  Half Dome, Thundercloud, Yosemite National Park, ca. 1956

Antoni Arissa, El beso (The kiss), ca. 1930-1936

Stanley Kubrick, New York Subway – Young lovers, 1947

Julia Margaret Cameron, Annie, January 1864

In December 1863, Cameron, then aged forty-eight, received the gift of a camera from her daughter Julia. One month later, she took this portrait of Annie Philpot, describing it as "My very first success in photography, January 1864". For me, this is one of her most moving images.

"I was in a transport of delight. I ran all over the house to search for gifts for the child. I felt as if she entirely had made the picture. I printed, toned, fixed and framed it, and presented it to her father that same day: size 11 by 9 inches. Sweet, sunny haired Annie! No later prize has effaced the memory of this joy."

Lillian Bassman, "A Report to Skeptics", Harper's Bazaar, April 1952

Ashford Brothers, Mosaic carte de visite of 500 celebrity portraits, ca. 1863

9x5 cm. (3.6x2 inches)

“Upwards of five hundred photographic portraits of the most celebrated personages of the age. With a hand-magnifying glass, every portrait will be seen perfect”

I attest ;) 

Kenneth Josephson, Chicago, 1961