Julia Margaret Cameron began her photography career late in her life at the age of 48 when she was given a camera as a gift from her daughter. After this, she became engulfed in this labour intensive practice of capturing the world around her for all its beauty. Her love was the portrait; the soft focus and closely framed face became something she was noted for. The relationships that her subjects take with the viewer is quite strong and striking. They interact with those who peer into their eyes, penetrating the photographic surface and being able to see into the actual person. Her portraits appear sculptural, the figures frozen in time, with the cool surface and colours of the wet plate. Harsh shadows create dramatic both harsh and soft features. In the photograph at the bottom of the list, the gentleman (Sir Henry Taylor) grasps his neck with his hand. His hand almost disappears within his beard and hair allowing the first focus to be upon his gaze, and then followed by the eye traveling down his nose, mouth until you reach his hand. His hand does not appear constricting nor does it feel comfortable and relaxed. It exists in this uncomfortable grasp, not quite a hand of "the thinker" with a chin gently resting upon it.
Her work was at first an excellent tool to use to practice the drawing of portraiture for my own work. After more skills were obtained her work became a source of inspiration for the energy and softness her work depicts.
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