Roger Fenton

Roger FentonBritish troops in the Crimea

1855

Bio

• 1819-1869

• British photographer

• Considered one of the first war photographers

• Held a BA degree (general arts)

• Studied law and worked as a solicitor

• Visited the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851, which began his love of photography

• By 1852, his own work was exhibited in London• In 1855, he was commissioned to take photographs of

the Crimean War• British war dept. forbade him to take pictures of dead,

injured or mutilated soldiers• The images were meant to offset anti-war rhetoric• He suffered intense heat, 3 broken ribs and disease• Created a collection of 350 large format negatives and

exhibited 312 prints from the collection• Almost all of the images were posed

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2004/fenton/fenton_ssc.shtm

http://allworldwars.com/Crimean-War-Photographs-by-Roger-Fenton-1855.html

Roger FentonSebastopol from Cathcart's Hill

1855

Roger FentonThe Harbour of Balaklava, the Cattle Pier

1855

Resources

• http://www.masters-of-photography.com/F/fenton/fenton_articles1.html

• http://www.masters-of-photography.com/F/fenton/fenton2.html

Roger FentonThe Valley of the Shadow of Death

1855

Questions

• How well does the war imagery from Fenton describe the actual war?

• How did the imagery he chose/posed contribute to your evaluation of his work?

• Do you believe that the government should limit war photographers in the imagery they shoot?