If a person sits in a dark room, camera obscura could allow a hole the size of a pin to project an image of the garden outside on their wall. If you made a box with a hole on one side and thin paper on the other, it could capture the image of the world on that paper. Square cornered - This method of folding the bellows leaves very sharp corners which are prone to wear (fig. 23). Whilst portraiture remained a popular and commercially viable subject during the early twentieth century, a small number of women photographers sought more socially engaged subjects. Edis and Christina Broom (1862–1939) created photographs that spoke of the contemporary social condition and documented notable aspects of the First World War. Their pioneering work paved the way for renowned female documentary photographers including Lee Miller (1907–77) and Toni Frissell (1907–88).

Widely regarded as the first photographs of inner city slums, Annan’s photographs were indicative of a growing public concern for the poor and dispossessed in society.

While a small number of hand-held cameras had appeared as early as the 1850s, such cameras were extremely unusual at this time of wet collodion negatives when exposures of several seconds were the general rule. However, the introduction of far more light-sensitive, commercially manufactured gelatine dry plates in the late 1870s made ‘instantaneous’ exposures fully practical for the first time. During the 1880s, cameras designed to be used while hand-held became increasingly popular.

The common method of joining boards (e.g. on a lens panel or baseboard) was to use a loose tongue (fig. 14). Metal WorkThe first cameras had a fixed focus lens that could not be manipulated, which meant that the camera needed to be at an exact distance from the subjects, and all subjects had to be at that same distance. Within years of the first daguerreotype camera, inventors realized they could create a lens that could be moved to suit the distance between device and subject. They would use primitive rangefinders to determine how the lens needed to be changed for the clearest photo. Despite Britain’s political power, many ordinary people lead hard lives. As technology advanced, new machines left lots of people without jobs. Many resorted to workhouses, which provided basic poor relief like food, medical care and shelter in exchange for labour. Conditions were poor and sadly, families were often separated. Photograph of Victorian children living in a slum in London.

This photograph, The Steerage, was a turning point for Stieglitz in his move towards a modern aesthetic. His work started to become more closely aligned with photography’s inherent qualities: sharp focus, good contrast and full range of tones became important to him, and replaced the fuzzy lines and dappled surfaces favoured by the Pictorialists. This change of emphasis became known as ‘straight photography’.The baseboard was hinged so that when the two standards were pushed together it could be folded up behind the rear standard. As well as making the camera more portable it provided protection for the focusing screen.