> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Digitized Photos by Julia Margaret Cameron, 19th-Century Pioneer of the Soft Focus - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/julia-margaret-cameron-in-progress/ - Published: 2017-10-13T14:52:51.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T16:26:27.000Z - Description: Bodleian Libraries digitized over 100 photographs by 19th-century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, who brought a dreamy softness to her images. - Author: Allison Meier - Tags: History, Bodleian Library, Photography, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron07.jpg) Photograph from the collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) [Julia Margaret Cameron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia%5FMargaret%5FCameron?ref=hyperallergic.com) got her first camera [in 1863, ](https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/camr/hd%5Fcamr.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com)at the[ age of 48](http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/julia-margaret-cameron/about-the-exhibition/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and created hundreds of portraits that experimented with early photography’s flaws. Soft focuses, scratched images, and other distortions contributed to a dreamy quality. Although some of the British photographer’s work can appear a bit sentimental, such as the Victorian recreations of biblical and Shakespearean scenes, her portraits remain compelling. ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron06.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) In September, [Bodleian Libraries tweeted](https://twitter.com/bodleianlibs/status/907202968071614464?ref=hyperallergic.com) that they had digitized[ 112 of her 19th-century photographs](https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discover/Search/?ref=hyperallergic.com#/?p=c+0,t+,rsrs+0,rsps+10,fa+,so+ox%3Asort%5Easc,scids+,pid+bf618ce4-487e-4bf1-9f03-cf728a62bd14,vi+b1050069-acd8-4a91-ba1f-cf93e07e9361). In a [blog post](http://bodleianlibs.tumblr.com/post/165297167400/digitizing-books-photographs-and-manuscripts-at?ref=hyperallergic.com), the University of Oxford library detailed the digitization process, which dates back to the early 2000s, as well as some background on the album. The photographs were compiled as a gift for dramatist Sir Henry Taylor (the album is known as the [Henry Taylor Album](https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discover/Search/?ref=hyperallergic.com#/?p=c+0,t+,rsrs+0,rsps+10,fa+,so+ox%3Asort%5Easc,scids+,pid+bf618ce4-487e-4bf1-9f03-cf728a62bd14,vi+b1050069-acd8-4a91-ba1f-cf93e07e9361)). Taylor was also a subject of Cameron’s art, as in a [“study of King David”](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Study%5Fof%5FKing%5FDavid,%5Fby%5FJulia%5FMargaret%5FCameron.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com) where the author’s long beard gives his costume crown a regal weight. Another member of her circle, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, once [quipped ](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/282041?ref=hyperallergic.com)that her models, frequently family and friends, were her “victims” for all the control (and often props) she put upon them. Yet Cameron was serious about the artistic potential of photography. In 1868, she was given two rooms at the South Kensington Museum (today’s Victoria & Albert Museum), for her studio. She [stated ](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/22/julia-margaret-cameron-victorian-portrait-photographer-exhibitions?ref=hyperallergic.com)that the ethereal softness of the images was initially “a fluke.” While there were critics of her technique — *The Photographic Journal* [sneered](https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/camr/hd%5Fcamr.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) that “slovenly manipulation may serve to cover want of precision in intention” — she had fans in the [Pre-Raphaelites,](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/pre-raphaelites/) who likewise shared her infatuation with beauty and archaic themes. She died in 1879, and interest in her work endures. The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited her photography in a [2013-14 exhibition](https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/julia-margaret-cameron?ref=hyperallergic.com), and in [2015-16 the Victoria & Albert Museum ](http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/julia-margaret-cameron/?ref=hyperallergic.com)marked the bicentenary of her birth with over 100 selections from their collections. “From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour,” [she wrote](https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/camr/hd%5Fcamr.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com), “and it has become to me as a living thing, with voice and memory and creative vigour.” ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron01.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron03.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron02.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron09.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron05.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron04.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron10.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) ![Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/jmcameron08.jpg) Photograph from collection of albumen prints by Julia Margaret Cameron (1864-67) (© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) *View more photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron* [*online at Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.*](https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discover/Search/?ref=hyperallergic.com#/?p=c+0,t+,rsrs+0,rsps+10,fa+,so+ox%3Asort%5Easc,scids+,pid+bf618ce4-487e-4bf1-9f03-cf728a62bd14,vi+9a75a28e-b487-4f52-8480-775f6ce8ddc7)