Inspire: William Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot, “The Open Door”, 1844

Talbot was the “second” inventor of photography, an early pioneer who invented the Calotype process. The method before him (Daguerreotype) created only one single image, whereas Talbot’s Calotype used a paper negative which could be used to create multiple copies – much like today’s film… Since the process was now reproducible, Talbot came up with the idea to create the first ever photography book he titled “The Pencil Of Nature”, which included 22 handmade prints alongside writings about the medium and its possibilities. In his book, next to this image, he wrote:

“We have sufficient authority in the Dutch school of art, for taking as subjects of representation scenes of daily and familiar occurrence. A painter’s eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable.”