From Life: Julia Margaret Cameron and Victorian Photography

“From Life” tells the story of the greatest portrait photographer of the Victorian age, Julia Margaret Cameron. Born in Calcutta in 1815, she married Charles Hay Cameron in 1865 and settled down to the quiet life of a typical Victorian colonial; but, beneath this conventional exterior, she was increasingly interested in photography, especially the new technologies that would allow images to be reproduced and preserved in a permanent form. Shortly after her marriage she began a long and affectionate correspondence with Sir John Herschel, the world-renowned scientist, who kept her informed about new developments in photography. In 1863, Cameron emerged as the leading portrait photographer of the day. Her work was chronicled in the diaries of her niece, Virginia Woolf, and she produced a series of portraits of distinguished Victorians including Tennyson, Carlyle and Darwin. This is a fascinating and meticulously researched biography of a remarkable female artist who was decades ahead of her time.