Photography

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Around the Hall there are many examples of early photographs. The children will realise that photographs were very different then from those they are familiar with today.

Early photographs would have been taken with simple box cameras and the light exposed, meaning that the sitters had to stay still for between one and two minutes or the picture would have been blurred. (This accounts for the lack of smiles in early photographs). The photograph settings were usually planned and formal, as can be seen from the photographs on this page.

• To appreciate what it was like to have your photograph taken in Victorian times, ask the children to try and sit still and smile for 60 seconds.
• Ask the children to bring in some photographs of themselves and their families today.
• Discuss how the subjects and events depicted in their photographs have changed when compared with the Victorian ones.

Click here to download larger versions of the photographs on this page (227k) which you can print off.