William Henry Fox Talbot was one
of a small group of individuals who experimented with light sensitive chemicals
and optical devices in the 1830’s. He is fundamental to the birth of
photography and was responsible for inventing an early form of photography that
used paper for both the negative and positive print. Talbot’s ‘An Oak Tree in
Winter’ is one of the first images to be fixed with a hypo (fixing agent)
solution and represents a crucial development in the history of photography. In
1839 his process for fixing images on paper treated with silver chloride was
made public. His original images, however, were fixed with a salt that did not
actually remove the silver chloride. This left the image unstable and still
sensitive to light. In 1841 he began printing more stable images by using hypo
which removed all of the silver chloride. These produced a softer image often
compared to drawings or watercolours and any number of prints could be produced
from the negative.
Looking at the image of Talbot’s
‘An Oak Tree in Winter’ the first thing I see is a majestic oak tree that we
know is shot in winter due to the tree not having leaves on it. I can sense
that early morning feel which makes it comes across to me as peaceful and calm.
However, giving the image more thought, I began to realise that the
photographer was using this image to convey a meaning and this makes me
completely different.
Talbot has chosen to centralise the tree in the shot to
capture the whole width and so that the height of the tree is captured too. He
has distanced himself just enough so that the branches and twigs on the
branches are still clearly visible. The scene looks as though it has been shot
early morning on a bleak day. The grey dismal sky is providing a perfect backdrop
for the interesting shapes of the branches.
Talbot has told his story by
making one tree the main focus of the image whilst smaller trees can be seen in
the background. This gives the appearance of the tree being more powerful and
stronger than the other trees. It could be that Talbot was trying to convey to
the viewer that the individual, powerful tree represented an individual,
powerful man – maybe Talbot himself or perhaps what was happening at that time
politically.
I feel that Talbot has chosen
this type of tree deliberately as the Celtic culture believed passionately that
the oak represented strength and power. Living up to 200 years and having an
enormous height and width would support this belief. The Celts were said to
have had a thirteen-month calendar with a different tree represented each
month. The seventh month was named Quercus which is the scientific name for the
oak, and symbolised power, rulership, justice, honesty and protection. Talbot
photographed this tree around 1842–1843 which was a time when these traits,
especially power, were important to men.
During the time Talbot took the
photograph there was a lot of unrest amongst the people of England as although
the rich were getting richer, the working class were suffering great hardships.
Trade Unions were beginning to voice their opinions on behalf of the people.
Workers began to show their dissatisfaction by striking; the industrial
revolution was well underway with various Acts of Parliament becoming law in
favour of the workers. It was a time of the underdog at last being given power,
which could account for Talbot’s image of the powerful oak tree rising up
representing the power beginning to rise up from the people.
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