Beach with rocks and a figure

Waves breaking on a beach and rocks. A man in a light jccket and dark trousers stands in the left foreground.
Significant fading to the left side of the print.

During the 1830s William Henry Fox Talbot invented a way of making paper negatives and from them multiple paper prints. In doing so, he laid the foundations of modern photography. Calvert Jones learned of these developments in 1839 through a neighbour who was a cousin of Talbot. Jones lived in South Wales and he made many photographs there and in the West of England. He also travelled widely, making photographs on the continent. Jones' work stands out in the early development of photography because he was one of the first to apply a schooled artist's eye to the medium.

The seashore was a popular subject. Technically it created problems for photography because of high light levels and the capturing of waves remained elusive. In this photograph, Jones has used a strong structure of rocks, beach with tidemarks of sea weed and a foreground figure. He has also succeeded in capturing an impression of waves breaking over a rock.

PH.89-1983