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Lewis Carroll at Christ Church (John Rich Album) 1856-1860


37 Portraits in set

The portraits in the Christ Church album belong to the period in which Dodgson's interest in photography was first awakened. The portraits are, as one would expect from a novice in photography, mainly of his friends and contemporaries at the college, a number of whom went on to become leading figures in the English church. The album belonged to one of these sitters, Canon John Rich, and includes some memorabilia pasted in by his descendants. In the photographs, nearly all of which were taken outdoors in the Deanery garden, the poses appear somewhat stiff and contrived. This is owing to the fact that the exposure times, during which the sitter had to stay still, were long (between ten and forty seconds depending on the light) and it may have been the first time that many of these sitters had been photographed.

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