Photography Research

This photo is by Roger Fenton. It is called Pasha and Bayadere and depicts a bayader (dancing girl) performing for a Pasha (Turkish military or civil official). This is an example of Orientalist photography in which Muslim culture was romanticized. This picture is actually staged in a studio in London with hired models.

Roger Fenton was born March 20 1819 in Lancashire. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at University College London and became interested in painting in the next year. While visiting an exhibition, he became fascinated by photography. He soon learned the calotype process and had his own exhibition in 1852.

Fenton is largely known for being one of the first war photographers, most notable photographing images of the Crimean war. He also began to take photographs of imagined Muslim scenes using friends and hired models as the subject.

Before he died, Roger Fenton actually gave up photography up to his death in 1869.

This is a photo of the work of Tim Head, an artist from London born in 1946. The photo was taken by Chris Davies. The piece is called 'Untitled' and is an installation at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. Slide projections and mirrors were used to create the piece.

This is a photo by Anthony Stokes of another of Tim Heads installations. This one is titled Infrared/3 Shots in the Dark. This was shown at the Garage Gallery in London. To make the piece, Tim Head used slide projections, mirrors, and infrared light.