After our harrowing evening last night, I assume

the blog looked a bit like a diary. Let me say one more time; do NOT drive in downtown London. In any event, the car has been returned to Hertz and we are far more mobile on foot.

I wanted to add a few images to the blog that I was too exhausted (OK, maybe a few beers too) to finish. The first is a wonderful camera obscurra that was at the Lacock Abbey museum. If you’re not familiar with one, it is a device that light passes through and on some wall or screen in this case, an image is formed. This fascinated people for many years regarding how to fixate the image.

The window shot you see here is the same window used by Fox Talbot to take one of his first images in 1835. The mansion is lovely but they do not permit photography inside, unfortunately, except for this one window. This is not a venue that is rich in photography inside the Abbey but it is a cool place to run around with a fisheye lens. Most of what is displayed regarding photography is when you first come in showing his process to obtain a paper negative which might sound odd except after the negative was finished, it was waxed to allow light through and was subsequently printed onto another paper negative to make a positive. A nice display of old cameras, some chemistry utensils of the time, and Talbot’s hat box were also displayed. (but don’t touch!) And lest I forget, the abbey was used for a shot in a Harry Potter movie. I will allow you to investigate which one.

This next image is one from the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibit. This is what the original manuscript appeared like with Cameron’s illustrations and Tennyson’s text. images in 1835.