PHOTOGRAPHS
Frith, Francis
England (1822 - 1898)
Rotterdam, Konings Brug (Konings Bridge)
c. 1882
Albumen print
6 5/16 x 10 5/16 in. (16 x 26.2 cm) image and sheet size; 13 15/16 x 16 15/16 in. (35.4 x 43 cm) mount board size
Monsen Study Collection of Photography, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen
FA 79.79

For an exterior photograph such as this, English photographer Francis Frith would have worked with a forty-second exposure, a fast speed for the time. Movement within the picture field had to be kept to an absolute minimum in order to avoid blurring, a near impossibility with cityscapes. Here, however, a small backup on the bridge has halted traffic long enough to achieve a clear image. The only signs of movement can be seen in the blurred mark at the bottom of the photograph, most likely a pedestrian, and the boats on the canal.

An extremely patient and determined photographer, Frith did whatever was necessary to perfect his craft. He searched for the best viewpoints and waited for the best possible atmospheric conditions before taking a picture. It was this search for perfection that once led him to take four hours to accomplish a single exposure in a cathedral interior. According to Frith, “A photographer only knows – only he can appreciate the difficulty of getting a view satisfactorily into the camera: foregrounds are especially perverse; distance too near or too far; the falling away of the ground; the intervention of some brick wall or other commonplace object, which an artist would simply omit; some or all of these things (with plenty others of a similar character) are the rule, not the exception.” (Derek Wilson, Francis Frith’s Travels: A Photographic Journey Through Britain, London, 1985). -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.