New visions / new insights : a critical examination of the Victorian photography album 900

This enquiry focuses on a little known photograph album in the photographic collection of the National Library of Wales. Having been attracted to this album, because of its disparity with the other albums in the collection, and therefore the vagaries of the contents, I was determined to discover more about this intriguing collection of images. The displacement of an image from its origin, is inherently problematic for the viewer, denying them contextual information. This problem is exacerbated when the image is systematically reorganised into an album. Photographs by Swansea’s pioneering photographers, Calvert Richard Jones and John Dillwyn Llewelyn are in archives all over the world, yet despite their historical significance, a great number of these images are devoid of context, and it is often difficult for the 21st century viewer to understand the narrative without knowing the identity of the people who are featured in such albums. Initiated by a critical study of this modest little album attributed to Calvert Jones, and by means of a hybridised methodology, a system of incorporating traditional paradigms of research, with modern technological practices leavened my approach to this enquiry. The principal methods used are Langford’s ‘Narrative’ and Di Bello’s ‘inverted paradigm’, which formed the core method of my analysis. This study seeks to re-establish a comprehensive narrative of the album, by comparing it with the other known Welsh albums, photographs, genealogical records and archival information. By familiarising myself with the images of the persons, objects and environments displayed in these photographs, and interpreted as a proto-vernacular album, the images began to correlate with one another: this new insight hypothesises the album was created by and for the children. Under this theoretical stance the album and a range of associated interconnections have been reimagined. This study accomplishes this by reconstructing an alternative sequence of images, thus enabling a fresh interpretation.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Reynolds, Alun

• N Celfyddydau gweledol (Cyffredinol) Am ffotograffiaeth , gweler TR
• TR Ffotograffiaeth

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:1238