Julia Margaret Cameron
Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative
Museum no. Ph. 332-198
Undocumented gift, 1941, found in museum vault 1965
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
To make this print Cameron has used at least two and possibly three separate negatives - one showing Alice Keown at bottom left, one for the main portion of the print showing Mary Kellaway, Percy Keown and the fragment of a third unidentified child on the left, and perhaps a third for the upper left corner. To make the composite photograph Cameron needed to assemble the separate pieces of plate together in a printing frame and could then make an albumen print in the normal way. For Alice Keown (lower left corner) who is very out of focus, Mrs Cameron may have used a negative printed in reverse. Cameron would have needed to devise a method of securing the separate pieces of plate together in the frame or been extremely sensitive to movement while printing.