George Shadbolt (1817–1901) was a British writer, editor, student of

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

with a strong interest in innovative techniques, who was active during the 1850s-1860s. Reported to have made the first

microphotograph Microphotographs are photographs shrunk to microscopic scale.

, he was also an early advocate of photographic enlargement, as well as compound and

combination printing Combination printing is the photographic technique of using the negatives of two or more images in conjunction with one another to create a single image. Similar to dual-negative landscape photography, combination printing was technically much ...

. Shadbolt's dislike of the glare of albumen printing paper led him to forsake it for salted paper. His technical interests probably motivated his praise of

Henry Peach Robinson Henry Peach Robinson (9 July 1830, Ludlow, Shropshire – 21 February 1901, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent) was an English pictorialist photographer best known for his pioneering combination printing - joining multiple negatives or prints to form ...

, whose combination prints were highly controversial. For seven years Shadbolt was editor of the publication that later became the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liver ...

''. One of his sons, Cecil V. Shadbolt, is remembered as a contributor to

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

photography. After 1864, Shadbolt's success as a mahogany dealer prompted him to retire from photography, although he maintained his professional affiliations. One of the founders of the Photographic Society of London (later the Royal Photographic Society), he also was active in the Amateur Photographic Association and the Photographic Exchange Club. Cecil predeceased him, and was buried, alongside members of his family, at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

. Shadbolt was later buried in an adjacent plot, grave 29,652, square 113.

Sources

*Wood, Derek. ''A History of Early British Photography''

References

External links

* Pioneers of photography Botanists with author abbreviations 1817 births 1901 deaths {{UK-botanist-stub