John Joseph Strutt Bird
Updated March 2008
The negatives of English Victorian photographer Reverend John Joseph Strutt Bird were found in Lambridge Buildings, Bath, Somerset, England in 1974. They are a mixture of 5x4" and quarter plate. As they were stored in a coal cellar they exhibit dust and chemical damage, however, the images are still clear enough to be useable and are certainly good for historical reference
These photographs show villiage fetes, holidays at the seaside, portraits and architectural studies. The seaside pictures are interesting to me as they appear to show images of Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset before the turn of the previous century - bathing engines and all
JJ Strutt Bird's gravestone shows he was vicar of Collerne in Wilthsire for 21 years and that he was born in 1841 and died in 1906. The grave also remembers Letitia Bird, probably his wife, who died in 1927 and daughter Mabel Gwendoline, married name Cunninghame, born 1887 died in 1972. I assume she is the young female subject of many of the photographs. From her appearance I consider the bulk of the photographs to be from the mid 1890s
It is possible JJ Strutt Bird retired to 7 Lambridge Buildings as tiny room added to the rear of the house was fitted as a lead sinked darkroom
I have not titled the images, as they bring out far more questions than a simple title could answer. I plan to print and scan most of the 12Kg of negatives and modifiy this page to a maximum of 24 images - some of the ones here will be removed in the process
Notes on printing. Printing has been problematic. I am using an old DeVere 54 enlarger, as I have 5x4" and quarter plate plate negative carriers for it. However, without the "Cathomag" mercury vapour light source, the contrast is high. I may make contact prints on POP and scan these for this web page. Neg' scanning them does not work as the density and contrast of these negatives is too great. At this stage no work has been done on the images apart from straight prints on 10x8" bromide paper. It is scans from these that are shown here, without any chemical or digital modification
In a medicated moment I considered cleaning the POP prints scans in GIMP or Photoshop then selling them as digital prints. However, this would have too much thaumaturgy and would have denied the history of the photographs as is shown in frilling and edge disintegration of the emulsion
When I get new stocks of POP I will make these images available as toned POP contact prints. Enlarged silver gelatine prints are currently available. Both printing methods will show the frilling and edge disintegration of the original negatives
POP = Printing Out Paper, available as Kodak Studio Proof - a silver nitrate/silver chloride sensitized paper which is contact printed in bright light until the image is a bit too dark, then washed and toned before fixing. POP darkens, after a while, without development. An advantage of POP is that it is "self-masking". That is, the shadows start to print first and form a layer of image at the top of the emulsion, which then masks the undarkened silver salts below. This "self-masking" feature makes POP ideal for high contrast negatives. The instructions in the 1898 Barnett Book of Photography only gives gold toning formulae. However, I have made Kodak Studio Proof POP work with Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner. I still have some Kodak Studio Proof in my refrigerator. I hope it is still available - if not, I have heard from Suzie Needham that Kentmere still make POP in England
The 1898 Barnet Book of Photography, which I think is the forerunner of the Ilford Manual of Photography, contains a wealth of information, the section on Gum Bichromate printing being the best and easiest I have used. Every darkroom based black and white photographer should have this book - For more details on POP, gum-bichromate etc, including formulae, please email me from my Home or Sales-Contact pages