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The
first underwater photograph
Briton
Beats Boutan
by
Brian Pitkin
Reproduced
from in focus 11.(Aug.
1985)
If
you thought Frenchman Louis Boutan took the first underwater
photograph then you'd be wrong. According to John F. Brown
(British Journal of Photography, 9th August, 1985) that distinction
goes to Dorset solicitor and natural historian William Thompson.
In February 1856, Thompson, assisted by his friend Mr Kenyon
rowed out a short distance into Weymouth bay and lowered a
box containing a 5" x 4", plate camera into the
sea and took the first ever underwater photograph.
Thompson's
box had a plate glass front and a wooden shutter operated
from the surface with a length of string. The camera was prefocused
at 10 yards, a distance Thompson later acknowledged was too
great. A portable darkroom tent, on shore, was used to prepare
the glass plate negative. The film holder was then put into
the camera, the darkslide withdrawn, the lens uncapped and
placed in the box with the shutter closed. Next the whole
contraption was attached to an iron tripod and taken out by
boat to be lowered to the seabed. On his second attempt, using
an exposure of ten minutes, an image was obtained.
First
Flood
Even
though the depth was estimated to be no more than eighteen
feet, the pressure was such that water forced its way through
the joints and into the box. Like many of us in similar situations,
Thompson despaired of obtaining an image. After washing the
plate in fresh water and developing it, he was, however, pleased
to note that seawater was not as injurious as he feared. The
seawater left only a line at the height which it had reached
during the exposure. John Brown considers Thompson's photograph
a 'gallant and innovative failure, it being difficult to decipher'.
But it was the first, and beat Boutan by thirty seven yearsl
Reproduced
from in focus 11. Aug.
1985 |
