Samuel Bourne

Samuel Bourne ( born October 30, 1834 in Mucklestone, Staffordshire, † April 24, 1912 in Nottingham ) was an English photographer.

He is among the pioneers of travel photography of the 19th century and is considered the greatest photographer of India.

Life and work

Samuel Bourne devoted himself from 1853 first landscape photography. He made his recordings in England, Scotland and Wales, and they soon found recognition in the Nottingham Photographic Society.

He gave his occupation as a bank clerk and resigned a year later, 1863, his trip to India.

From Calcutta he went several times to Kashmir in order to document the Himalayas. During his seven -year stay in India many landscape shots, but also photographs of Indian monuments and people emerged.

About 2000 of his works were sold by the company Bourne & Shepherd, which he co-founded, for sale. The business flourished, because at that time it was the only way for the people of Europe to get a picture of distant lands and cultures.

Despite the commercial success Samuel Bourne in 1870 returned to England. He started his own business as a textile manufacturer and was in 1900 photographing on.

Travel photography end of the 19th century

From Samuel Bourne's travel reports shows how difficult and expensive was the travel and documentary photography mid-19th century. In addition to the heavy camera and posts the most sensitive glass plates, a lot of chemicals and a darkroom tent out of the home had to be brought. For the recordings in the Himalayan Region were about sixty carrier road to transport equipment and plenty of food. Sometimes several ascents were required to complete equipment in place was for a successful photography.