During class, I was particularly interested in the Hawarden photographs. In many of the photographs we looked at in class, Hawarden’s daughters are prominently featured alongside windows and mirrors. One photo stuck out to me:
Until now, I had never really seen a Victorian photograph with the camera included in the photo, especially through the gaze of the mirror. Mirror images usually reflect some kind of image back of the subject looking through the mirror itself. I think the gazes in this photograph are worth looking into. You would think that Hawarden’s daughter would be reflected in the mirror, yet she is not. The gaze of the camera looks directly at the mirror, so the camera is reflected back. Hawarden’s daughter’s gaze is looking at the camera, not at the mirror.
From this perspective, it almost reads as the camera is taking a picture of not just the daughter but the mirror as well. The reflection of the camera in the mirror is not just an accessory; rather, the camera becomes a subject that stands beside Hawarden’s daughter. It raises the question: what does it mean when the camera becomes a subject in a photo?
When a camera becomes a subject in a photograph it creates, it feels like seeing a doppelganger, especially within the Victorian lens. It feels uncanny, but in modern everyday photography I see cameras in mirrors all the time: especially when people take pictures of themselves in a mirror through their phones. It is a modern example of the camera becoming a subject within a photo that has been completely normalized, yet the Howarden photo leaves me with a strange feeling of seeing the large old fashioned camera in frame. It feels haunting, like a ghost.
The difference between the haunting of this photograph compared to modern mirror photography may be due to the absence of the photographer. The photo makes it look like the camera came to life and snuck up behind Hawarden’s daughter and took a photo of her all by itself. When the camera becomes a subject, it becomes humanized. The mechanical becomes sentient, a fantastical image based in reality. It is truly an incredible photograph, one that alters the traditional gaze, perspective, and subject of a Victorian photograph.
Victorian Visual Culture 
This is really insightful. I too haven’t seen a photo with a Victorian camera in the photo before this one. There is a sense of quietness in the room, and like you are meant to focus on the camera’s presence. For me, it feels like she is the only person in the room, even though that is physically not possible. Thank you for your thoughts!
By: evaallii on December 11, 2023
at 3:34 pm
I just love your reading of this anomalous and fascinating photograph! Perhaps the photographic appearance of the camera feels so haunting because the condition for most Victorian photographs is the invisibility of the photographic instrument that makes the photos possible. I had never thought about the camera as anthropomorphized, which of course it is. What a powerful reading, especially given the absence of the photographer.
By: amartinmhc on December 23, 2023
at 7:31 pm