How Did Frederick H. Evans Use Photography In Wells Cathedral

During the era of 1980 to 1918, Industrial Revolutions and WWI brought the photography field to a new trend - a symbol of modernity. Since the electricity invention was introduced, the production of photography expanded to a mass market and the concept of photography shifted resembling to modernity. “The perceived vulgarity of mass culture and the excitement of modern art combined to encourage photographers interested in art and personal expression to create a separate aesthetic (Mary).” Unlike other Pictorialists, British photographer Frederick H.Evans, preferred to photography in a “pure inclination,” that he refused to employ special lenses and negative settlement on his photographs. Evans discovered the structure of architecture in art photography that would deliver both “emotional and aesthetic responses to space,

The dimension is 23.9 x 19.5 centimeters, and the medium is Gelatin silver print. In this black-and-white image, it presents a path to the chapter house. Evans shot the image in a low perspective from down to up that the cathedral is positioned in the top left corner and the remaining stairs are structured in the front. The composition is arranged by numerous horizontal paralleled stairs perpendicular with vertical pillars in the front, and the chapter house is in the distant top left corner. This image embodies all the aesthetic beauty of architecture that brings an order and clarity, from element to element constructions. It was hard for photographers to get respected reputation during the expansion of photography period. Evans had a wide range of subjects that he was interested in portraits, rural landscape, and English country architectures. He intended to record emotion rather than a piece of photography. As stated by his words, “Old stone cathedrals, designed with a knowledge, craft, and sensitivity lost to our modern world”