Getty Museum

[D. O. Hill]

Hill & Adamson

Date

1843–1847

Medium

Salted paper print from a paper negative

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Object ID

00cffd6e-c590-4e0c-aca8-668a1b42c5a8

> In the numerous portraits made by Hill and Adamson (David Octavius Hill [1802-70] and Robert Adamson [1821-48]), Hill is by far the most popular subject. He appears in more than forty calotypes, often as part of a group arrangement. Photography provided him with the opportunity to quickly explore new positioning and lighting; placing himself in front of the camera expedited these experiments. In this image he stands against the doorway of Rock House, the photographers’ residence, perfectly at ease and completely composed. > > Hill clearly saw his role in the partnership as providing artistic direction. Regarding the technical side of photography, he confessed in a letter of March 12, 1845, to his friend and fellow artist David Roberts (1796-1864), "I know not the process though it is done under my nose continually and I believe I never will." Adamson, concerned more with the chemical and technical aspects of the medium, occupied a behind-the-scenes role and, as a result, appears in very few photographs. > > Anne M. Lyden. *Hill and Adamson*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), 34. ©1999, J. Paul Getty Museum.

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