It turns out that Fox -Talbot and Edwin Weston were mates. And it also turns out that Sarah Anne Bright, sister of a Bristolian MP Henry Bright, took The Leaf photograph in 1839, making one of the earliest surviving photos. All of which I learnt from an excellent trip to the Observatory in Clifton with its brilliant little museum and its camera obscura.
I love old cameras and I love a Camera Obscura. This is an opportunity to learn about how rays of light bend, and it is a wonderful experience for young and old. At the Observatory in Clifton, you can eat very delicious cake in the cafe underneath, looking across to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and you can gently climb the tower to take in the views and the room at the top with little steps up and wooden doors. Your eyes take a little time to adjust, and then suddenly the inverted bowl in front of you has a slowly emerging image of cars crossing the bridge.
It is hard to imagine the visitor numbers back in the late 1900’s but they were vast. Ladies in crinolean visiting the Observatory to view the new suspension bridge. I had a very distant aunt who launched herself off it, but was saved by her petticoats acting as a parachute. Luckily this story didn’t make it into the walls of the small but perfect museum.
Go. It’s very cool.
