John Falconer, British Library
A Biographical Dictionary of 19th Century Photographers in South and South-East Asia |
Amateur, India
Photographing in Jaipur in 1862. In 1863-4, in response to official requests, he made what are possibly the earliest photographs of Nepal. Also photographed the Ambala durbar of 1869 and contributed to The People of India (8 vols, 1868-75). Views in the neighbourhood of Simla exhibited at the Bengal Photographic Society in 1872.[1] Photographs of antiquities of Udaipur reproduced in the Illustrated London News 10 Oct 1868, p. 350. See also ILN 29 Feb 1868, p. 208. Engraving of his photograph of the durbar at Ambala with Emir of Afghanistan, reproduced in Illustrated London News, 29 May 1869, pp, 537, 550.
His photographs won a medal at the 1864 exhibition of the Bengal Photographic Society:
‘The catalogue commences with Captain C.C. Taylor’s views taken in Nepaul, a fine series of large pictures, all of which are clean, clear photographs. They have gained the silver medal and are interesting as exhibiting the buildings and scenery of a country quite unknown; but for the most part the subjects are taken from a high place, looking down, which causes the buildings to lean over and the ground to present a sloping appearance. No. 1, The Temple of Tullejoo, is a very fine photograph. The lines in No. 5 do not agree with the way in which it has been cut. No. 11, The Three-roofed Temple of Bhairab, is a good picture, well taken; it wants a figure and some cattle. No. 13, The Golden Gate in the Durbar, is excellent in detail - the gate is capitally shewn - the sentry is [a] good figure, but instead of being plastered against the gateway, which is rich and curious, he should have been placed against the white wall. The sides of the houses on either side of the gateway are so much inclined as to destroy in part the pleasure given be the picture. The view of The Valley of Nepaul, No. 15, is not a very interesting picture, but it is a difficult subject for photography. The view winds away into the far distance, and if the right hand side of the mountains had not failed, this would have been a good photograph. We cannot say more in favour of the groups of portraits, Nos. 655 to 658, than that they are of interest, as introducing us to Jung Bahadoor and his family.’[2]
Footnotes
- Λ British journal of photography, 23 March 1872.
- Λ Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society, vol. II, no. 7, March 1864, p. 79.
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