Photographing Historical Sites for the Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution Seminar in
Britain, with a selection of photographs
Paul Mueller
Madison High School
Madison, NJ
2010 NEH Seminar for School Teachers
Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in Britain
I have had the opportunity to attend several NEH Landmark Institutes over the past
twelve years and in 2010 I participated in a five week NEH Summer Seminar for School
Teachers on Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The latter was held in London
and Nottingham, England. I have brought to these seminars my love of photography and have
had the opportunity to photograph historic sites and objects as well as beautiful countryside. I
have also photographed seminar participants at work and leisure.
The scope of the seminar on the industrial revolution and the great number of places we
visited and objects we examined proved to be quite a challenge both for getting the best technical
photographs, using the latest digital cameras and computer darkroom programs, and to tell a
story that teachers could use in their classroom to maximize student visual learning on the topic
of the world’s first Industrial Revolution. I would be remiss if I did not explain some of the
difficulties I encountered taking these photographs, so that teachers can better prepare
themselves when they visit historical sites and take their own images.
The number one problem of taking pictures in sheds, barns, museums, galleries and
buildings is getting the correct light exposure. Many places are dark and shadow
enveloped and whatever light sources there is tends to be weak and of poor quality. I did a lot of
spot metering on the subject indoors which led me to use high ISO’s most of the time. Many
times I used 800, 1000, 1250, and even 1600 ISO ratings. Most good point and shoot cameras
today allow you to change the ISO easily. I did not use the camera’s built in flash much at all
since it tends to produce harsh pictures and often it over-exposes the room in spots or flares out
objects in the photograph. A professional speed light flash added to an SLR camera is the ideal
solution. If this is not possible, use your built in flash very sparingly and take multiple photos
using different ISO’s and check the LED in the back of the camera. Another major problem was
focus sharpness. There is nothing worse than taking a nice photograph of a tool, wagon, or piece
of machinery and having it turn out fuzzy and a bit out of focus. I often used a portable tripod or
held the camera very still and shot at the highest and sharpest aperture setting I could use.
Indoors F-8 or F-11 works best but is hard to do in weak lighting. Placing the camera on a
stationary object or bracing oneself against an object or person might help a bit in low light
conditions.
Scenic outdoor shots are of course a great deal easier to take successfully, but even
outdoors in good light I still found some difficulties. The number one problem is people in the
scene. This absolutely ruins any great shot of historical sites or scenery. Patience is the key here.
I often had to wait ten or fifteen minutes for people to get out of the picture. Asking them very
politely to move or stop a second usually works very well. Another difficulty is lighting. You
always want to keep the sun either behind you or over your shoulder. A polarizing filter or
warming filter is a must when the sun is shinning very brightly on your scene.
Enough said about some of this technical advise. I will now discuss some of the photos so that
you can have a better understanding of them and perhaps use them more successfully in the
classroom.
Photo number 1 shows our speaker___________ standing in front of the most famous
individual during EnglandÕs industrialization, namely Richard Arkwright.
The painting is by Joseph Wright and the master hangs in the art museum in Manchester. The
second photo is am HDR shot of the water source for the Cromford Mill. The fourth photo is of
one of the main factory buildings near the water source. This is also HDR. The fifth photo in
order is the toilet facility at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield where they made steel.
Needless to say the students can react quite well to this image and it will lead to a lively
discussion of toilet facilities during this time. The seventh photo shows a water
wheel in use around 1800 and the teacher can explain the use of water power and then future
replacement power sources. The ninth photo shows a workman grinding and piece of steel to a
particular shape using a piece of wood to push the metal towards the grinder. Picture 13 shows a
woman working a spinning jenny and the next frame (14) provides students with historical
progression on weaving
and spinning. It is important to take photos of signs and descriptions to help identify the objects
and time frame. The next set of photos 15 thru 19 all show how cotton was formed and then spun
at the Quarry Bank Mill. Note that each photo was shot at ISO 1000 or higher without the use of
a flash. This gave them a more natural look. Photo order number 19 clearly shows how the whole
cotton textile manufacturing process worked. This can be enlarged and shown on a LCD player
on a large whiteboard screen. The picture of the Mill WorkersÕ World clearly points clothing
style in the 1840Õn after the invention of photography.
Students can be asked to comment on their appearance and work day. The
photo of the display of wages over time is extremely helpful to students to
see the different wages and different jobs and tasks. The workforce slide shows a map of
EnglandÕs mill sites around the turn of the 18th Century.
I find the photos of the living quarters of young boys at the Quarry Mill Site to be particularly
visually instructive. The photo of the teacher using the small hand-held sandbox lets students see
how young boys learned how to write without the use of paper. The teacher wiping off some
writing on the slate tablet
demonstrates learning for young boys who attended classes after working 10 to 12 hours every
day. The next photo shows an individual slate filled in by one of our NEH participants, Tesh.
One of my favorite photographs is of the teacher demonstrating a form of punishment where bad
boys had to hold objects far from their bodies until their arms hurt. The next two photographs
show the sleeping area for the boys. Students might be asked: Ò What is missing or what is
wrong with these two photos?Ó The answer is they do not demonstrate the extend of crowding or
really filthy conditions of the early and mid-1800Õs at Quarry Mill.
Another favorite photo is the teacher spooning out some god-awful concoction
called medicine. IÕm sure this could lead to a very involved discussion of some medicines used
in the 1830Õs and 1840Õs in both England and the United States.
One of my favorite sites we visited during the five week seminar on the English Industrial
Revolution was the trip to Haddon Hall, an old Tudor Hall with
interesting rooms and strong photographing challenges. Photo number 44 of the long hallway in
Haddon Hall was difficult to photograph due to the strong light coming into the four windows
and the long length of the hallway. I used a 2 stop neutral density filter to darken the excess light
coming in and give an even tone throughout the foreground, middle and background of this
photo. In photoshop I chose to make this a little sepia in tone to give the look an older and more
wood tone appearance. I think it really works. I took at least ten separate photos at different fstops and ISOÕs to finally get to most realistic look. The two photos of the small chapel room #
49 & 50, presented some of the same challenges as the hallway shot. I shot one view vertically
and one horizontally, and together they really give you a sense of the room and the texture of the
wood and walls.
Another favorite site was of course Chatsworth. We were blessed with beautiful weather and
almost ideal photo conditions, except for a bit of excessive sunlight at times, which I addressed
earlier in this commentary. Photo 52 is a very accurate photo of the main building and the
surrounding grounds. I could not take the entire building due to people always standing on the
right side of the building.
I followed the classic rule of thirds: 1/3 sky and clouds, 1/3 building, and 1/3 foreground and
grass. The next photo, # 53 is of the grounds in front of the buildingÕs main entrance. I often
like to shoot two photos of a building and its landscape and display them for the public to get a
better idea of the different parts that make up the whole of an historic castle or estate, kind of a
Gestalt approach.
I particularly like photos of the two statues in photos number 57 & 58. They are uniquely
different: 57 shows depth and two statues, as well as the grounds, and 58 zeros in on one
particular statue with only a tree as the backdrop.
I will wrap up with a few comments about photos 66-69, and perhaps a few more. The subject
is of course the Iron Bridge, which was built in the late 1700Õs and is Professor KootÕs favorite
bridge. Photo # 66 was shot to show the bridge in the context of the surrounding greenery with
just a little of the river showing. Keep in mind the weather was cloudy and misty. So the sky was
bad and the way you get around a cloudy sky is to shoot low and exclude the sky or have as little
of it in the photograph as possible. Photo # 67 is shot from a higher point to include the house
just under the bridge for context and interest. Photo # 68 was shot for Professor Koot, since he
lights up when he sees this bridge or even talks about it. Photo # 69 is my last attempt to bring
more color and artistic style in what was a drab atmosphere weather wise and a difficult shoot,
because it started to rain at this moment. I think photos # 70 and 71 are particularly useful to
teachers using photos to teach about the English Industrial Revolution. Photo 70 is a description
of the famous Bedlam Furnaces and the students can easily read this and get plenty of
information from it. Then you show them the photo of the original site of the remains of the
Bedlam Furnace and students learn an important lesson. This would be an opportune time to
show students the painting ÒCoalbrookdale by Night 1801Ó by the painter Philip James de
Loutherbourg and have them discuss what they see and feel.