William Williams - Stereographs.
William Williams was a Welsh born New Zealand photographer whose work provides a substantial photographic record of New Zealand from the 1880s into the early twentieth century. Born in Cardiff in 1858, he emigrated to New Zealand with his parents around 1881 and worked for the New Zealand Railways Department while pursuing photography independently. His surviving photographs cover Wellington during the 1880s, Napier during the late 1880s and 1890s, Dunedin and the Catlins around the turn of the century, together with railway subjects, shipping, landscapes, domestic life and outdoor activities. Williams worked with glass plate negatives, lantern slides and stereoscopic photography, and his archive demonstrates a detailed technical knowledge of photographic processes as well as a sustained interest in recording New Zealand places, infrastructure and everyday life.
Stereoscopic photography became an important part of Williams's practice. A stereograph consists of two photographs made from slightly different viewpoints corresponding approximately to the separation of the human eyes. When viewed through a stereoscope, the pair combines optically to produce the perception of depth, giving architecture, landscapes, interiors and groups of people a three dimensional appearance. Williams photographed domestic interiors, streets, railway infrastructure, buildings, landscapes, family members and social gatherings in this format, frequently arranging compositions to make use of foreground, middle distance and background. His engagement with stereoscopy extended beyond making photographs. In June 1899 he gave a lecture on stereoscopic photography to the Dunedin Photographic Society, and surviving manuscript material associated with Williams discusses the history of stereoscopy and provides practical instructions for taking and printing stereoscopic photographs. He argued that a specialised twin lens stereo camera was not essential and explained how stereoscopic pairs could be produced using other photographic equipment.
Williams's stereographs belong to a period when stereoscopic photography circulated internationally as both a photographic practice and a popular form of visual entertainment, education and geographical documentation. His New Zealand images are significant because they apply the process to subjects encountered within his own surroundings rather than functioning solely as commercially produced views for tourists. The surviving material records late nineteenth and early twentieth century New Zealand architecture, railways, settlements, landscapes and social life while also documenting how photography was viewed and used within the home. His son Edgar Richard Williams continued as a photographer and preserved both his father's work and his own, helping to ensure the survival of thousands of negatives, lantern slides, prints and stereographs. This material is now held by the Alexander Turnbull Library at the National Library of New Zealand and constitutes an important record of William Williams's contribution to early New Zealand photography.
William Williams
National Library New Zealand
Alexander Turnbull Library
Stereoscopic photography
Music
Crystal Haze - Shuta Yasukochi
Camera is on:
Thank you for all your support.
Selection of stereographs from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Photographs include works by William Williams and other photographers.
Source: Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
Via: National Library NZ on The Commons, Flickr.
Rights: No known copyright restrictions.
#stereoscopic #NewZealandHistory #victorian #photography #newzealand #glassplates #nationallibrary #photographyhistory #edwardian #victorianera #edwardianera