(Geo. Bell & Son, York Street, Covent Garden, W.C.)
Opinions of the Press.
“His compositions remind us more of paintings than of any mechanical reproductions of Nature. ‘Sunrise at Sea,’ 'The Barley Sele,‘ 'The Faggot-Cutters,’ 'At Plough,‘ 'A Winter’s Morning,’ and ‘The Mangold Harvest,’ are all well chosen and cleverly arranged compositions, and they show us that it is by no means so impossible to combine in photography the human figure and natural landscape, and to tell a simple pictorial story, as is commonly believed. We congratulate Mr. Emerson on this achievement; his work, at all events, deserves that praise which is due to those who try to raise the art to which they are devoted, and to carry it a step farther than is usually considered necessary. It is something to have carried photography a step farther in the direction of art, and Mr. Emerson is fairly entitled to claim this praise.”—Spectator.
“He has spoken, as well as taken, twenty original negatives, and has done both to good purpose. A man must have penetrated into the inner circle of the lives of our East Anglian peasantry before he could have the chance of witnessing some of the scenes which he so sympathetically represents.... Many will look at the beautiful series of plates in photogravure, and be charmed with the skill with which they have been manipulated. We find our highest pleasure in approving the carefulness with which the real types have been selected and the ‘environment’ made appropriate.”—The Field.
“Dr. Emerson’s very handsome folio of twenty plates of varied subjects, mostly found in the above county, is useful as showing what care in grouping, and tact and judgment in selecting points of view, will do towards producing effective pictures when the photographer combines the qualities referred to.”—Artist’s Record.
“Dr. Emerson ... has been the teacher of a new school of art photography and he has now a large following, many of whom are endeavouring to do work as good and true to the ‘school’ as the examples that are before us.... As a source of study for amateur photographers and as a drawing-room book we highly recommend ‘Life in Field and Fen’ to all our readers. As specimens of reproductions of photographs the plates are beyond praise, and the book is beautifully printed and got up in a most artistic manner.”—Amateur Photographer.
“How far photography can go is well shown in this carefully prepared defence of it as an art.”—Athenæum.
“When we say that Dr. Emerson has so used his camera as to truly represent Nature, we say the highest.... Having with rare judgment steered clear of doubtful and, to the camera, impossible subjects, Dr. Emerson has given us some delightful photographic pictures, which not only represent, but also interpret Nature.... Dr. Emerson evidently intends to form a school in photography, and has resolved to show photography at its best.”—Photographic News.
“Dr. Emerson, the producer of this fine portfolio of photogravures, represents to some extent a new effort to get home once more to Nature, and he enters into the battle as a photographer.... His seascapes are exquisite.... ‘A Suffolk Dyke’ (a charming study of river and Suffolk fen) and ‘Breydon Water,’ sea-fog coming up (a sweet picture, full of all the feeling of the place).... The work is of a very choice character.”—School Board Chronicle.
“Exquisite photographs exquisitely reproduced.”—Pall Mall Gazette.