Anna Atkins maiden name was Anna Children. She was born March 16th, 1799. Her mother died shortly after the birth of Anna. In 1800 from giving birth to Anna, her mother had passed away from birthing complications. Anna became very close with her father who was a scientist.
Anna married in 1825 to her husband John Pelly Atkins. When they move to Halstead Place in Sevenoaks, Anna became interested in botany. The first thing she started with was collecting dry plants. Anna used Cyanotype to make her photos.
Anna got her first camera in 1841. There are two people that may be the first female photographer. Anna is one of them and the other is Constance Talbot. Unfortunately, no one will ever know who really the first was, because no photographs survived to prove.
Anna was the first to publish and illustrate a book made of photographic images. There were three volumes of her book titled “Photographs of British Alge: Cyanotype Impressions.” Her books were released from 1843-1853. There were only 17 known copies of the book. Later on Anna did make 8 other books with a friend by the name of Anne Dixon.
Anna Atkins later died in 1871 of “paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion.” Anna was 72 years old when she died.
I found Anna Atkins work really interesting. I like how she may have been one of the “first” female photographers. I would enjoy finding one of her books and looking at all the photographs she has in them. I read that since her books are so rare that they are very expensive.
I have attatched a link where I found impages from Anna's books.
Great post. Thanks for linking to the videos.
ReplyDelete