David Octavius Hill

Scottish, 1802–1870

Death placeEdinburgh, Scotland

Birth placePerth, Scotland

BiographyDAVID OCTAVIUS HILL & ROBERT ADAMSON (1820-47)
David Octavius Hill was commissioned in 1843 to produce a picture of the meeting establishing the breakaway Free Church of Scotland attended by almost 500 people. He turned to the newly invented photography as a way to provide reference material for this work.

As he lacked the necessary scientific skills, he took Robert Adamson, who had learnt Fox Talbot's Calotype process, as a partner. Together they took around 1500 calotypes - as well as the portraits required for the painting, there were many of friends and families and also some fine studies of the people in the nearby fishing village of Newhaven.

They showed considerable ingenuity in devising seemingly natural poses and arrangements of figures that could be held still for the minute or two exposure required, and also employed mirrors to control the lighting.
Robert Adamson died in 1847, aged only 27, bringing their partnership to a close. Hill's attempts to work with other photographers were not satisfactory and he returned to painting.

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