Roger Fenton

Roger Fenton was a leading British photographer and probably one of the first war photographers in the world. He took 350 usable photographs during the war 312 of which were exhibited in London, all despite suffering personally in the war from Cholera, broken ribs and Depression. 

Fenton was attached to the British Army to document the Crimean War. Because of the technology of the time he was unable to take action shots - thus any sort of movement in a shot was not recorded properly. This meant that no shots of battles were taken, which at first might suggest that Fenton's photographs are of little interest to those studying the war, but in fact it is precisely this technical hitch that has allowed us to see the other side of the war.

We see in this image for example, the graves of some high ranking officers who died in battle, although I knew that men's bodies would not be transported home for burial in Britain, I did not realise that officers would have their own graves complete with headstones such as these.It helps to illustrate the difference between the average private and a high born officers, and it shows that even in an unorganised  and poorly supplied like the Crimean, tombs could still be made for the wealthy.


Another image which helps illustrate the non battle element of the war, it is an image of a cantinière.
It helps to illustrate the role of women in the war. Women would often be seen around camp, making meals for the troops, or nursing them or as war wives. Some married soldiers had traditionally brought their wives on the campaign with during in war, this was until the late 19th century, a common thing to do. 

Here we see what an actual camp would've looked like. we see the emptiness of the Crimea and the poor housing given to troops. It's clear from this image that a cold and windy winter would be absolutely awful for troops to live in, especially, as the textbook sources have shown, because troops often lacked winter clothing.  






And finally we see the birth of modern journalism and war photography from this image of Roger Fenton's Van, this also indirectly shows the level of technology at the time. The van may have carried Fenton's belongings, but it also demonstrates the size of Fenton's Camera, and illustrates how recording in such a hostile, war environment would have been immensely difficult.