"I longed to arrest all the beauty that came before me and at length the longing has been satisfied." - Julia Margaret Cameron
I can't remember how I first discovered Julia Margaret Cameron, but whenever I look again at her photography I'm astounded by it's beauty and intensity. For the era that she lived her portraiture especially is groundbreaking in its immediacy. When you consider that these images were not taken with a click of the button, but with the subjects sitting for the lengthy periods of time necessary in early photography, the intimacy of her work is astounding.
Self Portrait, 1862
Whisper of the Muse, 1865
The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, 1874