160 Years Of War Photography. The Great Grandad of War Photography and the Crimean War.

 

As the Ukraine erupts into violent protest over it's preference for the EU or the Russian state, western viewer's are shocked and appalled at the level's of bloodshed and loss of life. Yesterday Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych says he has agreed a truce with opposition leaders, after at least 26 people died in clashes this week. In a statement, he said "negotiations" would now start to end the bloodshed of the last two days. Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk confirmed this, saying there would be no new police attempts to storm the main protest site, the Maidan, in Kiev.
   Some of the worlds best photojournalists are there covering the protest with their digital cameras and their camera phones. We are streaming images live over the internet 24 hours a day.
    Bearing this in mind, the "art" of photojournalism and war photography came to life 160 years ago in the Ukraine and Romania during the Crimean War (1853-1856) which was a war between the Russian Empire against  Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, Back then the Ottoman empire was what we now call Turkey and most of the Balkan country's and the Arabic region. To get some perspective of this war a total of 300,000-375,000 people on the pro-Ottoman side and 143,000 people on the Russian side died in three years of war, these vast number's were due in part to a massive cholera epidemic. Since 2003 only about 300,000 have died in Iraq in total!!
    The Crimean war was the first to be reported in international media as it happened. The journalist William Russell reporting for "The Times of London" sent dispatches from the Ukraine and the battle known as "The Charge of The Light Brigade" in 1855 using underwater telegraph cable's laid by the British. Messages taking about 3 hours to reach London.

Romanian War Photographer Carol Szathmari in a self portrait circa 1850.

A Russian Army Camp

The Oltenita Cholera Quarantine Camp 1854

Turkish cavalry.

Turkish Artillery.

Turkish Army Musicians.

Turkish Soldiers

   Carol Szathmari is considered to be the great granddad of photojournalism and war photography having been first on the scene with his plate camera's beating Roger Fenton by a year.
   Szathmari was born 11th January 1812 in what is now called Cluj, a district of Romania, back then it was called Transylvania, (maybe he was a blood relation to Dracula ;) !!!!) he studied as a painter earning the respect of the Romanian royal family and became a passionate traveller, he often crossed the Carpathin mountain's to visit Bucharest where he began to live in 1843. A few year's later in 1848 he began to experiment with photography.
   He started taking pictures in the first year of the war which began in October. He photographed landscape, fortifications, battlefields, and took portraits. he managed to take pictures of soldiers from both opposing sides of the conflict and their commanding officers. In April 1854 his horsedrawn photographic wagon was attacked by a Turkish artillery position thinking he was a Russian spy, luckily he was unhurt.
   In 1855 his prints were exhibited at the Paris World Exposition. He eventually offered his work to Queen Victoria, to Emperors Napoleon III and Franz Josef I and to the other royalty of Europe. He was the first certified photographer in Romania, being also one of the first 10 photographers in Europe. Carol Szathmary became the official photographer of the Romanian rulers. He had long been attracted by folk types and produced a large series of pictures with peasants, gypsies, merchants and artisans. He toured the fairs and the crowded streets of Bucharest in search of photographs. He also documented the Russian-Ottoman war of 1877-1878. He died at the age of 75 in 1887.