This is the only Newhaven child shown alone in a calotype. The title, His Faither?s Breeks, implies that this boy is an orphan and has inherited his father?s trousers, as well as his work and responsibilities. Fishing was a profitable but dangerous profession, and children whose fathers had been drowned at sea were not uncommon. Hill and Adamson took about 120 calotypes in the fishing village of Newhaven, documenting the life and work of its inhabitants. The fishing community was self-sufficient and close-knit; fishermen and women married amongst themselves and raised their children in the fishing tradition. Founded around 1570, the Society of Free Fishermen played a large role in the community, providing help in times of need and protecting the widows and orphans.
Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821 - 1848)
Robert Adamson was one of the first professional photographers, setting up in business in Edinburgh in March 1843. He had aspired to be an engineer but his health was too poor. His brother, John, who was involved in the early experiments with photography in St Andrews, taught him the calotype process. Shortly after opening his studio on Calton Hill, Robert met the painter David Octavius Hill. They worked together for a few weeks on studies for a grand painting of the Free Church of Scotland before entering into partnership to explore the possibilities of photography. Despite Adamson's early death, the two produced some of the most impressive works taken in the medium and greatly influenced later practice in the art.
David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802 - 1870)
A painter and a lithographer by training, David Octavius Hill is best remembered for the beauty of the calotypes he and Robert Adamson produced together. Hill was a sociable and kind-hearted man who did much to support the arts in Scotland and between 1830 and 1836 he was the unpaid Secretary of the newly established Royal Scottish Academy. After Adamson's death, Hill's attempt to start a new partnership with the photographer Alexander MacGlashan around 1860 failed. Hill is to this day revered as one of the first in the trade who transformed photography into an art form.
