Reading - the home of photography

When asked about the origins of photography most people have heard of Louis Daguerre and the Daguerrotype but few have heard of the pioneering work William Henry Fox Talbot and the Reading Establishment.

Come and;

• discover the ancient origins of photography starting with the camera obscura

• hear the story of how Fox Talbot built on this knowledge and developed his technique in the 1830s

• visit the site of photos of old Reading from the same period and see what has remained and what has changed

• discover the role of Nicolaas Henneman in the work - does he deserve more credit?

• view the Pencil of Nature and hear about it's place in history as the first publication illustrated with photographs