Stereo card Lynmouth beach 001

1860s stereoview picture which has the original label on the back: "Lynmouth from the beach. Lynton N. Devon. Photographed and published by W. Palmer". This is Lynton in Devon, England. The photographer ran the family firm William Eastman Palmer & Sons in the Plymouth area in the 1860s and 1870s.

Points of interest

If the image is viewed at full size, horses can be seen in front of the buildings.
The viewpoint from below the tideline, among rocks and bladder wrack (seaweed), was possibly an imaginative and courageous one in the early days of photography. It would not be easy to manhandle the heavy, mahogany camera and its iron tripod across slippery rocks, with few flat areas on which to erect the tripod. It would probably require the cooperation of two or three men to take this single photograph.
The wild landscape with the distant hills echoing the foreground rocks is a continuation of the concept of the Sublime: an 18th century idea that beauty is perceived through fear. At a time when wild beaches and empty hills looked fearful yet beautiful to townspeople - the Sublime still seemed glamorous.
(This is an unedited scan. Editors please note that the original backing card really is shabby, but it must be understood that it is about 150 years old. Also it might be inadvisable to attempt to adjust contrast and brightness as the dark areas of the photograph have darkened with age, and the light areas have faded. Therefore any attempt to improve contrast or brightness would cause loss of detail in the light or dark areas. If an edited version of this image is required on Wikipedia, please consider uploading the edited version as a separate file, and keeping this original version as it is. Thank you for your patience in this matter.--Storye book (talk) 07:56, 28 March 2011 (UTC))