Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Sir Robert Dennistoun's tomb, Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. D.O. Hill is pictured on the far left with a sketch book.

Published in Ford, Colin and Roy Strong. 'An Early Victorian Album: The Hill/Adamson Collection'. Jonathan Cape (London, 1974), pp 230.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Part of Hill and Adamson's project “The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth,” this image shows two fishermen posed sitting on a bench in Newhaven, near Edinburgh.

This double portrait by the painter David OctaviusHill and the early photographer Robert Adamson is one of some 130 images they would make of the inhabitants of Newhaven and other small fishing villages near Edinburgh, Scotland. Entitled “The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth,” their project constitutes the first sustained use of photographs for a social documentary purpose. During the age of the Industrial Revolution and its attendant social problems, Hill and Adamson presented Newhaven as an exemplar of village life—a community bound by tradition, mutual support, honest labor, and the continuity of generations. The artists attempted to emphasize these qualities by the careful posing of figures and by embracing the graphic strength and gritty effect of the paper negative (calotype) process. Here the focus is on a pair of young fishermen and the traditional willow basket used to haul their catch up the hill to the bustling market in Edinburgh.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Part of Hill and Adamson's project “The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth,” this image shows a group of five fisherwomen in Newhaven, near Edinburgh.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Part of Hill and Adamson's project “The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth,” this image shows a group of eight young boys at the harbour in Newhaven, New Edinburgh.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Image shows St. Salvator's College Church, St. Andrews, Scotland.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Portrait of Archibald Butler of Faskally, Perthshire.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Full-length portrait of Scottish painter Thomas Duncan, R.S.A., A.R.A. (1807-1845).

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Half-length portrait of the Rev. Dr. James Brewster of Craig (1777 - 1847).

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Half-length, profile portrait of painter William Etty, R.A. (1787-1849). Print shows several fingerprints, possibly from the negative.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Half-length, profile portrait of painter William Etty, R.A. (1787-1849).

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Seated portrait of chartist and merchant James Ayton of Kirkcaldy.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Seated portrait of Mr. John Gibson, Government Inspector of Schools. He is seated facing camera left and holding a large book in his hands.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Double portrait of painter Thomas Duncan, R.S.A., and his brother.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Seated half-portrait of Sir John McNeill (1795-1883), surgeon and diplomat.

Calotype photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, mounted on paper. Half-length portrait of Finlay, deerstalker of Colonsay.

Mounted calotype print by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. Full-length portrait of painter Thomas Duncan, R.S.A. (1807-1845).