We went to the Points of View exhibition at the British Library. This is an outstanding exhibition of 19th century photography which runs till 7 March 2010 and is free.

In particular there are many great images taken using Fox Talbot’s calotype process which are fascinating and beautiful. The exhibition covers a number of themes from the infancy of the invention, to the ends of the earth, documenting the art, the portrait, in the name of science, making the modern world, the way we lived then and fin de siecle.

Interestingly, all the stuff we associate with modern photography was already out there within the first few years of the invention of the medium. Photo books - yes they did those; panoramic stitching - yes they did that, though physically rather than in software; paparazzi - yes they had those - photographers used to pursue then celebrities like Charles Dickens through the streets to take their pictures, celebrity photography was lucrative and big business then as now; composite photographs - yes combining multiple photographs into a single image, they did that; and retouching of photographs to remove unwanted blemishes etc - they were into that too.

The exhibition is beautifully laid out, hugely informative and all out brilliant. Plus there is a great book of the exhibition with many of the photographs in it which you can get from the British Library shop.

There are photographs from many early pioneers of photography such as Fox Talbot himself but also people like Calvert Richard Jones, George Wilson Bridges, Nevil Story-Maskelyne, Don Juan Carlos, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Edmund David Lyon, Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett, Francis Frith and maybe a hundred more.

Highly recommended.