Pioneering British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron honoured with a blue plaque in London

"A blue plaque has been unveiled on the London home of Julia Margaret Cameron, celebrating the pioneering photographer who took up a camera at the age of 48. She went on to create iconic portraits of famous contemporaries including Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin and Thomas Carlyle-while immortalising her family, servants and neighbours as angels, saints and figures from Arthurian legend."

"Many descendants of her enormous family circle are still involved in the arts through her six sisters in the Pattle family-born in India and all celebrated for their charm, eccentricity and wide circle of artistic and intellectual friends-and her own family of 11 children with her much older husband Charles Hay Cameron, adopted orphan nieces and a child they found begging in London."

"Family members gathered for the unveiling included her great-great-great-granddaughter, the musician and DJ Jules Cameron, her great-great-great-niece, the singer Jasmine van den Bogaerde (Birdy), and her great-great-nephew, the artist Julian Bell. Her Bloomsbury Group relatives included her great-nieces, the artist Vanessa Bell and the author Virginia Woolf."

"“Julia Margaret Cameron saw photography not simply as a record, but as a way of revealing the soul,” she said. “To have her honoured with a blue plaque feels like a quiet continuation of her work fixing her presence once more in light and memory. She wasn't interested in perfection, but in truth, in feeling, in humanity. A blue plaque feels entirely fitting for someone so gloriously unconventional, and I think she would have absolutely loved it.”"

A blue plaque was unveiled at Julia Margaret Cameron’s London home to honor her pioneering photography. She began taking up a camera at age 48 and produced iconic portraits of Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Carlyle, while also portraying her family, servants, and neighbors as angels, saints, and figures from Arthurian legend. Her large family remained active in the arts through the Pattle sisters and her own circle of artistic and intellectual friends. She had 11 children with her much older husband, adopted orphan nieces, and took in a child found begging in London. Family members including Jules Cameron, Birdy, Julian Bell, Vanessa Bell, and Virginia Woolf attended the unveiling. Jules Cameron said she viewed photography as revealing the soul and valued truth, feeling, and humanity over perfection.

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