A recent comment alerted me to the photographs by David White of Brunel’s engineering feats.
He had a camera built to a specification similar to that used by Robert Howlett, Brunel’s photographer who took the famous photo of Brunel standing in front of a backdrop of giant chains from the Great Eastern. He used a lens made just a year after that famous photo was taken, mounted on a box made by a cabinet maker out of mahogany and brass.
White then travelled around the UK taking photos of surviving Brunellian structures, such as Paddington Station and the Tamar Bridge. The resulting photographs are beautiful.
David White has compiled a slideshow with a commentary by him.
His ingenious idea could be applied to so many technologies from the past.
