Madame Yevonde

Madame Yevonde was a color portrait photographer.  She was one of the first people in London to exhibit color photos.  This is one of the reasons I was drawn to her article.  Her first exhibit was more than successful, staying open a week more than it was originally scheduled for.  She was confident and willing to put herself out there for all to see, even though color portraits were just getting started.  I also enjoyed her article because she spoke of the struggles she had while photographing her “Goddesses and Others” series.  She had to try many things to get the snakes on her Medusa head just right, but she never gave up.  Failure wasn’t an option and she would do just about anything to get a good shot.  This shows extremely well when she is discussing how she photographed Lady Campbell as Niobe.  She could not get the fake tears to stay on her sitters face well enough to get the image she desired.  After mixing the solution with Vaseline, it got into Madame Campbell’s eyes and she cried real tears.  The resulting photograph was extraordinary.  Madame Yevonde was an amazing photographer and I applaud her work because she was willing to do just about anything to get the shot she wanted.