['At The Minnow Pool', Arthur and John Hope and Sophia Finlay]

Whether arranging ministers for the Disruption Picture or friends for an informal portrait, Hill and Adamson (David Octavius Hill [1802-70] and Robert Adamson [1821-48]) displayed a talent at working with groups. This ability is particularly noteworthy in this calotype of the children of the solicitor Charles Finlay (1788-1872). Arranged in a pyramidal composition, Arthur, John Hope, and Sophia sit patiently on lichen-covered stone steps fishing for minnows. Keeping the siblings still was quite an accomplishment for the photographers, who needed sitters to remain in a fixed position for the duration of the exposure, which sometimes could be as long as a couple of minutes, depending upon the lighting conditions. In spite of this, the image is not a rigid one; Hill and Adamson have successfully captured the sense of children at play. The informal poses—Sophia leaning on the top step and John Hope allowing his leg to protrude—and casual props—a dangling fishing rod and cast-off straw bonnet—convey a carefree scene.

Hill had a child of his own, a daughter named Charlotte (1839-62), who was born the very year photography was announced to the world. A second daughter died shortly after birth in 1840, followed soon after by Hill's spouse. In 1862 he married the sculptor Amelia Paton (1802-1904). Adamson, who died young, had no wife or children of his own.

Anne M. Lyden. Hill and Adamson, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), 68. ©1999, J. Paul Getty Museum.