Out of the Studio

John Osborne is distinguished research professor in the School for Studies in Art and Culture and the College of the Humanities at Carleton University. Peter Smeaton (1951–2021), great-grandson of John Smeaton, was a computer security expert, NHL off-ice official, and independent researcher.

"The Smeatons are of great interest because they participated, in specific and local ways, in several of the major technological and cultural debates in which photography was embroiled in its first half-century, including their pioneering work producing subterranean photographs of Roman catacombs with the aid of artificial light. While this innovative practice retains a central position in Out of the Studio, the book gives a much fuller picture of the Smeatons' activities, enhanced by materials from the family's archives and the authors' extensive primary research and insights. There are some truly extraordinary photographs here, most of which will be unknown even to specialist readers. From the gold mines of Chaudière to the Montmorency Falls, we are treated to a remarkable panorama of nineteenth-century Quebec. These images will undoubtedly spur further research by scholars, and pleasurable reflection by more general readers." Jordan Bear, University of Toronto and author of Disillusioned: Victorian Photography and the Discerning Subject