Falls of the Llugwy, at Pont-y-Pair 1857

Falls of the Llugwy, at Pont-y-Pair, is a photograph made by Roger Fenton. As an upper-middle class Englishman, Fenton abandoned his law career to pursue his passion for photography, a relatively new medium in the mid-19th century. This landscape exemplifies the Victorian era's fascination with nature, and its relationship to industrial progress. The image presents a picturesque scene of a Welsh waterfall, the Llugwy, set against the rugged Pont-y-Pair landscape. It represents the Romantic ideal of nature's sublime power. However, this idealized view often obscures the social realities of the time. While Fenton captures the beauty of the Welsh landscape, he does so from the perspective of an outsider, framing the scene for a privileged audience. It evokes a sense of longing for a simpler time, one that stands in contrast to the rapidly changing industrial landscape of Victorian England. It prompts us to reflect on how we perceive and interact with the natural world, and whose stories are told, and whose are not.