He utilized double exposure in “Hard Times” as a method to communicate a lower class family’s struggle with economic issues. Rejlander didn’t let the lack of critical acclaim prevent him from continuing to push photographic norms. The Victorian era stressed the importance of adornment and chastity so many were aghast at the moral conflicts this photograph presented. The other major criticism of “Two Ways of Life” was the unapologetic nudity as well as depictions of impure ways of life. They said that the work didn’t belong in photography or any other art for that matter, let alone fine art. Afterall, it was made with multiple images constructed together. People also questioned the validity of the work as photography since it was showing a scene that never existed. Some questioned Rejlander’s ethics by saying that true photography should not be made by “mechanical contrivances” such as his masking and splicing of negatives, joining papers and re-photographing. The other makes a break for less than positive virtues–gambling, drink, promiscuity, and so on. One man turns toward positive virtues–charity, industry, religion, etc. The image’s premise was an old sage introducing two young men to all the possibilities of the world.

The large size meant that it commanded attention on the gallery wall. He joined the papers and then rephotographed the whole work which he printed at 16 by 31 inches, a size gargantuan to what was typical for the time. He masked different parts of those negatives and printed them together on two pieces of paper. First, he made sketches, then hired models, then made 30 different negatives. The photograph took more than a month to make. In one of his most famous pieces, Rejlander juxtaposed science and philosophy in a highly boundary pushing image entitled “Two Ways of Life”. Rejlander was a painter who learned photography as a tool to make studies for his paintings.

Another mandate of the era for artistic candidacy was that the image had to be allegorical, or have some sort of higher or hidden meaning.

Many photographers chose to use sub standard lenses, smudge the lenses or plates, and even introduce camera shake in order to achieve more painterly effects. In other words, the photo had to look real, but not too real. During the Victorian Era, photographic standards of art were mostly based on comparisons to painting. In the 1800’s especially, photography struggled for a place at the table and one man, in particular, pushed the envelope: Oscar Gustave Rejlander. The battle for photography’s place in the fine art world is a road that is long and seemingly never ending at times, even today.

Rejlander the two ways of life