John H. Morgan ittle is known of Morgan but his tree study is one of the most boldly composed of early photographs. Morgan matches the concentration of a master like Henry White, achieving an impressive balance between the two-dimensional patterning of the branches and the receding line of trunks. A similar compositional plan is followed in Inchbold's 'In Early Spring' (IV), much admired by Ruskin. The patterns formed by bare branches against the sky intrigued both the Pre-Raphaelite landscape painters and the early photographers. There was some compulsion in the latters interest in the subject: the long exposure time reduced a quivering intricacy of leaves to an indistinct blur. For artists like Inchbold the patterns provided visual contrast with, and a hieroglyphic abstraction of, a denser, more multifarious 'nature' beneath.