David Wilkie Wynfield (1837-1887) ynfield was a great-nephew of the early nineteenth Scottish painter. David Wilkie. Born in India, he was intended for priesthood but became a painter. He took up photography around 1860 with the formation of the "St. John's Wood Clique", an association of artists who, if they lacked clearly defined artistic aims, shared a willingness to place themselves in front of Wynfield's lens in a mixture of bizarre costumes. Wynfield's importance in the history of photography lies in his influence on Julia Margaret Cameron - the only influence, in fact, that she was "prepared to acknowledge". What she gained from him was a conception of portraiture as idealised representation and a belief in the value of soft focus to achieve this. Wynfield, however, remained addicted to the game of dressing people up and never made the leap into true imaginative creation.