The photographs in this volume were selected from the collection of the prestigious Royal Photographic Society in Bath, England, home to 80 Steichen photographs. Steichen’s relationship with the RPS was turbulent, as the innovative photographer repeatedly challenged the conservative Society. In 1903, Steichen took aim at the formulaic photographs favored by the Society, writing: “Some day there may be invented a machine that needs but to be wound up and sent roaming o’er hill and dale, through fields and meadows, by babbling brooks and shady woods – in short, a machine that will discriminatingly select its subject and by means of a skilful arrangement of springs and screws, compose its motif, expose the plate, develop, print and even mount and frame the result of its excursion, so that there will remain nothing for us to do but to send it to the Royal Photographic Society’s exhibition and gratefully receive the Royal Medal.”