Girl in a kimono, 1908.

An autochrome portrait of her daughter dressed in a pink kimono, taken by Etheldreda Janet Laing. The design of the kimono is mirrored by the flower arangement beside her. Japanese style and art became increasingly popular in England at the turn of the twentieth century. As a young woman Laing studied art in Cambridge and became an enthusiastic amateur photographer. When autochrome plates first came on the market in 1907, she decided to try her hand at colour photography. The autochrome process was the first really practicable and commercially successful process for colour photography. Patented in 1904, it was invented by French film pioneer brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere. Autochromes are transparent images on glass, similar to lantern slides.