The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun

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0:00:02 > 0:00:05Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

0:00:05 > 0:00:09The ancient burial place of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

0:00:10 > 0:00:13The discovery of his tomb in 1922

0:00:13 > 0:00:17made the archaeologist Howard Carter a global celebrity.

0:00:19 > 0:00:21But it was another member of Carter's team

0:00:21 > 0:00:26who played the crucial role in telling his story to the world.

0:00:27 > 0:00:30He doesn't appear in the excavation photographs,

0:00:30 > 0:00:32because he was the man who took them.

0:00:33 > 0:00:37His camera made the world fall in love with the boy king, Tutankhamun.

0:00:38 > 0:00:42And helped fuel my own enduring fascination

0:00:42 > 0:00:44with this remote and mysterious culture.

0:00:46 > 0:00:50I wanted to find out more about this photographic pioneer

0:00:50 > 0:00:53who created such wonderful pictures

0:00:53 > 0:00:55in the most testing conditions imaginable.

0:00:58 > 0:01:01To help me, I enlisted a photographer

0:01:01 > 0:01:03who uses similar techniques.

0:01:03 > 0:01:04- OK, hold still. - CAMERA CLICKS

0:01:04 > 0:01:06It's fine. Yes!

0:01:07 > 0:01:09Together, we'll investigate the work

0:01:09 > 0:01:12of an unsung hero of British photography,

0:01:12 > 0:01:15and travel back to the site of his greatest assignment.

0:01:15 > 0:01:19We'll discover how he pushed the limits of 1920s technology

0:01:19 > 0:01:21in the grit and heat of the desert,

0:01:21 > 0:01:25and created a remarkable treasure store of images.

0:01:25 > 0:01:27This is a beautifully laid out picture.

0:01:27 > 0:01:30Well thought out. It's like an old master, in a way.

0:01:30 > 0:01:34We'll recreate his darkroom in the depths of an ancient tomb.

0:01:35 > 0:01:37And to think we're right, literally,

0:01:37 > 0:01:41exactly where Burton would have developed his own negatives.

0:01:41 > 0:01:44And reveal the enduring legacy of his work.

0:01:45 > 0:01:48They are one of the basic, go-to sources for us.

0:01:48 > 0:01:52Anyone who's studying Tutankhamun uses those.

0:01:52 > 0:01:56And we'll learn why his techniques are still used today

0:01:56 > 0:01:59to unpack the secrets of Egypt's ancient past.

0:01:59 > 0:02:02This is the story of the most famous photographer

0:02:02 > 0:02:03you've probably never heard of.

0:02:03 > 0:02:06His name was Harry Burton -

0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun.

0:02:14 > 0:02:17BIRDS CHIRPING

0:02:22 > 0:02:273,000 years ago, a stately procession of priests and mourners

0:02:27 > 0:02:30made their way through these desert hills,

0:02:30 > 0:02:33a few miles west of the ancient city of Thebes,

0:02:33 > 0:02:35or Luxor as it's called today.

0:02:38 > 0:02:43They came to bury a young man who'd died suddenly and mysteriously,

0:02:43 > 0:02:45nine years into his reign as Pharaoh.

0:02:47 > 0:02:52Tutankhamun's body, and the precious artefacts buried with it,

0:02:52 > 0:02:54lay undiscovered for centuries.

0:02:59 > 0:03:02In the early years of the 20th century,

0:03:02 > 0:03:05British archaeologist Howard Carter was determined to find them.

0:03:10 > 0:03:12This dig-house in the Valley of the Kings

0:03:12 > 0:03:14was headquarters for his long quest,

0:03:14 > 0:03:18bankrolled by the wealthy aristocrat Lord Carnarvon.

0:03:20 > 0:03:23They employed a small army of local workmen,

0:03:23 > 0:03:26who shifted thousands of tonnes of sand and stones.

0:03:27 > 0:03:29But, after eight years of searching,

0:03:29 > 0:03:32they'd failed to find anything of significance.

0:03:32 > 0:03:35And Carter's time was running out.

0:03:36 > 0:03:40Lord Carnarvon was about to cut off Carter's funding.

0:03:40 > 0:03:45But everything changed when one of the workmen brushed away the sand,

0:03:45 > 0:03:50to reveal a hidden staircase leading to an underground tomb.

0:03:50 > 0:03:52The date?

0:03:52 > 0:03:554th of November 1922.

0:03:56 > 0:04:00Two weeks later, at the Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor,

0:04:00 > 0:04:03Carter and Carnarvon announced the news to the world.

0:04:03 > 0:04:07They'd solved one of archaeology's greatest mysteries -

0:04:07 > 0:04:12they'd uncovered the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

0:04:12 > 0:04:15And that was just the start of the story.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22BIRDS CHIRPING

0:04:23 > 0:04:27Carter knew that he needed a crack team to help him excavate the site,

0:04:27 > 0:04:30and to tell the stories of the treasures it contained.

0:04:30 > 0:04:34So he sent out a call for archaeology's brightest and best -

0:04:34 > 0:04:39diggers, conservation experts, professors of hieroglyphics.

0:04:39 > 0:04:42And a photographer called Harry Burton.

0:04:43 > 0:04:45CAMERA CLICKS

0:04:45 > 0:04:49For the next ten years, Burton had a front seat

0:04:49 > 0:04:52as the greatest story in the history of archaeology

0:04:52 > 0:04:54unfolded in the Egyptian desert.

0:04:59 > 0:05:02His camera recorded in exquisite detail

0:05:02 > 0:05:05the extraordinary artefacts from the tomb...

0:05:09 > 0:05:13..and captured each chapter in this dramatic story of revelation.

0:05:15 > 0:05:20He created images that gripped the world's imagination,

0:05:20 > 0:05:24and played a crucial role in creating the legend of Tutankhamun.

0:05:27 > 0:05:30The search for this master of British photography

0:05:30 > 0:05:33begins a world away from the heat and dust of the desert.

0:05:35 > 0:05:39Most of Carter's wonderful things are still in Egypt.

0:05:39 > 0:05:42But for anyone with a passion for ancient history,

0:05:42 > 0:05:46there's a store of other treasures from his excavation much to home.

0:05:47 > 0:05:50This is the Griffith Institute in Oxford.

0:05:50 > 0:05:55Tucked away in the basement are Howard Carter's meticulous archives

0:05:55 > 0:05:58of his ten-year adventure in the Valley of the Kings.

0:05:58 > 0:06:01Like so many great adventures,

0:06:01 > 0:06:04it all began with a map.

0:06:04 > 0:06:07This is Carter's original map of the Valley of the Kings.

0:06:07 > 0:06:09- So there's a sort of grid system that he drew?- That's right.

0:06:09 > 0:06:13He divided the Valley of the Kings into a series of grid squares,

0:06:13 > 0:06:15and he worked through them systematically

0:06:15 > 0:06:17in the search for Tutankhamun's tomb

0:06:17 > 0:06:19until there was just one grid square remaining,

0:06:19 > 0:06:22close to the entrance of the tomb of King Ramses VI.

0:06:22 > 0:06:25This is where they found Tutankhamun's tomb?

0:06:25 > 0:06:28This is where they found the first steps leading to a tomb.

0:06:28 > 0:06:31At this point, they didn't know that it was King Tutankhamun's tomb.

0:06:31 > 0:06:33Well, he must have been terribly excited. Was he?

0:06:33 > 0:06:39Yes. Certainly. This is Carter's original diary from 1922.

0:06:39 > 0:06:44And if we turn to the page for Saturday the 4th of November,

0:06:44 > 0:06:47we see he writes, across the page,

0:06:47 > 0:06:49"First steps of tomb found."

0:06:49 > 0:06:50This is quite unusual for Carter.

0:06:50 > 0:06:53Normally, he stuck very tightly and neatly to the lines.

0:06:53 > 0:06:55- But here he... - This was just exciting!

0:06:55 > 0:06:58Yes, just about as excited as Carter gets.

0:06:58 > 0:07:01One of those pivotal moments, isn't it?

0:07:01 > 0:07:03It's passed into popular folklore,

0:07:03 > 0:07:06everyone knows Carter found wonderful things.

0:07:07 > 0:07:10Carter was no mere treasure hunter.

0:07:10 > 0:07:12He was a new breed of archaeologist

0:07:12 > 0:07:16who wanted to excavate and record his finds with scientific rigour.

0:07:17 > 0:07:20Within days of uncovering the stairway,

0:07:20 > 0:07:22he began taking photographs,

0:07:22 > 0:07:24but he wasn't happy with the results.

0:07:25 > 0:07:29Carter was a trained artist, he was a great painter,

0:07:29 > 0:07:30also a skilled photographer,

0:07:30 > 0:07:34but I think he realised that he would need a real professional

0:07:34 > 0:07:36in order to take photographs inside the tomb,

0:07:36 > 0:07:39in what were going to be very, very difficult conditions.

0:07:39 > 0:07:41It was very dark, packed with objects.

0:07:41 > 0:07:43And so he needed a real professional to do the work.

0:07:43 > 0:07:45And I suppose he had to do other things too, didn't he?

0:07:45 > 0:07:48He had an awful lot on his plate, of course,

0:07:48 > 0:07:49during the excavation of the tomb.

0:07:49 > 0:07:52This was Carter's original team.

0:07:52 > 0:07:55Including the man who stayed by his side

0:07:55 > 0:07:57through every twist and turn of the excavation.

0:07:57 > 0:07:59Which one's Burton?

0:07:59 > 0:08:01So this is Howard Carter in the centre,

0:08:01 > 0:08:05and just over his shoulder is the photographer, Harry Burton.

0:08:05 > 0:08:08'Ancient Egypt has intrigued me for years.

0:08:08 > 0:08:11'But I'd never heard Burton's story.

0:08:11 > 0:08:16'He shunned the limelight, although his pictures made Carter a star.

0:08:16 > 0:08:19'I want to find out more about this elusive man.

0:08:19 > 0:08:22'How did he create the wonderful photographs

0:08:22 > 0:08:24'that Egyptologists still study today?

0:08:27 > 0:08:31'And, like Carter, I've recruited a photographer to work with me.'

0:08:31 > 0:08:33Just fantastic.

0:08:33 > 0:08:37'Harry Cory Wright still shoots today with a large format camera,

0:08:37 > 0:08:41'like the one Burton used to make pictures like these.'

0:08:41 > 0:08:43What a beautiful thing.

0:08:43 > 0:08:48'But there's one crucial difference between Harry's camera and Burton's.

0:08:48 > 0:08:50'Harry shoots on film,

0:08:50 > 0:08:54'whereas Burton used an earlier technology called glass plate.

0:08:54 > 0:08:56'His original negatives are another treasure

0:08:56 > 0:08:58'in the archive of the Griffith Institute.

0:08:58 > 0:09:02'And they are full of clues to his photographic methods.'

0:09:03 > 0:09:05Look, Margaret, look at these.

0:09:05 > 0:09:08So these are the glass plates themselves,

0:09:08 > 0:09:10that would have been in the camera at the time.

0:09:10 > 0:09:12Why did he use glass plates? Wasn't there film?

0:09:12 > 0:09:14Well, I think there was film around,

0:09:14 > 0:09:16but I don't think it was in any way as stable.

0:09:16 > 0:09:18The technology of film was just developing at the time,

0:09:18 > 0:09:22but I think glass was that much more predictable, really.

0:09:23 > 0:09:27Glass plate negatives had been used since the early days of photography.

0:09:27 > 0:09:31A thin glass sheet was coated with silver nitrate emulsion,

0:09:31 > 0:09:34which reacted to light when the shutter was released.

0:09:34 > 0:09:35CAMERA CLICKS

0:09:36 > 0:09:39The negatives were then developed to make prints.

0:09:40 > 0:09:43Burton's expertise with this process is extraordinary.

0:09:45 > 0:09:48How did he make these delicate masterpieces

0:09:48 > 0:09:51in hostile desert terrain?

0:09:51 > 0:09:52It's incredibly fragile.

0:09:52 > 0:09:56Imagine you're developing this, and it's dusty, and also...

0:09:56 > 0:09:58I can't tell you, when it's wet...

0:09:58 > 0:10:01Wet emulsion, it just gathers dust, gathers everything.

0:10:01 > 0:10:04It's just extraordinary how good nick these things are in.

0:10:04 > 0:10:07What I think is so amazing about these

0:10:07 > 0:10:09is that this tells the whole story of the excavation.

0:10:09 > 0:10:12This is what photography at its best can do,

0:10:12 > 0:10:14which is show high drama.

0:10:14 > 0:10:17Then, also, it can be lyrical and sweet.

0:10:17 > 0:10:19You know, his head coming through it,

0:10:19 > 0:10:22and the gentleman at the back here. All these other incidental things.

0:10:22 > 0:10:25I want to get down and have a look closely in here,

0:10:25 > 0:10:27and see what cufflinks he was wearing.

0:10:27 > 0:10:29- And his ring. - His ring. Yeah, exactly.

0:10:29 > 0:10:33And what do you feel, Cisco, when you're working with this material?

0:10:33 > 0:10:36First of all, that you have to be very careful.

0:10:36 > 0:10:38These are very important documents.

0:10:38 > 0:10:39Very fragile.

0:10:39 > 0:10:42But it's nice to see people at work.

0:10:42 > 0:10:46We read about Carter, about the different members of the team,

0:10:46 > 0:10:48so you get to know them better.

0:10:48 > 0:10:50And there's something very, very exciting, I think,

0:10:50 > 0:10:53about how what we are looking at, we're looking at the originals.

0:10:53 > 0:10:55So they have the chemicals

0:10:55 > 0:10:57that reacted to the light that was there.

0:10:57 > 0:11:00And the extraordinary thing about photography is that light can just,

0:11:00 > 0:11:04kind of, keep something charged and held for a long time.

0:11:04 > 0:11:07And in this case, you know, for nearly 100 years.

0:11:08 > 0:11:11I've asked Harry to come with me to Egypt and take photographs there

0:11:11 > 0:11:14using Burton's methods and equipment.

0:11:14 > 0:11:19Together, we'll investigate how he created such flawless images

0:11:19 > 0:11:23using analogue technology that he must have pushed to its limits.

0:11:23 > 0:11:26This is a beautifully laid out picture. Well thought out.

0:11:26 > 0:11:30Very much about the people and the human side of it.

0:11:30 > 0:11:33It's like an old master, in a way, the way he's kind of composed that.

0:11:33 > 0:11:37I mean, this one here, this has a sort of journalistic quality to it,

0:11:37 > 0:11:39which is very different to those others.

0:11:41 > 0:11:44By the time Carter came calling,

0:11:44 > 0:11:48Harry Burton had worked in Egypt for more than ten years.

0:11:48 > 0:11:53It was a long way from his modest childhood in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

0:11:53 > 0:11:56His father was a cabinet maker or a carpenter.

0:11:56 > 0:11:58So a pretty humble beginning.

0:11:58 > 0:11:59But Burton seems to have been clever,

0:11:59 > 0:12:01he seems to have been going to school,

0:12:01 > 0:12:04and at some point, as a teenager, we don't know how,

0:12:04 > 0:12:07he came into contact with a man from a prominent local family,

0:12:07 > 0:12:10a man named Robert Henry Hobart Cust.

0:12:10 > 0:12:14Cust's patronage opened new doors for Burton.

0:12:14 > 0:12:16He left Stamford to work as personal assistant

0:12:16 > 0:12:20to this wealthy art enthusiast, who had a home in Italy.

0:12:22 > 0:12:26He invites Burton, when Burton's about 17, to join him in Florence.

0:12:26 > 0:12:30As a secretary, basically. A secretary and a companion.

0:12:30 > 0:12:32And it's there that Burton enters a whole new world.

0:12:34 > 0:12:37They wind up living in the centre of Florence,

0:12:37 > 0:12:41right near the Ponte Vecchio, in a beautiful apartment,

0:12:41 > 0:12:43and threw wonderful parties and knew all these Brits

0:12:43 > 0:12:47who were flooding into Florence and soaking up the atmosphere

0:12:47 > 0:12:50of Renaissance Italy, and a warmer climate.

0:12:51 > 0:12:54We don't know exactly how Burton picked up photography,

0:12:54 > 0:12:55or how he learned it.

0:12:55 > 0:12:58But at this time, in the 1880s, 1890s,

0:12:58 > 0:13:01it would have been really useful for him as Cust's assistant

0:13:01 > 0:13:05to be able to take photographs when they were visiting museums,

0:13:05 > 0:13:06visiting private collections,

0:13:06 > 0:13:09visiting cathedrals for Cust's research.

0:13:09 > 0:13:11It clearly becomes a real passion for him,

0:13:11 > 0:13:14and he seems to start to get a reputation for it.

0:13:16 > 0:13:20In Florence, Burton met an American called Theodore Davis,

0:13:20 > 0:13:23a multimillionaire with a passion for Egypt.

0:13:25 > 0:13:29He'd made a mint, and possibly some dodgy deals, in New York City,

0:13:29 > 0:13:32he had a huge house that he'd built Newport, Rhode Island,

0:13:32 > 0:13:36and he had retired and liked to spend his winters in Egypt

0:13:36 > 0:13:37and in Italy.

0:13:39 > 0:13:40Davis could afford to do

0:13:40 > 0:13:43what the Egyptian government at that time couldn't.

0:13:43 > 0:13:48The Egyptian government was flat broke after bankruptcy in the 1870s.

0:13:48 > 0:13:52And so to have Davis's money was perfect.

0:13:52 > 0:13:55And Davis was given the plum concession

0:13:55 > 0:13:58of excavating in the Valley of the Kings.

0:13:58 > 0:14:01Davis recruited Burton to his team -

0:14:01 > 0:14:03he worked as an archaeologist at first,

0:14:03 > 0:14:06but soon began to focus on photography instead.

0:14:08 > 0:14:11When Davis retired home to America in 1914,

0:14:11 > 0:14:15Burton stayed on to work for the New York Metropolitan Museum,

0:14:15 > 0:14:18who had their own team in the Valley of the Kings.

0:14:20 > 0:14:25By 1922, he was known as the best excavation photographer in Egypt.

0:14:27 > 0:14:29But he was about to begin the assignment

0:14:29 > 0:14:32that would earn him international recognition.

0:14:32 > 0:14:37Because Howard Carter had just made the discovery of the century.

0:14:39 > 0:14:43So this is the real entrance, and, in fact, right here,

0:14:43 > 0:14:46Carter would have been coming down, and underneath -

0:14:46 > 0:14:48you can't see because there are these metal stairs -

0:14:48 > 0:14:51but that's the real step that he saw.

0:14:51 > 0:14:544th of November 1922.

0:14:54 > 0:14:57This one step change the course of Egyptological history.

0:14:57 > 0:15:02For Carter and Carnarvon, this was a time of triumphant vindication.

0:15:03 > 0:15:06Day by day, step by step,

0:15:06 > 0:15:09they dug their way down to the Pharaoh's tomb.

0:15:10 > 0:15:13So this, you have to imagine, when Carter came here,

0:15:13 > 0:15:17was actually filled with dust and limestone chipping and sand...

0:15:17 > 0:15:20Why...why was it full of all that stuff?

0:15:20 > 0:15:24Ah, because when you re-bury, you actually fill it all up,

0:15:24 > 0:15:25so thieves don't get through.

0:15:25 > 0:15:27Except of course, the thieves did,

0:15:27 > 0:15:30because there was a little passageway, a tunnel,

0:15:30 > 0:15:34that the thieves had made through all of this limestone,

0:15:34 > 0:15:37and so, of course, when Carter was looking at this,

0:15:37 > 0:15:40he was probably...there was foreboding in his heart, thinking...

0:15:40 > 0:15:41The thieves might have emptied it?

0:15:41 > 0:15:43"What will happen when we get down?

0:15:43 > 0:15:45"Will there be anything? Will there not be anything?"

0:15:45 > 0:15:48This was where Carter peered into the darkness,

0:15:48 > 0:15:53and saw a chamber packed to overflowing with wonderful things.

0:15:53 > 0:15:55- So this is the antechamber. - Yep. Here it is.

0:15:55 > 0:15:59With, now, a false floor. Presumably it was lower down, wasn't it?

0:15:59 > 0:16:01- Yes.- And this, the mummy...

0:16:01 > 0:16:03'Many things have changed here

0:16:03 > 0:16:07'since the great Pharaoh was laid to rest all those centuries ago.

0:16:08 > 0:16:11'His remains have been taken from the sarcophagus

0:16:11 > 0:16:15'and placed in a climate-controlled glass case.

0:16:15 > 0:16:18'And all the extraordinary objects buried with him

0:16:18 > 0:16:20'were removed long ago for safekeeping in museums.

0:16:22 > 0:16:25'It's hard to imagine what this empty space looked like

0:16:25 > 0:16:29'when Carter discovered it full of the Pharaoh's treasures.

0:16:29 > 0:16:34'But at least we have Burton's images to turn back time.'

0:16:34 > 0:16:37So this is one of Burton's photographs of this end of the room.

0:16:37 > 0:16:41- Mm-hm. Yeah. - And there's the chariot wheels...

0:16:41 > 0:16:43Right, these ones over there.

0:16:43 > 0:16:44And these are very nice,

0:16:44 > 0:16:47because you've got the little stools that Tutankhamun sat on.

0:16:47 > 0:16:48He actually sat on?

0:16:48 > 0:16:50Or they were there for him to sit on in the afterlife?

0:16:50 > 0:16:53No, I think they were actually things that he used.

0:16:53 > 0:16:56And what's nice is that, even in the Burton picture,

0:16:56 > 0:16:58sometimes you get the sense of scale,

0:16:58 > 0:17:00you get small things and big things.

0:17:00 > 0:17:03When he was a child, when he was grown up.

0:17:03 > 0:17:04And that's the back wall.

0:17:04 > 0:17:07Yes, which had more chariotry and a little bit of...

0:17:07 > 0:17:09you know, smaller boxes.

0:17:09 > 0:17:12You can see nearly all of two couches. Can't you?

0:17:12 > 0:17:13Yes, the hippo couch is there,

0:17:13 > 0:17:16and then you've got the big curved tail on this one here.

0:17:16 > 0:17:19- What are these things? - These are the food boxes.

0:17:19 > 0:17:20Ah, the picnic!

0:17:20 > 0:17:23His picnic, so he could not be hungry in the afterlife.

0:17:23 > 0:17:26And then some of the boats and coffers up there.

0:17:26 > 0:17:29And you can see the walls are still the same, can't you?

0:17:29 > 0:17:30Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

0:17:30 > 0:17:32Just, sort of, this big, blank, room.

0:17:32 > 0:17:35But what gave it its sort of excitement

0:17:35 > 0:17:37was all of the stuff in it.

0:17:37 > 0:17:39It really was chock-a-block.

0:17:39 > 0:17:42Right and then this is the other end of the room,

0:17:42 > 0:17:46with those two guardian statues, so over there...

0:17:46 > 0:17:49There's one here, this one here,

0:17:49 > 0:17:52and then that one flush to that wall.

0:17:52 > 0:17:54But not symmetrical to this one?

0:17:54 > 0:17:56No. They're a little bit off centre.

0:17:56 > 0:17:59Because the opening wasn't actually completely centred.

0:18:01 > 0:18:03- But they are guarding the opening? - Mm-hmm. Yeah.

0:18:03 > 0:18:05And it wasn't as wide as this, either, was it?

0:18:05 > 0:18:08No, no. Of course, this has been broken open,

0:18:08 > 0:18:10because ultimately they had to extend it

0:18:10 > 0:18:13so they could take the shrines apart and bring them out.

0:18:13 > 0:18:15It's only because of this photograph

0:18:15 > 0:18:18that we can actually see the wall back in position.

0:18:18 > 0:18:19Yes. Sadly, with archaeology,

0:18:19 > 0:18:22you have to destroy if you're going to discover anything,

0:18:22 > 0:18:26but you'd need a meticulous record like Burton's photographs

0:18:26 > 0:18:28if you're going to be successful.

0:18:29 > 0:18:32This was an unparalleled discovery -

0:18:32 > 0:18:35an almost completely intact royal burial.

0:18:35 > 0:18:38It took months to record the tightly-packed treasures

0:18:38 > 0:18:40in the antechamber.

0:18:41 > 0:18:43First, Burton took establishing shots

0:18:43 > 0:18:45to record the position of objects,

0:18:45 > 0:18:48like the extraordinary animal-shaped couches.

0:18:49 > 0:18:53Then he took close-ups of each carefully numbered artefact.

0:18:53 > 0:18:56This is one of the great treasures of the tomb,

0:18:56 > 0:18:59a throne made of timber overlaid with gold.

0:18:59 > 0:19:02On the backrest, an image of the Pharaoh and his queen,

0:19:02 > 0:19:04bathed in the sun's rays.

0:19:09 > 0:19:10When Burton was working,

0:19:10 > 0:19:13colour photography was still in its infancy.

0:19:13 > 0:19:17His meticulous black-and-white images were supplemented

0:19:17 > 0:19:19by Carter's detailed notes and drawings.

0:19:19 > 0:19:23They record the colours Burton's camera couldn't capture.

0:19:29 > 0:19:33It was only when the antechamber was fully recorded and emptied

0:19:33 > 0:19:34that Carter could address the mystery

0:19:34 > 0:19:37of what lay behind this sealed entrance.

0:19:37 > 0:19:40Did this wall hide the Pharaoh's burial chamber?

0:19:48 > 0:19:51Photographer Harry Cory Wright has arrived in Egypt,

0:19:51 > 0:19:53and he's ready to start work.

0:19:55 > 0:19:57He's taken some wonderful pictures

0:19:57 > 0:20:00with his large format camera over the years,

0:20:00 > 0:20:04but this will be his first attempt to shoot in desert conditions

0:20:04 > 0:20:08using the same techniques Burton employed almost 100 years ago.

0:20:15 > 0:20:21Medinet Habu is the mortuary temple of the Pharaoh Ramses III,

0:20:21 > 0:20:25who ruled in Egypt around 150 years after Tutankhamun's death.

0:20:28 > 0:20:31It's a location Burton also photographed

0:20:31 > 0:20:33before he worked with Carter.

0:20:37 > 0:20:39Gosh!

0:20:39 > 0:20:40What a place!

0:20:40 > 0:20:44So, here we are, just inside the defensive walls,

0:20:44 > 0:20:47and just look at the way it's sort of crumbling away.

0:20:47 > 0:20:50You can see every brick there, sort of made,

0:20:50 > 0:20:51and now just tumbling down.

0:20:54 > 0:20:57BIRDS CHIRPING

0:21:02 > 0:21:04When Burton began work with Carter,

0:21:04 > 0:21:08he'd already taken thousands of pictures in conditions like these.

0:21:08 > 0:21:12It's a good place to begin my own experiments

0:21:12 > 0:21:14using Burton's methods and equipment.

0:21:22 > 0:21:26My Gandolfi camera is almost identical

0:21:26 > 0:21:28to Burton's 1920s original,

0:21:28 > 0:21:31apart from the addition of a modern lens and shutter.

0:21:31 > 0:21:35I've adapted it to use glass plate negatives, like Burton did.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41So here is the heart of the thing,

0:21:41 > 0:21:43which is the glass negative that's in here.

0:21:43 > 0:21:46This is just an extraordinarily intolerant environment

0:21:46 > 0:21:49to have something as delicate as this.

0:21:49 > 0:21:51How Burton did it, I can't understand it,

0:21:51 > 0:21:54because he had boxes of these things.

0:21:54 > 0:21:59Burton worked in an age before light meters were commercially available.

0:21:59 > 0:22:02He knew from experience how to juggle the variables of aperture

0:22:02 > 0:22:06and shutter speed to get good exposure in this intense light.

0:22:09 > 0:22:12It's confusing to me, it feels so much brighter

0:22:12 > 0:22:16than what I'm used to working with in our temperate climate at home.

0:22:16 > 0:22:18About there. So a spot reading on here.

0:22:18 > 0:22:21On the rock there.

0:22:21 > 0:22:23And we're going to go one second at 45.

0:22:36 > 0:22:37CAMERA CLICKS

0:22:44 > 0:22:46I always find this amazing, this moment,

0:22:46 > 0:22:50after that rather beautiful pause of one second,

0:22:50 > 0:22:54which, sort of, drank in all of that scene that we've got out there.

0:22:54 > 0:22:58Now all of that information is sitting in this sliver of emulsion

0:22:58 > 0:23:00that sits on top of the glass slide.

0:23:00 > 0:23:02So I'm going to tuck it away...

0:23:04 > 0:23:06..and then, er... Can't wait.

0:23:06 > 0:23:10But it's held in this sort of tension until it's developed.

0:23:10 > 0:23:12Let's see what happens.

0:23:14 > 0:23:18Glass plate photography is no job for the impatient.

0:23:19 > 0:23:23Every shot must be carefully considered and executed.

0:23:24 > 0:23:29Harry Burton went through the same rigmarole thousands of times.

0:23:29 > 0:23:30Because Carter wanted a complete

0:23:30 > 0:23:33photographic record of his excavation.

0:23:34 > 0:23:39Once the antechamber was emptied, he moved on to other areas of the tomb.

0:23:39 > 0:23:43This fearsome statue of Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification,

0:23:43 > 0:23:45stood sentinel over the Pharaoh's treasury.

0:23:48 > 0:23:52Inside, Carter discovered a gilded shrine

0:23:52 > 0:23:54containing Tutankhamun's embalmed organs,

0:23:54 > 0:23:56protected by four goddesses.

0:23:57 > 0:24:02"It was," said Carter, "the most beautiful monument I have ever seen.

0:24:02 > 0:24:06"It made one gasp with wonder and astonishment."

0:24:09 > 0:24:12Burton's photographs are a wonderful record for us

0:24:12 > 0:24:14of how the tomb was when they found it,

0:24:14 > 0:24:17and they're beautiful to look at. But are they still any use?

0:24:17 > 0:24:20- Do you still use them? - Oh, absolutely.

0:24:20 > 0:24:23I mean, they're one of the basic, go-to sources for us.

0:24:23 > 0:24:26Anyone who's studying Tutankhamun uses those.

0:24:26 > 0:24:28I'm working with a group of other people

0:24:28 > 0:24:30on the sticks and staves of Tutankhamun.

0:24:30 > 0:24:34The sticks and staves have two purposes, one of course is,

0:24:34 > 0:24:38if you need it, but it is also very much a symbol of authority.

0:24:38 > 0:24:40And it's part of your royal regalia.

0:24:40 > 0:24:45Plus, certain sticks and staves have importance and significance

0:24:45 > 0:24:47in the transition to the afterlife.

0:24:47 > 0:24:50So the Medu staff, and the Dis staff et cetera,

0:24:50 > 0:24:52and there are various spells associated with them.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55And it was extraordinary, because with the Burton photographs,

0:24:55 > 0:24:58some of his close-ups are so meticulous

0:24:58 > 0:25:01you can see even the materials that things were made out of.

0:25:01 > 0:25:03Could you take photographs like that today?

0:25:03 > 0:25:05It's really difficult, because we've been trying,

0:25:05 > 0:25:10even with our really hi-tech digital cameras, we do get the colour,

0:25:10 > 0:25:15but the resolution is never quite as crisp, one feels,

0:25:15 > 0:25:17as Harry Burton's glass plate negatives.

0:25:17 > 0:25:19So, have you got any favourites?

0:25:19 > 0:25:22- I like this one, with Carter... - Working.- Yeah.

0:25:22 > 0:25:26With the lamp and the props and everything they had to put in,

0:25:26 > 0:25:28cos they couldn't just work in the space, could they?

0:25:28 > 0:25:31They had to make sure everything stayed in position.

0:25:31 > 0:25:33And then move it one at a time.

0:25:33 > 0:25:37And, I mean, in a way this is a great testament to Carter's work,

0:25:37 > 0:25:39as an archaeologist.

0:25:39 > 0:25:42The hours he must have spent, sort of sitting there,

0:25:42 > 0:25:46in the hot...sort of swelteringness of the tomb,

0:25:46 > 0:25:50meticulously recording every tiny piece of information.

0:25:50 > 0:25:54And really, between Burton's photographs and Carter's notes,

0:25:54 > 0:25:57this really does tell you how archaeology should be done.

0:25:59 > 0:26:02In the ten years it took to excavate the tomb

0:26:02 > 0:26:06Burton created an archive of more than 1,400 images.

0:26:07 > 0:26:09And after each shot,

0:26:09 > 0:26:12the exposed negative had to be removed from the camera

0:26:12 > 0:26:14and swapped for a new glass plate.

0:26:14 > 0:26:18Which is more complicated than you might imagine.

0:26:18 > 0:26:22It's obviously a light, tight tent. I've got the glass negative,

0:26:22 > 0:26:25and I've got to take it out of the dark slide and put it into a box,

0:26:25 > 0:26:26and put a new one in.

0:26:27 > 0:26:31And I'm not very good at doing two things at once,

0:26:31 > 0:26:33so I've got to really concentrate.

0:26:33 > 0:26:35I've done this in a few strange places,

0:26:35 > 0:26:37but not quite with a view like that.

0:26:40 > 0:26:43Harry's not the only photographer on site.

0:26:44 > 0:26:47Archaeologists from the University of Chicago

0:26:47 > 0:26:50have been studying this temple complex since the 1920s,

0:26:50 > 0:26:52when Carter and Burton worked close by.

0:26:55 > 0:26:58Like Burton, the Chicago House unit

0:26:58 > 0:27:01pioneered the use of cameras in archaeology.

0:27:01 > 0:27:05Yarko Kobylecky and Sue Lezon keep that tradition alive today.

0:27:05 > 0:27:07- We'll measure that again.- Yep.

0:27:07 > 0:27:12- Sue.- Hi.- Hi. How you doing?- Gosh, now, tell me, what are you doing?

0:27:12 > 0:27:15Well, we're going to attempt to photograph

0:27:15 > 0:27:18- this huge block of Nubians.- Yes.

0:27:18 > 0:27:21And the first thing we have to do is make sure

0:27:21 > 0:27:23we have some reference,

0:27:23 > 0:27:25- which is these scales.- Right.

0:27:25 > 0:27:29- So...- Importantly, to me, you are using the 10x8 plate camera.

0:27:29 > 0:27:31- That's right.- Now, why?

0:27:31 > 0:27:35Why? Because it's the largest resolution that's possible.

0:27:35 > 0:27:40But even so, I mean, here we are in 2016, and we've got,

0:27:40 > 0:27:42you know, all sorts of digital equipment available,

0:27:42 > 0:27:44- but this is still...- Still the best.

0:27:44 > 0:27:46- And it's not just because you love it?- No, no.

0:27:46 > 0:27:49It still completely does the job better than anything else?

0:27:49 > 0:27:53At some point, it will come, but as of yet, no.

0:27:53 > 0:27:55So this does go right back...

0:27:55 > 0:27:58- You know, you can put yourself in Burton's place very easily.- Yeah.

0:27:58 > 0:28:01The Chicago House team is driven by the same ideal

0:28:01 > 0:28:04that motivated Burton and Carter.

0:28:04 > 0:28:06..on the level. Yeah.

0:28:06 > 0:28:09- OK.- Got it? Great.

0:28:09 > 0:28:12This is perfectionism with a purpose.

0:28:13 > 0:28:15Now we're level.

0:28:16 > 0:28:20The photographs they take today will be collated with hand-drawn plans

0:28:20 > 0:28:26and other data to help create a completely accurate record

0:28:26 > 0:28:29of an extraordinary and fragile historical site.

0:28:34 > 0:28:39The vast majority of Burton's images record artefacts from the tomb.

0:28:39 > 0:28:42But he also photographed the archaeologists at work.

0:28:44 > 0:28:48In this image, Carter's colleagues examine one of six chariots

0:28:48 > 0:28:49discovered in the tomb.

0:28:50 > 0:28:54It was a symbol of Egyptian kingship, decorated with gold,

0:28:54 > 0:28:56coloured glass and stone.

0:28:59 > 0:29:02Harry hopes to create a similar picture today.

0:29:08 > 0:29:11What I'm after here is a picture

0:29:11 > 0:29:15that has some of the finesse and the elegance

0:29:15 > 0:29:16of what Burton was able to do.

0:29:16 > 0:29:18I'm looking at a photograph that, perhaps,

0:29:18 > 0:29:20gives a little bit of that structure,

0:29:20 > 0:29:23of where he's orchestrated the picture a little bit.

0:29:23 > 0:29:27I want to try and find a picture that's got...

0:29:27 > 0:29:30just some quiet process of everybody at work.

0:29:35 > 0:29:37Hello.

0:29:43 > 0:29:45Aha!

0:29:46 > 0:29:48That's what we're after.

0:29:52 > 0:29:54'Photographing people with a camera like this

0:29:54 > 0:29:58'brings challenges that you don't come up against with digital.'

0:29:58 > 0:30:00If we can get you into position.

0:30:00 > 0:30:03Can I ask you to kind of, lean...? I'm thinking sort of just here.

0:30:03 > 0:30:04Keep your shoulder...

0:30:04 > 0:30:06'Because they're less sensitive to light,

0:30:06 > 0:30:08'glass plates need a longer exposure.

0:30:08 > 0:30:13'And a patient subject, like Badawi, who works with the Chicago team.'

0:30:13 > 0:30:16For four seconds. We'll go for four seconds.

0:30:16 > 0:30:19OK, fantastic. If you could just look at me, that's it.

0:30:20 > 0:30:22Can you just, kind of,

0:30:22 > 0:30:25get a little bit so you're facing me just a tiny bit more.

0:30:25 > 0:30:27That's it, yeah.

0:30:27 > 0:30:30'Recreating Burton's methods reveals an important secret

0:30:30 > 0:30:32'about his pictures of people at work.'

0:30:32 > 0:30:35A little more to your left, please. That's it, perfect.

0:30:35 > 0:30:38Just kind of look a tiny bit more this way. That's it.

0:30:40 > 0:30:43'They may look like the snapshot of a moment in time,

0:30:43 > 0:30:46'but Burton must have stage-managed these images -

0:30:46 > 0:30:49'asking the archaeologists to stop what they were doing,

0:30:49 > 0:30:51'and hold a pose for the camera.'

0:30:51 > 0:30:52OK, hold still.

0:30:53 > 0:30:55Here we go.

0:30:55 > 0:30:59'For a few brief moments, they were acting the part of archaeologists,

0:30:59 > 0:31:02'rather than doing the job itself.'

0:31:02 > 0:31:05One, two, three, four.

0:31:05 > 0:31:08CAMERA CLICKS

0:31:08 > 0:31:09Yes!

0:31:09 > 0:31:11How exciting. That is so cool.

0:31:11 > 0:31:13Thank you very much.

0:31:15 > 0:31:18The Chicago House team have this place to themselves.

0:31:19 > 0:31:23It was a different story for Burton and Carter in 1922.

0:31:24 > 0:31:26Within days of the discovery,

0:31:26 > 0:31:30crowds of tourists and journalists descended on the Valley,

0:31:30 > 0:31:33eager to glimpse the Pharaoh's treasures.

0:31:33 > 0:31:35The media scrum that surrounded the tomb every day

0:31:35 > 0:31:38must have come as a real shock to the system

0:31:38 > 0:31:41to men more accustomed to dusty anonymity.

0:31:41 > 0:31:45In fact, according to Arthur Mace, one of Carter's colleagues,

0:31:45 > 0:31:48"The archaeologist usually spends his time

0:31:48 > 0:31:51"quietly and unobtrusively enough -

0:31:51 > 0:31:53"half the year burrowing, mole-like, in the ground,

0:31:53 > 0:31:58"and the other half writing dull papers for scientific journals.

0:31:58 > 0:31:59"And now, suddenly,

0:31:59 > 0:32:02"he finds himself in the full glare of limelight,

0:32:02 > 0:32:05"with newspaper reporters lying in wait for him at every corner

0:32:05 > 0:32:09"and snapshotters recording his every movement."

0:32:09 > 0:32:14The excitement of the discovery also resonated with Egyptians.

0:32:14 > 0:32:16This was, after all, THEIR story.

0:32:18 > 0:32:20The discovery of the tomb is international news.

0:32:20 > 0:32:23Europeans are quite excited by this piece of news,

0:32:23 > 0:32:25Egyptians are very excited by this piece of news as well,

0:32:25 > 0:32:30because the discovery of this almost unknown boy king,

0:32:30 > 0:32:33who was going to be brought back to life through archaeology,

0:32:33 > 0:32:36really echoes with Egyptian politicians

0:32:36 > 0:32:40and writers and artists at the time, with what their hope is for Egypt

0:32:40 > 0:32:42now that it's earned its independence -

0:32:42 > 0:32:44that Egypt itself is reawakening.

0:32:46 > 0:32:50One of the Egyptians excited by the discovery was a young photographer

0:32:50 > 0:32:55from Luxor, just across the river from the Valley of the Kings.

0:32:55 > 0:32:57Attaya Gaddis made a living

0:32:57 > 0:32:59by selling his photographs to tourists.

0:32:59 > 0:33:05His grandson still owns the premises where Attaya worked in the 1920s.

0:33:05 > 0:33:09Thank you for letting us come into this wonderful place.

0:33:09 > 0:33:11How long have you been in business here?

0:33:16 > 0:33:17More than 100 years.

0:33:17 > 0:33:20And, of course, your grandfather was a photographer,

0:33:20 > 0:33:23- and these are some of his cameras. - Yes, it is.

0:33:23 > 0:33:27Attaya was apprenticed to an Italian photographer

0:33:27 > 0:33:29called Felix Beato.

0:33:29 > 0:33:34When Beato died in 1909, Attaya took over the business.

0:33:34 > 0:33:37I'd love to see some of the photographs he took with these,

0:33:37 > 0:33:40- especially of the Tutankhamun excavation.- Yes, we have it.

0:33:42 > 0:33:43Right, so this is outside the...

0:33:45 > 0:33:47Carrying on a stretcher.

0:33:51 > 0:33:53Oh, so they built a special...?

0:33:54 > 0:33:55Look at all the people involved.

0:33:55 > 0:33:58- You realise what a big operation it was, don't you?- Yeah.

0:34:00 > 0:34:02What have we got here? More things.

0:34:02 > 0:34:05- Oh, look, that must be a chariot wheel.- Yes.

0:34:05 > 0:34:08Carter's actually in this photograph, I think, isn't he?

0:34:08 > 0:34:11With these wonderful Edwardian gentleman

0:34:11 > 0:34:13- in their English suits!- Yes.

0:34:16 > 0:34:18Oh, look, that's one of the coffins.

0:34:21 > 0:34:23They're really good, aren't they?

0:34:23 > 0:34:26And this is what the Valley of the Kings was like then.

0:34:33 > 0:34:36Yes. Guards even then, of course.

0:34:36 > 0:34:37Wonderful photographs.

0:34:39 > 0:34:43Lord Carnarvon soon grew tired of the media free-for-all.

0:34:43 > 0:34:48In January 1923, he sold exclusive rights to the story to The Times

0:34:48 > 0:34:52for £5,000 - a small fortune in today's money.

0:34:54 > 0:34:58The deal alienated rival newspapers, and many Egyptians who felt,

0:34:58 > 0:35:02understandably, that their history had been hijacked by foreigners.

0:35:04 > 0:35:07But it was big news for Burton.

0:35:07 > 0:35:09This was a watershed moment in his career.

0:35:09 > 0:35:12He was no longer simply an archaeological photographer.

0:35:12 > 0:35:15His images made front-page news.

0:35:18 > 0:35:21The spotlight fell on Carter,

0:35:21 > 0:35:23but Burton's pictures reveal other characters

0:35:23 > 0:35:26who were crucial to the work.

0:35:26 > 0:35:30When we look at them now, we can see that those photographs fill a gap,

0:35:30 > 0:35:34an absence, that in the written record -

0:35:34 > 0:35:36both the newspaper coverage of the time,

0:35:36 > 0:35:39the accounts that Carter wrote - and also in the archives,

0:35:39 > 0:35:41those sort of records and diaries.

0:35:41 > 0:35:42Because what we see in the photographs

0:35:42 > 0:35:45are the Egyptians who worked at the site.

0:35:45 > 0:35:48Who are never named in the press,

0:35:48 > 0:35:51and I think the photographs are all the more important for that.

0:35:53 > 0:35:57Burton's images fuelled a fascination for all things Egyptian.

0:36:00 > 0:36:03We don't know if Tutankhamun's golden funeral mask

0:36:03 > 0:36:07is an accurate likeness, but the iconography of treasures

0:36:07 > 0:36:09like this inspired designers and artists.

0:36:13 > 0:36:16Meanwhile, audiences flocked to theatres

0:36:16 > 0:36:20to hear Carter tell the story of their discovery.

0:36:20 > 0:36:24And whenever Carter travelled, Burton's pictures came too.

0:36:25 > 0:36:29Here we have his original glass lantern slides, in his wooden chest.

0:36:29 > 0:36:32- Cor, he took all that with him? - Yes, this is his travelling set.

0:36:32 > 0:36:34And if we open the drawers,

0:36:34 > 0:36:37you can see there are hundreds of glass lantern slides inside here.

0:36:37 > 0:36:39They don't make them like that any more, do they?

0:36:39 > 0:36:42No and here we have some of Harry Burton's photographs

0:36:42 > 0:36:45of the road leading to the Valley of the Kings.

0:36:45 > 0:36:48And are these all from Burton's original plates?

0:36:48 > 0:36:50They are, yes. These are all based upon

0:36:50 > 0:36:53Harry Burton's original glass plate negatives.

0:36:53 > 0:36:57Here we have Carter and others peering inside the golden shrines.

0:36:57 > 0:36:59So they must have become stars, almost, did they?

0:36:59 > 0:37:02- Yes, they were celebrities in their own right.- Oh.

0:37:02 > 0:37:06We also have some hand-tinted glass lantern slides.

0:37:06 > 0:37:10Again, you get the sense that Carter's really trying to convey

0:37:10 > 0:37:14the sense of the original colours of the objects to his audiences.

0:37:14 > 0:37:18So these were painted onto Burton's original black and white?

0:37:18 > 0:37:20- Yes.- The colour is amazing.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22So this is one of the arms of the throne

0:37:22 > 0:37:24that we were looking at earlier.

0:37:24 > 0:37:26Where we saw that Carter had actually made a note

0:37:26 > 0:37:29of what the different materials were, and the different colours.

0:37:29 > 0:37:32So I suppose they'd have used that as a guide.

0:37:32 > 0:37:35Yes. And this is obviously a much more effective way

0:37:35 > 0:37:37of conveying those colours to the audience.

0:37:37 > 0:37:40That's terribly detailed work, to paint on something that size.

0:37:40 > 0:37:42It's incredible. And, of course,

0:37:42 > 0:37:45you have to imagine these being projected in a darkened auditorium,

0:37:45 > 0:37:47and really recreating that sense of discovery

0:37:47 > 0:37:50that the original excavators must have felt.

0:37:50 > 0:37:52- State-of-the-art. - For the time, for sure.

0:37:52 > 0:37:54And described by the man who'd actually made them.

0:37:54 > 0:37:56So the world-famous Carter,

0:37:56 > 0:37:58who'd been on the front page of The Times with his discovery,

0:37:58 > 0:38:01and there he is, and you see all this in colour.

0:38:01 > 0:38:02Wow!

0:38:07 > 0:38:09This must have caused a sensation.

0:38:09 > 0:38:13I remember, when the Tutankhamun exhibition came around in the 1970s,

0:38:13 > 0:38:17queueing all day outside the British Museum and not getting in.

0:38:17 > 0:38:18Presumably this had the same impact.

0:38:18 > 0:38:21Carter must have been a real celebrity by this point.

0:38:21 > 0:38:24And the discovery had made its way around the world,

0:38:24 > 0:38:26and so I think we should imagine people queueing around the block

0:38:26 > 0:38:28to hear Carter give his lectures.

0:38:28 > 0:38:31And to see Burton's photographs, because without the photographs,

0:38:31 > 0:38:34the lecture wouldn't have been remotely as interesting, would it?

0:38:34 > 0:38:38No, Burton's photographs are really at the centre of Carter's lectures.

0:38:38 > 0:38:41This, I suppose, is what inspired that genre

0:38:41 > 0:38:45for having Egyptian-ised things - some our buildings,

0:38:45 > 0:38:47and in the States as well.

0:38:47 > 0:38:50They've got Egyptian pillars and heads, and all the rest of it.

0:38:50 > 0:38:53Yeah, these types of images must have really inspired

0:38:53 > 0:38:56that craze for Tut-mania that ensued following the discovery.

0:38:56 > 0:39:00- Did they actually call it Tut-mania? - They did, yes.- Oof.

0:39:00 > 0:39:01MUSIC: Old King Tut by Stephen DeRosa

0:39:01 > 0:39:04# 3,000 years ago, in history we know

0:39:04 > 0:39:09# King Tutankhamen ruled a mighty land

0:39:09 > 0:39:14# Why, they opened up his tomb the other day and jumped with glee

0:39:14 > 0:39:18# They learned a lot of ancient history

0:39:18 > 0:39:20# In old King Tut's... #

0:39:20 > 0:39:23While the West danced along to the tune of Tut-mania,

0:39:23 > 0:39:26Harry Burton was continuing his work in Egypt.

0:39:28 > 0:39:31Capturing his images took immense skill and patience.

0:39:31 > 0:39:33But that was just part of the challenge.

0:39:33 > 0:39:36He also had to develop them, and fast...

0:39:38 > 0:39:41..because Carter would only move onto the next stage of excavation

0:39:41 > 0:39:43once he'd approved the pictures.

0:39:45 > 0:39:49The closest proper darkroom was several miles down the Valley,

0:39:49 > 0:39:51at Carter's house.

0:39:51 > 0:39:54So Burton had to improvise instead.

0:39:54 > 0:39:57One of the things that strikes you first you about this place

0:39:57 > 0:39:59is just how many tombs there are.

0:39:59 > 0:40:02The hills are absolutely full of them.

0:40:02 > 0:40:06And they're so close together - there, behind me, over there,

0:40:06 > 0:40:08just absolutely everywhere.

0:40:08 > 0:40:12And, of course, for Carter and his team working around here,

0:40:12 > 0:40:14that had unexpected benefits,

0:40:14 > 0:40:17because there's another tomb right over there.

0:40:19 > 0:40:21This subterranean chamber

0:40:21 > 0:40:25is the place Burton chose for his makeshift darkroom.

0:40:25 > 0:40:28And Harry has persuaded the authorities

0:40:28 > 0:40:31to let him develop his negatives in exactly the same place.

0:40:33 > 0:40:36He'll be working with Sue Lezon from the Chicago House team...

0:40:36 > 0:40:38- Sue.- Harry.

0:40:38 > 0:40:40..who's agreed to lend him some equipment.

0:40:40 > 0:40:41Welcome.

0:40:41 > 0:40:46- So we can set you up with well-used trays.- Well-used, yes.

0:40:46 > 0:40:47I find it extraordinary

0:40:47 > 0:40:51that the pristine glass plates we admired in Oxford

0:40:51 > 0:40:54weren't developed in a well-equipped darkroom like this.

0:40:54 > 0:40:57And we'll get you some beakers, and we'll bring a lot of water.

0:40:57 > 0:41:00That looks like it goes back to 1920.

0:41:00 > 0:41:05Instead, Burton worked in a hot and dusty desert tomb,

0:41:05 > 0:41:08just a few metres from the excavation site.

0:41:08 > 0:41:11A walk he must have made hundreds of times.

0:41:11 > 0:41:13OK. So I'm imagining I've got

0:41:13 > 0:41:17one of these exposed glass negatives in my hand, and I'm...

0:41:17 > 0:41:21- It's just there.- It's right... It's a few feet away.

0:41:21 > 0:41:24God, isn't that mad? I kind of imagined it was much further away,

0:41:24 > 0:41:27but that's literally just a kind of stone's throw, isn't it?

0:41:29 > 0:41:31- Look at this.- That is steep.

0:41:31 > 0:41:33And, you know, there's not been anybody

0:41:33 > 0:41:35in this tomb for years and years.

0:41:35 > 0:41:38- Is that right?- Yeah.- Come on, let's go and have a look.

0:41:38 > 0:41:40So which tomb is this one?

0:41:40 > 0:41:42- This is number 55.- Yeah, OK.

0:41:42 > 0:41:44This is called the Amarna cache.

0:41:44 > 0:41:46- HE GASPS - That is steep! Heavens above.

0:41:46 > 0:41:50Yes, it is. Imagine him carrying these things down there.

0:41:50 > 0:41:52- Yeah, exactly.- Take care.

0:41:52 > 0:41:55And he would have been in a rush too, wouldn't he?

0:41:55 > 0:41:59Yeah. Everybody's waiting for him to get that film processed.

0:41:59 > 0:42:02- OK, so I'm carrying slides... - Easy to slip.

0:42:02 > 0:42:06He'd have slowed down a little bit as he got down to this bit.

0:42:06 > 0:42:08- Whoa. Look, here we go.- Whoa.

0:42:09 > 0:42:13This is a unique privilege for Harry and Sue.

0:42:13 > 0:42:15It's the first time anyone's been given permission

0:42:15 > 0:42:19to develop photographs here since Burton did it in the '20s.

0:42:19 > 0:42:21It's a big step.

0:42:21 > 0:42:23That's a hard act to follow.

0:42:23 > 0:42:27It looks like there's some water that's comes through these cracks.

0:42:27 > 0:42:30When this tomb was surveyed in the 1990s,

0:42:30 > 0:42:34archaeologists discovered fragments of glass in the sand.

0:42:34 > 0:42:36They were the remains of negatives

0:42:36 > 0:42:39that must have slipped from Burton's grasp

0:42:39 > 0:42:42as he worked here nearly 100 years ago.

0:42:42 > 0:42:44Here's the tomb itself.

0:42:44 > 0:42:45Boy, look, Sue.

0:42:45 > 0:42:46I've been in smaller darkrooms,

0:42:46 > 0:42:52but I've never seen any with pots in it before, look down to the right.

0:42:52 > 0:42:55- No, no.- Can you make this work, do you think?

0:42:55 > 0:42:58Well, I think so. You know, all we need is a table that we set up.

0:42:58 > 0:43:00That's what he had to do, after all.

0:43:00 > 0:43:03- Yeah, we can make this work. - Yeah, definitely.

0:43:03 > 0:43:06- No, no, absolutely. Come on, let's go and get our stuff.- All right.

0:43:06 > 0:43:09This is where Harry will discover if his experiments have worked.

0:43:09 > 0:43:13With analogue photography, you only find out in the darkroom

0:43:13 > 0:43:15if you've taken the picture you planned.

0:43:15 > 0:43:17Three baths - dev, wash, fix.

0:43:17 > 0:43:21- The familiar smell of fix.- In Harry Burton's tomb.- Extraordinary.

0:43:21 > 0:43:23Well, not Harry Burton's TOMB, but you know what I'm saying.

0:43:23 > 0:43:24- Yeah.- His darkroom.

0:43:29 > 0:43:31Just water. I need that.

0:43:31 > 0:43:33- Thank you.- Thank you.

0:43:33 > 0:43:35Gosh!

0:43:35 > 0:43:36Here, listen.

0:43:40 > 0:43:41(Nothing.)

0:43:41 > 0:43:44- That is really quiet, isn't it? - Yeah.- Extraordinary.

0:43:44 > 0:43:46And to think, you know...

0:43:46 > 0:43:48we're right, literally, exactly where Burton

0:43:48 > 0:43:52would have developed his own negatives.

0:43:52 > 0:43:54That's an extraordinary idea, isn't it?

0:43:54 > 0:43:57All the nonsense going upstairs, all of...

0:43:57 > 0:44:01Carter going, "Come on, hurry up! We need to get on.

0:44:01 > 0:44:04"We need to start going to the next stage."

0:44:04 > 0:44:08And pacing, and all the government officials here waiting.

0:44:08 > 0:44:11- Yeah, of course. - I bet he was down here by himself.

0:44:11 > 0:44:13I bet he didn't want to know anything else up there.

0:44:13 > 0:44:17- That's very true. Right, we better get on with it.- Yep. Let's go.

0:44:17 > 0:44:19- I'm going to shut... - Turn the lights off.

0:44:19 > 0:44:20There it is.

0:44:20 > 0:44:21OK. Are we ready for this?

0:44:23 > 0:44:25Ready as we're going to be.

0:44:25 > 0:44:28Please, please, now. That's going in.

0:44:29 > 0:44:32- This is it. This is what he did. - I know.

0:44:34 > 0:44:35Yes, something. Yes, definitely.

0:44:35 > 0:44:37- Ha-ha!- Oh, yes.

0:44:37 > 0:44:41- Have you got that little wandy torch thing?- Yes.

0:44:43 > 0:44:46- SHE GASPS - There it is.- Oh, my God!

0:44:46 > 0:44:52- I might just turn this around for the camera, like that.- Perfect.

0:44:52 > 0:44:54So that's the right way.

0:44:54 > 0:44:57So this is all the foreground here, and that's the sky up here.

0:44:57 > 0:44:58- That's the sky.- OK.

0:44:58 > 0:45:00- So shall we put that in the wash? - Yeah, let's...

0:45:00 > 0:45:03Right, little bit of wash.

0:45:10 > 0:45:12OK. So let's have a look, shall we?

0:45:14 > 0:45:15Hey.

0:45:16 > 0:45:18Go on, give it a yank.

0:45:20 > 0:45:21- There you go.- Yeah.

0:45:21 > 0:45:23- Wow!- Ooh, look here we go.

0:45:23 > 0:45:25- But this is all fine. - Look at that detail.

0:45:25 > 0:45:27Look at that detail. So, let's think about Burton.

0:45:27 > 0:45:30Burton would have been looking at his negatives right here,

0:45:30 > 0:45:33under a light pretty much the same as this, and he must have...

0:45:33 > 0:45:36Before he said, "OK, let's move to the next one."

0:45:36 > 0:45:37I mean, he could have taken it outside,

0:45:37 > 0:45:40but let's not forget - this is a wet negative

0:45:40 > 0:45:45- that is absolutely at its most susceptible to dust.- Mm-hm.

0:45:45 > 0:45:47He wouldn't have been charging out there going,

0:45:47 > 0:45:48"Look, I've got it! It's fine, carry on."

0:45:48 > 0:45:51He would have kept them waiting for a lot longer.

0:45:51 > 0:45:53Yeah, had that little moment where he would have gone,

0:45:53 > 0:45:56- "Oh, that's a very beautiful thing." - Yes. Yes.

0:45:59 > 0:46:00Congratulations.

0:46:00 > 0:46:03- Yeah, we've done it, haven't we? - Yes.- It's OK.- Yes.

0:46:03 > 0:46:05- It's OK. Yes. It really is. Right, come on then.- Wow, OK.

0:46:08 > 0:46:10All the darkrooms, you know, any photographer in the past,

0:46:10 > 0:46:12you'd love to go and look in their darkroom,

0:46:12 > 0:46:15whether Ansel Adams's darkroom would be a thing.

0:46:15 > 0:46:17Cartier-Bresson's darkroom in Paris, what a thing.

0:46:17 > 0:46:22But I don't think anything beats Harry Burton's darkroom in a tomb.

0:46:24 > 0:46:26Right, let's put that in the box.

0:46:31 > 0:46:34Carter and Burton must have done this quite often, mustn't they?

0:46:34 > 0:46:36- Standing somewhere like this? - Side-by-side.

0:46:36 > 0:46:39- So, come on, let me see it. I'm Carter, remember.- OK.

0:46:39 > 0:46:41- Give me your prints! - So this one's wet.

0:46:41 > 0:46:43So we've just develop this,

0:46:43 > 0:46:46and, er...so this is Brett,

0:46:46 > 0:46:49who is the Egyptologist at Chicago House,

0:46:49 > 0:46:52and he's inside the temple here,

0:46:52 > 0:46:54and there's a rather ghostly image.

0:46:54 > 0:46:57- It's a negative, so it's the wrong way around.- Yes.

0:46:57 > 0:47:00OK, so I've done this quite crudely, this one.

0:47:00 > 0:47:01Excuses?

0:47:01 > 0:47:05I'll give you loads of excuses. Oh, um, all you know...

0:47:05 > 0:47:09First one and all that, but what it throws up is,

0:47:09 > 0:47:12you know, this is a fat piece of glass. Look at that.

0:47:12 > 0:47:14- The others were very thin, weren't they?- Tiny.

0:47:14 > 0:47:16They were wafer thin. Have a feel.

0:47:16 > 0:47:18That's a big chunk. It still feels quite...

0:47:18 > 0:47:19It is, is it.

0:47:20 > 0:47:22I slightly underexposed this.

0:47:22 > 0:47:24But he would have, you know,

0:47:24 > 0:47:26they'd have come out of the thing every time,

0:47:26 > 0:47:28sit there like you and I are now, assessed it.

0:47:28 > 0:47:30- Had a look.- "Is this good enough?" - "Is that OK?"

0:47:30 > 0:47:33"Can I now move the object? Can we get on with our work?"

0:47:33 > 0:47:35A lot of that would have been not just...

0:47:35 > 0:47:37Here, we're looking at a picture, kind of assessing it,

0:47:37 > 0:47:40because I'm telling you that that's Brett and that's somebody else

0:47:40 > 0:47:42and whatever, but he would have been looking, obviously,

0:47:42 > 0:47:45you know, in the hieroglyphics, that everything showed.

0:47:45 > 0:47:47In an archiving...sense...

0:47:47 > 0:47:49Yeah, because it was important that that particular object

0:47:49 > 0:47:51was in that particular place.

0:47:51 > 0:47:54- Absolutely, it was a record, wasn't it?- So had a distinguishing feature?

0:47:54 > 0:47:56Exactly. But, anyway, let me show you another one here.

0:47:56 > 0:47:59- So this is one we did earlier... - Careful with that.

0:47:59 > 0:48:01..which has dried.

0:48:01 > 0:48:03- This has got a couple of spots of water on it.- From the other one.

0:48:03 > 0:48:05- So this is quite fun. - Oh, look at that!

0:48:05 > 0:48:09So this is the landscape in the temple,

0:48:09 > 0:48:12and this is the, kind of, the wall.

0:48:12 > 0:48:14It looks like it's taken at night, but that's dust spots,

0:48:14 > 0:48:16cos actually negative sky would be white.

0:48:16 > 0:48:20- What, those little spots are dust? - They are dust.

0:48:20 > 0:48:23- You know, and...- Burton managed not to get dust on his.

0:48:23 > 0:48:25I don't understand that. I really, really don't understand that.

0:48:25 > 0:48:28- I'll have to send you back down there tomorrow.- I'm so sorry.

0:48:28 > 0:48:31It's just a kind of madness how exquisite his things were.

0:48:31 > 0:48:33Yeah, but that's pretty good.

0:48:33 > 0:48:35It's pretty good, it's all right isn't it?

0:48:35 > 0:48:38- I'll give you five out of ten for that.- Thank you. I'll take it.

0:48:38 > 0:48:40The thing is, I've never seen one of Burton's negatives

0:48:40 > 0:48:43that was badly exposed, either overexposed or underexposed.

0:48:43 > 0:48:46- I mean, it's extraordinary.- Now, we may not have seen all of them,

0:48:46 > 0:48:48there may have been a few duds that got thrown away.

0:48:48 > 0:48:50Well, and the ones he probably dropped on the way back,

0:48:50 > 0:48:54or someone dropped, you know, they're fragile things.

0:48:54 > 0:48:59The technical perfection of Burton's images inspires Egyptologists today.

0:48:59 > 0:49:01Including the team based here,

0:49:01 > 0:49:06who use hi-tech imaging to record ancient sites.

0:49:06 > 0:49:07What an incredible image.

0:49:07 > 0:49:09Where's this from?

0:49:09 > 0:49:13This is from the tomb of Sethi I, in the Valley of the Kings.

0:49:13 > 0:49:16It is the west wall of the Hall of Beauties.

0:49:16 > 0:49:19Burton took photographs in Sethi I's tomb, as well, didn't he?

0:49:19 > 0:49:22Yes, he has taken amazing photographs.

0:49:22 > 0:49:25Actually, I was scanning his entire...

0:49:25 > 0:49:28the book that had his photographs for the tomb,

0:49:28 > 0:49:32to help us in planning which part we're going to do first,

0:49:32 > 0:49:34and which part includes what.

0:49:34 > 0:49:38So we decide which kind of technology we use for what.

0:49:38 > 0:49:42I can show you how detailed it is.

0:49:42 > 0:49:44Some ignorant people have written their names.

0:49:44 > 0:49:45I think that's shocking.

0:49:45 > 0:49:48Yes, that's graffiti that was found there.

0:49:48 > 0:49:52And as you can see here, it says 1876.

0:49:52 > 0:49:54But would you see that with the naked eye?

0:49:54 > 0:49:56No. You can't see it. It's impossible.

0:49:56 > 0:49:59Tell me how you've achieved this clarity.

0:49:59 > 0:50:02Well, this image has been achieved by Lucida,

0:50:02 > 0:50:06a 3D scanner that we developed in Factum Arte.

0:50:06 > 0:50:10It's basically based out of two cameras and a laser diode.

0:50:10 > 0:50:13As the laser reflects and moved over the surface,

0:50:13 > 0:50:15these two cameras capture its motion.

0:50:15 > 0:50:17It's just so real.

0:50:17 > 0:50:21It is, and let me show you something even...you might like more.

0:50:21 > 0:50:26Here you can see a 3D of the tomb, the Hall of Beauties.

0:50:26 > 0:50:28How do you do that?

0:50:28 > 0:50:33It is a collage of so many photographs with a lot of overlap,

0:50:33 > 0:50:35it's called photogrammetry.

0:50:35 > 0:50:38'The Factum Arte team plan to use these 3D images

0:50:38 > 0:50:41'to create a life-size replica of the site.'

0:50:41 > 0:50:45So tourists wouldn't have to actually go in to the original?

0:50:45 > 0:50:47They could go into a replica.

0:50:47 > 0:50:49Exactly, and know that they are not harming it.

0:50:49 > 0:50:55Burton's aim was to produce a very clear record of what was there.

0:50:55 > 0:50:58He'd have been amazed by this. He'd have been envious, I should think.

0:50:58 > 0:51:01I know, looking at his pictures, I would assume,

0:51:01 > 0:51:03if he had the technology and the means,

0:51:03 > 0:51:05he would have definitely done this at the time.

0:51:08 > 0:51:12Burton's lens captured every stage of Carter's excavation.

0:51:13 > 0:51:15None was more dramatic than the gradual revelation

0:51:15 > 0:51:18of the Pharaoh's burial chamber itself.

0:51:20 > 0:51:23When he was laid to rest 3,000 years ago,

0:51:23 > 0:51:27Tutankhamun's remains were enclosed by ornate wooden shrines,

0:51:27 > 0:51:30packed one inside the other, like Russian dolls.

0:51:32 > 0:51:36Burton's striking close-up of the sealed door

0:51:36 > 0:51:39was proof that the shrines had not been touched

0:51:39 > 0:51:41by ancient tomb raiders.

0:51:44 > 0:51:48Uncovering what lay within took months of painstaking labour

0:51:48 > 0:51:49in cramped conditions.

0:51:51 > 0:51:55According to Carter, they had to squeeze in and out like weasels,

0:51:55 > 0:51:59and work in all kinds of embarrassing positions.

0:51:59 > 0:52:01Until, finally,

0:52:01 > 0:52:03the coffin could be hoisted carefully

0:52:03 > 0:52:05from inside the stone sarcophagus,

0:52:05 > 0:52:09and Carter came face-to-face with the Pharaoh.

0:52:11 > 0:52:12I've got an idea, Margaret.

0:52:12 > 0:52:15And what I'd like to do, there's a really beautiful picture

0:52:15 > 0:52:17that Burton took of Carter,

0:52:17 > 0:52:22where he is looking across the coffin and is lit by a single light.

0:52:22 > 0:52:24I mean, it's a beautiful picture.

0:52:24 > 0:52:27It's got this fantastic sort of moment of...

0:52:27 > 0:52:30where the two are looking at each other, almost.

0:52:30 > 0:52:31It's a really, really cool picture.

0:52:31 > 0:52:34Just here. And I would love to move you

0:52:34 > 0:52:36just into the same sort of place,

0:52:36 > 0:52:38and try to take a picture that was similar.

0:52:38 > 0:52:39It's going to be a long exposure.

0:52:39 > 0:52:42And we'll move a light into the same sort of place. Are you up for that?

0:52:42 > 0:52:45- I'll have a go. - Great, let's give it a try.

0:52:50 > 0:52:54You're leaning over a bit, and hand out,

0:52:54 > 0:52:57cos obviously he was painting it, or brushing it with a brush,

0:52:57 > 0:52:59but we can't do that. I think it's more fun...

0:52:59 > 0:53:01Cos, in fact, I see the reflection of your...

0:53:01 > 0:53:03- Like that?- That's it, yes. Just lovely.

0:53:03 > 0:53:04Hang on, let's just check that.

0:53:04 > 0:53:08'They tell me that Carter was a difficult man to work with.

0:53:08 > 0:53:10'He was single-minded and stubborn,

0:53:10 > 0:53:13'and fought many battles as the excavation unfolded.'

0:53:13 > 0:53:15Hold very still.

0:53:15 > 0:53:18'He even called the whole thing off for almost a year

0:53:18 > 0:53:20'after a row with the Egyptian authorities.'

0:53:20 > 0:53:22- Oof.- Ugh...

0:53:22 > 0:53:23And when you're ready.

0:53:24 > 0:53:27'Though he did eventually patch things up

0:53:27 > 0:53:28'and return to finish the job.'

0:53:29 > 0:53:33So I've got you...F8, two seconds, please.

0:53:33 > 0:53:34Basically, the same position.

0:53:34 > 0:53:37'Harry Burton was a perfectionist too.

0:53:37 > 0:53:40'But, in person, he was easy-going and diplomatic.'

0:53:40 > 0:53:42OK, hold very still from...

0:53:43 > 0:53:47'A good man to have by your side when the going gets tough.'

0:53:47 > 0:53:49Brilliant, Margaret, thank you so much.

0:53:49 > 0:53:52- I wouldn't have thought that would be so difficult!- Great.

0:53:54 > 0:53:57There must have been a bond between them,

0:53:57 > 0:54:00and great mutual respect.

0:54:00 > 0:54:04Because Burton was one of only two members of Carter's original team

0:54:04 > 0:54:06who stuck with him to the end.

0:54:08 > 0:54:13Burton took his last photographs for the tomb at New Year 1933.

0:54:13 > 0:54:15He'd seen Carter at Christmas dinner at Metropolitan House,

0:54:15 > 0:54:17and Carter had clearly said,

0:54:17 > 0:54:19"Oh, you know, we forgot to photograph the sarcophagus."

0:54:19 > 0:54:21Um, so Carter goes...

0:54:21 > 0:54:24So Burton and Carter go back into the tomb

0:54:24 > 0:54:27and Burton takes some beautifully lit, very crisp

0:54:27 > 0:54:30and evocative shots of the sarcophagus.

0:54:30 > 0:54:34with the wonderful winged goddesses at the four corners.

0:54:34 > 0:54:36And, afterwards, Burton writes to a colleague back in New York,

0:54:36 > 0:54:38he writes a letter saying,

0:54:38 > 0:54:41"Today, I finished the Tut work, and dashed glad I am!

0:54:41 > 0:54:43"I began to think I never should finish it.

0:54:43 > 0:54:45"And it seems too good to be true."

0:54:46 > 0:54:49His greatest assignment was over.

0:54:49 > 0:54:52But he wasn't ready to pack away his camera.

0:54:52 > 0:54:56Harry Burton continued to work in Egypt for the New York Met

0:54:56 > 0:54:59until his death in 1940.

0:55:02 > 0:55:05JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS

0:55:13 > 0:55:15Before I stopped to look closer,

0:55:15 > 0:55:18I suppose I'd always taken Harry Burton for granted.

0:55:20 > 0:55:24Like most people intrigued by the story of Tutankhamun,

0:55:24 > 0:55:27I'd seen many of his photographs over the years,

0:55:27 > 0:55:30without ever thinking about the man behind the camera.

0:55:32 > 0:55:34I won't make that mistake again.

0:55:36 > 0:55:38Harry, I recognise these two plates, I've seen them before.

0:55:38 > 0:55:41But what else have you got? Show me the prints you've made.

0:55:41 > 0:55:44OK, so, this one is the landscape one that I took.

0:55:44 > 0:55:47That's the one I saw of the temple, with the dust specks.

0:55:47 > 0:55:50Lots of dust specks. But I think there's something quite fun

0:55:50 > 0:55:52about the...all these dust specks,

0:55:52 > 0:55:53they make it feel like an old picture,

0:55:53 > 0:55:55even though it was taken yesterday.

0:55:55 > 0:55:58It could almost have been one of Burton's rejects!

0:55:58 > 0:55:59Well, thank you, Margaret.

0:56:01 > 0:56:03And then we have, um...

0:56:03 > 0:56:06this one, which is quite fun, so this is Brett up the ladder.

0:56:06 > 0:56:08And if you remember,

0:56:08 > 0:56:11I was quite worried that it was rather underexposed.

0:56:11 > 0:56:13But, in fact, it works really well.

0:56:13 > 0:56:15You can see the hieroglyphics up here,

0:56:15 > 0:56:17and then here, this rather ghostly figure, as well, of Brett.

0:56:17 > 0:56:20Yeah, I mean, that could be Carter, couldn't it?

0:56:20 > 0:56:23- Yes, if you put a little moustache in.- Exactly.

0:56:23 > 0:56:27Looks to me like a photograph from that era, from the 1920s.

0:56:27 > 0:56:30That's understandable, in that it was taken with a big camera,

0:56:30 > 0:56:31with the same kind of negative,

0:56:31 > 0:56:33processed in pretty much the same sort of way.

0:56:33 > 0:56:36What do you think of the Burton-Carter relationship?

0:56:36 > 0:56:39I mean, Burton could be described as a hired hand,

0:56:39 > 0:56:43brought in by Carter to photograph this, that, the other,

0:56:43 > 0:56:44as he was directed.

0:56:44 > 0:56:46Wasn't he, in a way?

0:56:46 > 0:56:50Yeah, but I think that his skill was that he was able to transcend that.

0:56:50 > 0:56:53After all, Burton had had training in Florence,

0:56:53 > 0:56:55photographing the old masters.

0:56:55 > 0:56:59So he clearly had an eye for the aesthetic and also his...

0:56:59 > 0:57:01all the training he did here with the Americans.

0:57:01 > 0:57:04And I suppose he'd been an archaeologist too, hadn't he?

0:57:04 > 0:57:05- So he had that. - Of course. Yeah, exactly.

0:57:05 > 0:57:09And then all of these things culminating in this moment

0:57:09 > 0:57:11when Carter says, you know, "I need you.

0:57:11 > 0:57:16"I need you to come and help me reveal this event to the world.

0:57:16 > 0:57:19"To make it into something very, very special."

0:57:19 > 0:57:22I think any good photographer, that's what they do.

0:57:22 > 0:57:25- Well, it's certainly what he did. - He did it in spades.

0:57:25 > 0:57:31How have you found it, working here, following the master's footsteps,

0:57:31 > 0:57:32if I can put it like that?

0:57:32 > 0:57:36Yeah, I think one of the main things to me

0:57:36 > 0:57:38is being absolutely in the place.

0:57:38 > 0:57:44My camera is now set up in probably exactly the same place

0:57:44 > 0:57:48as Burton's was when he took that picture or this picture,

0:57:48 > 0:57:54whether it's in the landscape or whether it's in the tomb itself,

0:57:54 > 0:57:55I've got something to show you.

0:57:55 > 0:57:57- Oh, the one of me! - The one of you, Margaret.

0:57:57 > 0:57:59Now, to me,

0:57:59 > 0:58:03this is the culmination of all the things that we've been doing.

0:58:03 > 0:58:07This whole project has been summed up by this picture,

0:58:07 > 0:58:11where it's Carter and Burton,

0:58:11 > 0:58:13and you and me.

0:58:13 > 0:58:15If I'd been taking this with my baby camera,

0:58:15 > 0:58:18I would have been on top of the railings,

0:58:18 > 0:58:21but you've actually incorporated them in the photograph.

0:58:21 > 0:58:23When you look at Burton's picture,

0:58:23 > 0:58:26it has all of the paraphernalia around.

0:58:26 > 0:58:28You can see the props, you can see all the straps,

0:58:28 > 0:58:30- and the ropes and the things. - And the lights.- Exactly.

0:58:30 > 0:58:34And I was trying to get in exactly the same position as Burton was in,

0:58:34 > 0:58:38but in the modern situation that the tomb is in now,

0:58:38 > 0:58:40the railings are a factor.

0:58:40 > 0:58:43Yes, this is a record of what's there now,

0:58:43 > 0:58:46just as Burton's were a record of what was there then.

0:58:46 > 0:58:50But it's also, like his, a very beautiful picture.

0:58:50 > 0:58:51Thank you, Margaret.

0:58:51 > 0:58:53That's...that's very good, that one.

0:58:53 > 0:58:56I'm not just saying that because it's got me in it!