February 2015 Blog Posts (28)

A really nice video of a HCB collection that I thought others might enjoy

click here

Bloomsbury Auctions is holding an auction next week which includes a significant number of nineteenth century photographs from W H F Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, and other significant British and French photographers. The catalogue can be seen online…

Although more than a thousand of my Autumn 1981 Britain-taken photos went missing between 1981 and mid-1987, I still have enough of my Britain-taken images in my possession for a decent portfolio of work. Included in that portfolio are quite a few environmental portraits I took around London that Autumn. (I have been able to hold onto nearly all my photos taken from mid-1987…

Autumn 1981 was a very memorable time for me and my writing and photography. Though I didn’t meet our group’s individual requirement of writing at least 12 feature stories (I did 8 or 9, all edited by our moderator/editor John H. Whale, who wore many hats at the Sunday Times including chief proofreader, the latter job shared by him with his wife, Judith), I did take 2,000-4,000 good photos then.  My peers in the Sunday Times intern-group from the Missouri Journalism School did not take…

I photographed Bert Hardy, the great Picture Post photojournalist, at the same time as our second-ever interview at his Surrey estate in late November 1981, as per the Hardy's wishes. I only have two remaining photo-portraits of him from among several I took of him that day. My second now ex-wife apparently pilfered in 1987 my 2 rolls of film (one black-and-white, one color)…

I have a beautiful stereo Dag, written on the back in pencil is "Flight into Egypt". The subject is Mary and baby Jesus on an ass, the material is white, could be marble or porcelain and there is nothing to indicate scale. I have searched the internet for the subject without luck, but somebody thought it worth photographing during the 1840s. The glass is cracked and needs to…

Although I didn’t fully realize it in Autumn 1981 when I was a member of the Missouri-London Reporting Team and a London Sunday Times Intern, one assignment I chose for myself (not part of the regular writing program, which was directed by John H. Whale) was to photograph a children’s day centre in Highbury/Canonbury, London, and Picture Post great Bert Hardy had also…

The Science Museum Group's Head of Photography, Kate Bush, looks at the history of the Science Museum Group’s photography collections.The blog can be found…

We all think we know what photographs are, and why we have them...writes Elizabeth Edwards, …

Houghton's Ticka camera is a well-known collectible made by Houghtons Ltd and introduced c.1905. Collector and Special Auction Services camera specialist Jonathan Brown recent came across a previously unknown prototype Ticka from c1929 in a local auction for a modest sum. Not unsurprisingly it was quickly…

I am researching these 2 photos, mounted back to back, from a British album dated 1858-1860.  They appear to show a boy's prep school with many students, a curious tree/metal sculpture or scientific apparatus, and a military bridge- building structure.

Both are arch-topped albumen prints, 196 x 146 mm.

The uniforms/ hats remind me of Dodgson's photos of the…

Claire and James Hyman have launched their new website devoted to British Photography which presents British Photographs from the Hyman Collection. The website is intended as an educational resource that reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting and promoting photography in Britain.

Claire and I both believe that art should be accessible to all and hope that this…

In November 2014 Christopher Penn published The Herklots folder of Photographs, his third book about photography in South India in the nineteenth century.  His first, In pursuit of the past, containing 333 A5 pages and 68 illustrations, starts like a ‘Who do you think you are?’ story as he learns for the first time about his great-grandfather A.T.W. Penn…

There have been reports in the press suggesting that the Library of Birmingham photography collections have been 'saved'.  This is not the case and the following statement helpful:

Dr Michael Pritchard, Director-General, The Royal Photographic Society commented: "Having sought clarification about the situation The RPS understands from sources within Birmingham City…

The Department of History, University of Nottingham, in partnership with the British Museum invites applications from suitably qualified UK/EU candidates for a full-time 3-year Collaborative Doctoral Award, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, to conduct research on the theme: ‘Site-Seeing: Postcards of the Middle East & the Visual Construction of Place,…

New York Public Library's exhibition Public Eye: 175 Years of Sharing Photography is a fascinating history of photography based on its own holdings of books, printed materials and photographs. The exhibition includes plenty British material from Talbot's Pencil of Nature and an Anna Atkins album to Frith's Gossiping Photographer and more recent work.

Thanks to…

A PhD research scholarship including stipend and tuition fee costs is offered within the Photographic History Research Centre in the School of Humanities. It is available to UK or EU students who are suitably qualified and have outstanding potential as a researcher.

Applications are invited for projects that address any aspect of photographic industry and business in…

Bonhams auction of Fine Books and photographs on 18 March 2015 includes a set of Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851, including 154 mounted Calotypes. The nine volume set is a presentation set for Richard Cobden, one of the Commissioners. It is estimated at £25,000-35,000. 

The lot description reads: …

This long-awaited book from Ken and Jenny Jacobson will be published on 19 March. The inspiration for the book was a remarkable discovery made by the authors at a small country auction in 2006 (See:…