Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

Michael Wong's Blog – March 2010 Archive (11)

Campaign to honour Lacock's Fox Talbot

A recent article which might be of interest to fellow BPH bloggers come from The Wiltshire Times dated 20/2/2010 which reads as follows:

Photographer Trevor Porter has started a campaign to have February 11 called Fox Talbot Day, in memory of the photographic pioneer Henry Fox Talbot who was born on that day in 1800.

Mr Porter organised a dinner for photographers from Wiltshire and beyond at The George Inn in Lacock last Thursday to kick off his campaign. Fox Talbot is… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 31, 2010 at 23:27 — No Comments

Celebrating the Negative (175th Anniversary)

From 1st to 3rd May 2010, the Fox Talbot Museum in Wiltshire is to hold a special photography festival to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the photographic negative. The negative process was discovered by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835. Refer to 'Events' for further info.

The official press release is as follows:

Wiltshire’s Fox Talbot Museum in the village of Lacock is to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the photographic negative with a series of special events… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 31, 2010 at 21:55 — No Comments

For the Love of Photography ...

From your cousins across the Atlantic, I read of an early photography specialist dealer of 19th and early 20th century photographs from New York, Hans P. Kraus Jr, who for a recent exhibition has painstakingly created an entire room evocative of the ancestral home of William Henry Fox Talbot. There’s a replica of the photographer’s Lacock Abbey oriel window from one of his early images. It has a false bay window with a misty view of a gnarly old tree outdoors copied from a photograph that Fox… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 26, 2010 at 17:00 — No Comments

18th-century scientist Adriaan Paauw : “The Inventor of Photography"

Well, that's according to collector, Arjan de Nooy, a chemist, whose scientific background led him to pursue a research-based method, focusing on the lives and oeuvres of largely unknown photographers.

His new exhibition entitled "The Collector: Beyond The Amateur - A collector's perspective on the history of photography (see 'Events' for info), begins with work by 18th-century scientist Adriaan Paauw, who De Nooy classes as “the inventor of photography.” Around 1790, this obscure… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 26, 2010 at 10:02 — No Comments

Who created the first true colour photograph ? James Clerk Maxwell or Levi Hill ?

Started in the 1880s, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has the oldest collection of photography in an American museum, and includes many unique photography collections and related cameras. It includes early examples of color photography made in the 1850s by Reverend Levi L. Hill, a daguerreotype photographer in the remote hamlet of West Kill, New York, in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. The museum has the only set of Reverend Hill’s 62 early color experiments, originally… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 22, 2010 at 18:11 — 3 Comments

China : Through the lens of John Thomson 1868 - 1872

For those who might not have a chance to view this exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum (see Events) before 6th June, a book has been published to accompany it. It can either be obtained from the Museum Shop (sold out as of today, but with more copies to follow) or from Amazon (168 pages, 310 x 310 mm, hardback with 157 black and white photographs; ISBN 978 616 7339 00 9).

An article on John Thomson was recently covered by the national press too:…

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Added by Michael Wong on March 22, 2010 at 15:02 — No Comments

Discovering the Language of Photography: The Gernsheim Collection

Helmut Gernsheim (1913-1995) was one of the most influential figures in the history of photography. He was one of a handful of people whose original research, collecting and writing took the field seriously and changed the way it was regarded. His scholarly and encyclopaedic book, The History of Photography (1955), co-written with his wife Alison, became the authoritative source on the subject. Over the years, Gernsheim managed to assemble a peerless collection of works by leading British,… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 18, 2010 at 11:28 — 1 Comment

In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes Before the Digital Age

For those BPH-bloggers interested in the technological developments in photographic processes from the origins of the medium until the advent of digital photography, there is an interesting book just published in Jan 2010. Written by Sarah Kennel with Diane Waggoner and Alice Carver-Kubik, the book is a compilation of essential information about the predominant negative, positive, and photomechanical processes in use since…

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Added by Michael Wong on March 7, 2010 at 18:16 — 2 Comments

Photography! A Special Collection from the University of Leiden

For those of you who still haven't had a chance to visit the amazing British Library Points of View exhibition, you better to do as it ends this Sunday (7th March) !

However, if you happen to be in the Netherlands, near the Hague, anytime from now until 23rd April, you can catch a Dutch 'version' which they have called 'Photography' which covers the development of photography, from pioneer to the Dutch New Photography movement.

The first image produced using the camera… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 5, 2010 at 18:08 — No Comments

Wet Plate Collodion Photography - Frederick Archer

In honor of Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857) , the inventor of the

Wet Plate Collodion photographic process, a new commemorative plaque

will be unveiled on his grave (Square 120 by the canal) on Saturday,

May 1, 2010. The Collodion Collective and World Wet Plate Day organized

and is sponsoring this event. There will be a live Wet Plate Collodion

demonstration, and an exhibition of Wet Plate Collodion work from

artists throughout the world at the Dissenters'… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 3, 2010 at 18:30 — 1 Comment

Photographic archive - Jewish Museum London

The Jewish Museum, after a £10m transformation, is due to reopen in Camden Town on 17 March 2010. Its picture library (over 20,000 images) has been fully digitised as TIFFs or JPEGs, for print or online use. The link to the library can be found here: http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/Picture%20library

The largest category of images in the photographic archive are black and white photographs of Jewish life in London dating… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 2, 2010 at 9:30 — No Comments