Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history
A new exhibition titled The other Shakespear, which brings to life some of the earliest and finest images of the Arabian Peninsula is being launched this month at the Royal Geographical Society on Exhibition Road. This is the first time these photographs have been on public display for more than a century. The photographs taken by Captain William Shakespear (1878–1915) show both the changing and unchanging nature of this extraordinary landscape and its people.
Captain Shakespear was a man of enterprise with a fearless love of exploration. He was a soldier by training, a diplomat by profession and an amateur photographer, botanist and geographer by inclination. He explored, photographed and mapped large tracts of Northern Arabia in the early 19th century and, because of an extraordinary friendship with Abdulaziz ibn Saud, later King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Shakespear became a vital and unique intermediary between Britain and the Arab world before and during the early days of World War 1.
Some of the glass slides will also be on display. Captain Shakespear’s maps, notebooks and photographs belong to the RGS collection.
In the desert, Shakespear used a large plate camera adapted to take panoramas and a No.1 Panoram-Kodak. This was portable and could store several panoramas on a single film roll. Later, Shakespear also used a small folding camera made by Houghtons Ltd., then the largest camera manufacturer in Britain. The Ensignette took film roll and was robust and rust-proof. Its popularity led to a new breed of amateur photographers, known as the ‘Pocket Snap Shooters’.
Photographic equipment was an essential part of Shakespear’s expedition equipment, and also included a Kodak Tank Developer, used to process negatives, often in extremes of temperature with limited water supplies. The remarkable results place Shakespear amongst the most important early photographers documenting life on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Other Shakespear Exhibition
10 am to 5.30 pm - 10 May to 6 June 2022
Free entry, The Pavillion, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Exhibition Road, London SW7
https://www.rgs.org/events/summer-2022/the-other-shakespear/
Victoria and Albert Museum's photography collection
National Science and Media Museum
RPS Journal 1853-2012 online and searchable
Photographic History Research Centre, Leicester
Birkbeck History and Theory of Photography Research Centre
William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné
British Photography. The Hyman Collection
The Press Photo History Project Mapping the photo agencies and photographers of Fleet Street and the UK
The correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot
Historic England Archive
UAL Photography and Photography and the Archive Research Centre
Royal Photographic Society's Historical Group
www.londonstereo.com London Stereoscopic Company / T. R. Williams
www.earlyphotography.co.uk British camera makers and companies
Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock.
National Portrait Gallery, London
http://www.freewebs.com/jb3d/
Alfred Seaman and the Photographic Convention
Frederick Scott Archer
© 2022 Created by Michael Pritchard.
Powered by
You need to be a member of British photographic history to add comments!
Join British photographic history