Welcome...

Welcome to the British photographic history blog which was launched at the start of 2009. There are now almost 4000 members, in addition to regular readers. These range from museum and gallery curators, photographic academics, students, collectors, dealers and representatives from the photographic press from around the world. The blog provides a forum for news of events and happenings within the British photographic history community. This can include lectures or meetings, exhibition news, jobs, reviews and general news affecting collections of photographic material or individuals within the field. While the focus is on Britain it may, on occasion, include material that is of wider interest from Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia.

A summary of the previous week's posts is usually emailed to signed up readers each Monday. 

Dr Michael Pritchard

PS. Thanks to George Eastman House (now George Eastman Museum) and History Today magazine blogs for recommending British Photographic History as one of their own favourite blogs. The Daily Telegraph made BPH one of its photography websites of the week

12237735272?profile=RESIZE_400x Renowned photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is famous for her evocative portraits of eminent Victorians, including John Herschel, Alfred Tennyson, Henry Taylor, George Frederic Watts, Ellen Terry and Julia Stephen. This study of her work reveals how deeply she was convinced of the poetic possibilities of her medium, particularly its capacity for suggestive rather than literal meaning.…

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12237634069?profile=RESIZE_400x During September, I blogged each day about 30 stereocards attributable to pioneering Fleet Street photographer James Edward Ellam (1857-1920). The series focuses on James's activities in the 1890s, his evolving relationship with 3D giants Underwood & Underwood and offers two possible portraits of him. All 30 blogposts with their Ellam stereos are available to …

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12232562664?profile=RESIZE_400x Sound & Vision brings together works that use photography as a vehicle for creative collaboration. The sale begins with ‘Sound’ - Lots 1- 43 reveal the relationships between musicians and photographers on stage and in the studio, including Philip Townsend’s (1940-2016) iconic photographs of the Rolling Stones, views of the young Beatles by Terry O’Neill (1938-2019) and Michael Ward…

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Resource and advice: Mandalay photographs, 1860s


12232563288?profile=RESIZE_400x I am a freelance author in Toronto, Canada, currently concluding a biography of Dr. Clement Williams, an army surgeon, British agent, and trader in Mandalay, Burma, from 1861 to 1879. A few years ago the Royal Ontario Museum received 2 donations of photographs (some copies of holdings in the Museum of Anthropology in Cambridge, UK) that I have established were taken by Dr. Williams in…

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Nice Find: Lunds Photograph Forceps


12237960472?profile=RESIZE_400x Have just found a "Lunds Photographic Forceps" at a Camera Fair. The seller kept on telling people it was a "Glass Plate Lifter". I knew full well that it was USD for putting CDV's (and other sizes) in or out of Photographic albums. I hear that one went to auctions in London some time ago, though when and how much I don't know.

My question is, anyone else have them.? how common…

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In passing: Stephen Herbert (1951-2023)


12231263101?profile=RESIZE_400x BPH has just learnt of the passing of Stephen Herbert, an important historian of the motion picture, pre-cinema and photographic technology. Through his position at the BFI and Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), and with his own imprint The Projection Box which he and his parner Mo Heard set up in 1994 Stephen undertook significant work in presenting new research and making moving…

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George Eastmans Partner - William Hall Walker


12230039861?profile=RESIZE_400x This is a found UK wet plate collodion. It is a beach momento and like all such photgraphs an informal - for the time - snapshot in time. This is a fine example of 1880's black tent and wet chemical beach photography. It is the photographic technology of the 1850's at it's very best. Walker can be seen relaxing with his wife on the beach at Eastbourne.…

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12229759486?profile=RESIZE_400x University of the Arts London (UAL) is seeking to appoint a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) to work on a research project entitled ‘Cold War and ‘Other’ Narratives’, led by Principal Investigator Professor Mark Sealy in collaboration with IWM (Imperial War Museums) London.

This fellowship will pave the way to grow an ambitious and impactful programme of…

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Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history ranging from news, exhibitions and museum updates, publications, and jobs

 

 

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