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Welcome to the British photographic history blog which was launched at the start of 2009. There are now nearly 4100 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

The photographic portrait has been among the most practiced forms of art since the emergence of photography in the mid-19th century. It quickly rose to prominence artistically, socially, and even economically, becoming a sought-after art form among aristocrats and ruling classes in Europe and America. Portrait photography replaced traditional painted portraits, creating official or artistic representations of individuals.

Portrait photography involves various visual elements, ranging…

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13289875900?profile=RESIZE_400x Photographic historian Dr Rose Teanby FRPS, discusses the binding and photographic significance of the Linnean Society's three precious Anna Atkins Cyanotype volumes. The blog post also coincides with the Linnean Society's three Atkins volumes being on display at their home in Burlington House, London

Read the blog post here:…

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13289797068?profile=RESIZE_400x The National Archives (TNA) holds a collection over 400,000 individual forms deposited to the Stationers’ Company between 1842 and 1912 to register ownership and copyright of photographs, paintings and drawings.

The forms include a description of the work being registered, along with the name and place of abode of the copyright owner (or proprietor of copyright) and the name and…

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John Thomson is one of the great figures in the history of photography, an extraordinary photographer, traveller, author, translator and teacher. Between 1868 and 1872 he spent four years in China and it is his photography from that period that is the subject of this illustrated talk. He travelled from Macao in the South to the Great Wall of China in the North. Recording the North River, the Min and the Yangtze and the people who lived and worked on them.

Thanks to the work of…

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Blog: Revisiting Early Photography


13228259683?profile=RESIZE_400x The British Library has published a guest blog titled Revisiting Early Photography: Ethics, Legal Constructs, and the Seligmans’ Legacy. It is written by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra, Adjunct Professor at UNIMAS, Institute of Borneo Studies, Malaysia, and Associate Academic, History of Art, University of Oxford. It is an abbreviated form of a presentation at workshop held at…

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13212547272?profile=RESIZE_400x Debates on forced migration often assume that one is either a refugee or a citizen. To put it more starkly, refugees supposedly want nothing more than to relinquish their refugeeness and become instead, citizen. Accordingly, photographic representations of the journey of transformation and self-reinvention, in emphasizing a trajectory from refugee to citizen, take for granted the power…

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Dave Shrimpton is a wet plate collodion photographer who uses vintage cameras to produce his art. He cites the work of Julia Margaret Cameron as his inspiration and says that upon viewing his first Cameron exhibition his “world changed for ever”.

This exhibition is entitled Searching for Alice and uses the image of Alice Liddell, photographed by and friend of Julia Margaret Cameron, as its point of departure. Being drawn into the world of Mrs Cameron through his own Muse,…

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Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history ranging from news, exhibitions and museum updates, to publications, and jobs. BPH is intended to be collaborative so do add your own posts. 

 

 

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