This spring the V&A will present a display of over 50 recently acquired photographs that explore the experiences of black people in Britain in the latter half of the 20th century, enhanced by excerpts from oral histories gathered by Black Cultural Archives.

Over the last seven years the V&A has been working with Black Cultural Archives to acquire photographs either by black photographers or which document the lives of black people in Britain, a previously under-represented area in the V&A’s photographs collection. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Museum has been able to collect 118 works by 17 artists ranging from Yinka Shonibare’s large-scale series Diary of a Victorian Dandy (1998), to studies of elaborate headties worn by Nigerian women, by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, to black and white street photography of 1970s London by Al Vandenberg.

Staying Power will showcase a variety of photographic responses to black British experience. On display will be intimate portrayals of British-Caribbean life in London in the 1960s-70s by Neil Kenlock, Armet Francis, Dennis Morris and Charlie Phillips. Music, style and fashion are documented in Raphael Albert’s depictions of the black beauty pageants he organised from the 1960s to the 1980s to help celebrate the growing black community in Britain and Norman ‘Normski’ Anderson’s colourful depictions of vibrant youth culture of the 1980s and 90s.

The display also features more conceptual explorations of race and identity. Yinka Shonibare’s series, Diary of a Victorian Dandy, depicts the artist playing the role of a dandy. The work demonstrates Shonibare’s identification with the dandy as an outsider or foreigner who uses his flamboyance, wit and style to penetrate the highest levels of society, which would otherwise be closed to him. Maxine Walker also draws attention to racial stereotypes by photographing herself in a variety of guises. In her Untitled series (1995) she presents herself with different skin tones and hairstyles as though they were instantaneous transformations made in a photo booth.

To complement the photographs, Black Cultural Archives have collected oral histories from a range of subjects including the photographers themselves, their relatives, and the people depicted in the images. To coincide with the display at the V&A, Black Cultural Archives will also present an exhibition drawn from the V&A’s Staying Power collection (15 January - 30 June 2015) at their heritage centre in Brixton.

Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s-1990s 16 February – 24 May 2015 
V&A, London

Image: Francis Armet, Self-Portrait in Mirror, London, 1964 / Victoria and Albert, London

A major new study of two of Scotland's most influential Victorian amateur photographers, the surgeon Dr Thomas Keith and his future brother-in-law, miller and art collector, John Forbes White will be published in April 2015 and limited to an edition of 500 copies. 

Written and researched by John Hannavy The Victorian Photographs of Dr Thomas Keith and John Forbes White explores the life and work of two of Scotland's most important early photographers. Interest in the early Waxed Paper photography of Thomas Keith and John Forbes White has increased considerably over the years and this book involves a major reappraisal of the work of these two eminent amateurs. 

A great deal of significant work has been undertaken by numerous researchers on mid-19th century Scottish photography in the past thirty years, making it possible now to place the work of these talented amateurs within the much more clearly understood context of early photography in Scotland.

Examples of the superb work of both men will be drawn from collections in Europe, Canada and America, including many images rarely if ever seen before. It will be illustrated throughout in colour to capture the unique character of mid 19th century salted paper prints.

The book is 144 pages, 265 x 210mm landscape format, casebound, and with full colour illustrations of nearly two hundred images by Keith and White and their immediate circle, as well as examples of the work of the earliest pioneers of Scottish photography. It is available at a cost of £20 plus post and packing. 

To order contact John Hannavy Publishing, 8 High Street, Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, SN10 5TH. www.johnhannavy.co.uk or e: john@johnhannavy.co.uk.

The exhibition of Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949 which is on show at New York's Museum of Modern Art until 19 April 2015 is supported by a website Object:Photo. Modern Photographs 1909–1949: The Thomas Walther Collection dedicated to the research and conservation of the 341 photographs in the Collection. 

The Museum acquired Thomas Walther’s private collection in 2001. Featuring iconic works by such towering figures as Berenice Abbott, Karl Blossfeldt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Claude Cahun, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Florence Henri, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, El Lissitzky, Lucia Moholy, László Moholy-Nagy, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Maurice Tabard Umbo, and Edward Weston, along with lesser-known treasures by more than 100 other practitioners. 

The website 

Object:Photo. Modern Photographs 1909–1949:The Thomas Walther Collection is a model for how such a collection or group of photographs can be examined and interpreted and made available to both scholars and the wider public. Other institutions should take note. Highly recommended.

Christina Broom is widely considered to be the UK’s first female press photographer, beginning her photographic career at the age of 40, in 1903, when she published her first news photographs as postcards.

This major exhibition, the first entirely dedicated to her, will feature a cross-section of her impressive work including many photographs that have previously been in private collections and never-before-seen on public display. These will be joined by original glass plate negatives, postcards, and objects which build a fuller picture of Broom’s character and her career, including personal possessions, letters, event passes, autograph books, notebooks and cuttings books.

Read more about Broom by curator Anna Sparham here: http://blog.museumoflondon.org.uk/christina-broom-pioneering-photographer/?_ga=1.225646426.159301319.1418551248

There is more about the history of the Broom photographs here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/exhibition-christina-broom-britain-s-first-female-press-photograp

The exhibition takes place at the Museum of London Docklands from 19 June-1 November 2015, admission is free. Details here: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/christina-broom/

On Wednesday, 17 December 2014 Cathrin Hauswald will present a paper ‘A. L. Coburn's photographic autobiography as an instrument of “ennoblement”’ The paper is part of a larger project tracing the development from pictorialism to abstraction in photography at the beginning of 20th century. It focuses on Coburn’s self-portraits and in his autobiography, to show how these strategies of self-expression function as means to inscribe himself in the history of photography. 

The seminar on Wednesday, 17 December 2014, 18:00-19:30, is hosted by the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, Birkbeck, and is free and open to all, at 43 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PD, Room 112.

Cathrin Hauswald is from the Universität Konstanz. 

See: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/research/photography

The State of Photography symposium will take place at the Library of Birmingham on 23 January 2015. It will explore, debate and review how photographers and photography practice develops, responds and thrives in the current challenging times. During the Symposium we will hear from the perspective of the photographer,  Artist, curator, festival director, agent and publisher. With a focus on innovation and sustainability speakers will convey what it takes to not only survive but to expand and thrive. The day will explore and celebrate self-initiated projects and entrepreneurialism by hearing from a range of photographic projects that are current and at the cutting edge of photography now.

The State of Photography Symposium will form the culmination of 2 years of the GRAIN project and will bring together practitioners and professionals from the sector to talk about the artform and current climate, to present questions and challenging new ideas, as well as offering advice and talking about positive approaches to influence change, encourage leadership and growth.     

Speakers include:
- Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin
- David Birkett
- Tim Clark
- Ángel Luis González
- Louise Clements
- Uncertain States Magazine
- Lara Ratnaraja 
- Karen Newman
- Paul Herrmann
- Faye Claridge
- Peta Murphy-Burke  

Prices
Early Bird Concession (until 31 December): £15 / Early Bird Standard: £18
Concession: £18 / Standard: £22

Tickets are available through eventbrite for more details click here. 

Image: Martin Parr at DMB, Magnum

Media Space is set to host the Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards 2015, a celebration of the very best in photography and moving image publishing from the last year.

At an awards ceremony on 18 May 2015, a £10,000 prize will be split between the winners in the Best Photography Book and Best Moving Image Book categories. The judging panel for the Best Photography Book Award comprises photographer Hannah Starkey, author Geoff Dyer and Chair Mark Sealy MBE, Director, Autograph ABP. Meanwhile, Francine Stock, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Film Programme will chair the Best Moving Image Book Award judging panel, joined by Janet Harbord, Professor of Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London and Elisabetta Fabrizi, Curator of Screen Media, Tyneside Cinema.

The First Book Award is a photography publishing prize open to photographers who have not previously had a book published by a third party publishing house. It was established in 2012 to support emerging photographers. The panel of judges – Michael Mack, Polly Fleury from the Wilson Centre for Photography and Greg Hobson of the National Media Museum along with guest judges Simon Baker of Tate and Lucy Moore of Claire de Rouen Books – will assess submitted dummies, shortlisting 10 works. From this shortlist, one project will be chosen as the winner to be published by MACK.

The fourth winner of the First Book Award will be announced alongside the Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards at a ceremony on 18 May 2015.

The shortlists for the awards will be announced in February 2015. Details of how to submit work for consideration can be found at www.sciencemuseum.org.uk and www.kraszna-krausz.org.uk.

A display will accompany the awards in the Virgin Media Studio.

THE KRASZNA-KRAUSZ BOOK AWARDS AND THE FIRST BOOK AWARD 2015

Display: 20 April – 28 June 2015
Virgin Media Studio
Award winners announced: 18 May 2015

Originally planned to be Media Space's opening show in June 2013 Revelations will finally open on 20 March 2015 after the its exhibition programme was reviewed and revised. The ambitious exhibition will show the influence of early scientific photography on modern and contemporary art - the first time a British exhibition has done so.

Showcasing some of the first and rarest examples of scientific photography, Revelations explores how the incidental aesthetics of ground-breaking techniques pioneered by figures like William Henry Fox Talbot, Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton have inspired diverse artistic responses.

From the 1840s, scientists were using photography to record phenomena too large, too small or too fast for the human eye to see. William Henry Fox Talbot’s experiments with microphotography, some of the earliest scientific photographs ever made, will be on show alongside striking works by contemporary artists including Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Co-curated by Greg Hobson, Curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum, and Dr Benedict Burbridge of the University of Sussex, the exhibition will explore how art and science have been used to show phenomena which, thanks to the limits of human physiology, were previously invisible.

REVELATIONS: EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY

20 March – 13 September 2015 

and then at National Media Museum, Bradford. from 19 November 2015–7 February 2016. 

Image: Calotype negative of Insect wings, as seen in a solar microscope, c.1840 by William Henry Fox Talbot. National Media Museum Collection

The Library of Birmingham Europe's largest public library and widely acclaimed for its building and public programmes is threatened as the city council looks to save money as government cuts bite. The library is planning to slash opening hours from 73 to 40 per week, cut staff numbers by 100 and will spend less on books and its activities. The Library will no longer produce exhibitions unless they are externally funded. 

This matters to photographic historians and those interested in photography as the Library houses one of the UK's national collections of photography and has produced a series of widely acclaimed historical exhibitions and worked with contemporary photographers under the leadership of Pete James. 

BPH will follow this as matters unfold. 

BPH member Pam Roberts has curated a ground-breaking exhibition on A L Coburn. Despite the key role that he occupies in the history of avant-garde photography, Alvin Langdon Coburn (Boston, 1882 - Wales, 1966) remains one of the least known artists of his time. This is principally due to the fact that from 1920 onwards, after he was obliged to leave London during World War I, Coburn embarked on a new life and increasingly focused on mysticism. Deliberately moving away from the world of photography, he made art, music and religion his only interests, although never totally abandoned the practice of photography.

A Pictorialist, a Symbolist and an innovator, Coburn was one of the leading photographers of the first half of the 20th century. Notably influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and Fred Holland Day, two of the most important names in photography of his generation, Coburn can be located at the intersection between late 19th-century Symbolism and a photographic aesthetic associated with the early 20th-century avant-garde movements.

The present exhibition comprises a selection of 180 photographs – most of them vintage prints – which reveal the tenacity and coherence of Coburn’s artistic evolution. Particularly important among the institutions that have collaborated with this event are the George Eastman House in Rochester (USA) and the National Media Museum in Bradford (UK), which possess the most important holdings of the artist’s work. In addition, the exhibition includes images loaned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York, and from 31 Studio, London, as well as from an important private collection in New York. As a result, this is the first occasion on which Coburn’s most important photographs from a range of different collections have been brought together.

Read more here: http://www.exposicionesmapfrearte.com/coburn/en/

Sala BÁRBARA DE BRAGANZA

Barbara de Braganza, 13   

28004 Madrid 
Teléfono: (+34) 91 581 46 09

See: http://www.fundacionmapfre.org/fundacion/es_es/cultura-historia/exposiciones/prepara-la-visita/

Image: MOMA, New York

West Dean College is running two workshops in 2015 dealing with photograph identification and conservation. Both are led by respected conservator Susie Clark.

Preserving historic photographs will take place on Wednesday, 4 March 2015 at the British Library. Photographic collections are found in libraries, archives and museums all over the world. Their sensitivity to environmental conditions, and the speed with which images can deteriorate present special challenges. This one day training session is led by Susie Clark, accredited photographic conservator. It is aimed at those with responsibility for the care of photographic collections regardless of institutional context.

The day provides an introduction to understanding and identifying photographic processes and their vulnerability, information on common conservation problems and solutions, and the preservation measures that can be taken to prolong the life and accessibility of photographic collections.  See more here: http://www.westdean.org.uk/BL

Professional Conservators in Practice / Conservation of Photographs. 9-12 November 2015. A wide choice of primary training is available in this country in aspects of object care.  However, there are relatively few opportunities for conservation professionals to find specialist training in traditional skills and enhance their knowledge of materials and techniques. West Dean College has developed a series of short courses aimed at meeting this training need.

Photographs are found in large numbers in many institutions. These include museums, art galleries, libraries, universities, businesses and newspapers. They are also found in the collections of private individuals. They are a valuable historic, artistic and scientific resource made from many diverse materials and it is easy to damage them by inappropriate conservation and care.

This course will describe the processes and photographic materials which have been commonly used and how to recognise them. It will also examine the problems caused by different processes and the appropriate methods and materials for their conservation and care. The course will include the opportunity to look at practical examples of processes and deterioration. The roles of the environment, biological deterioration, health and safety, storage and handling will also be covered. Download the course programme and a booking form. 

The National Media Museum's new exhibition Drawn by Light: The Royal Photographic Society Collection opened at Media Space last night to great acclaim from the press and those attending the opening reception.

The exhibition of some 200 photographs plus cameras and manuscript material includes photographs and images from 1826 to 2014.

See more images from the show here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.10153466791704465.1073741827.579159464/

Read more here: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/drawn_by_light

The Royal Photographic Society has copies of the exhibition catalogue available at a reduced rate here: http://www.rps.org/shop/publications/drawn-by-light-book 

Reflecting the World: Museums and collections of visual and sound documentation around 1900 is an international conference organized by the Elysée Museum, the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva, Switzerland, 5-6 November, 2015. A paper copy of the call can be Appel_com_colloque_2015.pdf. 

On the occasion of the exhibition “The Vaud Iconographic Collection,” the Elysée Museum, the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva are organizing a conference to take place in Lausanne and Geneva from the 5-6 November, 2015 on the history of the museums and collections of iconographic and auditory materials established around 1900 with local, national or global aspirations.

The spread of photography, the invention of cinema, and the development of sound recording devices around the end of the 19th century engendered the creation of a large volume of still and moving images, as well as sounds registered from across the world. At the time, various institutions were established in order to collect, archive, and highlight these materials, so as to preserve visual and auditory traces of history, geography, and all the social phenomena stemming from particular regions or states, or even the entire world. It concerns, for example, documentary photography museums which arose from local projects in France, Swiss and Belgium; the Archives de la Planète, created by the banker Albert Kahn; the project of Boleslas Matuszewski for a repository of historical cinematography; or the earliest, globally-directed sound archives, set up in Vienna and Berlin.

This colloquium has as its aim to better understand the history of these collections from a comparative perspective at an international level, following three lines of reflection:

I—History of the museums and collections, and their actors
- What networks were involved in the establishment and conception of these institutions? What were the culture, backgrounds and ambitions of those who imagined and realized these projects?
- What protocols were established for collecting the documents? What were the methods for classifying, storing and conserving the materials?
- How did these institutions reflect new ways of conceiving the archive, collections, and museums? What relations did these institutions maintain with earlier forms of archives and museums?
- What conceptions undelay the diffusion and display of the documents?
- How were the relations between these diverse projects imagined? Did they seek to stand alone regionally, or rather to be associated with one another?

II—Objectives, philosophies, and geographical or historical imaginaries underlying the projects
- What were the scientific, educational, heritage, as well as political and social goals of the project initiators?
- What gazes did the promoters of the projects bear regarding humankind, society, geography, history, and heritage? What relationships did the projects hold with emerging knowledge and science?
- What conceptions of the nation and the universal did they project? How did they articulate the local, the national, and the international?
- To what notion of social peace, or peace between states, were these projects associated?
- What were their conceptions of images and sound, and the place that these were given in relationship to texts?
- What practical, social, political or scientific utility was attributed to the new media?
- Who was the envisioned public?

III—Uses and fate of these collections
- What values did users and public authorities attribute to these documents? How were the documents ultimately used, in relation to the original objectives?
- What was the fate of these collections and these notions through the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries?
- What is the current status of these collections? What potential do they hold for research and further development?
Calendar

Calendar
- Paper proposals (including CV, title, and abstract of approximately 500 words) in either French or English should be submitted by January 15, 2014 to: anne.lacoste@vd.ch; olivier.lugon@unil.ch; estelle.sohier@unige.ch
- Speakers will be informed of their acceptance shortly after.
- The conference will be held on 5-6 November, 2015

Organizing committee
Anne Lacoste, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne
Olivier Lugon, Université de Lausanne
Estelle Sohier, Université de Genève

Scientific Committee
François Brunet, Université Paris-Diderot
Elizabeth Edwards, De Montfort University
Anne Lacoste, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne
Olivier Lugon, Université de Lausanne
Estelle Sohier, Université de Genève
Jean-François Staszak, Université de Genève

The Real Tom Thumb: History’s Smallest Superstar, a documentary on the life of Charles Stratton, will be broadcast on BBC4 on Tuesday 25 November, at 9pm. The programme features contributions from David Burder FRPS discussing early photography (shown, below) and the demonstration of the collodion process and Dr Michael Pritchard (shown, right) on photography and celebrity. It will be available on the BBC iPlayer. 

According to the BBC: Michael Grade reveals the extraordinary and utterly unique story of General Tom Thumb, the world's first global show business celebrity. Just 31 inches tall, he went from humble beginnings in America tointernational superstardom, eventually performing on stage before over 50 million people, including President Lincoln and a devoted Queen Victoria. Yet Tom Thumb didn't choose his own career and his selling point was his disability. Is this story one of success or exploitation? And why do we remain just as fascinated by performers with unusual bodies?

As an impresario and lifelong entertainment devotee Michael sets out to follow the remarkable life of Tom Thumb (real name Charles Stratton) from his discovery aged four by the legendary showman PT Barnum to his setting out on the first ever showbusiness world tour. The journey takes him to New York and across snowy New England, then back to the UK to discover how adored Stratton was by the British public. It features exquisite hand-made suits, tiny bespoke carriages and the first ever visit by a film crew to Stratton's specially designed home, complete with miniature staircase.

Looking to our own times, Michael meets contemporary entertainers to find out what it's like to be a little person or disabled actor today, and asks whether it's ever right for us to be entertained by people with unusual bodies. Expecting a tale of exploitation, in Stratton Michael eventually discovers the story of man who made the very most of his situation and had a truly unforgettable life. And in the process there is a discovery that rewrites the history of Charles Stratton, suggesting he may have had a long-forgotten baby.

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sms8d

Following a lively panel discussion about the role of Women Photographers, both historical and current, held at the TATE Modern in April 2014, we are now inviting papers and visual presentations for a conference to be held at the Tate Modern, London in the autumn of 2015.

The original panel brought together women from across the globe to explore and identify key themes and issues pertinent to women’s work in photography in the 21st century. The energetic debates and presentations were inspirational. Through these discussions key issues were identified, informing the development of work for women in photography, highlighting the need to ensure a place for women in the burgeoning histories of the medium.  

The TATE Modern, The University for the Creative Arts, and UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) (at London College of Communication, UAL) are now organising a two-day conference, Fast Forward: Women in Photography – Then and Now,to be held at the TATE Modern on 6th & 7th November 2015.

This call for papers and artist's presentations is looking for  for submissions that explore the significance of women's photographic practices both historical and contemporary, addressing key themes pertinent to  current photography research and to  celebrate the best work produced by women in photography. Themes might include:  new technologies, re-interpretation of archives and histories, vernacular and amateur photography, social and political impact of photography today,identity and sexuality, activist photography , collaborative practices,staging the real, culture of confession, histories of working concerning  production and dissemination ie: collectives/co-ops, web dialogues, networking and social media. In the critical discourses emerging from practice and theory, related to these themes, it is vital today to consider the historical and contemporary place that the work of women in photography occupies.

Submission of papers as follows:

19^th January 2015 submit 500 word abstracts for anonymous peer-review

16^th March 2015 Successful applicants will be notified after this date.

30^th September 2015 Full Paper/presentation required.

Please email submissions to: FASTFORWARD@ucreatve.ac.uk

For any enquiries please email: FASTFORWARD@ucreatve.ac.uk

Image Credit: Descendants of the Unfamiliar by Faye Claridge

Last year BPH reported that the historic Barnardo's archive, which includes historical photography of children dating back to the 1870s, was under threat (See: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/barnardo-s-archive-up-for-grabs). The plan was for the archive to be digitised after which it would either be destroyed or transferred to another institution. As you might expect this caused a major outcry and Barnardo's eventually backtracked to say that, as it no longer had the space to store the archive it would place it with another institution, An announcement would be made in the Spring [2014] - see image below.

In the interim a number of other archives and museums expressed an interest in acquiring it. 

Spring 2014 came and went and no announcement was forthcoming. After repeated emails and telephone calls to Barnardo's press office BPH has finally secured an update. A press officer left a message to say that Barnardos had now found space to create a larger storage facility and it would be retaining the archive.

What that means for access by historians remains to be seen. If any photo-historian gains access to the material and would like to report back please do so. 

Photography is central to the ways in which the past is recounted, in public institutions such as museums as much as in private settings. Yet the histories of photographs themselves, and how they are implicated in the stories as well as the telling, are often neglected.

In order to develop a richer understanding of historical photographs, this lecture uses the framing idea of the 'invitation'. To conceive of the photograph as an invitation is to pay attention to the agency it enfolds and its performative qualities; the forms in which photographs circulate; the paths along which they travel and the human connections they facilitate. In this lecture, this perspective shapes Professor Newbury's approach to the work of photographic history and the curation of historical photographs.

The approach is developed through a case study of a photographic collection made in South Africa in the early 1950s, exploring its social biography, and in particular the project of returning the collection to Cape Town in a recent exhibition. The ambition was to begin the process of reconnecting the photographs to the city in which they were made, asking what it means for South African audiences to look at the photographs now. Or, to put it another way, renewing and reworking an invitation to think about the South African past in the post-apartheid present.

The invitation of photography: slow looking at 'strange places' and contested pasts

Darren Newbury
Professor of Photographic History

Wednesday 3 December 2014 at 6.30pm

Sallis Benney Theatre
University of Brighton
58-67 Grand Parade
Brighton
BN2 0JY
 
All welcome. Free event but you must register in advance.
Light refreshments will be served after the lecture.

See: http://www.brighton.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/news/2014/10-31_the-invitation-of-photography.aspx

An exciting new opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and ambitious individual to join Candlestar as a member of the Photo London team as its Gallery and Artistic Development Manager.

The inaugural edition of Photo London at Somerset House (21-24 May, 2015) will be both a major international photography fair, featuring many of the world’s leading galleries, and an exciting celebration of the art of photography.  Candlestar is now seeking to supplement the small team responsible for the delivery of the event through the appointment of a Gallery and Artistic Development Manager.

Reporting to the Directors, the successful applicant will be responsible for detailed liaison with the galleries attending the Fair, with the artists and curators taking part in the public programme.

The Gallery Development Manager will also work closely with colleagues responsible for VIP relations and programme and communications.

Candidates will need a thorough understanding of the international photography and art market. Candidates will be  ambitious, enthusiastic,  and diplomatic professionals who have demonstrative track record of project management and delivering to  deadline complex projects on time and on budget.  Minimum 3 years managerial experience gained working in a gallery, auction house or art fair will be particularly important.

Please find the full details of the Job Description and Person Specification by clicking here or visiting the website www.candlestar.co.uk

The closing date for applications will be Friday 5th December and interviews will take place in the week commencing 15th December.

Please send all CVs and a covering letter to Kathryn Hill at Kathryn.hill@candlestar.co.uk

Rock House, on Edinburgh's Calton Hill is being offered for sale by Savills for £1.2 million. Savills comments that It is notable in photographic history as the studio of Hill and Adamson, and a plaque commemorating their partnership is mounted on the front of the house.

In 1843 Rock House was owned by the scientist Robert Adamson, who in the same year formed a partnership with the artist David Octavius Hill to utilise the newly invented Calotype photographic process. Together they are widely credited with having established the use of photography as an art form.

Hill and Adamson were aided by Rock House's elevated position and abundant natural light. Their subjects ranged from churchmen to the literati of Edinburgh, and from architecture to working class scenes, most famously the fishing community of Newhaven.

Major collections of their work are held by, amongst others, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Getty Museum and the University of Glasgow.

Rock House continued as a photographic studio for over a century, passing through the hands of several prominent photographers including Archibald Burns and Francis Caird Inglis

To see the property details click here: http://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedscedt140240

The death has been reported of Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani, aged 48, in London. Although not a name that will now be familiar to many photography collectors, for a period in the late 1990s/2000s Sheikh Saud was the largest buyer of photography - photographs and cameras - in the world, securing a number of important photography collections for himself and for the state of Qatar at auction and from dealers across the UK, Europe and North America.

The blurring of lines between the two and allegations of false accounting ultimately brought and end to his spending and formal role but he later resumed his position as a personal buyer. He had a connoisseur’s eye across wide range of art forms, of which photography was just a part and other interests that included wildlife conservation.  

See: http://news.artnet.com/in-brief/worlds-biggest-art-collector-sheikh-saud-bin-mohammed-al-thani-dies-at-age-48-161867

Much of Sheikh Saud's photography collection eventually became part of the the Qatar Museum Authority's proposed photography museum, later renamed International Media Museum, plans for which were scrapped earlier this year - see: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/qatar-s-international-media-museum-plans-scrapped

UPDATE: Personal note: I was a Christie's photography specialist when Sheikh Saud emerged on to the scene as a collector of photography.On one memorable occasion he purchased an entire camera sale, bar one lot, much to the chagrin of those present in the auction room who delighted in bidding against him, knowing that he would not stop until he had secured the lot. On another occasion he invited me to a meeting at his Portman Square apartment ostensibly to offer me job in Qatar as a curator of his collection. The whole experience was surreal. Dealers were lining up to offer him all sorts of works of art which he would look at, and then dismiss or indicate an interest with a wave of a hand. We shared a short conversation before I was passed to an aide. The promised job failed to materialise.   

In retrospect, Sheikh Saud could have used some experienced advice on the auction process and how to manage dealers, but I sense, that as money was essentially no object, he knew what was happening and that was part of the game for him. And there was no question that he had a very good eye for traditional works of art, for high-end photography, and to recognise when a photography collection was of sufficient importance to be added to his portfolio.

The Qatar Museums Authority collections are testament to his abilities and it is disappointing that the photography collection that he largely built up is, for now, consigned to a secure, climate controlled warehouse in the desert, with plans for a photography museum now scrapped (see link above) as other priorities for the QMA have arisen. MP

Read more about Sheikh Saud here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_bin_Muhammed_Al_Thani