De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Wilson Fellowship for its MA in Photographic History. The Fellowship offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA, and is open to all students UK, EU and International.The Wilson Fellowship will be awarded to applicants who will contribute significantly to the field of photographic history.

To apply for the Wilson Fellowship, please submit your cv and a proposal outlining your MA thesis topic, in English, to the Admissions Committee by 1 August. This proposal should be no longer than 4,000 words. For applications to the MA, you can access the DMU application at https://onlineapplications.dmu.ac.uk or apply through ukpass.ac.uk.

For questions about the MA programme or the Wilson Fellowship please contact Programme Tutor Dr Gil Pasternak at gpasternak@dmu.ac.uk

The MA in Photographic History and Practice is the first course of its kind in the UK, taking as it does the social and material history of photography at its centre. It lays the foundations for understanding the scope of photographic history and provides the tools to carry out the independent research in this larger context, working in particular from primary source material. You will work with public and  private collections throughout Britain, handling photographic material, learning analogue photographic processes, writing history from objects in collections, comparing historical photographic movements, and debating the canon of photographic history. You also learn about digital preservation and access issues through practical design projects involving website and database design. Research Methods are a core component, providing students with essential handling, writing, digitising and presentation skills needed for MA and Research level work, as well as jobs in the field. 

The Photographic Historical Society has announced the program of papers to be presented at PhotoHistory XVI that will take place in Rochester, New York on 10-12 October 2014. Martin L. Scott, Program Chair of PhotoHistory XVI, made the announcement.

According to Scott, the program committee has selected the following papers for presentation at George Eastman House:

• Working Without Pictures: Recovering the Early Years of American Photography / Greg Drake, Photographic Historian / Boston, MA
• Photography: Hungary’s Greatest Export? / Colin Ford, Photographic Historian, former Director of UK Museum of Photography (Bradford) / Enfield, England
• The Photographic Periodical Press 1853-1914: disseminating knowledge and forming opinions / Michael Pritchard, Research Associate, Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University / Leicester, and Director General, The Royal Photographic Society / Bath, England
• Geographic Origins of Still Cameras Manufactured in the United States / Ralph London, Portland, OR
• Spy Satellites, the Cold War, and Kodak / J. Bradley Paxton / Eastman Kodak (retired), Webster, NY
• The Uvachrome System of Color Photography / Cornelia Kemp, Curator of Photography and Film, Deutsches Museum / Munich, Germany
• Georeferencing the Work of Historical 19^th Century Photographers in Arizona and New York City / Jeremy Rowe / Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
• The Trumbull Panoramic Camera / Peter and Barbara Schultz / Brown University, Providence, RI
• Teaching the History of Photography in the Digital Age / Kenneth White, Professor of Photography / Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
• Skylight Photo Studios of the Finger Lakes / Nicholas M. Graver, Photographic Antiquarian, Brighton, NY
• The Digital Single-Lens Reflex: Born and Raised in Rochester / James McGarvey, Eastman Kodak (retired), Hamlin, NY

“Our committee had a particularly difficult time selecting papers for PhotoHistory XVI from an extraordinary number of excellent submissions. Our hope is that those we couldn’t select this time will submit again for the next PhotoHistory Symposium. We have chosen presentations representing early processes, pioneers, special apparatus, national schools, commercial manufacturing, national defense, and the preservation of the past,” Scott explained.

Further details concerning the attendance costs and the banquet keynote speaker will be released later this summer. 

PhotoHistory XVI, the world’s only continuous symposium on the history of photography, begins with a meet and greet get-together the first evening, and will continue with a full day of presentations, an evening banquet followed by a next day of browsing at a photographic trade show which attracts dealers from North America and internationally. The most recent PhotoHistory XV was held in October 2011 and drew about 200 visitors from the Americas, Europe, Australia and Japan.

The symposium’s venue, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, combines the world’s leading collections of photography and film housed within the stately landmark Colonial Revival mansion that was George Eastman’s home from 1905 to 1932. The Museum is a National Historic Landmark.

The Photographic Historical Society of Rochester, NY, is the first organized society devoted to photographic history and the preservation of photo antiques. It was founded in 1966. For more information see the Society’s web site at tphs.org. 

If you are looking for a camera obscura you could do no better than buy The Observatory in Bristol which overlooks Brunel's Clifton suspension bridge and Avon gorge. Back on the market at a reduced price the eighteenth century building houses one of the few remaining public camera obscuras. A special covenant relating to the purchase ensures that the camera obscura must remain open to the public. The building, associated caves and grounds are yours for £1,695,000 (freehold) or offers in the region thereof. It was originally on the market for £2 million in 2013 and failed to find a buyer. 

The Observatory occupies a site of great historical interest, originally an Iron Age lookout post and a fortified Roman camp. The existing building was originally built as a windmill for corn in 1766 and later converted to the grinding of snuff. This was damaged by a fire in October 1777 when the sails were left turning during a gale and caused the equipment to catch alight. It remained derelict for some 52 years until artist William West rented the old mill as a studio in 1828. It was Mr West who installed telescopes and a Camera Obscura, used by artists of the Bristol school to draw the Avon Gorge and Leigh Woods well before the construction of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The Camera Obscura is situated on the top floor and is still in full working order giving an impressive bird’s eye view of Avon Gorge, projected onto a 5 ft concave metal surface. Leading to the Camera Obscura, there are two circular rooms which would eminently suit visiting art exhibitions, especially with the historical connection to the artists who used this bird’s eye vantage point to capture on canvas, the dramatic Avon Gorge. 

Mr West also built a tunnel from The Observatory to St Vincent’s Cave, which opens onto a limestone cave on the cliff face of the Avon Gorge. The cave was first mentioned as being a chapel in the year AD305 and excavations, in which Romano-British pottery has been found, have revealed that it has been both a holy place and a place of refuge at various times in its history.

The building that now stands on the site has only been sold on two occasions since it was constructed in 1766 and is now designated as Grade II*. 

The Royal Photographic Society is close by in Bath and the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock.

Read the full specification here. 

The European online daguerreotype database has published the first issue of its journal, Daguerreotype Journal.It is available free of charge here: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/journal

AmberSide has to announced that it has received a confirmed grant of £1,121,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its project, The AmberSide Collection: Access & Engagement.  It provides the key element in a £1.6m, three year programme of work. Securing a remarkable documentary film & photography collection, it supports:

• The capital redevelopment of Side Gallery on Newcastle’s Quayside, delivering full access, increased/enhanced exhibition spaces; a study centre with digital access to the collection and a library; improved work, exhibition development and conservation facilities (see image, right);

• A major exhibition at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery opening in June 2015, while Side Gallery is closed, exploring the rich narrative of the collection;

• A programme of volunteer involvement that will help to digitise over 7,000 images, 2,000 minutes of film & video as well as audio tapes and documents;

• The redesign and rebuild of Amber-Online, delivering access to the digitised collection and the rich network of connections between the different films and photographic bodies of work; 

• 18 projects working with the collection and the possibilities of documentary with primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, community groups and individuals - particularly in the communities whose histories have been captured in Amber / Side Gallery’s documentary works.

• The project will see the digitisation of photographs, video, documents and audio from an extensive T Dan Smith archive; together with the digitisation of a filmed interview with Mary Lowther on the Socialist Cafe, a key leftwing meeting place in Newcastle’s Royal Arcade.

Ivor Crowther, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund North East, said: “Documenting the lives of working class and marginalised communities in the North East over the last 40 years, the AmberSide collection is of significant local, national and international importance. HLF’s grant will not only conserve the historic building where the collection is housed, it will also drastically improve access and, by digitising the majority of items, create even more opportunities for people everywhere to learn about key moments in our history, including the decline of industry along the Tyne in the 70s, the redevelopment of Newcastle in Byker and images of Durham’s mining communities.” 

Founded by the filmmaker Murray Martin, the Amber collective came to the North East in 1969 ‘to collect documents of working class culture’. Collection accelerated after it opened Side Gallery in 1977. In 2011, the interlinked narrative of Amber’s films and the photography of collective member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen was inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World UK register. An influential voice in British documentary photography, it was a key player in the Film Workshop movement of the 80s and early 90s.

Collective member Graeme Rigby, said: “This is a hugely important award for us. Amber has created a living archive over the past 45 years. This gives us the opportunity to work with the collection and let people know just how beautiful and extraordinary it is. And it sets us up for the next 45 years!”

Matched funding is still being sought. 

See: http://www.amber-online.com/

The Isle of Wight County Press reports that one of the best known names in marine photography, Beken of Cowes, is for sale at £5 million. The Beken collection has more than one million images, taken by three generations of Beken, who have recorded all the major events on The Solent and also travelled the world to renowned regattas, including the America’s Cup and the Olympics.

After more than 40 years afloat with his camera, Ken Beken is retiring and has put 200 years of maritime history for sale. The assets of the business are the black and white archive, which goes back to 1888, and is on sale for £3.5 million, and the colour archive, which is up for £1.5 million.

The collection ranges from the era of glass plates to today’s digital images and has been described as a "national treasure". The business started in 1888, when chemist and photographer, Alfred Edward Beken, moved from Canterbury, Kent, to the Island and opened a pharmacy in Cowes.

Read more here: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/beken-marine-photos-go-on-sale-for-5m-60601.aspx

De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre's 2014 conference closed on 21 June after a successful two-day series of papers from international speakers presenting to an international audience.

At the conclusion Professor Elizabeth Edwards announced that the 2015 conference, to be held in June, would be titled 'Photography in Print' and would examine magazines, books and writing about photography.

A formal call for papers will be issued later this year.

Conveyor Arts has put out a call for writing submissions for a new book discussing the state of the photobook with an historical perspective. The deadline is 14 July 2014.

See: http://www.indiephotobooklibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/contemppb.jpg

Historians, curators and photographic practitioners have begun to re-examine older forms of photography, yet many cultural studies of nineteenth-century photography have been overly reliant upon twentieth-century theoretical constructions. 

This multidisciplinary conference will move away from these models, exploring issues such as early photographic 'authorship', traditional technological narratives, and the ideologies of photographic realism. 

Keynote speakers: Kate Flint, Lindsay Smith and Kelley Wilder. 

For more information contact: rethinkingphotography@gmail.com.

A celebration of photography inspired by Joseph Swan and his adventures with carbon, collodion and light.Joseph Swan is the inspiration for this festival of photography in Newcastle, running from Monday, 20 October to Sunday 26 October 2014. It marks the 100th anniversary of Swan`s death on 27 May 1914 and aims to highlight his important work in the field of photography.

Newcastle Photography Festival aims to create a platform for photography in the North East of England while celebrating one of photography’s greatest local sons, Joseph Swan. Taking place in venues across the city, it will present an exciting mix of exhibitions, participative workshops, photography walks culminating in a symposium where many of the participating photographers will visit to discuss their work.

Newcastle Photography Festival a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and support of local involvement in photography. See more here: http://newphotofest.com/newcastle-photography-festival/

De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Taylor Bursary for its MA in Photographic History. The Bursary offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA, and is open to all students UK, EU and International. To apply for the Taylor Bursary, please submit your cv and a proposal outlining your MA thesis topic, in English, to the Admissions Committee by 15 July 2014. This proposal should be no longer than 4,000 words. For questions about the MA programme or the Taylor Bursary Fellowship please contact Programme Leader, Dr Kelley Wilder at kwilder@dmu.ac.uk.

The Taylor Bursary will be awarded to applicants who will contribute significantly to the field of photographic history.

The MA in Photographic History is the first course of its kind in the UK, taking as it does the social and material history of photography at its centre. It lays the foundations for understanding the scope of photographic history and provides the tools to carry out the independent research in this larger context, working in particular from primary source material. You will work with public and private collections throughout Britain, handling photographic material, learning analogue photographic processes, writing history from objects in collections, comparing historical photographic movements, and debating the canon of photographic history. You also learn about digital preservation and access issues through practical design projects involving website and database design. Research Methods are a core component, providing students with essential handling, writing, digitising and presentation skills needed for MA and Research level work, as well as jobs in the field.

For further details on the course and application process, please see a course description: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-courses/photographic-history-practice/photographic-history-and-practice-ma-pgdip.aspx

Brett Rogers, director of The Photographers' Gallery, London, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire, for 'services to the arts' in the Queen's Birthday Honours list published today. This was the only photography award made although other arts organisations were represented.

Brett Rogers, as Australian by birth, has thirty years of experience promoting photography and visual arts both in the UK and in Australia, where she worked as Exhibitions Manager at the Australian Gallery Directors’ Council from 1976 to 1979. She curated photography exhibitions where she was responsible for supporting original research into neglected areas of Australian women photographers, as well as touring photographic shows from abroad. In 1980, Rogers moved to the UK to complete an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art. 

She joined the British Council in London, where she worked in the Visual Arts Department of the British Council and held the joint roles of Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions. Rogers’ increased the profile and activity of British photography abroad with shows by such figures as Julia Margaret Cameron, Madame Yevonde and Martin Parr. Rogers was also responsible for initiating a series of important group shows including Documentary Dilemmas: British Documentary Photography in the Nineties, Look at me: Fashion and Photography in Britain 1960-1997, Reality Check - British Photography and New Media 2002-2004, and Common Ground, Aspects of contemporary Muslim experience 2002-2005.

Brett joined The Photographers’ Gallery as Director in 2006. She has overseen the Gallery’s move from Great Newport Street to Ramilles Street and a major redevelopment of the new premises. The refurbished building reopened in 2012. 

Check out an interview with Brett here: http://www.emahomagazine.com/2013/05/brett-rogers-30-years-of-curating/

The DGPh History of Photography Research Award 2014 will be open for all elements of research into photography’s many aspects. Besides aspects of traditional history and theory of photography, topics will be considered that deal with photography’s social meaning, or the impact that the medium has had on society. The applicant's work should represent an autonomous, innovative, and original  contribution to these areas. The award is open to researchers from all fields.

Applications and manuscripts for the DGPh History of Photography Research Award may be submitted in either English or German. Applications should consist of a published or unpublished manuscript produced during the last two years before the deadline. Project outlines, or yet unfinished manuscripts etc. will not be accepted.

Allocation will be the decision of an expert jury. The jury will publish its reasons to reward the winning entry. The jury consists of the  chairpersons of the History and Archives section of the DGPh, the previous prize winner plus one or a group of invited counsellor(s).

The decision of the jury will be final and binding. The award is honored with a total of 3,000 Euro. The jury holds the right to split the prize between two applicants in equal parts. The award will be handed over at a public event organized by the DGPh.

Submission requirements are:

- A complete manuscript in paper form (two copies) and as electronic file form (pdf)

- An abstract of the submitted work (approx. 300-500 words)
- A curriculum vitae (résumé)
- A list of publications.

The final date for submissions is August 19th, 2014 (date of postmark).

Submissions should be addressed to:

Geschäftsstelle der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie
Overstolzenhaus
Rheingasse 8-12
D 50676 Cologne
Germany
email dgph@dgph.de

More information about the German Photographic Society: www.dgph.de

To commemorate the International Archives Day, the Municipal Archive of Girona (AMGi) and the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) of Girona’s City Council (Catalonia) have made available a resource for the preservation of their personal archives. This resource includes basic recommendations emerged from the experience of the archive's technicians.

This resource is available in English on http://www.girona.cat/sgdap/docs/dia2013_def-eng.pdf

BPH has just learnt that Roger Mayne died of a heart attached on Saturday, 7 June. A fuller obituary will be published later today. BPH sends its condolences to his wife Ann Jellicoe, their daughter Katkin and son Tom. 

UPDATED:

Tom Gitterman of his New York Gallery wrote in an email: 

Roger’s seminal body of work on the working class neighborhoods of London in the 1950s and early 1960s made him one of the most important post-war British photographers.

Photography was a way for Mayne to connect with people and explore the world around him. Mayne’s honest and empathetic approach to photography is evident in the candid response from his subjects and has influenced generations of photographers. 
 
Though his talent as a photographer was recognized early in his career, it was his solo exhibition at The Victoria and Albert Museum in 1986 and the subsequent use of his images on album covers and concert backdrops for the musician Morrissey in the 1990s that renewed interest in his work.  Thanks to the early support from his first dealer, Zelda Cheatle and Mark Haworth-Booth, former curator of photography at The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the continual support of my colleague Lindsey Stewart at Quaritch, his dealer in London, Mayne’s photographs are revered and included in numerous private and institutional collections worldwide.  Most recently, Mayne’s work was featured in Art of the ‘60s at the Tate Britain in 2004, Making History at the Tate Liverpool in 2006, How We Are: Photographing Britain at the Tate Britain in 2007 and Roger Mayne: Aspects of A Great Photographer at the Victoria Gallery, Bath in 2013.
 
Mayne first became interested in photography while studying chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford University from 1947-1951. In 1953 he developed an interest in the St. Ives School, which embraced the abstract avant-garde movement, and became friendly with the painters Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton. Mayne consciously printed with high contrast to emphasize the formal qualities in his work and increased the scale of his prints to have a further dialogue with the painting of the time. 

In 1954 Mayne moved to London to become a photographer, and in 1956 he discovered Southam Street.  It was a street in a working class neighborhood of West London that would be demolished to make room for high-rise apartments.  During the five years Mayne photographed there, it was full of energy: teddy boys, jiving girls, and kids playing in the street.  Mayne also photographed other streets of West London and similar working class neighborhoods in Britain. For Mayne even the empty streets and dilapidated buildings had “a kind of decaying splendor.” Though modernization ended community life in the streets, Mayne’s work preserves the spirit of that time.  By 1959 Mayne’s images were so indicative of this period that Vogue used them to illustrate teenage styles.  Colin MacInnes used one of his images on the cover of Absolute Beginners, a novel told in the first person by a teenage freelance photographer living in West London that commented on the youth culture of the time.  

Throughout this period Mayne worked as a freelance photographer and his photographs were reproduced regularly in magazines and newspapers.  His work was included in group exhibitions at the Combined Societies, a progressive group of local photographic societies in Britain that broke away from the Royal Photographic Society.  His work was also included in Otto Steinert’s Subjektive Fotografie in Germany, a series of group exhibitions and books of international photography that emphasized personal expression and the aesthetic potential of the medium. Mayne had solo exhibitions in 1956 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y. and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. As early as 1956-57 the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago acquired his work.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent Roger. My relationship with him has affected me greatly, always reminding me to be as true to others as I am to myself. I will miss him.

Tom Gitterman

Gitterman Gallery
41 East 57th Street, Suite 1103
New York, NY 10022
212 734 0868
info@gittermangallery.com
www.gittermangallery.com

An obituary was published in The Guardian newspaper: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/roger-mayne

Image top: © Roger Mayne, Self-Portrait, 1956; Above: Edinburgh; Courtesy: Quaritch.

Doha News reports that plans for the proposed Qatar-based International Media Museum in Doha have been scrapped amidst staff and budget reductions. Several senior staff working on the Media collections have recently left. The newspaper reports that: 'QMA employees have also alleged that teams working on plans for three proposed museums – the Pearl, Media and Children’s museums – have been significantly reduced, and plans for individual museums scrapped.

'However, a QMA spokesperson told Doha News today that while the organization had considered establishing permanent homes for the Pearl and Media collections, these plans were never formalized. The collections remain, however, and their respective teams are still working on them, she said, adding that there had been “no change” to plans for the Children’s Museum.' Reference to the photography and related collections have been removed from the QMA, now Qatar Museums, website which has recently been updated.

The Qatar state has acquired significant holdings of photography, originally through the collecting of Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, and subsequently taken over by the state.  Al Thani collected photography, cameras and printed materials - from the late 1990s. The QMA collections include significant holdings of daguerreotypes and the S F Spira Collection amongst many others. According to the QMA: 'The IMM possesses one of the most outstanding and valuable photographic collections in the region and one that ranks with major collections through the world. The photographs are of exceptional quality and span from the 19th century to present. The collection includes photographs from early daguerreotypes through albums and photography - illustrated books to contemporary colour photographs and photographic advertising poster. Also IMM possesses a collection of films and photographic and film technology as well as a significant rare book collection.' Recently buying of photography by the QMA had largely stopped. 

Details of the QMA Photography collections can be found here: http://www.qma.org.qa/online/index.php/en/collections/photography

Plans for a photography museum, later re-named International Media Museum, were first drawn up by 2002 and were well advanced with designs (shown above, left) prepared by the renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Construction never started.

In February 2013 World Architecture News revealed plans (image below, right) from Fernando Romero Enterprise’s (FR-EE) latest building concept: PH Museum in the Middle East. The location of the building was widely believed to be Doha. WAN noted: 'The main bulk of the 3,800sq m museum takes the form of a large canopy, shading visitors from harsh sunlight beneath a circular overhang. Romero has taken his cue from ‘the mechanics of a camera’, falling in line with the functionality of the space as a museum of photography and photographic equipment.

FR-EE explains: “Inspired by the mechanics of a camera, the organization of the museum reflects the complexity of a camera lens. The interior is organized radially from the center of the building and a spiraling ramp connects these spaces to emphasize spatial continuity.'

The proposed opening had been postponed several times since, most recently with a date of 2017 being suggested. This now appears to be unlikely as QM reviews its cultural strategy, assesses its budgets, appoints a new CEO after the departure of Edward Dolman, and adopts a policy of Qatarisation for employees. Sadly, the photography museum appears to have become a casualty of those changes. 

See: http://dohanews.co/qatar-museums-authority-announces-re-branding-amid-job-loss-uncertainty/ and 

http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/main/search/search?q=Qatar

In September 2014, RIBA’s new Architecture Gallery will present the first major retrospective of Edwin Smith (1912 – 1971), one of Britain’s foremost 20th century photographers. Hailed by Sir John Betjeman as a ‘genius at photography’ and by Cecil Beaton as ‘an understanding and loving connoisseur of his subject’, Edwin Smith captured the essence of the places, landscapes and buildings he photographed.

Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith will display 100 extraordinary black and white photographs from a collection of over 60,000 negatives given by Olive Cook, Smith’s widow and collaborator, to the RIBA Library. From urban scenes documenting British social history to evocative landscape images and atmospheric interiors, the images displayed reveal the genius and breadth of his work. Alongside his images of Britain the exhibition will show photographs taken on his travels to Europe as well as his published books and photographic equipment. Specially filmed contributions ranging from Alan Bennett to broadcaster Gillian Darley offer personal perspectives of Smith’s work.

Edwin Smith was highly sought-after by publishers and in the 1950s he was commissioned by Thames & Hudson for a series of books, among them English Parish Churches (1952), English Cottages & Farmhouses (1954), Scotland (1955), England (1957), and The Living City: A New View of the City of London (1957). He was also commissioned by Vogue, Shell Guides and numerous other magazines and writers to illustrate features and books on subjects varying from Great Houses of Europe to The Wonders of Italy.

The late Robert Elwall, author of Evocations of Place: The Photography of Edwin Smith and previous curator of the RIBA Photographs Collection:

“The recurring themes of Edwin Smith’s work – a concern for the fragility of the environment, both natural and man-made; an acute appreciation of the need to combat cultural homogenization by safeguarding regional diversity; and, above all, a conviction that architecture should be rooted in time and place – are as pressing today as when Smith first framed them in his elegantly precise compositions.”   

Valeria Carullo, RIBA, co-curator of the exhibition: “Edwin Smith’s images provoke an immediate emotional response and at the same time offer the opportunity for observation and reflection. This exhibition offers a timely reappraisal of his exceptional work and emphasises the prominent place he deserves in the history of British photography”

As post-war social and urban change began to alter the look and character of British towns and cities a movement to save Britain’s heritage gained momentum. The 1950s saw the birth of the Victorian Society and in 1951 the first volume of Pevsner’s Buildings of England was published. Smith shared similar sensibilities and his work contributed to the appreciation of traditional British architecture, local craftsmanship and regional building materials.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks, films and events. 

Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith

Exhibition: 10 September 2014 – 6 December 2014  

Architecture Gallery, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1

FREE ENTRANCE

Image: St Lawrence, Didmarton, Gloucestershire (1961) © Edwin Smith / RIBA Library Photographs Collection

Daguerreobase, is a European funded non-profit research project that aims to collect at least 25.000 descriptions of daguerreotype objects in the Daguerreobase database and make a digital representation of them available on the Europeana portal. It has just published Daguerreotypes. Europe's Earliest Photographic Records which is freely available as a download here: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/journal/50-booklet-daguerreobase

In addition in June 2014 the first issue of The Daguerreotype Journal - Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes will be published. This European Daguerreotype Association Quarterly will be published in the context of the Daguerreobase Project and it will be available onwww.daguerreobase.org

The BBC reports that Bradford's National Media Museum (NMeM) saw 480,000 visitors in 2013, in a drop of 13,000 compared to 2012. The NMeM said a fall in cinema goers was responsible for the drop in numbers. The Head of the NMeM, Jo Quinton-Tulloch said the decline in visitors was 'disappointing' but noted that general admissions to the museum's galleries and exhibitions had gone up by 8% compared with 2012.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27505644