BPH is very excited to have received a copy of A Royal Passion. Queen Victoria and Photography by Anne Lyden and contributions from Sophie Gordon and Jennifer Green-Lewis. The book accompanies the Getty's exhibition of the same name which opens on 4 February at the J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Watch out for a review shortly. 

Los Angeles - After the so-called "Royal Mania" following Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, it's hard to open a newspaper or browse the internet without catching a glimpse of the British royal family. Their photographs saturate the international news cycle, fostering a sense of intimacy between the royals and their subjects and powerfully shaping perceptions of the Windsors around the world. But the ubiquity of royal photographs is not a new trend, and it has powerful roots that trace back to the birth of photography and Queen Victoria.

In January 1839, photography was announced to the world. Two years prior, a young Queen Victoria ascended to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. These two events, while seemingly unrelated, marked the beginnings of a relationship that continued throughout the nineteenth century and helped construct the image of an
entire age.

A Royal Passion (Getty Publications, $50.00, hardcover) explores the connections between photography and the monarchy through Victoria's embrace of the new medium and her portrayal through the lens. Together with Prince Albert, her beloved husband, the Queen amassed one of the earliest collections of photographs, including works by renowned photographers such as Roger Fenton, Gustave Le Gray, and Julia Margaret Cameron. Victoria was also the first British monarch to have her life recorded by the camera: images of her as wife, mother, widow, and empress proliferated around the world at a time when the British Empire spanned the globe.

Including more than 150 color images-several rarely seen before-drawn from the Royal Collection and the J. Paul Getty Museum, this volume accompanies an exhibition of the same name, on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from February 4 to June 20, 2014.

The Authors Anne M. Lyden is International Photography Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, and former associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. She is curator of the exhibition A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography and has written about nineteenth-century photography, including The Photographs of Frederick Evans (Getty Publications, 201 0) and Railroad Vision: Photography, Travel, and Perception (Getty Publications, 2003). Sophie Gordon is senior curator of photographs at the Royal Collection, Windsor. Jennifer Green-lewis is associate professor of English literature at George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Publication Information:
A Royal Passion. Queen Victoria and Photography
Edited by Anne M Lyden
With contributions by Sophie Gordon and Jennifer Green-Lewis
The J. Paul Getty Museum
232 pages, 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
120 color and 43 b/w illustration, 1 map
ISBN 978-1-60606-155-8, hardcover
$50 / £36
Publication Date: February 4, 2014

Wellcome Images has announced that over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements are now freely available through Wellcome Images. Out of copyright images are being released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.

This means that they can be used for commercial or personal purposes, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London). All of the images from the Wellcomes historical collections can be used free of charge.

The images can be downloaded in high-resolution directly from the Wellcome Images website for users to freely copy, distribute, edit, manipulate, and build upon as they wish, for personal or commercial use. The images range from ancient medical manuscripts to etchings by artists such as Vincent Van Goghand Francisco Goya.

From a photography perspective the images includes Muybridge, John Thomson, Beato and others. But one word of advice... don't use the 'technique' preset term for 'photography' as most of the photography images appear to have been categorised by process, so use: daguerreotype, collodion and albumen to find photography images.   

The earliest item is an Egyptian prescription on papyrus, and treasures include exquisite medieval illuminated manuscripts and anatomical drawings, from delicate 16th century fugitive sheets, whose hinged paper flaps reveal hidden viscera to Paolo Mascagni’s vibrantly coloured etching of an ‘exploded’ torso.

Other treasures include a beautiful Persian horoscope for the 15th-century prince Iskandar, sharply sketched satires by Rowlandson, Gillray and Cruikshank, as well as photography from  Eadweard Muybridge’s studies of motion. John Thomson’s remarkable nineteenth century portraits from his travels in China can be downloaded, as well a newly added series of photographs of hysteric and epileptic patients at the famousSalpêtrière Hospital

Simon Chaplin, Head of the Wellcome Library, says “Together the collection amounts to a dizzying visual record of centuries of human culture, and our attempts to understand our bodies, minds and health through art and observation. As a strong supporter of open access, we want to make sure these images can be used and enjoyed by anyone without restriction.”

What are the issues raised by the commissioning of new works by a photographic archive? How do these new works alter or activate the existing archival collections; how do they alter understandings of the archive? And what are the considerations for a photographer/artist making work specifically to enter the archive?

The Library of Birmingham Photographic Archive holds over 3.5 million items, ranging from daguerreotypes at the dawn of the medium to works by contemporary practitioners. The most recent additions to the archive are the works produced through Reference Works, Birmingham’s largest photography commission to date. The project saw four artists - Michael Collins, Brian Griffin, Andrew Lacon and Stuart Whipps - commissioned to respond creatively to the move and transition from the 1970s Central Library to the new Library of Birmingham, opened in September 2013.

Using Reference Works as a starting point, this symposium will consider archival commissioning in a broader context, from the perspective of the archivist, the historian, the curator, the photographer, the artist and the art writer. Speakers include Reference Works artists Professor Brian Griffin, Andrew Lacon and Stuart Whipps; Curator and Head of Photographs at the Library of Birmingham Pete James; Creative director, photo historian and lecturer Anne Braybon; Professor of Philosophy and Director, Centre for Fine Art Research, BIAD, BCU Professor Johnny Golding; photographer and Professor of Photography at the University of Brighton Professor Mark Power and artist, critic and art historian Dr Lucy Soutter. Further speakers will be announced shortly.

Building the archive: the Reference Works photography project in context

Friday 28th February 2014

9:30 am – 5:30 pm
Library of Birmingham

Early Bird Until Friday 31^st January
Full Price £25
Concession £20

Standard
Full Price £30
Concession £25

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-the-archive-the-reference-works-photography-project-in-context-tickets-10077180117

A reader has three photographic medals awarded to a Miss M Brightwell in the 1920s by the B.M.T.S.P.S. Does anyone know what the BMTSPS was? The PS presumably stands for Photographic Society. 

David Burder FRPS and Roger Smith will be presenting a replica of what was probably the first camera to be used commercially in England. Wolcott and Johnson’s design was adapted by Johnson and Beard and patented by Beard. The speakers will talk about the project, the making of the camera (made to Beard's patent drawings) and about the daguerreotype process. This is an evening meeting and time will not permit the making of an image but this is an opportunity to see an exceptional camera and learn about the way it was made and used. Places are limited. Promises to be an educational and fun event.

Monday 20 January 2014 at 6.30pm.

Wetherby Preparatory School, Bryanston Square, London, W1H 2EA

Organised by the RPS London DVJ Group jointly with the Historical Group 

Admission £5 (free for RPS Members) Booking essential via RPS website.

BPH publicised this project last year and the results of the first round of discussions and meetings have now been published. The website features case studies with Liz Hingley, Daniel Meadows and Mark Power. Read more here: http://www.photolegacyproject.co.uk/

Image: Mark Power's studio

If you are a Facebook user there is a new group to celebrate and to present information relating to this important anniversary. Search for ,'Birth of Photography' or click here: https://www.facebook.com/birth.of.photography

Photographic negatives left a century ago in Captain Scott’s last expedition base at Cape Evans have been discovered and conserved by New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust. The negatives were found in expedition photographer Herbert Ponting’s darkroom and have been painstakingly conserved revealing never before seen Antarctic images.

The Trust’s conservation specialists discovered the clumped together cellulose nitrate negatives in a small box as part of the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project which has seen more than 10,000 objects conserved at Scott’s Cape Evans hut.

The negatives were removed from Antarctica by the Trust earlier this year. Detailed conservation treatment back in New Zealand separating the negatives has revealed twenty-two images.  The photographs are from Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1917 Ross Sea Party, which spent time living in Scott’s hut after being stranded on Ross Island when their ship blew out to sea.  One of the most striking images is of Ross Sea Party member Alexander Stevens, Shackleton’s Chief Scientist, standing on-board the Aurora.

Although many of the images are damaged, the Antarctic Heritage Trust was able to recognise landmarks around McMurdo Sound, although the identity of the photographer remains unknown. “It’s an exciting find and we are delighted to see them exposed after a century. It’s testament to the dedication and precision of our conservation teams’ efforts to save Scott’s Cape Evans hut,” said Nigel Watson, Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Executive Director.

In 2010 the Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZ) discovered three crates of whisky and two crates of brandy under Ernest Shackleton’s 1908 base during conservation work.

See: http://www.ukaht.org/

Image: Alexander Stevens on Aurora deck (NZAHT)

Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China, 1868-1872, is a photography exhibition running until 16 February 2014 at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum - at Central Ferry Pier No 8.

Born in Edinburgh in 1837, the Scotsman trained as a lensmaker at the age of 14. And then, like many youngsters of his time, Thomson headed east to explore and broaden his horizons. In 1868, after he had visited Singapore and Malaya, Thomson decided to go to Hong Kong and coastal China.

During his four-year stay in China, Thomson traveled to places such as Tianjin, Beijing, Fujian and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong.

When he first arrived in town, he immediately set up a studio on Queen's Road and it did not take him long to establish a good reputation. He was soon invited to take photographs of the commemorative book created for the first visit of Prince Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria.

In 1872, Thomson headed back home to London, bringing with him 600 glass plates created during his stay. It is these plates, held by London's Wellcome Collection, which form the basis of the exhibition. 

W J J Bolding (1815-1899) is the subject of a new book about this 1850/60s North Norfolk photographer. The book records what is known about Bolding along with a selection of his outstanding photographs. A chapter by John Benjafield contextualises Bolding's work in the early history of photography. 

Bolding took up photography sometime in the 1840s making paper negatives and, later, using wet-collodion. The subject of a number of exhibitions over the years and included in the Arts Council's 1975 The Real Thing which described his portraits of estate works and villagers as 'amongst the most powerful portraits in the history of photography'.  Roger Watson, Curator of the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock said of the Victorian Photographer: 'W J J Bolding was a photographer of the first rank. His work deserves to be more widely seen and appreciated'.

A Victorian Gentleman's North Norfolk. W J J Bolding and his place in early photography

Richard Jefferson

JJG Publishing, 2013

ISBN 978-1-899163-78-6

167 pages, hard covers. 

The book is available for £25 and can be purchased from Richard Jefferson (e: richardjefferson@f2s.com) or from Big C, 10a Castle Meadow, Norwich NR1 3DE. Tel: 01603 619990.  All profits go to Big C, Norfolk & Waveney's cancer charity, see: www.big-c.co.uk/boldingsbook.aspx

The Guardian reports on the government scheme to accept items in lieu of tax. Items accepted must be made available to the public for viewing. Included on the list are the following photographic items:

• David Octavius Hill (1802-70) and Robert Adamson (1821-48) 'Calotype Studies', 1846. A rare and highly important album containing a total of 127 photographs comprising 100 calotype photographs by Hill & Adamson. See:  http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=98607
  
  
• Ducamp, M: Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. Paris: 1852. Folio, mounted albumen prints, contemporary green morocco gilt; and 2 others. (3). See: http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=94737
  
  
• Talbot (H. Fox): The Pencil of Nature, 1844, plates 13-18; Sun Pictures, 23 plates, bound in one volume. See: http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=115202

You are entitled to see these items and if you are a UK taxpayer then you are effectively paying for the foregone tax. There may be other items of photography and the full list is searchable here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/heritage/visit.htm#1

The Fotorestauratie Atelier VOF offers English Master Classes in various subjects surrounding the preservation of photographs. During the first half of the year we are placing special focus on preservation strategies surrounding modern photographs. 
 
All courses will be given in Amsterdam and prices include coffee breaks, lunch and a reader. Classes will be given by Clara von Waldthausen, Hans Meesters or by a guest lecturer. The number of participants is limited to 8 unless otherwise indicated in the course description.

Identification of Modern Photograph Processes

Date:     19, 20 & 21 March 2014

Costs:   495,00 euro
 
This course covers the most common modern photograph processes and finishing techniques in theory and in practice. Participants will learn about and examine the differences between true black and white photographs, early color processes, chromogenic and silver dye bleach photography, inkjet prints and many other modern processes during a three-day workshop that is divided into theory and practical sessions. 
                                                                                                        
Digital Photograph Documentation for Conservators / Restorers 

Date:     14, 15 & 16 April 2014

Costs:   595,00 euro
 
In the last 10 years conservators have made the switch from analoge photograph documentation of their treatments to digital documentation. However there are many differences in the way digital documentation is performed and in the tools needed to produce and ensure longevity of the digital file.  Targets other than the Kodak color scale have to be used, a white balance has to be made and stitching together of images using programs such as Adobe Photoshop can be performed. This master class will provide the background necessary to understand digital photography and document conservation treatment optimally. 

 
Note: An understanding of one's own camera is required and participants are encouraged to bring their own camera and if possible a laptop with Adobe Photoshop. These tools will be useful during the practical sessions. 

 
Presservation of Modern Photograph Collections

Date:      21, 22 & 23 May 2014

Costs:    495,00 euro
 
Which processes can be stored at room temperature and which can better be stored in cold storage? What are cold storage temperatures and what are the requirements to store at these temperatures? This master class will discuss storage of modern photographs as well as focus on deterioration, exhibition, framing and transportation requirements of color, black and white and inkjet prints.
 

Course discussions surrounding the concept of originality versus reproducibility of photographs will be held and the use of exhibition copies will be looked at. Strategies for handling and installing modern photographs will be examined. Experiences in decision-making and working with artists and museum staff will be shared and considered during a number of case studies that will be presented by participants and lecturer. After the course, participants will be able to make warranted decisions concerning the preservation of modern photograph collections, identify damage to the collection and document damage on condition rapports.
 

 
Note: It is recommended that participants have experience in process identification of the most common modern processes including chromogenic, dye transfer, silver dye bleach and inkjet prints. If you do not, may we recommend our master class, “Identification of Modern Photograph Processes” which is given in March. Participants that enroll in both classes receive a 75 euro discount. 
 
Storage & Framing: Theory, Techniques and Materials

Date:      25, 26 & 27 June 2014

Costs:     695,00 euro
 
This hands-on course focuses on mounting and framing strategies for storage and exhibition. Participants will become familiar with mounting materials and techniques for modern and historic photographs as well as the various adhesives for mounting photographs with different primary supports.  Common mounting methods used by commercial framers will be considered and during practical sessions mock-ups will be made using a number of mounting techniques. The use of microclimates in framing will also be examined and the possibilities and limitations of hermetic framing will be evaluated. 


 
Note: This course is limited to 5 participants
 
To register for one of the classes below please send an email to us via the form on the right side of this window with your name, email address, telephone number (optional) and message, and press the "verzend" button to send it to us. Once received, we will be happy to send you a registration form and if desirable a list of hotels in the area.

See more and book here: http://www.fotoconservering.nl/3173912/master-classes

A new monograph records the life and achievements pioneering wildlife photographer and cinematographer Oliver G Pike FRPS. The 56-page publication is available for £5 plus p+p from the author's website: http://www.olivergpike.info/

The world's two oldest photographic periodicals have announced their digitisation. The Royal Photographic Society's Photographic Journal, which dates from March 1853 and the British Journal of Photography which dates from January 1854 will be made available in digital forms to researchers and the public. Both publications have been published continuously since their first issue.

BPH understands that The RPS has already completed digitisation of its Journal from 1853 to 2012 and that it will be made available in a searchable form with the launch of The Society's new website in January 2014. The project has been funded through the generosity of a RPS member. The BJP has announced its own digitisation in its January 2014 issue (BJP, January 2014, p. 98) which stated that 'throughout 2014 and beyond, we will be digitising BJP's entire archive'. Its intent 'is to make [it] available to our readers, as well as historians, professors and researchers worldwide'. It is not reported whether access will be charged for. The RPS will make access available to the public without charge.

Commenting on the RPS digitisation to BPH The Society stated: "During a scoping exercise it became apparent how rare runs of the RPS Journal were and digitisation would both preserve the content and make it far more widely available to everyone from photographic historians, to family historians. The Royal Photographic Society was at the forefront of developments in the artistic and scientific development of photography and these were reported and discussed in the Journal. For much of its history the RPS Journal was read and had an influence far beyond its membership. The Society has always been an important body within British and international photography and the Society’s Journal is unique in its longevity". The ability to access the Journal which has never been previously made available in this way will allow The Society's role, that of its members and wider British photography over 160+ years to be studied as never before.

BPH will carry more on both projects as information becomes available. To contact The RPS about it's digitisation email: director@rps.org

With thanks to Bob Gates ARPS. 

The State Hermitage Museum is pleased to invite you to take part in the international conference "Current Research in Photography" held to mark the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage and 175 years since the invention of photography.

The conference will take place on 18-20 November 2014 at the Restoration and Storage Centre of the State Hermitage in St.Petersburg, Russia.  It is planned to discuss the following issues during the conference:

• Study of historical and modern photography
• Restoration and conservation of photographic materials
• New technologies and photography

We hope that the submitted papers will reflect new research into history and attribution of photographs and present the latest restoration methods, modern technologies and projects to preserve photographic collections.

Distinguished arts experts, conservators and other specialists in preservation of the photographic heritage have already agreed to take part in the conference.

Each presentation will last 20 minutes.

The State Hermitage Publishing House is planning to publish the proceedings.

Requirements for publishing: All texts should be submitted in soft copy, A4 format; top, bottom, and right margins: 2 cm, left margin: 3 cm. Line spacing: 1.5, font size: 14, type: Times New Roman, 5-6 figures.

The Organizing Committee preserves the right to reject the materials it receives at its discretion.

If you wish to take part in the conference, we are asking you to forward the topic and an abstract or the text of your presentation to the Conference Organizing Committee until 1 July 2014 by contacting: photoconservation@hermitage.ru

Photography, like other modern media, was readily utilised in the promulgation of political and ideological concepts in Germany between the two world wars. This is especially true for the visualisation of racial and eugenic ideas developed in the nineteenth century and ideas of a ‘Germanic’ nation, subsequently incorporated in National Socialist thinking and propaganda. This exhibition (with illustrated catalogue) shown at the GHIL examines the work of the German photographer Erich Retzlaff (1899-1993) from the turbulent years between the nadir of the Weimar Republic and the downfall of the Third Reich as part of a visual discourse that emerged from an intellectual milieu deeply affected by the parascience of physiognomy and National Socialist race science.

Today almost forgotten in the history of photography, in the early twentieth century, ERICH RETZLAFF (1899-1993) was a prolific and celebrated photographer with several major volumes of his photographs published between the two world wars. In addition to his black and white studies of German workers, landscapes and peasants, Retzlaff was one of the first photographers to use the revolutionary 'Agfacolor Neu' colour film introduced in Germany in October 1936. Erich Retzlaff was considered by the National Socialists something of a pioneer in his idealised depictions of the German proletariat, disseminating notions centred on the people’s community (Volksgemeinschaft), which was at the heart of the National Socialist vision of society. Although his work was not produced under the direct auspices of the Reich Ministry for Propaganda and thus appeared to have a greater degree of creative freedom, Retzlaff was clearly a photographer siding with the regime. Ideological as his work was, Retzlaff's photographs are significant as cultural and historical artifacts of this period of German History.

The accompanying catalogue contains an essay by Christopher Webster van Tonder, an introductory text by Rolf Sachsse, and an article by Wolfgang Brückle. 

The exhibition can be seen at the German Historical Institute London from 22 January 2014 to 21 March 2014

See: http://www.ghil.ac.uk/

Opening Times:

Mo, Tue, Wed, Fri: 10 am – 5 pm
Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm

Closed Weekends and Bank Holidays
Free Admission

Sotheby's have produced a special catalogue for The Val Prinsep album compiled by Julia Margaret Cameron. A PDF copy can be had by clicking here. The auction takes place on 10 December 2013. 

UPDATE: The Prinsep album sold for £242,000 (including buyer's premium) against an estimate of £250,000-£250,000). 

The sale also includes the earliest recorded surviving glass negative of one of the Liddell sisters by Lewis Carroll: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/english-literature-history-l13408/lot.244.html and a fine platinum print of W.B. Yeats by Alice Boughton, signed by both the photographer and sitter. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/english-literature-history-l13408/lot.321.html

UPDATE: Both lots were unsold. 

This three-day short course at West Dean College will be led by Susie Clark, ACR.  Susie was formerly the conservator for a collection of approximately 20 million photographs at the BBC Hulton Picture Library (now Getty Images) and is now an accredited freelance paper and photograph conservator and consultant.

The 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. It will also include lectures and demonstrations of conservation techniques. The roles of the environment, biological deterioration, health and safety, storage and handling will also be covered.

Fully inclusive residential course fee from £547

Website:  www.westdean.org.uk/College

The National Media Museum has had its five year plan to turnaround the museum accepted by the trustees of the Science Museum Group. The plans, presented by Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Head of the museum,will create two new permanent galleries, a temporary exhibition space, an overhaul of the lobby and entrances and will join the museum with a commercial cinema partner. They are dependent on securing funds to realise them. 

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper reports that the Chancellor's announcement of further funding cuts will impact on the SMG and the Media Museum. See: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/10863397.Further_cuts_blow_to_Bradford_s_National_Media_Museum/

In this volume Hanlon turns conventional photographic history inside out, restoring American photography to its proper place among the great early traditions. Too often the United States is seen as a provincial player in calotype photography; a poor cousin to the Britons who invented the technique and the French who perfected it. In this book, we see early American photography as a vital part of that tradition—creative, dynamic, and influential. Accessibly written and exquisitely researched, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in photography and its origins. In addition to being a great reference work, it dramatically expands our understanding of the field."

The author, Phillip Prodger, is currator and Head, Department of Photography, Peabody Essex Museum. 

Illuminating Shadows: The Calotype in Nineteenth-Century America