Made at Lacock Abbey by William Henry Fox Talbot in August 1835, the world’s first photographic negative changed the world. A new exhibition, Celebrating the Negative launching on 3 July at the Fox Talbot Museum will display images by John Loengard, a highly acclaimed American photographer, who travelled the world during the 1990s visiting archives and photographers’ studios to see the original negatives of images that have changed photography and the world.

The images show the original negatives in the hands of the archivist or photographer which brings their scale into play and points up the fact that the negatives are objects as well as images.

The negative is not just another picture – it is THE picture. There is an intimate connection between the negative and the subject. Looking at a negative you are looking at an artefact of a time and place. The sun that shone on Abraham Lincoln on that day in 1863 was captured by that negative. All of the positive prints from that negative were made later, probably on a different day and by different sunlight and almost certainly not in the presence of Lincoln. Loengard says of Fox Talbot’s discovery: "It is a quirk of nature that silver and chlorine combine in the dark but separate when struck by light, leaving behind tiny, black, round particles of silver.

The 1st Negative

Talbot asked Lacock’s village carpenter to make up a few small wooden boxes to which he could insert his microscope lenses. These cameras, dubbed ‘Mousetraps’ by Talbot’s wife Constance, due to their size and shape, were the cameras through which he was finally able to capture an image.

On a sunny day in August, 1835 he aimed a mousetrap camera at the latticed window in the South Gallery of Lacock Abbey and in a few minutes he had made the world’s first photographic negative.

Three of the original ‘Mousetrap Cameras’ have been loaned to the museum by the National Media Museum. It is their first visit to their original home of Lacock Abbey in more than 75 years.

There will also be examples of the most important negative processes on display and an explanation of how they were made and how each was a technological advance in the history of photography. Roger Watson, curator of the Fox Talbot Museum says: "This is a really important and exciting celebration for us at Lacock. The negative is the primary image. It is the sensitive surface that faced the subject and first recorded the light. All positive prints are secondary images derived from the negative and are therefore one step removed from the original scene. The negative was the eye witness and the positive print the story related after the fact."

In August a recreation of the first photographic negative using Talbot’s original formula and methodology in a new mousetrap camera made by Mark Ellis, a carpenter who currently lives in Lacock will be re-enacted. Present at this re-enactment will be Talbot’s great-great granddaughter Janet Burnett Brown."

Participants at a (fully subscribed) workshop in August entitled ‘The Dawn of Photography’ will recreate all of Talbot’s earliest photographic experiments including working with modern replicas of the mousetrap camera. They will be working in and around Lacock Abbey and there will be staff members to answer questions about what they are doing.

Lacock Abbey

3 July-12 December 2010

Ikon presents Seeing the Unseen, a revisit of the gallery’s 1976 exhibition of high-speed photographs by the pioneering American scientist and photographer Dr Harold E. Edgerton (1906-1990). Forming part of Ikon’s retrospective of the 1970s It Could Happen To You, this presentation takes place in Birmingham’s Pallasades Shopping Centre, in a shop unit just a few doors away from Ikon’s home during that decade.

The 1976 exhibition formed Edgerton’s first solo presentation in Europe, and was conceived as a collaborative effort between Geoffrey Holt and John R. Myers, then both lecturers in fine art and photography at Stourbridge College of Art. Their aim was to draw attention to the breadth of work created by of ‘one of the masters of the optical unconscious’ which had, until that point, been largely neglected by the art world.

Edgerton’s invention in the 1930s of a high-speed photographic process based on rapid, stroboscopic instances of light or ‘flash’ was a catalytic event in the history of photography, science and art. Using this method, his images revealed in great detail aspects of reality hitherto invisible to the naked eye. As Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Edgerton made great strides in reconnaissance photography during the Second World War and later became the first to photograph test explosions of atomic weaponry. It is, however, the hands-on experimentation of ‘real world’ phenomena for which he is best remembered.

Edgerton’s remarkable multiple-flash pictures of tennis players, golfers and divers such as Swirls and Eddies of a Tennis Stroke (1939) break down intricate movements into singular moments. Other images appear to stop time: Milk-Drop Coronet (1957) illustrates the perfect crown formed by a drop of milk hitting a hard surface, whilst Cutting the Card Quickly (1964) shows a .30 calibre bullet, travelling 2800 feet per second, slicing a king of diamonds into two pieces. The startling Bullet and Apple (1964) portrays the explosion of an apple pierced by the bullet, moments before its total disintegration.

Edgerton’s film Seeing the Unseen (1939) is shown alongside his photographs plus an archive of correspondence, technical papers and printed materials relating to the 1976 exhibition.

This exhibition is organised in collaboration with Birmingham Central Library.

21 July – 5 September 2010

Unit 39-40, The Pallasades Shopping Centre, Birmingham

Events

Stopping Time in Stourbridge

Sunday 8 August, 2pm – FREE

The Pallasades Shopping Centre

Pete James, Head of Photography, Central Library Birmingham talks about the Pallasades exhibition and the photo-historical context through which Ikon’s 1976 Harold E. Edgerton exhibition came about. Refreshments are provided. Places are free but should be reserved by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708.

Aspects of Edgerton

Sunday 22 August, 2pm - FREE

The Pallasades Shopping Centre

An event with Jonathan Shaw, photographer and Associate Head of Media & Communication, Coventry University and artist Trevor Appleson. The speakers discuss the influence of Edwaerd Muybridge and Harold Edgerton’s photography on their recent work. Refreshments are provided. Places are free but should be reserved by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708.

Photoworks, the UK’s leading agency for photography is seeking to appoint a new Director following the appointment of David Chandler as Professor of Photography at the University of Plymouth.

The new Director will provide artistic vision, leadership and ambition for the organisation, building on its outstanding achievements of the last decade and taking it forward into a new and exciting period of further development. This post demands exceptional leadership qualities and we are seeking a respected professional in the field of photography with a minimum of five years experience at a senior level in an arts or related organization. As well as proven management skills, you will have a thorough and authoritative knowledge of contemporary photographic practice and be able to demonstrate notable achievements in organisational development and growth. You will be a strong team player, with the ability to motivate and inspire colleagues, and the confidence to advocate and operate for Photoworks regionally, nationally and internationally across a broad network of artists, individuals, trusts and organisations.

Photoworks Director
application deadlne 20 July 2010

Director
c. £40K
Central Brighton Office

Email photoworksapplications@gmx.com for an application pack.

Deadline for applications: Tuesday 20 July 2010
Interviews: Tuesday 14 September 2010
Photoworks is committed to equal opportunities

Academic Assistant - Photographic Collection (1 year). The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London University of London http://jobs.ac.uk/job/ABH740/

The National Media Museum has released booking details of the Niépce in England conference which takes place at the museum on 14-15 October 2010. Details are given below...

NIÉPCE IN ENGLAND

Conference Update

An international conference on recent

advancements in scientific, art historical, and conservation research relating to the

photographs which Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

brought to England in 1827.

Co-organized by the National Media Museum

and the Getty Conservation Institute

13^th - 14^th October 2010

National Media Museum

Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

Dear Colleague:

The National Media Museum (NMeM) and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) are pleased to invite you to the Niépce in England conference, to be held at the National Media Museum, Bradford, United Kingdom on Wednesday and Thursday, October 13-14, 2010.

Conference Objective and Goals

Niépce in England

This two-day conference will present the results of new, unpublished research and scientific investigations, which have been undertaken during the NMeM and GCI Collaborative Research Project. In the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum are three plates by Niépce. The conference will address the research and conservation of these photographic treasures, and will discuss future conservation measures that would provide for their long-term protection and preservation. The reason why Niépce brought these plates to England, and their subsequent history, will also be outlined more fully than previously published.

Conference Themes and Speakers

Philippa Wright, Curator of Photographs, National Media Museum

Larry Schaaf, Independent Photo historian

Pamela Roberts, Independent Photo Historian

Grant Romer, Independent Photo Historian

Art Kaplan, Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute

Dr, Dusan Stulik, Senior Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute

Colin Harding, Curator of Photographic Technology, National Media Museum

Philip Gilhooley, Independent Fingerprint Consultant and Lecturer in Forensic Science, Liverpool John Moores University

Peter Bower, Forensic Paper Historian

Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator of Photography, Harry Ransom Centre, University of Texas

Barbara Brown, Head of Photograph Conservation, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas

Isabella Kocum, Frame Conservator, National Gallery

Susie Clark, Independent Photographic and Paper Conservator

• Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and his work

• The first six photographs brought to England by Niépce in context

• Scientific investigation into the three Niépce photographs in The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the NMeM

• Dating and conservation of the original frames

• Conservation and preservation issues related to the Niépce plates

The full schedule and speaker biographies can be viewed at the museum website at http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Photography/niepceinengland.asp

Related Events

• Conference participants will have a very unique and unprecedented opportunity (that may not be repeated in our lifetime) to view all three Niépce plates ‘out of their frames’, enabling participants to closely examine the surfaces and reverse of these unique photographic treasures. The plates, and their conserved frames, will be on display throughout the conference in the Kraszna-Krausz Print Viewing Room, in the NMeM Research Centre.

• A Conference dinner will take place on Wednesday, October 13^th, 7pm – 10pm at the National Media

Museum. Tickets for the dinner need to be purchased with your conference ticket at a cost of £22.

Registration

Formal registration for the Niépce in England conference is now open. Please note that attendance to the conference is limited. All registrations will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have already registered initial interest in the conference you are not guaranteed a place and will still need to ring and book your place.

For further enquiries regarding the conference please email rsvp.nmem@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk and we will respond to your enquiry accordingly

To book your conference ticket please call the museum box office on +44 (0) 870 70 10 200. Please note that tickets can not be purchased online.

Ticket costs

• Full price conference ticket £90

• Concession price conference ticket £70

• Wednesday evening dinner £22

Hotel accommodation

Overnight accommodation is available locally at the Bradford Jurys Inn Hotel.

The hotel is a two minute walk from the museum and rooms can be booked either online at: http://bradfordhotels.jurysinns.com/ or by calling +44 (0) 870 4100 800.

Rates range from £55 to £80 for a double room. Early booking is advisable.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Media Museum in Bradford opened as The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in 1983 and has since become one of the most visited UK museums outside London. The Museum is devoted to photography, film, television, radio and the web and looks after the National Photography, Photographic Technology and Cinematography Collections. The Museum is home to two temporary exhibition spaces and, a Research Centre that hosts regular displays from its extensive Collections. The Museum’s vibrant programme reflects all aspects of historical and contemporary media practice and issues.

www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

The Getty Conservation Institute works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the dissemination of the results of both its own work and the work of others in the field. In all its endeavors, the GCI focuses on the creation and delivery of knowledge that will benefit the professionals and organizations responsible for the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage.

www.getty.edu/conservation/

This conference is kindly supported by a number of organisations & private individuals, including:

The Royal Photographic Society,

Wilson Centre for Photography,

The University of Bolton

The National Gallery, London

A Freedom of Information request to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that the National Media Museum still sees the Science Museum as the base for its London Presence. The DCMS also confirmed:

• That it had held no meetings the National Media Museum over its plans for a London Presence between 1 September 2009 and 3 June 2010
• The Project is expected to cost less than £5 million and therefore does not require any approval from the DCMS
• The NMSI, the NMeM's parent body, will have full responsibility for funding the Project.

The NMSI, in common with all national museums receiving direct grant-aid from DCMS, is expected to a reduction in its grant as the government starts to rein in public spending. The NMSI will make a decision regarding the Project in the context of a reduced grant and it is this that will ultimately determine whether the Project progresses or not.

Camille Silvy was a pioneer of early photography and one of the greatest French photographers of the nineteenth century. This exhibition includes many remarkable images which have not been exhibited since the 1860s.

Over 100 works, including a large number of carte de visites, focus on a ten-year creative burst from 1857-67 working in Algiers, rural France, Paris and London and illustrate how Silvy pioneered many now familiar branches of the medium including theatre, fashion and street photography.

Working under the patronage of Queen Victoria, Silvy photographed royalty, aristocrats and celebrities. He also portrayed uncelebrated people, the professional classes and country gentry, their wives, children and servants.

The results offer a unique glimpse into nineteenth-century society through the eyes of one of photography's outstanding innovators.

The exhibition has been curated by Mark Haworth-Booth.

There are a series of lectures and events around the exhibitions - details here: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/camille-silvy-photographer-of-modern-life-1834-1910.php

National Portrait Gallery - 15 July-24 October 2010

Tickets £5/£4.50/£4

To book advance tickets call 020 7907 7079 (transaction fee applies)

Exhibition organised by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London

A fundraising reception was held at the Science Museum on 25 May to introduce a new exhibition space for photography planned there. Mark Haworth-Booth in his blog noted that "My former colleague Charlotte Cotton is its artistic director. Her speech included a choice expletive - 'We just want to fxxxxxg get on with it' - which was very much in character and appropriate."

Amateur Photographer has followed up BPH's blog posting and its report is here: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Science_Museum_hosts_NMM_photography_fundraiser_news_298855.html

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has published visitor numbers for the National Media Museum, Bradford for the 2009/10 financial year. These are reported below alongside recent years. Should anyone require earlier years I have them on request.

The National Media Museum has a diverse and engaging programme of displays and temporary exhibitions, which are seen by thousands of visitors every year. You’ll help make sure they’re delivered on time, budget and to the highest standards by successfully co-ordinating project teams and other stakeholders.

Required Skills:

If you’ve worked before in a similar role at a gallery or museum, this is a great opportunity to develop your skills further. It calls for experience of managing projects and developing interpretation, supported by a good understanding of delivery procedures and various display techniques. Of course, you’ll also need to be a great team player, with sound IT skills, excellent attention to detail and the ability to communicate well at all levels.

Award winning, visionary and truly unique, the National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

The post is fixed term until 12th July 2011

Application Instructions:

Interested? Please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

For a full job description please email: recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Closing date: 10th June 2010

Interviews: 16th June 2010

We regret that we can only respond to successful applicants.

No agencies please

Mark Haworth-Booth describes on his blog..."An early copy of my book on Camille Silvy arrived from the National Portrait Gallery. We sat on the sofa and looked through every page. It is wonderful! I won't get my other copies until June. This is my finale as a photo-historian and I'm thrilled with it."

The Silvy exhibition will take place at the National Portrait Gallery later this year - it promises to be the exhibition of the year for me and many others...

Mark's blog here: http://markhaworthboothblog.blogspot.com/ is a joy to read...

Elizabeth Edwards is directing a HERA Funded Project 'Photographs, Colonial Legacy And Museums In Contemporary European Culture' PhotoCLEC, University Of The Arts London

A leading collaborative research project with University of Bergen and VU University Amsterdam, HERA's "Cultural Dynamics: Inheritance and Identity" strand will examine the ways in which museums reflect and respond to varieties of colonial experiences and their specific visual legacies. It will focus especially on their attempts to interpret colonial photograph collections in ways relevant to contemporary post-colonial European societies. You will contribute to the collaborative comparative analysis and to the project's overall analysis and outputs by undertaking research in the 'case study' institutions and be involved with the on-going planning and development of the project and with the organisation of project meetings and events.

All prospective candidates will have a PhD in Anthropology, Modern/Contemporary History, Museology, or related discipline, with demonstrable interest in at least two of the following: visual material, preferably photographs, museums, colonial and/or post-colonial histories, cultural identities. The post holder must be self-motivating and able to work independently within the projects' overall themes and collaborative framework. In addition, the post requires excellent 'people skills', data management experience and an ability to work across disciplines. Fieldwork and/or archival experience would be an advantage.

You will be based at the London College of Communication (SE1) in a unique opportunity to work actively with major collaborative project and with an experienced team from three European universities. The post requires travel and 'away from home work' within UK and to group meetings in Europe.

In return, we offer a competitive employment package including a salary that reflects working in London; annual leave; a final salary pension scheme; and a commitment to your continuing personal and career development in an environment that encourages creativity, diversity and excellence.

Salary: £30,871 pro rata / 0.8 Research Officer / (18 month fixed term appointment)

University of the Arts London is a vibrant world centre for innovation, drawing together six Colleges with international reputations in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts.

Closing date: 1st June 2010

Interview date: 14th June 2010

If you have any queries about this role that are not covered in the documentation available please contact Professor Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Research Fellow at LCC and Principal Investigator on the project, email: e.edwards@lcc.arts.ac.uk.

Please visit http://jobs.arts.ac.uk to download an application pack or alternatively please contact Eve Waring, Research Office, telephone: 020 7514 8437 E-mail: e.waring@lcc.arts.ac.uk

www.arts.ac.uk/jobs

University of the Arts London aims to be an equal opportunities employer embracing diversity in all areas of activity.

A wealth of vital information about the early days of photography could be unearthed by a computer program which mimics human decision-making. De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has amassed a collection of hundreds of exhibition catalogues containing invaluable information about individual photographs but the images themselves are missing as the catalogues were printed before the technology existed to reproduce pictures alongside the descriptions.

DMU’s Professor Stephen Brown and Professor Robert John are investigating a form of computational intelligence known as fuzzy logic to see if it is possible to match these catalogue entries with photographs in online collections owned by museums.

Professor Brown, of the Faculty of Art and Design, said: “Many of the photographs in question appear to have survived and are increasingly accessible online through museum and gallery web sites, however precise associations between particular exhibits and images are not always clear.”

Software using fuzzy logic is able to suggest possible connections based on vague information. It mimics the human approach to problem solving but arrives at a decision much more quickly than people do.

Uniting the catalogue records with their original photographs would provide researchers with an important primary resource.

Professor Stephen Brown said: “Photographic history research is important in a range of areas of study, including social, political, economical, scientific and architectural studies. “For example, Sir Benjamin Stone, who was MP for Birmingham, was a keen photographer and collector. He was able to photograph many leading scientists, politicians and dignitaries and significant historical and royal occasions – such as the funeral of Queen Victoria. He was one of the first people allowed to take photos in the Houses of Parliament and if not for him, we wouldn’t have pictures of many important visitors to Parliament during that time. The information we can gain from this project could be useful in so many ways. It could tell us about the types of people who were taking photos at that time, the subjects that were popular, the techniques that people used to develop their images, and how ideas were diffused through society.”

Professor Robert John, Head of the Centre for Computational Intelligence and a world-leading expert in fuzzy logic, said: “Using fuzzy logic will allow photographs to be analysed and compared with the catalogue information very quickly. “The benefits of this type of technology are that it can make decisions much more quickly than humans and it is not restricted to a simple ‘match’/’no match’ answer.”

In straightforward cases, photographs and catalogue information could be matched by name, title and other details, however, the majority of cases are more complicated. Professor Brown added: “Some of the records in the catalogues are rather vague. For instance, you might have the name, but the only address given is ‘London’. If a photograph is then found with the same name but the photographer’s address is given as ‘Blackheath’ then is that the same person? It could well be but further examination is needed. Some photos were exhibited more than once over different years, and that’s fine as long as the same details are recorded for both, but very often this isn’t the case. That’s why it’s not a simple matter of matching the details of photographer X and photograph Y.”

He added: “It wasn’t uncommon for a photographer to sell or loan prints to other people who then exhibit that work under their own name, not claiming to be the photographer, just the exhibitor. There might be a photo floating around online that is listed under the photographer’s name, while we only have the exhibitor’s details.

“We could get a group of photographic experts to examine the images and the catalogue entries in order to match them up, but it would take years and would be prohibitively expensive.”

Researchers will first carry out an exploratory study to investigate the potential of using fuzzy logic to match images with the descriptions in the catalogues. If it proves to be a success, researchers hope it will be extended to a full project which will see online photo collections from museums and galleries around the world scanned for possible matches.

DMU has two online collections of catalogue records from photographic exhibitions:

Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865 – see http://peib.dmu.ac.uk
Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870 – 1915 – see http://erps.dmu.ac.uk

Amateur Photographer magazine reports that the National Media Museum has received government approval to open a London base. A spokesperson for the Bradford-based museum said this afternoon: 'We have received approval from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for this project.'

Last night, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC's Newsnight that 'none' of the DCMS's budgets are protected in light of the cutbacks expected to be outlined by the new Government.

Asked whether the museum is concerned that any cutbacks may scupper the London plan, the spokesperson told us: 'We are continuing to follow our fundraising strategy which is not reliant on Government funding, so be assured we will be in touch as and when it's appropriate.'

Read the report here: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Government_approves_photography_museums_London_plan_news_297963.html

The Art Fund has welcomed Michael G Wilson, as a new trustee. Wilson, is chairman of the trustees of the National Media Museum and a collector of photography. He is a film producer and has lectured on photography and film at universities worldwide.

Michael G. Wilson said: "I am delighted to become a trustee of the Art Fund. The organisation does a tremendous job engaging national and regional interest in the arts and ensuring public access to great art collections through its tireless campaigning and funding."

Wilson opened the Wilson Centre for Photography in 1998. The Centre is one of the largest private collections of photography today, spanning works from some of the earliest extant photographs to the most current contemporary productions. The centre hosts seminars, study sessions, runs an annual bursary project with the National Media Museum and loans to international museums and galleries.

He is also Managing Director of EON Productions Ltd and responsible for box office successes, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, through the James Bond franchise, with his producing partner and sister, Barbara Broccoli. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California and a Doctor Juris from Stanford Law School. He was awarded anOBE in 2008 for Services to the Film Industry.

The recent national symposium of photography in Derby included Charlotte Cotton from the National Media Museum and Francis Hodgson the Financial Times photography critic as speakers. Although I wasn't able to attend there is a very informative blog report here which I would recommend reading: http://bridgetmckenzie.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/the-state-of-photography-and-cultural-policy/

I have extracted some of the blog here:

Charlotte Cotton is new creative director for the National Media Museum, leading on its new photography satellite at the Science Museum in London. She spent 12 years at the V&A where she was able to develop a curatorial narrative, within a fairly encyclopaedic museum. Then she went to Los Angeles to be the head of photography at LACMA, where she aimed to reinvigorate and broaden the programme. At LACMA she curated a project called Words Without Pictures which invited people in many different ways over one year to share views about photography, now in a book just published. She organised a great project called Field Guide allowing Machine Project to organise 10 hours of all kinds of marvellous activities. Here’s a free book to download from the event. She organised another project with a folk singer doing religious protest songs in front of religious artworks, and another project with the Fallen Fruit collective, who do things like gather fallen fruit and have communal jam-making sessions.

She saw this experience as really opening up her practice and not having to be so defensive about programming. She feels that photography is an incredibly pluralistic form, increasingly so in the digital age, and that big institutions couldn’t keep up with the mode of curating it requires. That’s why she left for LACMA to try these ‘happy’ projects. But now, she’s been attracted back to the National Media Museum because of the potential, that she doesn’t have to use guerilla tactics to try this exciting practice. She’s very perspicacious about museology and critical practice in curating, and listening to her I feel really excited about what she might achieve with the new London photography galleries. I applaud her view which is that rather than making learning complementary to display programming, the new approach is to foreground it. It’s really heartening to hear a curator say that.

The other talk that interested me was Francis Hodgson, the photography critic at the Financial Times (with whom I’m doing my session on climate change). His talk was provocative and a few people didn’t agree with him on a number of issues, especially on his view that photographers must be culturally literate about the artform. I was interested in his comments about the lack of co-ordination and policy overview by DCMS (and MLA, ACE etc) about collaborative acquisitions, digital strategy and programming. His focus here is on photography, seeing it as suffering through neglect. Of course, we know that the same lack of co-ordination happens across many other collection types, but it may be true that photography is a particular victim. From the audience in Charlotte Cotton’s talk, Francis asked her about the competition between the V&A as a national centre for photography collections with the new NMM photography galleries just over the road in Kensington. She doesn’t see it as a conflict at all but as a great opportunity. She feels it could help make national collections really national, and sees digitisation of the collections as playing a big role in aiding collaboration around a research-based community of enquiry. I think that’s the most positive way of tackling this problem.

However, in his opening keynote, Francis did speak convincingly and captivatingly about the importance of photography yet its dire state in the UK. This is a summary of pretty much everything he said, missing out a few extrapolations and lacking the articulacy of his expression:

He once said that photography was a practice that tried out new things and represented new things, before other cultural forms. That you could run up against new stuff, make images of novel things, without seeking to understand them. Photography doesn’t have so many priests and keepers as fine art, for example. It changed the way that imagery could have such currency in our wider world (not just in galleries or privileged spaces), and now other kinds of culture are following in its wake. Photographs are like soundbites, as they stay in the memory, and can be reused and circulated.

It is the originator of a way of thinking that other artforms have followed. However, there is a low level of intellectual dialogue between photographers and audiences, compared to more literary forms. He is shocked that professional photographers are illiterate in history of their own artform. It’s now questionable what remains in the very centre of photography. If we don’t know we share same definition of it then who is there to stand up for it? It’s hard to say what is intellectually and properly photographic. We used to define it by its machinery, by being made with a camera (which, by the way, belittled it). An example of what happens with this lack of clarity around what it is: That £20 million has been given to the British Library for digital archiving of digital visual culture, and not by the National Media Museum, who anyway have changed their name to leave out ‘photography’.

A photographer must ask: Is my work understandable for what it is by an audience that isn’t primed? If it isn’t for communication it isn’t photography. There are tiresome numbers of photographers who have nothing to say.
You must have a position about the imparting or receiving of ideas and information. Photography is wonderful but it is also a perfectly ordinary activity. Photographers think the analysis will take care of itself. If they do analyse they produce meaningless theoretical waffle. But images and their analysis must mean something to people. It is an ordinary activity but that doesn’t mean it has to be banal or of little value.

The state of the nation for the profession is dire. Work is declining. The UK reputation is on a steep downward curve. Systemically we don’t support photography anymore. Museums don’t do what they should do to support it despite new initiatives from Tate, NMM, the V&A and the British Library. Teaching programmes are very poor too. It’s a scandal that the British Library curator of photography, John Faulkner, has always had to get funding for his role and only for the first time now is he on the payroll. It is one of the major holding libraries of photography in the world (if you count the images in all its content, such as newspapers and magazines) but it has only one curator.

He now believes the Photographers Gallery should be closed. We need to put more resources into more regarded institutions that include photographs within their collections. The Imperial War Museum has a duty to accept all war photos, for example taken by soldiers, so it has more war photos then any other institution, but is shabbily underfunded in caring for them. The Porthcurno Museum of Telegraphy has photography collections but they are left to rot.

He told a story about 8 public museums competing to buy the same photographic items at Sothebys. Because of their competition the price went so high they left the country. Why not form a purchase partnership?

Photography education is a joke in this country. It’s popular, so is a way for universities to get punters in. It’s an easy degree to do and to suggest that standards are higher than they are. Shared cultural standards between education instutions is non existent. You don’t come out being culturally literate in photography. There is only one MA in UK where you can study the culture of photography.

Tate is now turning serious attention to photography. He is pleased about that but has doubts about how serious it is, or rather how authentic the commitment to photography is. Where has the policy come from to turn the tanker round, surely not a directive from DCMS, MLA or ACE. There is a pathetic failure of policy, leaving all institutions to do their own thing. Birmingham City Libraries are doing good things but this institutional framework will only work properly if it reflects what we demand.

He isn’t pessimistic about the change to digital. It’s a bit late to worry now. Old fashioned photographic skills will come back again, just not a mass medium. Photography has remained a producer-led industry compared to publishing or music. A cultural position around photography should primarily make a clear definition between a picture of something and a picture about something. This should be the marker around which we define quality. We have had a 50 year old emphasis on techne, and judged quality by technical adequacy.

The bookseller Quaritch and auction house Christie's have both published photographic book catalogues which include material of British interest. At Quaritch contact Lindsey Stewart (e: l.stewart@quaritch.com) and to view the Christie's e-catalogue click here.

The Department of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex in collaboration with the Tate invites applications for a fully-funded AHRC PhD studentship to commence October 2010. The topic for the doctoral research project is 'Photography as Art since the Sixties'.

The research topic concerns photography's recent history, notably, its transformation from anti-aesthetic, post-conceptual document to large scale pictorial art. It investigates what distinguishes photography as a mode of depiction and an artistic medium, particularly in light of recent artists' use of digital technologies.

The research has immediate practical implications as it will inform interpretation of the Tate's existing collection and shape future acquisitions. The research will be supervised by Prof Margaret Iversen at Essex and Dr. Simon Baker, Curator of Photography, Tate.

The award pays tuition fees and a maintenance grant each year for a maximum of three years of full-time doctoral study (subject to evidence of satisfactory progress) and is available to UK/EU students first registering to undertake a research degree in September 2010.

Further information about the Research Project: 'Photography as Art since the Sixties' can be found on the departmental web pages at http://www.essex.ac.uk/arthistory/.

For information about the Tate, please visit: http://www.tate.org.uk/

Preliminary inquiries may be addressed to Professor Margaret Iversen at the University of Essex: miversen@essex.ac.uk.

Please contact Myra Offord, the Graduate Administrator for application forms.

E mofford@essex.ac.uk

T 01206 872953

Closing date: 14 June 2010

Interview date: week beginning 24 June 2010