Exeter-based auctioneers Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood is offering the lantern slides, lanterns and associated material collected and used by Philip Banham over many years. The auction takes place on 4 December 2023. The sale is particualrly strong in hand-coloured and transfer lantern slides, slipping and mechanical slides, with subjects ranging from comic to social history. Also included are lanterns, printed material, engravings, books and readings. 

Online catalogue: https://auctions.bhandl.co.uk/auctions/8741/bearne10139

Manuscripts and Archives at Oxford University is a new tool which searches descriptions of manuscripts and archives held at the Bodleian Libraries and some Oxford colleges. These descriptions are drawn from eleven online catalogues. The manuscript and archive holdings of the Bodleian extend from Greek papyrus fragments from the 5th century BC to 21st century born-digital archives.

The manuscript and archive collections include works of literature, politics, science, medicine, theology, law, music and religious devotion, as well as many forms of documentary material produced by individuals and institutions. The extensive archives held at the Bodleian include manuscripts, documents, audio-visual recordings, photographic material, music and born-digital content from thousands of personal and institutional archives. 

A quick check with several photographic-related search terms reveals a wealth of material. 

See: https://marco.ox.ac.uk/

It is hard to overestimate the extent to which the advent of photography in the early nineteenth century changed the course of visual culture in France and abroad. New photographic inventions, such as Louis Daguerre’s ‘diorama’ (a popular Parisian spectacle featuring theatrical painting and lighting effects) introduced novel visual mechanisms to a wide audience. Though denigrated by critics like Charles Baudelaire for its presumed limitation to merely reproduce the visible world, photography was in fact in dialogue with other means of visual expression.Artists such as Eugène Delacroix and Paul Cezanne were indebted to the medium for the development of many of their paintings; Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of bodies in motion allowed artists such as Edgar Degas to reconsider the artist’s capacity to depict movement. While linked to aesthetic and scientific advancement, however, photography was equally a vital tool for French colonial endeavours, reinforcing propagandistic messages,justifying missionary activities, and lending seemingly objective evidence to the pseudoscientific project of eugenics and related endeavours of white supremacy. The tool of photography was put to many uses, unified by its promise of technological progress.

In this session we hear from researchers who are working in diverse aspects of French visual culture and photography. We are pleased to welcome the following speakers:

• Isabelle Lynch (University of Pennsylvania) - "'World Without Sun': The Diving Bell, The Camera, and the Rapture of the Deep."
• Édouard de Saint-Ours (University of St Andrews) - “Capturing the French imperial imagination: Émile Gsell’s photographs at the edge of colonial desires in Indochina, 1865–79”
• Joshua Teasdale (University of Oxford) - “Capturing Subjectivity in Late Nineteenth-Century Photographic Catalogues”
• Joshua Teasdale is a research student at the University of Oxford’s Department of History of Art, and a member of Wadham College

Details and free registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transformation-and-trouble-photography-as-a-tool-in-19th-century-france-tickets-726768523217?aff=oddtdtcreator

Stills presents a six week lecture and discussion event in the gallery for students and those keen to develop an understanding of the philosophies and ideas which are most often used to think with, and about, photography.

Have you ever wondered what Post-Modernity really means? And if it has anything at all to do with taking photos?! This course, led by our Research Associate David Grinly, will help you to navigate the terminologies and ideas which sometimes put us off thinking more deeply about photography. Aiming at the big names who stand (sometimes very closely) behind the theories of today, this course will offer approachable “translations” of a selection of critical texts, and provide a space to discuss the questions they raise, now.

Course outline:
1 Nov: Introduction – Photographic Modernity and PostModernity
8 Nov: Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
15 Nov: Roland Barthes – Rhetoric and Mourning
22 Nov: Susan Sontag – In Plato’s Cave
29 Nov: Jean Baudrillard – Photographer in the Matrix
6 Dec: Teju Cole and Lucy Sante – The Spectators Malevolent Neutrality

A ticket - from £18 upwards - provides access to all 6 lectures. If you would like to attend individual events but not the whole series, please email info@stills.org and we can make arrangements for this.

Details and booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/photographic-monsters-tickets-743390189067

The curator, academic and writer David Mellor (he added 'Alan' to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name) has died aged 75 years at his home in  Machynlleth, Wales. He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's J Dudley Johnston (2005) and Education (2015) awards.

Mellor studied art at Sussex University from 1967 under Quentin Bell. During this time Asa Briggs, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, received the archive of Mass-Observation from Tom Harrisson. Mellor published and curated exhibitions about the substantial collection of pre-war photographs of working-class life contained in the archive. He stayed at Sussex until his retirement in 2018. In the words of Maurice Howard he was one of the country’s leading scholars in the fields of twentieth century painting, film and photography.' Mellor had an extensive list of publications to his name and curated significant exhibitions on Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, and on Robin Denny, Cecil Beaton and Bill Brandt. He curated major exhibitions at the Barbican and Tate, most memorably Paradise Lost: The New Romantic Imagination in Britain (1987) and The Sixties (1993), at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. 

Mellor was also a director of Brighton's Photoworks and the Brighton Photo Biennial, and Edinburgh's cooperative Photography Workshop from 1996 to 2011. 

As Howard notes 'As a teacher, generations of students testify to his unique insights into British culture. David was teaching the inter-relations of media long before the subject became an academic discipline at the University and was sensitive to art and the environment from the beginning of his career'.

With thanks to Paul Hill (seen on the right, in the picture left) who notes: 'So sad to get the news of the the death of photo historian and teacher. David Mellor (left). We worked together quite a few times - up here in Derbyshire at The Photographers Place workshop in the 70s, Salford ‘80, and latterly talking about The Real Britain project at the 2014 Brighton Biennial. Great scholar and lovely guy….'

See:

• https://staff.sussex.ac.uk/news/article/62223-obituary-professor-david-alan-mellor
• https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/mar/01/academicexperts.highereducationprofile
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Alan_Mellor

The latest issue of The Classic has been published to coincide with Paris Photo. As usual it includes a range of features and news, including previews of Paris Photo, a feature on the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate archives, photography of French cinema, an interview with Hans P Kraus and Behind the Scenes - Curating and Designing Exhibitions. It is available to donwload for free or printed copies can be picked up at various venues. 

See: https://theclassicphotomag.com/

A new photography creative hub is set to open in Edinburgh, just a stone’s throw from Princes Street. 6 William Street will unite renowned charity Studies in Photography and new artist-run gallery and bookshop AGITATE under one roof. The new venture will provide a go-to hotspot for lens-based artists and photo-curious passers-by, offering an expansive programme of events, exhibitions, and workshops.

The new venue will open officially on Saturday 28 October with a launch event for its first show forty one point five - a celebratory melting pot of contributors’ work from 40 years of Studies in Photography and the first 1.5 years of AGITATE. The launch night will also feature exclusive discounts on a variety of photo wares including a limited run of new AGITATE merchandise and an exciting opportunity to snap up back-issues of the journal from as far back as 1987.

Alexander Hamilton, Chair of Studies in Photography said: “The Scottish Society for History of Photography is opening in its 40th Year a new home for Scottish and International Photography in the heart of Edinburgh. The Society, known as Studies in Photography is delighted to be going into partnership with Agitate over 6 William Street - a home for photography. Finally, after a long history of events, journals, and creative conversations, we are opening a new centre for events and exhibitions, and to house our archive. It will also be a place to find copies of our books and our amazing journal, which features the very best in historical and contemporary photography. In partnership with Agitate, we aim to create Scotland’s premier photographic bookshop. I am particularly grateful to all our sponsors and supporters, who through their generous financial support, our making this dream possible. I look forward to welcoming you all to 6 William Street.”

With more and more creatives using cameras (and cameras increasingly being in everybody’s pockets), plus thousands of photography graduates come out of colleges and universities each year, the demand for image-making and image consumption has never been higher. Yet it can be difficult to feel inspired, to play with pictures, and to find a space to think more critically about the images we are taking. AGITATE’s mission since opening in early 2022 is to make it easier for anyone excited about making pictures to share them, find community, and to provide a viable platform for artists to make income from their work.

Christina Webber, Director of AGITATE said: “We are over the moon to be working with Studies in Photography on this exciting new venture and very grateful for the opportunity. Our mission with AGITATE is to make it easier for fans of photography at any level to buy, sell, show, and discover work, and to provide a welcoming platform for everyone to participate in conversations around image-making. You don’t have to be a ‘full time artist’ - if there even is such a thing - simply someone with a curiosity for pictures. We look at hundreds of images every day, and it’s my sincere hope that 6 William Street will provide a bridge between making images and sharing them, starting a wider conversation about our relationship with the images we consume. With Studies in Photography’s 40-year history and expertise, alongside our ambition and incredible community, we’re excited to see this become a catalyst for conversation and discovery.”

The photography industry is ever-changing. 6 William Street will bridge the old and the new, creating space for learning from a diversity of approaches, techniques, perspectives and interpretations. Alongside book launches, pin-ups, artist talks, reading groups and film clubs, a dynamic programme of workshops (both in-person and online) will complement partnership working with local higher education organisations, whilst the gallery will provide a space for exhibition hire, curated shows, and all manner of other events. Whether you’re a darkroom fanatic, a digital die-hard, an alt-process nerd, or love taking photos on your phone… this is definitely somewhere to check out.

More details about the exhibition, events, education and publishing programmes will be announced at the launch. Join the Studies in Photography and AGITATE mailing lists, and follow both organisations on social media to stay in the loop!

6 William Street will open to the public officially on Saturday 28 October from 1800. Over the winter months, the gallery and bookshop will then be open weekly from Tuesday –
Sunday from 12:00 – 18:00 at 6 William Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7NH.

www.studiesinphotography.com

AGITATE is a new hub for photography in Edinburgh (est. 2022) celebrating pictures in all their forms and supporting those who make them. AGITATE is artist-run and driven by community, with a desire to change the landscape of photography in Scotland by making it easier for lens-based artists to show and sell their work. The shop stocks a range of photo wares including books, zines, prints and film; acts as a drop-off point for local enterprise Rocket Film Lab, hosts a regular programme of events, and provides affordable exhibition and event hire for image-makers at all levels. AGITATE is operated by Filtr Collective, a limited company run by Christina Webber and Jaime Molina.

www.agitate.gallery

Lower image credit: Laura Prieto

National Galleries of Scotland has announced the appointment of Anne Lyden as its new Director-General. Bringing a wealth of experience, most recently as Interim Co-Director of Collection and Research, Lyden will be the first female Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland in its history. Current Director-General, Sir John Leighton, will step down on 31 December 2023 following a 17-year tenure and Lyden will take up the role on 1 January 2024. BPH reported on Lyden's appointment as Photography Curator  back in 2013

The National Galleries of Scotland is home to Scotland’s superb art collection, with three galleries in Edinburgh. At the National, Modern and Portrait galleries visitors can discover treasures from Botticelli to Titian, the very best modern art, famous faces and contemporary portraits of pop culture icons, and the largest collection of Scottish art in the world. As well as conserving and researching the national collection, the National Galleries of Scotland is committed to reaching the widest possible audience through an active programme, including partnerships across Scotland, the UK and abroad, as well as online.  As Director-General, Lyden will work with the National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, Leadership Team, colleagues across the organisation, and a great many donors and stakeholders to make art work for everyone.

Born in West Dunbartonshire, Anne Lyden grew up in Clydebank and studied History of Art at the University of Glasgow, and Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She held various curatorial positions at the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where she worked for 18 years (1995-2013) latterly in the role of Associate Curator before joining the National Galleries of Scotland. As International Photography Curator (2013-2019) and then Chief Curator, Photography (2019-2022), Lyden curated numerous exhibitions including Coming Clean: Graham Macindoe (2017), A Perfect Chemistry: Photographs by Hill & Adamson (2017), and ARTIST ROOMS—Self Evidence: Photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe (2019). In 2022, she became Interim Co-Director of Collection and Research where she led a directorate, overseeing the public programme across three sites and building on several research initiatives to widen accessibility and representation within the collection. Author of numerous publications, Lyden has written widely on the subject of photography and art.

The process of recruiting the new Director-General began earlier this year and was led by the Chair of the National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, Benny Higgins, and a committee of Trustees.

Benny Higgins, Chair of National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, said: “I am thrilled that we have appointed Anne Lyden as our new Director-General. Anne brings a strong understanding of the national collection and our talented people, together with extensive international experience.  

Over the past few months, we embarked on a rigorous search to find our next Director-General, resulting in us speaking to many people across the UK and internationally. Following a thorough recruitment process, we know we have the right person to lead the National Galleries of Scotland into the future.  

Anne’s strong personal values and leadership style, coupled with her knowledge of art, will see us deliver on our strategic commitments and I am looking forward to working with her.”

Anne Lyden, Director-General designate of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity to lead the National Galleries of Scotland in the next chapter of its impressive history.

It is my great privilege to continue the excellent work led by Sir John and colleagues over the years, most recently the success of the new Scottish galleries at the National. I am eager to continue my work with Trustees, colleagues, community partners, audiences, artists, and supporters in realising our plans for the future including The Art Works, our new collections facility in North Edinburgh. Having worked with the national collection and a wide range of colleagues over the last ten years, I am delighted to continue this experience of making art accessible to everyone.”

Sir John Leighton, outgoing Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Anne Lyden is a highly talented curator and leader with a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity. She has a compelling vision of the benefits that access to great art can achieve in these volatile times and is the right person to drive forward the National Galleries’ commitment to bringing world-class art to the widest possible audience.”

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is holding two photography exhibitions in Spring 2024. Owing to the fragility and light sensitivity neither will be travelling to Europe. 

A Persistent Pioneer: Hippolyte Bayard
April 9–July 7, 2024
Hippolyte Bayard—Parisian bureaucrat by day and persistent inventor and artist after hours—is one of the lesser-known pioneers of photography. This exhibition presents an extraordinarily rare opportunity to view some of Bayard’s highly fragile photographs dating from the 1840s—the first decade of the new medium—and to explore his early processes, subjects, and strategies to achieve recognition. It highlights Getty’s treasured Bayard album, one of the first photographic albums ever created.

Nineteenth-Century Photography Now
April 9–July 7, 2024
Given the ubiquity of photography in our lives, the small, sepia-toned images made in the 19th century may appear remote and unconnected to the present. Yet many of the conventions established when photographic technology was new and cutting-edge are still in use and relevant today. This exhibition provides fresh perspectives on Getty’s collection of 19th-century photography via the work of contemporary artists who respond directly to its historical themes and subject matter.

See: https://www.getty.edu/visit/exhibitions/future.html

Image: Hippolyte Bayard, Self-Portrait in the Garden, 1845-49, salted paper print, J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XO.968.20

Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections are awarded to promote research based on archival, manuscript, and printed books collections of the Bodleian Libraries. Approximately 25 awards are made each year to researchers external to the University of Oxford whose projects require use of these collections. Scholarship pursued within the fellowship research projects generates publications and may also be formally and informally disseminated through talks and presentations.

Of particular interest to BPH readers  is the Sloan Fellowship in Photography. This fellowship encourages researchers to come to Oxford and use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance their research in the history of photography and photographic books. The fellowship is offered in association with Trinity College, Oxford.

Previous Sloan recipients were: 

• Donna Brett, Associate Professor, University of Sydney. Topic: Modernist Photobooks, Propaganda and the Everyday
• Elizabeth Watkins, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Leeds. Topic: Tutankhamun: Colourisation and the Photographic Archive
• Tomáš Dvořák, Assistant Professor, Academy of Performing Arts In Prague. Topic: Czech Edition of William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature 

Details: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships

This year’s AHFAP conference will take place on the 2-3 of November at the iconic Barbican in East London. The keynote will be given by Catherine Croft, director of The Twentieth Century Society and editor of the C20 magazine. Prior to joining The Twentieth Century Society, she worked for English Heritage as a buildings inspector. She is also the author of a book on Concrete Architecture and regularly writes about contemporary as well as historic buildings.

The other speakers are: 

Jonathon Vines & Eugenio Falcioni: Endangered Archive Programme 
Supporting the work of the Endangered Archive Programme run by the British Library (EAP) in Lesotho and other countries: rewards, lessons and challenges from delivering digitisation workshops around the world.

Børre Høstland: New Museum. New location. New possibilities.
This presentation will focus on the newly opened National Museum of Norway and the motorized easel we have developed to enable us to work more accurately and create new possibilities of digitising artworks.

Tony Richards: Watermark Imaging - Why didn't I think of this before?
This talk will focus on a simplified method of watermark imaging. 

David Rowan: Photographing Japanese Scrolls at Birmingham Museums Trust
How we photographed multiple 15m long Japanese Scrolls at the Birmingham Museums Trust during Covid and while the museum was closed. 

George Eksts: Reverses
Between 2007 and 2021 I photographed nearly 200,000 works on paper. This is the story of their 'verso' sides, where accidental marks, damage, fragments of unfinished sketches, notes etc. were found.

Kevin Percival & Laura Humphreys: Memory Bank: Documenting Blythe House
Memory Bank aims to capture and record the current state of Blythe House, the home of the Science Museum, British Museum and V&A's archives.

Brittany Brighouse and Eelco Roelsma: From Home Scanner to DigiLab
Digitising the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning

Andrew Tunnard: Large Object Photography at the National Collections Centre
The SMG's National Collections Centre is currently undertaking a project photographing nearly 200 large objects, from the extra-large through fire engines and submarines, down to vans and cars. 

Jason Candlin: AI - Jobs for Robots or People?
A discussion paper looking at a number of areas where AI is having an effect on workload for scientific, technical and commercial photographers. 

The conference is open to non-members. Details: https://ahfap.org.uk/ahfap-conference-2023

Digital artist in residence Marie Smith presents work from their six month residency at the Horniman Museum and Gardens. Extraction: In conversation with Anna Atkins is Marie’s visual response to their residency which saw them research and explore two elements – people and worming. Marie utilised worming as a tool to aerate and find new paths of inquiry on the Horniman’s Nature Trail, and in its Gardens and collections. 

The online exhibition responds to the Horniman’s collection of cyanotypes of botanical specimens made by pioneering Victorian scientist and photographer Anna Atkins, and is inspired by photographs of the Horniman Nature Trail and Gardens, alongside leaves and flowers collected from the Nature Trail. During their visit to the Horniman archive, Marie spent three hours ‘in conversation’ with the Horniman’s historic copy of Atkins’ book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, made as cyanotype plates in 1848, one of four volumes of Atkins’ important books in the Horniman collection.

Noting that the word ‘extraction’ kept coming to mind, Marie took this as a prompt to reflect on Atkins’ legacy – not just as a botanist and photographer but as someone who married into a family that owned plantations and slaves in Jamaica - as well as the history of photography, and its past and present detriment to the environment. 

Cyanotypes of photos from the Nature Trail, alongside leaves and flowers collected there, are overlaid with a transcript of this conversation, addressing Marie’s thoughts and questions on Atkins’ legacy and work.

The exhibition is hosted online at horniman.ac.uk, with an accompanying video of Marie’s process of making cyanotypes, using plant or food-based developers instead of chemicals, filmed in the Horniman Gardens. 

Marie Smith says: ‘During my visit to the Horniman archive, I recorded my thoughts as I looked through Anna Atkins’ books on British Algae. This prompted a myriad of personal and theoretical thoughts that explored her working methodology, the life of the algae, the aesthetics of the cyanotypes as well as her explorations as a female artist in the 19th century. The word ‘extraction’ kept appearing and repeating itself in my mind. I took this as a way of commenting on Atkins’ legacy as well as reflecting on the history of photography which continues to have a detrimental effect on the environment.’

A digital trail marking Marie’s points of interest on the Nature Trail is available on the Bloomberg Connects app.

A reading list which informed Marie’s research and the outcomes of their residency at the Horniman can also be found online.

Marie’s six-month residency at the Horniman runs concurrently with artist, researcher and designer Adira Thekkuveettil’s digital residence at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bangalore, as part of a joint project in partnership with curator and expert in photography Zelda Cheatle.

Adira’s project, Nimbus, plays with ideas of ‘suggestions’ and ‘edits’ as tools of engagement with the MAP collection. Looking closely through Cumulus, the Museum’s Collection Viewing System, Adira looks at details in the entries of artworks and collections beyond the stated information. Drawing connections with other objects and artworks in the Museum’s collection, and proposing playful edits, adding both subjective, as well as objective information, Adira examines what forms ‘enrichment’ can take within a Museum’s collection, and in what ways close viewing can actually open up an archive to scrutiny.

Hear Marie and Adira in conversation with Zelda talking about their respective residencies via this link.

Marie has also been documenting their residency and sharing their experiences on their website.

The just published online Science Museum Journal contains many papers of interest to photographic historians. This is an open issue that is especially strong in demonstrating the power of museum collections in research – the ‘material turn’ about which so much has been written.

A case in point is the mini-collection Revealing Observatory Networks Through Object Stories in which Rebekah Higgitt approaches the study of observatories across the world by gathering nine ‘object biographies’ into three thematic papers in each of which three authors discuss objects illustrating the main theme. Archival objects are also studied here: Lucy Slater delves into the National Railway Museum’s civil defence archive to explore the railway’s response to nuclear threat, and Max Long analyses two data notebooks (A and B) in which pioneer natural history film-maker F Percy Smith recorded his craft. Graeme Gooday et al revisit the ‘Special Loan Collection’ of 1876, suggesting that it should be seen as an exercise in crowd-sourcing loans (mostly returned) rather than the basis of the permanent collections of the Science Museum. And Jo Gane adds a practice-based dimension to her research on the impact of experiments by a group of nineteenth-century Birmingham-based chemists on new photographic silver-plating techniques by reconstructing those techniques herself. The issue also includes obituaries of key contributors to science museum research and practice – Trevor Pinch and John Ward – and three book reviews.

Read it here: https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/issue/autumn-2023-2/

Image: Daguerreotype portraits of Francis Marrian, by George Shaw c. 1843 (Private collection). From Jo Gane's paper. 

The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain was formed in 1931 by Sam Weller FRPS and brought together leading practitioners of the Bromoil process, many of whom were - and are - members of the RPS. The Circle has recently deposited its archive of more than 600 Bromoil prints from former members and contemporary practitioners with the RPS In Bristol. This event celebrates the transfer with a display of examples from the archive, a demonstration of the process and workshop led by Circle President Ken Hill.

The events are free, but places on the workshop and demonstration are limited. The timings for the day are:

10.00am. RPS House opens

10.30am. Display from the Bromoil Circle Archive on view all day in the auditorium (no booking required)

11.00am. Demonstration of the Bromoil process by Ken Hill FRPS. Limited to 40 people

14.00pm. Bromoil workshop with Ken Hill FRPS. Numbers limited to 8 participants.

17.00pm. RPS House closes

The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain continues to operate as a postal portfolio and can reached via its website: https://www.thebromoilcircleofgreatbritain.com/

Details of the event are here: https://events.rps.org/4LrdQ66/4a2N4Lhk0L

Image: Ken Hill FRPS, Welsh Moor, Bromoil print, c.1980s.

The contribution of women to the first century of photography has been overlooked across the world, including in New Zealand. With few exceptions, photographic histories have tended to focus on the male maker.

This important book tilts the balance, unearthing a large and hitherto unknown number of women photographers, both professional and amateur, who operated in New Zealand from the 1860s to 1960, either as assistants in the early studios or later running studios in their own right.

It takes the reader on a journey through the backrooms of nineteenth and early twentieth-century photographic studios, into private homes, out onto the street and up into the mountains, and looks at the range of photographic practices in which women were involved. Through superb images and fascinating individual stories, it brings an important group of photographers into the light.

Through Shaded Glass: Women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860–1960
Lissa Mitchell
Hardback, 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9951384-9-0
NZ$75 (approx £36)

See: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/about/te-papa-press/contact-te-papa-press/dall-books-z/art-books/through-shaded-glass-women-an
and read a review by Professor Geoff Batchen here: https://www.artmonthly.org.au/

The RIBA Photo Festival celebrates the photography of architecture and the built environment in its many forms, through discussion and debate on the medium and its future in the digital age.

RIBA’s photographic collection comprises around 1.5 million images from the earliest days of photography to the present day. Used by students, scholars, architects, planners and heritage campaigners, as well as the wider public, RIBA's Collections continue to play a role in shaping many of our future buildings, towns and cities.

Details of the programme: https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/riba-photo-festival-2023#

Image: Basento bridge, Musmeci, Italy © Hélène Binet

For the second year running, anthotype and alternative photographic process artists from all over the world came together. On Saturday the 19 August 2023, anthotypes were created and photographic prints were made from plants and pigments. The second World Anthotype Day was celebrated by 139 artists creating vibrant and colourful photographs from homemade emulsions made from over 100 different plants, powders or dyes, and then exposing the prints in the sun.

World Anthotype Day was facilitated by a small team at AlternativePhotography.com and this book is a collection of the artists' research, process and notes to learn and draw inspiration from. Whether you are a beginner at the anthotype process or an experienced anthotype artist, this book is an invaluable reference that will save time, or provide inspiration.

Malin Fabbri has over her 23 years as an editor of AlternativePhotography.com combined her academic and practical experience to run the website. The website still maintains its origins as a source of information and research for alternative photographic processes and artists. Malin actively manages the expansion of the site as editor, researches alternative photographic processes, makes prints and runs workshops. She is the coauthor of Blueprint to cyanotypes and From pinhole to print, the editor of Alternative Photography: Art and Artists, Edition I, Anthotype Emulsions, Volume 1 and 2, and the author of Anthotypes – Explore the darkroom in your garden and make photographs using plants.

Anthotype Emulsions, Volume 2 – The collective research from photographers on World Anthotype Day 2023
Amazon Kindle
Paperback, 100 pages, full colour
ISBN: 979-8857428597
Details: https://www.alternativephotography.com/anthotype-emulsions-2/

This autumn, a new auction house, Canada Book Auctions, Neil D. MacDonald at the helm, is presenting two auctions of fine 19th and 20th century photography, featuring rare and exceptional material and photographers from three different estate collections. The Photographic History sale will be held on Wednesday, 1 November at 1 PM EST on LiveAuctioneers.com.

Their first auction will comprise 19th century photo work by D.F. Barry, Antonio Beato, Bonfils, Samuel Bourne, Étienne Carjat, Désiré Charnay, E.S. Curtis, Francis Frith, Alexander Gardner, Charles Marville, Julio Michaud, Nadar, Timothy O’Sullivan, William Henry Fox Talbot, among others. Materials will include stereoviews, lantern slides, daguerreotypes, tintypes, life and travel albums, and more from the collections of the late Robert Wilson (Toronto) and Harve Sherman (Toronto).

The sale will feature fine early 19th century travel photographs documenting China, India, Egypt and the Near East, Africa, Australia, and South East Asia. Some notable views of India will include work by Bourne & Shepherd, Francis Frith, Lala Deen Day, and others, featuring prints of the Golden Temples at Benares and Armritsar and Qutab Minar in Delhi, among others.

The following day Canada Book Auctions will be presenting an exceptional sale, Important Fine Photographs (2 November, 1 PM EST) on LiveAuctioneers.com. Featuring exquisite work by Ansel Adams, Thomas Annan, Richard Avedon, Brassaï, Wynn Bullock, Bruce Davidson, Eugene Durieux, Walker Evans, Arnold Genthe, Philippe Halsman, Fritz Henle, Lewis Hine, Yousuf Karsh, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Wendell MacRae, Joel Meyerowitz, Nadar, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, George Tice, Edward Weston, Clarence White, Max Yvano, and George Zimbel. Materials will include photographs from the collection of the late Miljenko Horvat (Montreal) and Harve Sherman.

Highlights will include Avedon’s signed portrait of Igor Stravinsky (1969; 25.5 x 20 cm); Adams’ signed silver print of “San Francisco from San Bruno” (1953; 37 x 47 cm); Steichen’s portrait of Mrs. A. G. Bowman in her superb wedding dress designed by Hattie Carnegie, published by Condé Nast (1933; 25 x 20 cm); Charnay’s print of “Île de la Réunion (Jardin Botanique)” (26.5 x 20 cm), taken during his Madagascar expedition; and Child’s albumen views of Peking (1875-80, 18.5 x 24 cm).

The sale will also include a selection of portraits by Cecil Beaton, most notably Beaton’s iconic portrait of Wallis Simpson posed by a masked statue covered in black tulle (24.5 x 29.5 cm), as well as his portraits of Graham Sutherland and John Augustus.

Of special import is a selection of rare and extraordinary 19th century Persian photographs by Antoin Sevruguin (1851-1933), an Iranian photographer working during the Qajar Dynasty (1785-1952). Sevruguin’s work was especially well-received by the reigning Shah at the time, and Sevruguin was made court photographer, photographing the royal court, harems, mosques, and other scenes of cultural significance. The prints in this collection feature many portraits of Kurdish, Persian, and Chaldean women, street scenes, cultural dress and customs. Prints from this collection include: water pipes (Hookahs); grinding wheat; portrait of Persian butcher; "Juive" (Jewish) wife of Kurdish chief; studio portrait of group of 4 women in veiled. The collection represents an exceptional selection of rare 19th century Persian material, impressive in both quantity and quality.

The sale will include a special collection of post-war British photography by Jane Bown, John Blakemore, Mark Edwards, Bert Hady, Thurston Hopkins, Martin Parr, and George Rodger, featuring portraits of Mick Jagger, James Baldwin, Jean Cocteau, Henry Moore, Samuel Beckett, and other superb subjects. These photographs are from the collection of Miljenko Horvat (1935-2012), Croatian-born artist and architect who immigrated to Canada in 1966 and spent much of his career here. Horvat was also an active curator, and the photographs of this section were featured in his 1987 exhibition “Realities Revisited: 15 British Photographers” (Montreal, Centre Saidye Bronfman). These photographs represent an exceptional collection away from the light for decades and is fresh to the market.

You can join Canada Book Auction’s mailing list via their website and subscribe to receive notifications and updates about these exciting upcoming sales.

Canada Book Auctions
1-41 Spadina Road
Toronto, ON
M5R 2S9
E: canadabookauctions@gmail.com
www.CanadaBookAuctions.com
Facebook: Canada Book Auctions
Instagram: @canadabookauctions

Auction: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/auctioneer/8124/canada-book-auctions/

Images: Top: A lot of 3 prints sold together. Thomas Child. TEMPLE PEKING. Albumen print photograph. Circa 1875, with others.  $800/$1,200
Left: Sevruguin, Antoin[e]. A large and important lot of exquisite 19th century photographs of PERSIA. 104 Albumen print photographs.  $20,000/$30,000

Community darkroom and photographic studio based in Bristol, Negative Thinking has launched a crowdfunder to support its move to new premises. Negative Thinking offers expert tuition and guidance in all things analogue. It says:  Our mission is to share the joy of handmade photography with as many people as possible and to encourage everyone that comes through our door to experiment with the infinite creative potential of picture making.

 A huge part of our ethos is accessibility; we want everyone to be able to experience handmade photography without barriers. This artform is for everyone, and Negative Thinking aims to create inclusive opportunities for people to experience these wonderful techniques for themselves, no matter where they come from. Photography is part of our shared heritage, and as such, belongs to us all.

 At Negative Thinking, we have been running workshops, artist residencies, talks, exhibitions and social events from our studio space in Totterdown for the last two years. Over this time we have built a wonderful community of photographers, artists, printmakers, thinkers, and friends.

We have loved being a part of the community in Totterdown, but sadly, our time there will soon have to come to an end.

Due to rent rises, we are being forced to look for a new home. This means we need to find new premises by January 2024. 

This is where you come in - we need your help to raise enough money to move our community to a new space where we'll continue our mission of spreading the joys of handmade, alternative photography. 

We knew this day would come, as the current studio has its limitations, and now we have a firm deadline for taking our next steps. 

Just wait and see what we have in store for you!

 We'll need to start from scratch all over again; building everything we need to continue to offer our low cost workshops and courses, and to keep our community alive. 

Our new space will be accessible, welcoming, and open to all those that wish to learn, to experience, to grow, and to find their own creative potential. 

The rewards we're offering for your support reflect our commitment to community building - we want you to use our space for your creative projects long into the future. 

 How do we plan on spending the money? Well, firstly, we need to secure a new building into which we can move; deposits, up-front rental costs, legal costs. Then we must make the space fit for purpose. We'll need to build walls, plumb in the darkroom, and wire the place up for electricity. 

After the work is done, we'll also need funds to move the studio and darkroom equipment into the new space, which in itself is no mean feat!

Negative Thinking was set up as a response to the need for a community for analogue photographers and artists in Bristol. It is a place for sharing ideas, for learning about the history of photography, and for dreaming about where it can take us. 

See: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-new-home-for-negative-thinking

Techne is now welcoming applications for fully-funded studentships across the arts and humanities beginning in autumn 2024. The University of Westminster is one of nine universities that make up the AHRC-funded Techne Doctoral Training Partnership. Techne supports outstanding students pursuing the ‘craft’ of research through innovative, interdisciplinary and creative approaches across the arts and humanities. For more information on Techne and the types of projects it funds, please visit the Techne website. 

As well as financial support, Techne offers a developmental framework for doctoral researchers across the collaborating institutions, with research training, supportive community networks, professional and public engagement opportunities, and a space for both independent and collaborative scholarship.

At Westminster the following are involved: 

• MPhil/PhD Creative Media
• MPhil/PhD Film
• MPhil/PhD Photography
• MPhil/PhD Visual Arts
• MPhil/PhD Media Studies
• MPhil/PhD English Literature
• MPhil/PhD English Language
• MPhil/PhD Visual Culture
• MPhil/PhD Modern and Applied Languages

https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees/studentships/techne-ahrc-doctoral-training-partnership-studentships-0