The London Stereoscopic Society is presenting two 3D talks on different aspects of stereoscopy. 

Derby, Saturday 13 April 2019 at 6.00 pm

This event takes place at QUAD as part of FORMAT19

https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/art-events/stereoscope-magic-carpet-time-machine

The stereoscope: a magic carpet and a time machine rolled into one.

At a time when there was no television, cinema, phone or internet, there was … the Stereoscope ! Invented before photography but really introduced to the public during the Great Exhibition of 1851 the stereoscope had a slow start before becoming the object of a real craze from 1855 onwards. This magical instrument opened a window onto a world few Victorians could afford to see for real. It enabled the middle class to visit virtually, in 3-D,  all the famous sights they had read about or seen as woodcuts in illustrated magazines, without any of the risks attached to travelling and without leaving the comfort of their homes. To the present viewer the stereoscope doubles as a wonderful time machine which takes them not only there but also back then. Come and see Dickens, Napoleon III, Brunel, Queen Victoria and many other famous and anonymous Victorians as they really were and as you have never seen them before.

Oxford, Saturday 27 April 2019, 2.00 to 2.50 pm  and 3.00 to 3.50 pm

Join photo historians for an activity day exploring Victorian Oxford and the wonders of 3D vision. Find out what historical photos can reveal, make your own lift-the-flap model of the brain, and dress up for a Victorian selfie.

Lecture Theatre, Blackwell Hall, Weston Library 

 https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2019/april/victorian-oxford-through-the-stereoscope

Victorian Oxford through the Stereoscope

Between 1857 and 1860 the firm Spiers and Son, from 102 & 103 High Street, Oxford, commissioned some of the most famous stereo photographers of the period to document Oxford for the Stereoscope. Using original negatives from the Weston Library archives and positive prints from Dr Brian May’s collection, photo historian Denis Pellerin will take you on a journey back in time through the streets of Oxford. Denis will explain how the images were taken and will show you how you can easily emulate Oxford photographers of a bygone era with a simple smartphone app. Step into the 3-D images, visit Oxford ‘in depth’ as it was then, meet one of the very first photo bombers, and discover the city of ‘Spiers’ as you’ve never seen it before.

The V&A is the world's leading museum of art and design. We enrich people's lives by promoting the practice of design and increasing knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world.

The Conservation Department fulfills a major role in helping the Museum deliver its wider objectives. It has a worldwide reputation for the excellence of its practical work, for innovative ideas and for pioneering the scientific and ethical approach to conservation, also for sharing this expertise.

You should have a recognised qualification in Photographs and/or Paper Conservation and suitable working experience to demonstrate the ability to work largely independently.

You will be expected to bring a portfolio with 2 – 3 examples of your work to the interview.

Closing date for applications - Sunday, 31 March 2019, by midnight

Interviews to be held Wednesday, 10^th April 2019

See more here:

A collection of Victorian stereoviews of Clifton Suspension Bridge and other significant bridges from across the globe are being conserved and digitised thanks to support from The Murless Fund (SANHS) and the Aurelius Charitable Trust. 

In 2018 the archives of Adrian Andrews - an expert in the history of engineering and of the Clifton Suspension Bridge - were donated to the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust. Within the archives was a collection of over two hundred stereoscopic photographic cards, one hundred of which feature the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Avon Gorge area. Stereoscopic views were immensely popular from the late 1850s onwards. The technique uses two photographs taken from slightly different angles to replicate human vision; when seen through a viewer the illusion of a 3-D image is created. Within the Collection are images showing the Clifton Suspension Bridge’s abandoned towers and its completion from 1862 to 1864. These offer a rare visual record of its construction. The photographs show workmen atop the towers hauling up 24ft-long wrought iron links, and jib cranes, scaffolding, and other equipment taking materials up and across the Avon Gorge.

Once conserved, the images will be made available via our website in April. If you would like to see the collection and hear more about the project, then pop into the Visitor Centre at 2pm on Wednesday 10th April to meet the archivist and see the collection in person.  For more information about the project please contact Hannah Little, Archivist, email: archives@cliftonbridge.org.uk. 

Find out more about the project here: https://www.cliftonbridge.org.uk/stereoscopic-photographs

Stephen Bulger Gallery is presenting Two Generations of Photography, its first exhibition of work by Minna Keene FRPS (b.Arolsen, Germany, 1861; d.Oakville, Canada, 1943) and Violet Keene Perinchief (b.Bath, UK, 1893; d.Oakville, Canada, 1987)

This exhibition brings together two generations of work by famed photographers from the early 20th Century. A mother and daughter who each operated commercial photography studios and excelled in the art of photography while exhibiting their award-winning photographic prints in international salon exhibitions.

This exhibition highlights examples of the different methods of their photographic practice which spans from the 1890s through the 1940s. Minna Keene, née Bergman, lived in Britain, South Africa, and Canada. She emigrated to the United Kingdom between 1870-1880 and married Caleb Keene, a noted painter and decorator. Minna was a member of the London Salon of Photography and in 1908 was the first woman to be admitted as a Fellow to the Royal Photographic Society. She was also asked to join the Linked Ring in the final year of that illustrious circle.

Minna’s first photographic work was of plant life, for which she made exposures during different stages of growth. Later, she made a successful series of ornithological photographs that illustrated English textbooks which remained in use over several decades. In 1903 Minna emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa, and made studies of Boer life while operating an active photography studio and raising two children. She exhibited her photographs of Boer life at the Lyceum Club, London, in April 1907. In 1910 she exhibited in the Fifty-fifth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, and again each year until 1929. In 1911 Minna’s photograph of her daughter Violet entitled Pomegranates, was awarded Picture of the Year at the London Photographic Salon.    

In late 1913 the Keene family moved to Canada, first settling in Montréal, and then in Toronto. Minna was practising as a professional photographic portraitist and was commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railwayto photograph the Rockies in 1914 and 1915. In 1920 she opened a studio in Toronto and then relocated to Oakville in 1922.

In 1926, Minna was featured in a Maclean’s magazine article that mentions the highlights of her career and enthuses about her being a “Home lover!”. In the 1930s Minna continued to exhibit internationally and was assisted in the studio by her daughter Violet who eventually succeeded her, and also became a photographer in demand at the Eaton’s photography studio in Toronto on College Street. While serving as the manager of the Eaton’s photography studio, Violet operated her own portrait studio in Oakville and throughout her career photographed major figures of her time including Aldous Huxley, George Bernard Shaw, Amelia Earhart, W.B Yeats, and The Right Honourable The Earl of Bessborough, 14th Governor General of Canada.

See more here: https://www.bulgergallery.com/exhibitions/33/overview/

With thanks to Dr Malcolm Corrigall for bringing the exhibition to BPH's attention. 

Image: 

38 photographs taken by renowned Liverpool photographer, Edward Chambré Hardman in and around his Rodney Street home and studio are to go on display  for the first time, four years after they were discovered by chance in the photographer’s darkroom.

The photos were developed from 23 rolls of film, found in the darkroom of the former studio is now named Hardman House – and managed by the National Trust. During an inventory, the box containing the film rolls was discovered in the Hardman’s cluttered darkroom. Five of the rolls featured pictures that had never been developed or seen by anyone since Hardman pressed the shutter, and, despite having been left in a cardboard box for all that time, they will now for part of an exhibition at the property. They provide a previously unseen glimpse of Hardman’s view of his Georgian Quarter home, neighbours and street scenes.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Southport and Formby National Trust Association, in 2019 these photos will be on display at the Hardmans' House,  giving visitors an insight into the processes used by Hardman, his photography techniques and how much of Hardman’s artistry we have at our fingertips today.

See more here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardmans-house/features/developing-history-

E Chambre Hardman house : https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardmans-house

A blog posting by Weitian Liu, an Enlight Foundation scholar, pursuing an MPhil in History of Photography, describes the acquisition of some 900 negatives by James Pugh, AIBP. ARPS. between 1967 and 1972  which have been added to the St Andrews University Special Collection.

The negatives were bought at a car boot sale by the donor and mostly show older buildings and ruins in Scotland: castles, bridges, churches and monuments.

Little is known about the life of the photographer who was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Photographic Society and Institute of British Photographers. They have been added recently to the university's catalogue for photographic collections.

Read the full blog here.

Are you passionate about connecting museum collections and audiences? Across Science Museum Group, our curatorial team are committed to inspiring futures by sustaining and growing our world-class collection and delivering a creative and bold programme of outputs including exhibitions, galleries, events and online narratives.

To support this vision, we are looking for an Associate Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology to join us at the National Science and Media Museum, in Bradford, on a permanent contract.

In this role, you will work with a dynamic curatorial team to manage, develop, research, interpret and present the photography and photographic technology collections of the National Science and Media Museum.

Joining us, you will bring excellent knowledge of the history of photography; museum collections management experience, strong communications skills, and an ability to tell stories; allowing you to carry out research and work with specialists to communicate authentic stories and reveal wonder.

You will be offered excellent benefits including 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, BUPA medical and dental healthcare, the ability to join our excellent pension scheme, an interest free loan offer and numerous staff discounts whilst developing your career in a world class museum group.

See more here

Click here to view the Vacancy Information Pack which provides details of the role and supporting statement questions.

Chiswick Auctions is delighted to have been appointed to sell an important private collection of photographic works by one of the most important photographers in the development of photography, Francis Bruguière (1879-1945).  Works include unseen and unpublished photographic prints and negatives spanning the ground-breaking photographer’s career. They will be offered in a single-owner sale of Photographica on 19 March, 2019.

UPDATED: the catalogue can now be viewed here.

Austin Farahar, Head of Chiswick Auctions Photographica department, said: “This sale poses an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire some of the most exciting, experimental and thoroughly progressive photographic works by any visual artist in the early part of the 20th century. Seeing a broad selection of work from across such an important photographer’s career gives a fascinating insight into a man that was one of the most fearless and dedicated practitioners to ever pick up a camera.”

Having studied painting, American-born Francis Bruguière met and was inspired by Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and art promoter in 1905, who accepted him as a Fellow of the Photo-Secession - an early 20th century movement that promoted photography as a fine art.

Following this he set up a studio in San Francisco, encapsulating images of the city post-earthquake and fire in   ‘pictorial’ style that Stieglitz favoured, with soft-focus images imitating painting. In 1910 he participated in the International Photo-Secession Exhibition, organized by Stieglitz at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo. It featured four of Bruguière’s photographs taken on a trip to Europe and clearly showed him experimenting with ‘straight’ photography, featuring sharp focus. He began experimenting with multiple-exposure photographs, which would later lead to abstractions.

On moving to New York and opening a studio in 1918, he photographed for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Vanity Fair and also became the official photographer for the Theatre Guild until 1927, photographing well-known actors on Broadway. In this role he photographed the British stage actress Rosalinde Fuller OBE (1892-1982), who he went on to marry. The sale contains numerous images of the actress.

His interest in theatrical photography stayed with him and he later planned to make a film titled ‘The Way’ representing the various stages of a man’s life. The film was to feature the actor Sebastian Droste (1892-1927), alongside his wife Rosalinde. To raise funds for the film Bruguière took photographs of the projected scenes, however Droste tragically died before production and the film didn’t go ahead. We have a selection of these still photographs in the sale.

During all of this time Bruguière had been experimenting with abstracts, multiple exposure, photograms, original processes and solarization, (way ahead of photographers such as Man Ray). Following a move to London he worked on a series of new light experiments. In 1930, he and Oswell Blakeston (1907–1985), a British writer working in the film industry created England's first abstract film called Light Rhythms, which was an abstract film based on a series of Bruguière's light abstractions. It showed light and shape in a new way and included moving light sources and an arrangement of superimpositions.

The sale of this fascinating private collection is in three parts; the first section features Bruguière’s early works that capture the Broadway stage and his Surrealist experiments for a film that he planned to make called ‘The Way’. These images are now heralded as the first surrealist works by an American photographer and exhibit very early use of multiple exposure. 

Examples include; Experiment from The Way, which dates from c.1923-1925 and depicts the actor and dancer, Sebastian Droste. The work is a multiple exposure, vintage silver gelatin print complete with the original large format negative image, gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film. It is estimated to fetch £5,000-£8,000.

A theatrical portrait of Rosalinde Fuller from 1920 depicts Bruguière’s life partner. A vintage silver gelatin print, it is signed and dated recto by the photographer in pencil, and with an inscription by Rosalinde Fuller in pencil to the verso.  It is estimated at £1,000-£1,500.

The second section of the sale includes a range of previously unseen negatives of Bruguière’s time in London. They feature key London landmarks and offer a slice of social history from the 1920s and 30s as you’ve never seen it.

A work titled Multiple Exposure, London (above) depicts a typical London scene of children and prams with a highly individualistic approach taken in 1929. An uncropped negative image in gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film, it is estimated to fetch £500-£800.  A London landmark is captured in a unique way in Trafalgar Square, London, Night Study. Dating from circa 1930. The long exposure, negative images is expected to fetch between £400-£600.

London, Zeppelin explores shape, form and light, juxtaposing a crane and construction works, with a zeppelin in the sky. The work is an unmarked negative image in gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film and dates from circa 1930. It is estimated at £200-£300.

The third section is a rich selection of Bruguière’s personal experimental work, where he again pushed the boundaries of photography, developing his photographic practice further with solarisation, still life and multiple exposure and photo montage. Rosalinde Fuller and Other Models (solarization), which dates from between 1936-1940 demonstrates Bruguière’s exploration of the solarization technique, a method of manual image manipulation far ahead of the simple photoshop method used today. Through exposure to sunlight during the negative development process, images are completely or partially reversed in tone and dark areas appear light and light areas appear dark. The piece is an Eastman Nitrate Kodak negative image, gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film. It is estimated to fetch £600-£800.

Hands with Rose (solarization) is another arresting still life image where certain forms appear as dark and light shadows, using the solarization technique. It is estimated to fetch £400-£600.

See the auction house website here: https://chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/

The next London Photograph Fair Collectors Fair takes place in in new location on Sunday 17th March 2019 at the Hellenic Centre in Marylebone. Exhibitors include: Allsworth Rare Books, Roland Belgrave, Pablo Butcher, Linus Carr, Classic Photographics/Paul Cordes, Daniella Dangoor, Arnaud Delas, James Hong, Diana Howlett, Malcolm, Dr Jens Mattow, Richard Meara, Pump Park Photographs, Hugh Ashley Rayner, Ian Sumner, Lisa Tao, Bruno Tartarin, The Front, Christine Wilhelm and Jason Wright. 

This will be followed by the London Photograph Fair : Special Edition now a Photo London Satellite Event, which takes place Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th May 2019 at Kings College, Strand, next door to Photo London at Somerset House.

See more here: http://www.photofair.co.uk/

The scope of John Thomson’s photographic portraits in China is astonishing, especially considering the challenges which faced an itinerant photographer in the mid-nineteenth century.

Angela Cheung, a doctoral student in the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, London, explores in greater detail how and why Thomson took certain photographs, and who the audience was for his portraiture, as well as how his photography was disseminated and consumed following his return.

Russell-Cotes Museum and Art Gallery
Sunday 28th April, 2pm
Entry to the talk is £4, or free for Friends of the Russell-Cotes.
Please book in advance to ensure your place.  Ask at the Welcome Desk, ring 01202 451820, or book online here.

The museum is showing the exhibition: China, through the lens of John Thomson 1868-72

See more: http://russellcotes.com/whats-on/

A touring exhibition highlighting the work of Norfolk photographer Olive Edis will head to Great Yarmouth’s library next month. It is the final stop for the touring display, The Road to Ypres: The War Photography of Olive Edis, which will be at the library from March 1-31. The new venue coincides with the centenary of when the photographs were taken by Edis.

The display was curated by Norfolk Museums Service staff at Cromer Museum and has been touring for two years, including stopping off at venues in Sheringham, King’s Lynn and Norwich’s Millennium Library.

Edis was approached in 1918 by the Imperial War Museum’s Women’s Work Sub-Committee and commissioned to photograph the work of the British Women’s Services in Europe. The trip was delayed due to a precarious military situation in 1918 and some opposition to sending a women to photograph an active war zone. However, in 1919 Edis travelled to France armed with her large plate camera, becoming the first British woman to be commissioned as an official war photographer. She was one of only five photographers commissioned to cover the First World War.

Throughout the journey she kept a fascinating diary of her adventures where she recorded the stories behind the photographs and her reactions to the destruction that she saw all around her. The touring exhibition features reproductions from the Cromer Museum collection as well as rarely-seen images from The Imperial War Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Images are accompanied by extracts from Edis’ war diary allowing the story to be told in her own words.

Councillor Margaret Dewsbury, Chairman of Norfolk County Council’s Communities Committee, said: “It’s fantastic that so many people have been able to see Olive Edis’ work as the exhibition has toured around Norfolk. The display at Great Yarmouth library is extra special as it coincides with the centenary of when the images were taken. It’s the last chance for people to go along and have a look at this thought-provoking display in Norfolk.” 

As 8 March is also International Women's Day, Great Yarmouth Library is also hosting a celebration event, in conjunction with Great Yarmouth Soroptimists and GROS. The event will showcase the work and achievements of women across the borough and beyond. There will be speakers, stories, music, poetry and lunch. The event runs from 10am to 2pm and is free but ticketed. 

An exhibition at Norwich Castle and the permanent Fishermen and Kings: The Photography of Olive Edis gallery at Cromer Museum have allowed thousands of people to explore her work. The Cromer gallery can be accessed from April when the museum re-opens for 2019. Find out more about the permanent display via the Norfolk Museums website.

There is also currently a display featuring more than 60 photographs called Olive Edis: Photographer at Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life. This includes items borrowed from Cromer Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Oliver Bone, Curator said: “Olive Edis was a remarkable woman. She was well-educated, forward thinking, a visionary, an astute business entrepreneur and most importantly a talented photographer with a natural affinity for her subjects – however grand or humble each was afforded respect and dignity."

The Thetford exhibition runs until Saturday 14 September.

The Association for Art History’s Summer Symposium is a two-day annual conference that highlights current doctoral and early career research. This year the Summer Symposium celebrates its twentieth anniversary. The 2019 event will focus on research on photography and other forms of printed matter.

Held at the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, the conference aims to explore the links between process and product, as well as drawing attention to the variety of different practices and techniques often categorised under the rubric of ‘prints’.

The place of photography at St Andrews is well established. Early practitioners of the medium such as John and Robert Adamson made this small Scottish seaside town the subject of their first experimentations, and the legacy of their work continues to inspire those living and working in St Andrews today. Every year the St Andrews Photography Festival attracts a wide range of contemporary photographers and visitors, while the School of Art History offers a unique MLitt in the History of Photography that focuses specifically on the evolution of the medium, highlighting the University’s extensive collections.

Inspired by these institutional connections, the Summer Symposium asks instead how the influence of photography and print making technologies may connect the local, the national and the international, as well as the historical and the contemporary. For instance, writing on cameraless photography, Jonathan Griffin states that ‘photograms have more in common with print-making, or even with the world’s oldest known paintings: outlines of hands silhouetted by pigment blown on to cave walls in Indonesia and northern Spain, dating from around 40,000 BCE’. Acknowledging this extended genealogy allows us to re-assess the dominant role that prints and photographic images have played across the arts.

Since the invention of the printing press, the potential for the widespread circulation of words and images has increased exponentially. The second main theme of this conference, then, invites reflection on the way we mediate, contextualise and interpret images through printed matter. From captions to contextualisations, illuminated manuscripts to light-sensitive papers, printed matter encompasses a variety of different artefacts including artist’s books, illustrations, engravings, and even art historical texts themselves. Indeed, the photographing or engraving of artworks has enjoyed a crucial role in the reception and the pedagogy of art history regardless of the time period or the geographical location under study.

Considering these strong links between prints and practice, how might the development of new technologies help us think differently about past practices and mechanisms? How might the pervasiveness of photographs and prints, and their potential for replication, lead us to ignore their effects and sociological impact? What, for example, might we learn from the way these technologies are used to create norms or influence how we interpret artworks? Alternatively, to what extent might photography still be considered as ‘other’ in relation to the fine arts, or be involved in processes of ‘othering’ itself? This conference aims to prompt discussion regarding the transhistorical and transnational use of photographs and prints in art history, and the various purposes, projects and contexts in which they are deployed.

HOW TO PROPOSE A PAPER

Topics can include but are not limited to:

• The significance and legacy of St Andrews in the history of photography
• The impact of the replication and reproducibility of images in art history
• The importance of process on final product e.g. the collaborative nature of printmaking, the role of technology in the creation of art, the different types of printmaking mechanisms (lithography, screenprints, or printing in wax through the medium of sealing)
• Histories of collecting and curating ephemeral objects, including the role of photography in the museum as a means of conservation or display
• Practice-led or practice-based approaches to photography and print-making
• Printed matter in the widest possible remit, including the use of images, captions and illustrations in manuscripts, books, and comics
• The various purposes and contexts in which photography and prints are deployed e.g. medical, anthropology, scientific, microscopic
• The role of print making technologies in reception and art history e.g. the photographing of artworks
• Cameraless photography and the intersection of photography and printmaking

Writing the histories and theories of photography. We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers which explore these themes or which address any other aspect of legacies of photography and printed matter across history.

As this is the 20th year of the Summer Symposium, there will be a special opportunity to visit the University of St Andrews Photographic Collections.

Please send a Word document with your contact information, paper title, an abstract of no more than 300 words, and a short biographical note. The submission of abstracts is open to current doctoral researchers and early career researchers within 5 years of receiving their doctorate.

Download the call here. Please email paper proposals by 29 March 2019 to: DECR@forarthistory.org.uk

Tickets are now on sale for the symposium: The Camera, Colonialism and Social Networks, from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Join us to hear talks on themes inspired by the photographic collection of E A Hornel, delivered by nine academics, curators, collections managers and researchers from around the UK.

During this symposium, we’ll hear how networks used for sharing photographs have developed and changed, from photography’s earliest history to today’s social media platforms. Many of Hornel’s photographs came from Japan, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and Myanmar (then Burma). They ask sometimes uncomfortable questions about how ‘foreign’ people and places were viewed and photographed by western visitors. During the symposium we’ll explore examples of this from around the world, from Hornel’s time to today.

Taking place in Hornel’s ornate gallery in Broughton House, this symposium is a fantastic opportunity for anyone with an interest in Hornel, the imagery of colonialism or the continually evolving medium of photography and the networks that sustain it, to meet and hear from similarly interested academics, researchers and enthusiasts.

See the programme and book here: https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/events/symposium-the-camera-colonialism-and-social-networks

The Royal Photographic Society's Historical Group will be holding a series of photo-history talks on Saturday, 9 March at the Society's new photography centre in Bristol. The three confirmed speakers are Debbie Ireland who will talk about the life and photography of Isabella Bird, Malcolm Corrigall who will discuss Minna Keene in South Africa 1903-1913, and Michael Pritchard who will discuss the growth of photographic societies in Britain. 

The day will also offer the opportunity to look around the Society's new building, including the new exhibition space which is showing the 161st International Photography exhibition and the resource centre.

The Martin Parr Foundation, which is adjacent to RPS House, will be showing an exhibition A Contested Land from Document Scotland. 

Entry to the talks is free, but seats need to be booked,

See: http://www.rps.org/events/2019/march/09/historical-group-afternoon-lectures-all-welcome

Image: Minna Keene, Malay Woman © Malcolm Corrigall

Following two inspiring international conferences about the role of Women Photographers, held at Tate Modern in April 2015 and National Gallery of Art in Lithuania in 2017, we are hosting the third conference at Tate Modern, in autumn 2019. Through a mix of call for papers and invited speakers, this public event aims to bring together key voices from across the globe to explore and identify critical themes and issues pertinent to how women work photographically in the 20th and 21st century and recognising their contributions to the medium’s history. We will explore the wide range of working practices both historical and contemporary, addressing key themes in current photography research and celebrating important work produced.

Please find the call for papers below. The themes for the conference are set out in the call for papers. We encourage submissions that embrace the following principles: an inclusive definition of gender, an interest in diverse practices, global perspectives and alternative approaches to education.

This event is organised in partnership with University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and London College of Communication (LCC) at University of the Arts London Photography (UAL), with support from The Leverhulme Trust International Network Grant. 

This conference seeks to open a discussion on the below topics, inviting new research which responds to contemporary issues around photographic practices, collecting and gender disparity. In what ways can the framing of photographic practice be reimagined?

Theme 1: Sharing the Self and Others

The act of photography is often a performative one – either as an actual performance before the camera or as a performative act of practice. The emergence of picture-based social media has also produced a plethora of diaristic commentaries on women’s lives, from intimate family picture blogs and feeds (many of which are financially profitable) to commentaries on fashion, food and health. – What is the relationship between performance and photography today? – How have women worked with performativity and photography? – How is photography used to share the personal? – What are the ethics involved in professionals working with this type of material, historic and contemporary?

Theme 2: In and Out of the Museum

Women’s work has been collected by museums far less than the work of men yet there is little recorded research to investigate why and how this has happened. Women’s work has also been largely hidden from view, buried in collections that often don’t get shown or discussed. – Is the act of collecting either as an institution or as an individual a performative, self-referential act? – How do museums acquire and collect photography, while considering gender parity? – How do photography collections respond and develop in dialogue with audiences? – How could collection strategies be reimagined?

Theme 3: Connected Practices

This theme aims to address ideas around the work of collectives, skill sharing, processes, alienation, working with specific networks, solidarity, artists collaborating with curators and with other artists and photographers. – How have ways of working together enabled new forms of photographic practice? – What kinds of collaboration or connected practices have enhanced visibility and how? – What opportunities does the medium of photobooks offer practitioners? – How are social media and new technologies creating new spaces for activism around the globe?

Theme 4: Global Stories

The history of photography and even representations of contemporary photography told today often focus on particular regions to the exclusion of others, overlooking international connections and stories. – In what way has the increased visibility of photography from different localities impacted established photographic histories and the [western?] Canon?’ – What are the contemporary responses to investigating archives? – How are photographers responding to notions of displacement and diaspora?

Theme 5: How do Women Work?

This section considers how women photographers have negotiated and navigated their way to photographic opportunities by inviting papers which explore the position of women, past, present and future working in the industry, art and photography practice. – What role does gender play in photographic practice? – How have women photographers navigated spaces of conflict and war? – How is the organisation of photography’s practice changing in response to contemporary developments in education, technologies and the industry? – What roles do developing technologies and social media play in the development of women’s photographic careers?

Submission of papers as follows:

1st March 2019 – Deadline for submission of 500 word abstract and CV or link to a webpage. The abstract must be submitted as a single PDF file, please DO NOT include any images.

16th May 2019 – Successful applicants will be notified after this date.

Please email submissions to: Fastforward@ucreative.ac.uk

See more here: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/conference/fast-forward-how-do-women-work

Conference FAST FORWARD: HOW DO WOMEN WORK
Tate Modern, London, UK
30 November – 1 December 2019

For any enquiries please email: Fastforward@ucreative.ac.uk

The open call can be also found on Tate Modern website.

Charles Piazzi Smyth, second Astronomer Royal for Scotland (1846-1888), had a career that took him to the Cape of Good Hope, Tenerife and Egypt and encompassed interests spanning mountaintop observation, photography, spectroscopy, meteorology, metrology and pyramidology. He was responsible for developing a time service for Edinburgh, with a time ball on Calton Hill and time gun fired from Edinburgh Castle. He was in close correspondence with many of the leading scientific figures of the day, including John Herschel, who encouraged his early experiments in photography, and was a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh.

In this bicentennial meeting  speakers are invited to explore the life, work and legacy of Smyth. We aim to bring together historians, natural and social scientists, curators, archivists and others in order to do justice to the wide range of Smyth’s interests, to consider the objects and papers he left behind and the on-going fascination generated by his often pioneering and sometimes eccentric work.

We welcome abstracts of c.200 words proposing 30-minute papers, which should be sent to r.higgitt@kent.ac.uk by 5 April 2019. We particularly welcome those that consider:

• Smyth’s contributions to astronomy and the legacy of the approaches he pioneered, including in spectroscopy and mountaintop observation
• Smyth’s heritage, including objects, archives and buildings, in Edinburgh and beyond
• Smyth’s work on metrology and pyramids, and its significance to Egyptology
• Smyth’s beliefs, reactions to and controversies surrounding his work and reputation
• The visualisation of astronomy, in history and today
• The history of photography and stereography
• 19th-century time distribution and its legacies
• Smyth’s family, including his naval officer and astronomer father, William Henry Smyth, and geologist wife, Jessie Duncan Piazzi Smyth.

Confirmed speakers include Michael Barany, Jenny Bulstrode, Sarah Dry, David Rooney and Charles Withers, with keynotes from Simon Schaffer and Denis Pellerin (Curator of Brian May’s photographic collection). The event will include visits to key locations, including the recently reopened City Observatory on Calton Hill and the Smyth and Crawford Collections at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. It is hoped that the event will lead to a publication.

The symposium is being organised by Rebekah Higgitt (Senior Lecturer in History of Science, University of Kent), Andy Lawrence (Regius Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh) and Chris Hall (Curator, Royal Society of Edinburgh). We are grateful to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Centre for the History of the Sciences at the University of Kent for their support.

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Call for Papers – Stars, Pyramids & Photographs: Charles Piazzi Smyth, 1819-1900

A symposium to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Piazzi Smyth

The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 3-4 September 2019

Hans P Kraus Jr Fine Photographs will be opening a new exhibition Lacock Abbey. Birthplace of Photography on Paper at his New York gallery on 2. It runs until10 March 2019. The exhibition brings together work from Willam Henry Fox Talbot, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Abelardo Morell and Mike Robinson artists first shown together in the well-received PhotoLondon exhibition Sun Pictures: Then and Now in 2018

See: http://sunpictures.com/html/

Image: William Henry Fox TALBOT (English, 1800-1877) Sharington's Tower, Lacock Abbey, 6 April 1842. Salt print from a calotype negative, 16.8 x 17.8 cm plus margins. Dated by Talbot in the negative

A major exhibition of photographs depicting the changing face of the Isle of Wight since the 1860s has opened at Dimbola on the Isle of Wight. The photographs, which include countryside and coastal views, shipwrecks, transport and social scenes, are drawn from the collections of Professor Robin McInnes OBE of St Lawrence and Andy Butler of Ventnor. The images illustrate how the way of life of Island residents and the natural and built environments have changed over time.
The collections have been formed over the past forty years. Professor Robin McInnes OBE is a coastal scientist, art historian and author. Andy Butler is a retired commercial fisherman and Past President of the IW Natural History & Archaeological Society.

Robin McInnes: A Portrait of the Isle of Wight 1860-1950 / until 14 April 2019
22nd February – 14th April
Dimbola, Freshwater, Isle of Wight
See: http://www.dimbola.co.uk/robin-mcinnes-a-portrait-of-the-isle-of-wight-1860-1950/

The History and Theory of Photography Research Centre at Birkbeck, London, has a series of spring seminars which are free and and open to all.

Tuesday 26 March 2019, 6-7:30pm

Room 114 (Keynes Library), 46 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD

Jennifer Tucker, History Department and Science in Society Program, Wesleyan University

Load, Point and Shoot:  Cameras, Gun Cartridges, and the ‘Black Boxes’ of History

This paper explores what it might mean for historians to take seriously the shared history of firearms and cameras, two technologies that co-evolved in the 19th century and that have had a profound impact on society ever since. As David Campbell writes, ‘the technologies of the gun and camera…evolved in lockstep’. (Campbell 2012; Landau 2002; Virilio 1984). My paper extends this notion by analysing further the many different and often unexpected aspects of the historical relationship between cameras and guns. Drawing on new archival research on 19th and early 20th century camera and firearm production and consumption in Britain and the U.S., my paper documents their complementarity at several levels (of structure, chemistry, industrial organization, research, and marketing), aiming to address how and why the technologies function, why they are interoperable, and how their study highlights new ways of thinking about technoscience and the ‘black boxes’ of history. Technologies such as cameras and guns, I suggest, pose certain shared methodological problems for historians and raise broader questions about the writing of history and the role of the historian in ethical discussions about their production and use.

April 14-19 (day tbc)

As part of Birkbeck’s Arts Week 2019, Mathilde Bertrand, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, France, and visiting scholar at the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, will be talking about her current research on community photography in Britain.

Wednesday 8 May 2019, 6-7:30pm

Mirjam Brusius, German Historical Institute, London, will be talking about research for her forthcoming book The Absence of Photography: William Henry Fox Talbot.

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

Image: Laurie Simmons, Walking Gun (1991), gelatin-silver print, Metropolitan Museum of Art