De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre is recruiting students for the 2017/18 academic year for its highly regarded Photographic History MA. A postgraduate coffee evening is being held on 7 June. 

Reasons to study Photographic History MA at DMU:

• Digital and analogue photographic histories
  practices, images, theories and research methodologies are all elements that will be learnt on the course
• Investigate social and cultural roles 
  in Photography throughout its history as well as its significance in present-day cultures and societies
• Work alongside a renowned team of expert scholars 
  from the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC) and beyond
• Attend conferences, seminars and research activities 
  organised by the PHRC, and benefit from its outstanding links with major photographic museums, archives and collections in the UK and abroad
• “A significant contribution to the landscape of photographic education” 
  as referred to by the External examiner Prof Darren Newbury, University of Brighton

Photography has shaped the way in which we imagine the recent past as well as the experience of life in many present-day societies and cultures. Using digital and analogue primary sources, such as archival photographic materials and manuscripts, digital databases, and a range of photographic objects, the Photographic History MA will provide you with the practical and conceptual skills needed to explore wide ranging professional, scientific and amateur photographic practices.

The internationally renowned teaching staff bring with them outstanding links with major photographic collections, archives, galleries and museums worldwide. Working within the PHRC’s vibrant research environment, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship between photography, history, society and culture, and enhance your material handling and research skills.

Aimed mainly at social, cultural and visual historians, conservationists, archivists, visual sociologists and visual anthropologists, the Photographic History MA will offer you many opportunities to obtain hands-on research and professional experience, and prepare you for a wide range of careers in scientific museums and galleries as well as for further study.

Full information on the open evening, the course content and fees is available here: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-courses/photographic-history-ma-degree/photographic-history-ma-degree.aspx

Birkbeck’s History and Theory of Photography Research Centre hosts an evening of visual exploration, with members from Ph: The Photography Research Network. Notions of reality will be explored through work from emerging artists/researchers Lauren Winsor, Anne Pfautsch and Alexandra Hughes. From masquerade in 1930s Surrealist Germany to post war realism in the GDR and contemporary installations that explore our real and imagined encounters with wilderness. There will be plenty of time for discussion afterwards.

Talking Photography: Reality Check

Friday, the 19th of May ’17, 2pm-4pm

Room G04, Birkbeck, School of Arts

43 Gordon Square London

WC1H 0PD

Book your free place for ‘Talking photography’ via Eventbrite.

This 8-week course, led by Almudena Romero is an extensive hands-on overview of photographic processes, from nineteenth century printing techniques to today’s latest 3D scanning technologies.

Participants will learn photographic processes based on leaves and flowers (anthotype printing, lumen printing, chlorophyll printing), along with cameraless techniques (photograms, chemigrams, cyanotype printing) and digital processes including 3D scanning and DIY lenses for smartphones.

Suitable for beginners.

Click here to book a place or call +44 (0)20 7942 2000

Mondays, 8 May-3 July, 10.30-13.00
Victoria and Albert Museum
£400/£320 students & concessions

Image: Cyanotype print on glass. 2017 

Poetic, penetrating, and often heartbreaking, Chris Killip’s In Flagrante remains the most important photobook to document the devastating impact of deindustrialization on working-class communities in northern England in the 1970s and 1980s. Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante, on view May 23-August 13, 2017 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center features more than 100 works that explore the artist’s process and the decision to reconsider and reshape work made decades earlier. The exhibition includes maquettes, contact sheets, and work prints, as well as material from two related and rarely exhibited projects—Seacoal and Skinningrove. The fifty photographs that constitute the first edition of In Flagrante (1988) are all drawn from the Museum’s collection and were acquired with the assistance of the Getty Museum Photographs Council.

“The successful documentary photographer must often somehow gain access to communities that would otherwise shun outsiders,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Killip was able to do this for his In Flagrante series, embedding himself in villages along the coast of England for several years, where locals shared with him the disintegration of their livelihoods and resulting social tensions in an unprecedented way. These photographs – rare insights into their world – are a testament to his dedication and to their trust in him to portray them with honesty and integrity.”

In Flagrante
Upon receiving a Northern Arts Fellowship in 1975, Killip (born 1946, Isle of Man) relocated from London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By that time, the process of deindustrialization in northeast England—considered the backbone of British shipbuilding and mining industries—was underway. Denied permission to photograph inside factories and shipyards, Killip instead chose to chronicle towns in the throes of decline and working-class communities teetering on the brink.

In 1988, he published a group of fifty pictures in the book In Flagrante, which represented the malaise and disrepair of the socioeconomic system of the time, and the perceived disposability of the working class. While some photographs resulted from chance encounters between Killip and his subjects, many evolved from personal, intense relationships he formed with the individuals and places depicted. In 2008, In Flagrante became accessible to a new generation through a reprint by Errata Editions, which creates facsimiles of classic, out-of-print titles to encourage and facilitate their further study. After rereleasing In Flagrante, Killip resolved to update the book and correct its mischaracterization as a record of the “Thatcher Years.” Released in 2015, In Flagrante Two included three photographs not reproduced in the first book. Images from both editions will be on view.

Seacoal
Between 1976 and 1981, Killip attempted to photograph at Lynemouth, a coastal village where a community of people made a meager living by collecting coal that washed ashore after it was expelled as waste from the nearby mine. The “seacoalers” always chased Killip away, fearful that he was spying on them to gather evidence of their undocumented income, which undermined their claims for unemployment benefits. He finally gained access to the community in 1982, and the following year moved into a caravan on the beach, where he lived intermittently for fourteen months to document the inner workings of the seacoal camp.

By 1984, as the proposed closure of coal mines across the Midlands provoked mineworkers to strike, the supply of coal had dwindled and the seacoalers were forced to find alternate sources of income. While fourteen photographs from this period were included in In Flagrante, much of the material remained virtually untouched until Killip revisited the material decades later, in the context of a retrospective exhibition held at the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany. In 2011 he produced the book Seacoal expressly about his experience in Lynemouth. More than twenty prints from the series, as well as related ephemera, will be presented in the context of this exhibition.

Skinningrove
The isolated village of Skinningrove, once considered the “valley of iron,” sits along the northeast coast of England. Many residents held jobs at the local ironworks and steel-rolling mill, but the closure of both sites forced people to work as fishermen by the mid-1970s. Described by Killip as “fiercely independent, fiercely protective, and . . . very hostile to strangers,” the town and its inhabitants fascinated him. He began visiting Skinningrove routinely in the summertime and, over the years, ingratiated himself with the young men who often appear in his images. Killip became a familiar presence and, despite his oversize view camera, could work discreetly to capture intimate moments. Never published in its entirety, the body of work is represented in In Flagrante by only two photographs. A short film by Michael Almereyda that features Killip recalling stories about the people of Skinningrove, and sometimes disclosing tragic details about their fates, will be on view alongside prints from this series.

Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante is on view May 23-August 13, 2017 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center. The exhibition is curated by Amanda Maddox, assistant curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The exhibition will be on view alongside Thomas Annan: Photographer of Glasgow, also in the Getty’s Center for Photographs.

Image: Chris Killip (British, born 1946) Father and Son Watching a Parade, West End, Newcastle, negative 1980; print 1986.  © Chris Killip. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Purchased in part with funds provided by Alison Bryan Crowell, Trish and Jan de Bont, Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, Manfred Heiting, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, and Lyle and Lisi Poncher.

'Don't look at the Camera' Lyddell Sawyer photographer, 1856-1927 is a useful survey of the life and work of Newcastle and London photographer Lyddell Sawyer. It reproduces many of his genre and pictorial photographs. The book is by Geoff Lowe and has been produced in an edition of 200 with some 60 remaining. The price is £15.00 plus £2 p&p orders to geoflowe@gmail.com

'Don't look at the Camera Lyddell Sawyer photographer, 1856-1927 
Geoff Lowe
114-pages

Kirsty Fife, Curator of Library and Archives, at the National Science and Media Museum, formerly the National Media Museum, has published a blog discussing some of the archives the S+MM holds and how the museum is planning to make them accessible.

She says: 'Since July [2016] we’ve been working on a project to make our paper-based archives more accessible to the general public. Our paper-based collections include materials by seminal pioneers of technology including Henry Fox Talbot, Charles Urban and William and Claude Friese-Greene, as well as the records of organisations including Ilford (the photographic manufacturers), Gandolfi (the camera-making family) and PYE TVT (telecommunications). We also have archives with a lot of local significance including records relating to the refurbishment of the Bradford Odeon/Gaumont and a collection of cinema posters produced by W.B. Berry Ltd, based in Bradford.

Examples of some of the types of material you might find in our archive and library collections include posters, photographs, personal papers, business correspondence and organisational records, architectural drawings and plans, animation cells, instruction manuals, ephemera and trade brochures and rare books.'

Read the full blog post here: https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/insight-making-archives-accessible/

Photo London and Somerset House, in collaboration with Blain|Southern Gallery, presents Thresholds, a new virtual reality (VR) artwork by internationally acclaimed artist Mat Collishaw. Using the latest VR technology, Collishaw will restage Fox Talbot’s pioneering 1839 exhibition of photography. With the aid of  careful digital reconstructions, this immersive experience will enable visitors to travel back in time to the moment when British scientist William Henry Fox Talbot first presented his photographic prints to the public in Birmingham.

In addition to the Thresholds installation, Mat Collishaw will be taking part in the Fair's Talks Programme, discussing his practice with Dr James Hyman, gallerist and collector.

Places are limited for entry to the installation and talks.

Book a place here: http://photolondon.org/event/mat-collishaw-thresholds/

Read more about the project here; https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/14/somerset-house-mat-collishaw-restages-1839-photography-show-in-virtual-reality?CMP=share_btn_fb

Birkbeck's History and Theory of Photography Research Centre has announced seminars this term which are free and open to all, at 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD. 

Thursday 27 April 2017, 6:00-7:30

Room 106

Christina Riggs (University of East Anglia)

Photographing Tutankhamun: Photo-objects and the archival afterlives of colonial archaeology

In archaeology, the photographic image remains fixed as an ‘objective’ record of a site or object, or a self-regarding snapshot of famous excavators rescuing ‘ancient Egypt’. This paper uses the photographic archive of the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb (1922-33) to consider how archival processes were embedded in the practice of archaeological photography and in the ‘afterlives’ of these processes, as the archive was cared for in subsequent decades. Prominent as the tomb of Tutankhamun has been in colonial, postcolonial, and neo-colonial imaginaries, my discussion of its photo-objects and historical archiving underscores the need for more critical approaches to current archival efforts, which otherwise risk reinforcing the empirical positivism that underpinned the colonial project in the first place.

Monday 15 May 2017, 6:00-8:00pm

Room G04

Steve Edwards and Patrizia Di Bello (History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, Birkbeck)

The Jo Spence Memorial Library and Archive

After talks by Steve Edwards: ‘Further Thoughts on British Documentary in the 1970s’, and Patrizia Di Bello: ‘Jo Spence: the Archive as Feminist Family Album’, this workshop will consider the implications of the recent history of the archive of Jo Spence, the late British photographer, writer and 'cultural sniper’, and the significance of the labels applied to the material by different institutions: art, archive, library, or activist collection, arguably the term best describing the instructions Spence wrote before her death in 1992.

Wednesday 17 May, 2:00-5:00pm

Room G04

A collaboration with Birkbeck Architecture Space and Society Centre:

Sabine Wieber (Glasgow University)

‘Intimate Collaborations’ at the Photo Studio Elvira in Munich

Tag Gronberg (Birkbeck)

Architectural Relationships Past, Present and Future on the Côte d’Azur

Patrizia Di Bello, (Birkbeck) 

Response: Women’s Practice: the View from Gordon Square.

This session explores how women engaged with architecture around the turn of the twentieth century in order to produce professional identities, by focusing on two iconic buildings: the Jugendstil Photo Studio Elvira in Munich (1896 by August Endell) and E-1027 (1926-1929) built in the south of France by Eileen Gray with Jean Badovici. We discover the ways in which the personal and the professional coincided in these bold architectural designs.

The National Portrait Gallery houses a unique collection of all forms of portraiture of the people who have made or who are currently contributing to British history and culture.  The Gallery attracts over 2 million visits a year and is among London’s most popular attractions, it reaches and engages these, and further UK and global audiences, with its extensive display, exhibition, research, learning, outreach, publishing, digital and national programmes. 

Assistant Curator, Photographs (Content and Interpretation)
Part-time, 24 hours (3 days) per week
£13,347 per annum (based on the full-time equivalent of £22,245 per annum)
Fixed-term position for approximately 12 months to cover maternity leave arrangements

Reporting to the Associate Curator, Photographs (Content and Interpretation), the post holder will contribute to the successful delivery of photographic displays and will help to facilitate the inclusion of photographs in the Gallery’s national programme and other Gallery initiatives. This post will support a programme to re-develop the collection displays as part of a major capital project and help to develop texts and website information for displays and exhibitions. Working closely with the Associate Curator, the post holder will be expected to support work on the interpretation and presentation of the Collection and help to curate temporary displays for the Gallery as approved. 

The successful candidate will have a degree in Art History/History, and demonstrable relevant experience working on displays or exhibitions within a museum or gallery environment. Experience of and engagement with interpretation practices, including writing text for a general public audience, is also essential, along with public speaking skills and broad knowledge of photographic materials and methods. In addition to excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, this post requires strong organisational, research and planning skills, coupled with the ability to work calmly under pressure, meet tight deadlines and retain excellent attention to detail. 

Full details of this and all other employment opportunities at the Gallery can be found here: http://www.npg.org.uk/about/jobs/assistant-curator or requested by e-mailing: recruitment@npg.org.uk. 

Closing date for returned applications is 9.00am on Tuesday 25 April 2017.

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD at Durham University: “The Army Film and Photographic Film Unit, 1941-1945”. This is offered under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership programme. The partner institutions are Durham University and the IWM. The studentship will be supervised by Professor Jo Fox and Dr James Smith at Durham University, and Fiona Kelly of IWM. This full-time studentship, which is funded for three years at standard AHRC rates, will begin on 1 October 2017.

The Studentship

IWM holds a collection of more than 20,000 records referred to as ‘dope sheets’ – unique documents created by members of the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) during the Second World War, that meticulously outline the content of each reel of film the cameramen shot, in some cases concentrating on technical aspects and factual information. The films they document record operations of the British Army in various theatres of war – from North Africa, Italy, North-West and Central Europe, to the Balkans and the Far East. Our understanding of events such as the Battle of El-Alamein, the D-Day landings, the crossing of the Rhine and the liberation of Bergen-Belsen has been shaped by the visual records captured by the cine cameramen and stills photographers of the AFPU. The little-known dope sheets reveal the creator’s view of unfolding events. Often seen as supplementary records, rather than as significant historical documents in their own right, this resource has not been the subject of study before, and therefore offers a unique opportunity for original research in uncharted territory.

The aim of the project is to use the dope sheets to explore the role of the cameramen in recording historical events. How far did they remain detached from what they were filming? How far did they change their position from being mere observers to active participants? What does the study of these papers and the language used reveal about the circumstances in which they were compiled? Concentrating on a small number of individuals, this project will investigate how the cameramen’s backgrounds and education influenced their work, how their perspective changed over time and how they reflected on the events they recorded in later years. The student will be encouraged to focus on the North African campaign – whose records have been less studied to date. The study also offers the opportunity to examine how the cameramen’s experience of being in Africa reflects contemporary attitudes to race, and other aspects of the colonial encounter.

IWM’s holdings are particularly rich in the area of research, and while the written documentation will be the main focus of this study, other important sources will be the actual films the dope sheets describe, the official photographs taken by Army photographers who worked alongside the cine cameramen, and oral testimonies by cameramen recorded by IWM since the 1970s. The student will be expected to contribute to the dope sheet collection documentation through enhancing the catalogue entries.

Subject to AHRC eligibility criteria, the scholarships cover tuition fees and a grant (stipend) towards living expenses. The national minimum doctoral stipend for 2017/18 has been set by Research Councils

UK as £14,553 plus £550 additional payment for Collaborative Doctoral Students. For more information visit: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/skills/phdstudents/fundingandtraining.

Students are also eligible to draw additional funding from a Student Development Fund to support the cost of training, work placements, and other development opportunities that will benefit the student’s doctoral research and future career development.

In addition, the student is eligible to receive up to £1,000 a year from IWM and will be able to apply for internal funding from the University to support archival visits and the delivery of academic conference papers.

How to Apply

Applicants should have a good undergraduate degree in history or another relevant discipline, and will need to satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements including Masters-level advanced research training or equivalent.

Applicants must be a resident of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA). In general, full studentships are available to students who are settled in the UK and have been ordinarily resident for a period of at least three years before the start of postgraduate studies. Fees-only awards are generally available to EU nationals resident in the EEA. International applicants are normally not eligible to apply for this studentship.

Applicants should submit via email a curriculum vitae (no more than 2 pages), a sample of writing, a brief letter outlining their qualification for the studentship, transcripts of undergraduate and masters qualifications, and two academic references to Kelly Groundwater (admissions.history@durham.ac.uk)no later than 5pm on 23 April 2017. Please note it is the responsibility of applicants to request references from their referees and ensure that they have been received by the Department of History by this deadline. All documents should be submitted in either a MS Word or PDF format. Please ensure the subject line of your email appears as ‘surname, first name – IWM/Durham studentship.’

Interviews are scheduled to be held in London on 15 May 2017.

See more here: http://www.ahrc-cdp.org/the-cameramans-experience-of-the-second-world-war-a-study-of-the-army-film-and-photographic-units-dope-sheets-with-the-imperial-war-museums-durham-university/

To support the registration and digitization project Print Room Online the conservation department is looking for a Conservation Technician for Photographic Materials. The main purpose of this project is to catch up with the conservation and registration backlog in the varied collections of the print room. The principal goal of this position is to efficiently and effectively maintain the physical condition of photographic materials. The head of the paper department is the supervisor of the project employee. A coordinator keeps track of the project and its progress on a daily basis.

For more specific information about the position, contact Idelette van Leeuwen, Conservation & Restoration Department, by phone at +31 (0)20-6747113. For questions regarding the application procedure, contact Lieke Boers, HR Advisor, by phone at +31 (0)20-6747324.

Please e-mail your application (letter and cv) to vacatures@rijksmuseum.nl by April 16, 2017. We plan to have interviews on April 24, 2017.

Wednesday 5 April 2017 -- Today, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) announces the expansion of its vast collection of historic and contemporary photography with the transfer of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) collection from the Science Museum Group. The addition of over 270,000 photographs, 26,000 publications and 6,000 pieces of camera-related equipment reinforces the V&A’s position as one of the most important photography collections in the world. BPH exclusively has further information on the plans here. 

Through its FuturePlan development project, the V&A will establish a new Photography Centre, creating a new public space to celebrate, appreciate and study photography. Due to open in Autumn 2018, it will be accompanied by a Museum-wide photography festival and a new digital resource for photography enthusiasts around the world. 

The creation of the Photography Centre will see the V&A more than double its current photography display area in original nineteenth-century picture galleries by 2018. Designed by David Kohn Architects, it will allow the V&A to display a larger number and range of photographs, negatives, camera technology, books and archival materials than ever before. The Photography Centre will also facilitate exciting events and activities. Phase two of the project will expand the gallery space further and provide a teaching and research space, a browsing library, and a studio and darkroom to enable photographers’ residencies.

New purpose-built storage facilities have been created to house the expanded photography collection, and an extensive project to catalogue and digitise the RPS collection is now underway. This digitisation will provide web access and research resources for all audiences and photography lovers around the world. The Museum will also continue its programme of major photographic exhibitions at the V&A and other venues in the UK and overseas. 

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “Photography is set to become one of the defining collections of the 21st century V&A.  We have been conserving and interpreting photography since 1852, and we are now delighted to welcome the RPS collection to the Museum. Today, the V&A cares for one of the most important photography collections in the world. We want to share this remarkable resource with audiences and photography enthusiasts on a global scale, both in person and through an unparalleled digital resource.”

Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs at the V&A, said: “The transfer of the RPS collection is a catalyst for a dramatic reimagining of the way in which photography is presented at the V&A. It will enable a major expansion of spaces, programme and infrastructure, creating a world centre for our visitors to enjoy, as well as an accessible resource for academic research and scholarship. The V&A’s Photography Centre will be one of the few places in the world where a chronological history of the medium illustrated with original photographs, equipment and archive material can always be seen. We want to reach beyond restrictive definitions of photography to embrace the broader cultures of the medium. We have exciting plans for the combined collections that celebrate the fine art of photography alongside its technology and look forward to working closely with the Royal Photographic Society on this.”

The V&A’s newly combined photography collection charts the invention and international development of photography from the early 19th century to the present. The RPS collection includes:

• 270,000 photographs, including the world’s earliest photographic images made in the 1820s, unique daguerreotypes and pioneering colour photographs
• A mile-long library of books and journals
• Cameras and equipment associated with leading photographers
• Work by British pioneers including William Henry Fox Talbot, Hill & Adamson, Roger Fenton and Julia Margaret Cameron
• Major holdings by international artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Gertrude Käsebier, Paul Strand and Ansel Adams
• Contemporary photographs by leading British photographers, such as Sir Don McCullin, Martin Parr and Mark Power

The integration of the RPS collection with the V&A’s photography holdings unites precious objects, such as William Henry Fox Talbot’s first cameras with his handmade prints and 1844 publication, The Pencil of Nature. Julia Margaret Cameron’s camera lens joins her entrancing photographic portraits and letters, while Frederick Scott Archer’s glass-plate camera is reunited with the photographer’s prints. The V&A’s new Photography Centre will showcase these historic stories as well as many modern and contemporary images.

When not on display, photographs from the V&A’s collection can be accessed in the Prints & Drawings Study Room. Professor Elizabeth Edwards, renowned historian of photography and anthropology, has recently been appointed Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor at the V&A Research Institute (VARI). In September 2018, the V&A and Royal College of Art (RCA) will launch a new history of photography course as part of the History of Design MA programme.

UPDATE: The Guardian is carrying some interesting quotes from Martin Barnes on the RPS Collection/V&A developments announced today: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/apr/05/va-to-open-new-galleries-for-photos-acquired-from-bradford-museum#comment-96172349

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About V&A FuturePlan

FuturePlan is an ambitious programme of development which is transforming the V&A. The best contemporary designers are creating exciting new galleries and visitor facilities, while revealing and restoring the beauty of the original building. In the past 15 years, over 85% of the Museum’s public spaces have been transformed, improving access and allowing the collections to be more elegantly and intelligently displayed. By introducing bold new architectural interventions, FuturePlan aims to delight and to inspire visitors, and to continue the Museum’s tradition of championing new talent.

vam.ac.uk/info/futureplan

About the V&A photography collection

The V&A has collected photographs since it was founded in 1852. In 1977, the collection was designated the National Collection of the Art of Photography in recognition of its significance. Since then, the collection has grown to be one of the largest and most important in the world, comprising around 500,000 works before the transfer of the RPS collection. The collection encompasses the work of the world’s leading historic and contemporary photographers.

vam.ac.uk/collections/photographs

About the V&A Prints & Drawings Study Room

In the V&A Prints & Drawings Study Room, visitors can study and enjoy thousands of objects not on display in the V&A’s galleries, including photographs, paintings and drawings, designs, prints and computer art. The Study Room is open Tuesday to Friday and access is by appointment.

vam.ac.uk/info/study-rooms

About the Royal Photographic Society

The Royal Photographic Society was established in 1853 for ‘the promotion of the Art and Science of Photography, by the interchange of thought and experience amongst Photographers’. It started forming a collection from the 1890s which accelerated under J Dudley Johnston its first honorary curator. The Society and its Collection moved from London to Bath in 1980 where it remained until 2003, when it was acquired by the Science Museum Group with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Art Fund and Yorkshire Forward. The Society is now a registered charity promoting photography and supporting photographers and a membership organisation open to everyone. It realises its objectives through exhibitions and competitions, workshops and courses, a distinctions and qualifications programme, and holds over 500 events across the UK. It also acts as an advocate for photography with the media and government.

rps.org

About David Kohn Architects

David Kohn Architects is a London-based practice working internationally on arts, education and residential projects. Established by David Kohn in 2007, the practice has gained a reputation for the quality of its design winning many awards including Young Architect of the Year, a D&AD Yellow Pencil and World Interior of the Year. Current projects include a new quad for New College, Oxford, and the refurbishment of the ICA.

davidkohn.co.uk

The consequences of the expansion of photographic practices around the globe are many and varied. Social interactions through and with analogue and digital photographs and the platforms across which photography is shared and disseminated keep challenging traditional socio-cultural boundaries. In its 2017 conference, Diverse Migrations: Photography out of Bounds, PHRC will explore how these processes affect peoples whose photographic histories are currently understudied.

Papers will consider this question in the context of African, Central American and Middle Eastern cultures, among many others, and in relation to themes such as:

• transnational and/or emerging photographic practices
• cross-cultural knowledge exchange through photography
• migrations across media
• sharing and exchanging photographs
• global forums for photography and its theorisation

Diverse Migrations: Photography out of Bounds will therefore provide an opportunity to interrogate what social and other meaningful photographic practices emerge when photographs cross boundaries, and move between individuals, places, and distinct cultural environments.

Registration is now open. 

Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

19-20 June 2017

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @PHRC_DeMontfort

Conference hashtag #PHRC17

Click here to book your place

Under the Dark Cloth: Working with Photography Studio Archives is an International one-day symposium at QUAD, Derby, presented to coincide with the exhibition People, Places, and Things: the W. W. Winter’s Archive, on show at Derby Museum during FORMAT17. 

Commercial photography studios were once common sights on almost every high street.  Each has its own distinct history and place within the lives of the communities they documented and served.  Many of these studios are now closed, their rich archives lost or destroyed, and the history of these important social, commercial and cultural institutions lost forever.

This event welcomes a range of speakers who have saved, preserved, researched and presented exhibitions about studio archives.  Their papers explore a diverse range of subjects revealing how the photographic studio can contribute to migrant identity formation; how an Italian art dealer employed photography for commercial purposes;  the issues for studio photography when it moves across from a private space into the public domain of the archive and the gallery; a remarkable project to salvage and restore the extraordinary studio of the Portuguese photographer Carlos Relvas and the work undertaken to preserve the archives of the two oldest working studios in the UK. The papers will be complimented by a short series of films about studio archive projects.  

Presented with support from The Photographic Collections Network, the event aims to provide a platform to share skills, knowledge, and experience among those working in this field, and to tell some of the stories about the studios, the photographers, their subjects and their archives. 

The day costs £10. See the full list of speakers and book here: http://www.formatfestival.com/events/symposium-under-dark-cloth

The event is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC), the Royal Photographic Society, The Photographic Collections Network, QUAD, FORMAT Festival, Derby Museums, Arts Council England, W. W. Winter and The Art Fund.

The V&A is the world's leading museum of art, design and performance. We enrich people's lives by promoting the practice of design and increasing knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world. The Conservation Department has a worldwide reputation for the excellence of its practical work, for innovative ideas, for pioneering the scientific and ethical approach to conservation, and for sharing this expertise. The Department contributes to the care and preservation of the V&A’s collections, prepares them for display and investigates their materials and technology.

Purpose of job

The V&A has been collecting photographs since 1856 and it was one of the first museums to present

photography exhibitions. Since then the collection has grown to be one of the largest and most important in

the world, comprising around 500,000 images. The V&A is now honoured to be adding the Royal Photographic

Society (RPS) collection to its holdings, which contains around 270,000 photographs, an extensive library, and

6,000 cameras and pieces of equipment associated with leading artists and photographic pioneers.

To maximise the impact of the expanded collection, the V&A is developing a new Photography Centre

which will allow the Museum to display a far greater number and range of photographs, negatives, camera

technology, books and archival items alongside its headline photography exhibitions and displays. The

Photography Centre will also facilitate exciting activities, learning events and broader opportunities for visitors

and resident practitioners to engage with photography.

The Conservator of Photographs and Paper will be based in the Paper, Book and Paintings Section of the

Conservation Department. The main focus of the work will be the assessment, examination and conservation

of a wide range of photographic objects but the post-holder will also be expected to contribute to the

preparation of other paper-based objects including, for example, prints, drawings, watercolours, Indian

miniatures, wallpapers and posters.

The post-holder will work initially on photographs for display in the Photography Centre - due to open in 2018.

Thereafter work will focus mainly on projects relating to the Museum’s Public Programme of displays,

exhibitions, and loans as well as the core collection.

Main tasks

1. Carry out practical conservation including mounting of photographs, works of art on paper and other

photographic material.

2. Assessment of objects to determine their condition and to produce treatment estimates.

3. Give advice to curatorial colleagues, other institutions and the public on conservation-related matters.

4. Document the conservation assessment, treatment and technical examination of objects and produce

condition reports for travel for objects using Departmental systems.

5. Supervise students and interns where appropriate.

6. Carry out ad hoc duties and assist in day-to-day organisation and housekeeping in the studio.

7. Contribute to - and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of - developments in the field of photographs

conservation.

8. Be committed to health and safety and ensure familiarity with all of the Museum's health and safety

policies and procedures.

9. Be security conscious, ensure familiarity and co-operation with all museum security procedures and

ensure you wear a security pass at all times when on museum premises.

10. Promote equality and diversity in all aspects of your work by developing and maintaining positive

working relationships, ensuring that colleagues are treated fairly and with respect/dignity and actively

contributing to developments that support the museum’s strategy for widening access, inclusion and

diversity.

11. Carry out ad hoc duties as requested by appropriate managers within your department.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential requirements

1. A recognised qualification in the Conservation of Photographs and/or Paper and relevant post graduate

experience of at least 2 years.

2. A good knowledge and understanding of the materials and techniques of photographs and works of art

on paper.

3. The ability to manage work by organising tasks in an efficient and effective way - with minimal

supervision - to produce work to appropriate standards whilst working to tight deadlines.

4. Good interpersonal and communication skills including the ability to give clear advice on conservation

issues and to work as part of a team.

5. Good end-user IT skills including image processing and collection management database software.

Desirable requirements

1. Knowledge of the V&A’s collections.

2. Knowledge of the Museum’s strategic objectives.

OTHER INFORMATION

Hours/Salary:

Net working hours (i.e. excluding meal breaks) are 36 per week.

The salary for this role will be £26,542 - £31,901 per annum. Salaries are reviewed on an annual basis.

Annual leave:

28 days plus 8 days public holidays

Pension benefits:

You will be auto enrolled into the Museum’s Group Personal Pension Scheme and have the opportunity on

completion of Probation to an enhanced pension provision, including an employer contribution of 10%.

Other benefits:

Non-contributory life assurance policy (to value of 4 x annual salary)

An interest free season ticket or bicycle loan is available after three months.

Free entrance to all the major museums and exhibitions in London as well as many others.

Subsidised staff restaurant

Discounts on purchases in V&A shops

Childcare Voucher Scheme

Application process:

Please apply online via the V&A’s website at www.vam.ac.uk/jobs

If you have any queries regarding the recruitment process, you can email us – hr@vam.ac.uk or telephone us on

020 7942 2937.

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

Closing date for receipt of applications is Midnight Sunday 23rd April 2017

Interviews to be held on Thursday 4th May 2017.

Interview expenses will not be paid unless there is a prior agreement.

The Royal Photographic Society’s Historical Group held a series of talks at the V&A Museum on 25 March. One of these provided the first opportunity for the Society and the public to hear about the museum’s plans for the RPS Collection which has now been relocated to the V&A. Martin Barnes, senior curator of photographs, and Susannah Brown, curator of photographs, spoke about the plans for a V&A Photography Resource Centre and the RPS Collection.

Barnes spoke first about the Resource Centre. He introduced his presentation by explaining that the move of the RPS Collection to the museum had acted as a catalyst for the Centre and reimagining how the museum presented photography. The combination of the V&A photography collection, which is the designated national collection of art photography, combined with the RPS Collection makes the combined V&A holdings ‘one of the largest and most precious collections of photography in the world’.

The museum’s plans for new photography galleries and the Resource Centre fall in to two phases. Phase One deal with Rooms 99-101 and 108 which show photography and will be reworked by Autumn 2018; Phase Two, deals with Rooms 95-98 and the new Resource Centre and will be completed by 2022, subject to securing appropriate funding. The spaces will form a contiguous and integrated space.

The museum already has a dedicated photographer/digitiser working on the RPS Collection, plus a cataloguer and, shortly, a conservator.  Public programming, with the museum’s learning department collaborating to develop photography events, will become more important and the photography department’s teaching will be extended from school children through to post-graduate students.  A MA course in history of photography is in development with the Royal College of Art with which the museum already has an existing relationship. A programme leader will be appointed and the course will launch in Autumn 2018.

Separate to these initiatives the museum has appointed Professor Elizabeth Edwards as the V&A’s Research Institute’s Andrew W Mellon Visiting Professor and she will be working with the curatorial team. 

The photographs department will also be expanding its publishing programme and is exploring new print and digital offers with Thames & Hudson.  One key development for the photography collections will be the further expansion of UK and international touring exhibitions and there are discussions with the Arts Council currently in progress.  With the expansion of the photography department the museum is enhancing its visibility and is part of the new Photographic Collections Network, along with the RPS and others. The PCN will be mapping, documenting and supporting photographic collections across the UK.

Barnes also spoke about the storage of the photography collections and access. An upgraded photography store has been created in the Henry Cole Wing, next to the Prints and Drawings study room, at a cost of some £250,000. The RPS Collection is already available for study. In addition to access to original material the museum is committed to the early digital capture and sharing of the RPS Collection and this will be made available as quickly as possible.

Referring back to Phase One, the additional gallery space will double the current space for photography within the museum. The new gallery spaces will be refurbished and returned to their original appearance with improved lighting, climate and environmental controls.  They will accommodate a ‘dark tent’ space for screenings and a ‘light lab’ giving public visibility in to the scanning and digitisation process. The stairs and landing area will act as a wayfinder for the photography galleries with a display of cameras and technology.

The museum has been working with David Kohn Architects to look at how the [photography] Resource Centre (Phase Two) could work and integrate with the newly enhanced photography galleries (Phase One). Because of their nature photography will need to be rotated regularly and the collection ranges from prints, cameras and the library. A browsing library for visitors is envisaged with rare material being kept more securely. A working photography studio will allow a residency programme. The intention is for all spaces to be flexible.  Barnes stated that the Centre would be ‘a significant commitment on behalf of the V&A’. 

The integration of the V&A and RPS Collections, while preserving the latter as a discrete entity, will allow connections to be made, for example, between Talbot images, cameras and letters and he gave other examples for Herbert Ponting and Julia Margaret Cameron.  A chronological approach is likely, integrating technology, other objects and photography – the focus will be on original objects. These plans will be refined and developed over the next four to five months.  

Susannah Brown then spoke in more detail about the move of the RPS Collection from the National Media Museum, now renamed National Science and Media Museum.  The physical move of some 270,000 photographs, 6000-8000 cameras and a library of some 10,000 books had been planned meticulously. The material was documented and labelled on site in Bradford over a week to facilitate its smooth accession in London and in to the new store. The current V&A collection consists of 3485 boxes of prints and 961 rare books. The RPS Collection adds 3500 boxes of prints, plus albums, lantern slides and all the other parts of the Collection.  Material came in to the V&A over four weekends in February and she reassured those present that nothing was broken in transit. During March a further eight deliveries moved the cameras and technology and library to the V&A’s offsite store at Blythe House, in Olympia.

The department has started on high level documentation of the RPS Collection which will be followed up by detailed, item level, cataloguing. This will be publicly available via the museum’s website under ‘search the collections’. The RPS Collection photographs are already available for use in the study room, which is open from Tuesday to Friday, by appointment. Researchers are already using the material.

Links:

The V&A Word & Image department: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/w/word-and-image-department/

The V&A Photographs collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photographs

Search the Collections: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/

Images and report by Dr Michael Pritchard

A new display celebrating the life and artistic legacy of Olive Edis officially opens at Cromer Museum on Wednesday 29 March, following the success of of a major exhibition at Norwich Castle. The same day a new touring exhibition, The Road to Ypres, exploring Edis’ war photography opens at the North Norfolk District Council offices, the first stop in an extensive tour to venues around Norfolk and beyond.

The new galleries and the touring exhibition are the culmination of the Heritage Lottery Fund supported Olive Edis project to raise awareness of this remarkable woman. They follow on from the ground-breaking showing of her work in the exhibition Fishermen & Kings: The Photography of Olive Edis which ran at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery from 8 October 2016 to 22 January 2017, attracting over 50,000 visitors.

Olive Edis was one of the most important photographers of the early 20th century. At the height of her career she photographed the full spectrum of British society, from local fishermen and their families to prime ministers, royalty, scientists and artists. She was an exceptional portrait artist, a pioneer of new technologies, a successful business owner, and the first British woman to be appointed as an official war photographer.

Now, for the first time, the opening of Fishermen & Kings: The new Olive Edis Galleries, provides a permanent tribute to this fine artist, and a rich resource for the public who want to explore her work in more depth.

The new galleries include:

• An overview of Olive’s life, work, studios (including those at Cromer and Sheringham) and photographic techniques
• Original prints on display, including examples of both local and famous sitters, alongside framed reproductions, graphic panels, digital slideshows and large-scale reproductions on canvas – representing her full range of subjects
• Reproductions of prints from the Imperial War Museum and National Portrait Gallery collections of Edis’ work
• Photographs from her commission as Britain’s first female war photographer
• A display of Edis’ cameras in a custom-built case, including her large plate camera ‘The Countess’ mounted on its tripod
• Reproductions of autochromes displayed on wall-mounted lightboxes and in an original Edis diascope, to show them, respectively, at their best and as they would have originally been viewed

And in a lovely marriage of historic and contemporary image-making, a touchscreen interactive will allow visitors to browse the full Edis collection of over 2000 images online, and add comments and tags to individual photographs. Curators are hoping the public may even be able to help them identify sitters and give more information, especially on photos of local people.

Visitors will also be able to listen to an actress reading extracts from Edis’ fascinating war diary along with a slideshow of her war photos. Three short films about Edis exploring her techniques and achievements, specially created by Paston Sixth Form College students, will also be available to watch in the galleries and can be viewed online here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37tmzONrrcs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB3j9gIvAW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdJcjSpDheU&t=9s

Cromer Museum is a fitting location for the world’s first centre dedicated to Edis’ work, given her long association with this part of Norfolk. Edis died in 1955, leaving the contents of her studio to her assistant Cyril Nunn who cared for the collection until it was acquired by Cromer Museum in 2008.

In the 60 years since her death Edis has been largely forgotten by history, and her huge contribution to British photography sadly overlooked. Thanks to the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Olive Edis Project at Cromer Museum can now redress this, working to raise awareness of Edis’ work and give her inspirational story the recognition it deserves.

Curator Alistair Murphy, 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. Like the many influential and inspirational women that she photographed, Edis was herself a “new woman”.

“Edis’ photographic legacy is a ‘national treasure’ and we are delighted to be able to open these new galleries dedicated to her life and work, to continue to spread the word about her unique legacy and importance to as wide an audience as possible.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said: “Olive Edis’ work spans social, gender and geographical boundaries to provide an incredible glimpse into the personal world of her subjects, particularly those who were affected by the First World War. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are thrilled to support this project which will finally provide her inspirational story with the recognition it deserves.”

See more about Cromer Museum here: http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Cromer_Museum/index.htm

Images: © Norfolk Museums Service (Cromer Museum)

Smile! The Nation's Family Album is a BBC TV documentary which was shown earlier this week looking at the family photograph album. Gil Pasternak was academic consultant and the programme aso features Colin Harding. It is available to watch on iPlayer or more freely on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvlHSP3wu5s&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

The new National Science and Media Museum website and new branding will be revealed on the 23 March. The website holding page can be seen here: www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk. BPH can also reveal that the museum's new website domain name was first registered on 18 November 2016. 

UPDATED. The website is now live. A case study on the site by its designer Numiko is available here.

There are several exhibitions of the work of British photographer Roger Mayne taking place. His vintage London and Paris photographs to be shown at Quaritch in May and will comprise small-format vintage prints, from iconic images of children playing to views of Paris photographed the year before his renowned Southam Street series. The exhibition will run Wednesday 10 to Friday 19 May at 40 South Audley Street. 

In the meantime, you can see Roger Mayne’s work at two current exhibitions. The Photographers’ Gallery in London is the first major exhibition since 1999 to show Mayne’s iconic work. Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton, Devon, is exhibiting Mayne’s large-scale photographs of Southam Street. These prints were hung in the barn at the photographer’s home in Lyme Regis and now remain in a fragile state revealing layers of age and decay.

Roger Mayne, Quaritch, London, 10-19 May. More here.

Roger Mayne, The Photographers’ Gallery, until 11 June. More information here.

Beyond the Lens, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, 11 March-22 April. More information here.