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.

BPH publicised the International Conference Stereo & Immersive Media 2016 last year. The conference organisers have made the presentations available on Youtube and you can delight in, enjoy, and learn from Larry Schaaf and Denis Pellerin (use the links and then check the Youtube sidebar for the others) amongst others.

Barry Lane, who has died aged 72, was the first, and only, photography officer at the Arts Council and was later Secretary-General of the Royal Photographic Society between 1995 and 2001. As a champion for photography at the Arts Council Lane played a pivotal role in supporting a new wave of emerging British photographers. After he left the Arts Council as Head of Photography he was not replaced and British photography had to look to other supporters to ensure it remained funded and exhibited.

Barry Lane was born in Watford on 22 March 1944. He attended Watford Boys Grammar School between 1955 and 1962.  The following year he went up to Oxford University where he gained a BA(Hons) in Philosophy and Psychology, graduating in 1967,  having been President of the university’s art club.  He remained in Oxford as the first director of the Museum of Modern Art where he established the museum an important venue for the contemporary visual arts with early exhibitions of photography, experimental architecture and installations as well as the more traditional mediums of paintings and sculpture.

In 1970 he joined the Arts Council as Regional Art Officer organising fourteen touring exhibitions over three years including early shows of the 1840s photographers D O Hill and Robert Adamson and the pioneering Serpentine Gallery Photographers I and II. In a foretaste of the later role he commissioned eight pairs of photographers to work in eight cities to produce Two Views exhibitions. The photographers included Ian Berry, Chris Killip and Josef Koudelka.

Away from the Arts Council Lane acted between 1972 and 1977 as curator of the Francis Frith Collection which mainly consisted of British topographical photography from the 1850s. He was director of Photographic Collections Ltd between 1973 and 1977 where he supervised the production of limited edition portfolios of the work of H P Robinson from originals in the RPS Collection and, in 1975, Tony Ray-Jones who had died in 1972. The latter has become collectible in its own right. 

It was Lane’s role as the Arts Council’s first, and only, photography officer between 1973 and 1991 where he made his greatest and most long lasting impact on British photography. One of his first acts was to establish a Photography Committee for the Arts Council’s Visual Arts Department in 1973. This was the first time that photography had been formally recognised as an independent medium and it came as British photography was developing rapidly with a new wave of photographers creating innovative work across a range of genres and new independent galleries such as London’s The Photographers’ Gallery (1971) and York’s Impressions Gallery (1972) showing photography. A new grant giving scheme was introduced and these galleries benefitted from newly available funding.

Lane was responsible for organising or commissioning a large number of exhibitions: Diane Arbus was shown in 1973 at the Hayward Gallery which also showed Pictorial Photography in Britain 1900-1920 (1978) and Neue Sachlichkeit: New Realism in German Photography of the 20s (1978) were notable. Historians such as Aaron Schaaf, Margaret Harker, David Mellor, Valerie Lloyd, and Ian Jeffrey were commissioned to produce exhibitions. In addition, a large number of Arts Council touring exhibitions were produced from Masterpiece Treasures from The Royal Photographic Society (1971), Modern British Photography 1919-1939 (1980) and retrospectives of photographers including Andre Kertesz, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Sir Benjamin Stone, Walter Evans, Paul Strand, Bill Brandt, Bert Hardy, George Rodger and many others which opened up photography to a public audience across the United Kingdom. 

Lane also supported photographers directly and purchased over 2000 photographs for the Arts Council’s collection. He established and edited British Image a new series of Arts Council publications of contemporary photography with eight volumes appearing between 1975 and 1980. The biennial National Photography Conference was set up and continues to this day. The first national policy for Photography and Photography and Education (1987) was developed for the Arts Council.  Photographic education was something Lane was strongly committed to and he was an external examiner for a number of UK photography degree and postgraduate degree courses.

In 1991 Lane’s title was changed to Head of Photography recognising his role in developing strategy for the photography sector with a discussion document Photography, the Arts and Culture Industries for the National Arts and Media Strategy (1991), commissioning the Marchant Report on the National Network of Photography/New Media Centres (1994) and Creating Vision – Photography and the National Curriculum (1994). He remained  deeply involved in supporting independent photography through publishing and making funding decisions with reviews of the business plans and programmes of The Photographers’ Gallery, Creative Camera and Ten.8 magazines. The 1998 Year of Photography and Electronic Image which was awarded to Yorkshire and Humberside was conceived and organised by Lane.

Lane joined the Royal Photographic Society as secretary-general in April 1995 where he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Society. His appointment came at a particularly challenging time with the Society’s National Centre of Photography struggling financially and its collection of historic photographs and equipment being seen by some as an unnecessary burden on the organisation. An interview with Lane soon after his arrival indicated that he saw the continued operation in Bath as unsustainable. 

An Arts Council funded feasibility study was produced which recommended moving from Society’s premises and finding a partner to enable greater access to and use of the Collection. Lane was involved in exploring a number of options. The Society’s officers  decided to enter into negotiations with the then National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, now National Media Museum, The way this was managed was something that Lane strongly disagreed with and he left the Society in January 2002. The Collection, with the aid of a small grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was ultimately sold to the Museum and the Society moved to smaller premises.

After the RPS he turned his energies to his boyhood love of archaeology and local history. Between 2002 and his death he was actively involved in developing and supporting a wide range of  regional and local activity. He was an early member of CHERT (Charterhouse Historic Environs Research Team) and founded the Westbury Society where he mixed practical exploration with academic research. 

He also played an important part at the county and regional level, becoming Hon Secretary of  (SANHS) Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society from 2006 to 2009 when the Society was creating a new constitution and organising its move from Taunton Castle. He served on the Society’s archaeology committee and administered its historic grant fund from 2002 to 2017 and was a trustee from 2003 to 2009. He chaired the Council of British Archaeology from 2008 to 2011 and was responsible for organising the national CBA conference in Cornwall during that time.

He was a committee member and newsletter editor of the Somerset Vernacular Buildings Research Group, undertaking detailed building and village surveys for them and private property history commissions as well. But his main interest from 2010 to 2016 was the Wells and Mendip Museum where he was Honorary Curator. In this role he took responsibility for reinvigorating the displays, creating new galleries, building a partnership with the City Archives and ensuring the Museum retained its registered status.

As well as these public roles he found time to research and write. As well as the commissioned house and property histories, he wrote both scholarly and engaging articles about such subjects as the mediaeval drainage of the Somerset levels, the meaning of the Somerset term ‘Old Auster’ and changes in the landscape resulting from the move from Celtic to Anglo Saxon Christianity. His final article, unfinished at his death, was on early church dedications to St Lawrence in Somerset. He was published in peer reviewed journals such as SANHS Proceedings and  Archaeology in the Severn Estuary.

In his local community he bought a Victorian cider press at a farm auction which has since become the centre of a community cider making and wassailing tradition. He also bought a field, planted a traditional Somerset cider orchard, and became part owner and trustee of a 7-acre area of woodland, managed for conservation purposes. He kept bees, taught local people how to do serious archaeology, led walks explaining the history of the landscape and collaborated with English Heritage  on their  2016 book on the landscape history of Mendip.

 An extraordinarily generous man he completely lacked vanity, was unimpressed by status and gave freely of his time to whoever came to him with enthusiasm and a desire to do and learn.  He will be much missed by all the people he has supported and whose knowledge he has enriched.

He will be particularly missed by his wife, Sue Isherwood, his daughters from his first marriage to Judith, Thalia and Helena, his step daughter, Imogen, and four grandchildren.

Barry John Lane, born 22 March 1944, died 4 March 2017.

© Image: Angela Williams. Text: Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS and Sue Isherwood

• Details of Barry Lane's funeral can be found here.

and as a reminder...

National Science and Media Museum is the new name of the former National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (June 1983) and National Media Museum (December 2006), according to the Guardian newspaper.

The re-named museum is due to reveals it's new website and branding later this month. 

In addition, the museum is opening a state-of-the-art £1.8m interactive gallery and the arrival of astronaut Tim Peake’s spacecraft are among a series of major launches at the National Media Museum this year.

Featuring UK-firsts and breath-taking live shows, Wonderlab explores the science of light, sound and images through state-of-the-art exhibits – including some that can’t be seen permanently anywhere else in the world. Visitors will be able to see their body split from their head as they walk, hear their voice echo through a 15m-long tube, experience an anti-gravity mirror and a musical laser tunnel, as well as watch one of the world’s first 3D-printed Zoetrope installations.

The Bradford-based museum has also confirmed it will host the world-famous Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft that carried Major Tim Peake to the International Space Station (ISS) and back to earth. Visitors will be able to see the space-faring vessel this September when it travels outside London for the first time since it was acquired by the Science Museum Group in 2016.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Museum Director, said: “These announcements are not only incredibly exciting, but a significant statement of intent – that we are aiming to be one of the leading museums in the UK and worldwide. The museum has a bright future and we are confident people are going to be wowed by Wonderlab and the state-of-the-art exhibits within, along with many other events we have planned like the arrival of Tim Peake’s spacecraft. 

“We want to draw in new visitors, encourage existing ones to come more often and open a whole new chapter for the museum. Our collections across the technology and culture of photography, film and TV are unrivalled, and Wonderlab explores the science behind what makes these things magical in a very hands-on way.”

Main image: The Soyuz TMA-19M  spacecraft with museum director Jo Quinton-Tulloch and Bradford MPs Naz Shah and Philip Davies

Barry Lane, who has died aged 72, was the first, and only, photography officer at the Arts Council and was later Secretary-General of the Royal Photographic Society between 1995 and 2001. As a champion for photography at the Arts Council Lane played a pivotal role in supporting and exhibiting a new wave of emerging British photographers through funding and exhibitions. After he left the Arts Council as Head of Photography he was not replaced and photography had to look to other supporters to ensure it remained funded and exhibited.

He joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1995 and left after disagreements over the future of the RPS Collection.

BPH's thoughts are with Sue, his partner, and family. A full obituary is in preparation and will be published shortly. 

UPDATE: A memorial service for Barry Lane will take place on Tuesday, 14 March 2017 at 2pm at Westbury-sub-Mendip parish church.  Everyone is welcome to attend and and afterwards in Westbury Village Hall. 

Westbury is on the A371 4 miles equidistant between Wells and Cheddar. The nearest railway stations are Castle Cary (16 miles) and Bath (20 miles).

Family flowers only and donations to Greenpeace and Dignity in Dying via the undertakers, Unwins, Wells, t: 01749 679927

BBC4 has a season of photography programmes starting this coming week with a three-part series looking at the history of British photography. Other programmes will look at Harry Burton, the official photographer for Howard Carter’s Tutankhamun excavation during the 1920s; the working practices, lives and opinions of some of the 20th century’s most distinguished photographers; follow street photographer Dougie Wallace around London; and examine the classic family photo album. The season also has a companion exhibition at the National Media Museum Britain in Focus: A Photographic History which will show original photographs from many of the photographers featured in the season. 

Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (three parts, Monday, 6, 13, 20 March, 2017, BBC Four at 2100 

Photographer and picture editor Eamonn McCabe explores the fascinating and remarkable story of British photography, from the rapid innovation of Roger Fenton in the Golden Age of the 19th century, to the satirical eye of Martin Parr in the 21st. He examines the profound technical and scientific changes that have allowed iconic images to be produced, chronicles the rise of a mass democracy of picture taking, and reflects on the changing way we have consumed photographs.

Throughout this three-part documentary series Eamonn sees how the art form has developed, examining some of the unforgettable images from pioneers of British photography, including Julia Margaret Cameron, Fay Godwin, Cecil Beaton, Christina Broom, John Bulmer and Vanley Burke. From the first 'big bangs' of photographic development and early technology, through to the impact that captured images had on the development of journalism, photography emerged as both an art-form and a tool for reflecting and recording the world around us.

The programme will also look forward to the future of the medium - and how in the hands of a new generation of photographers, a thoroughly 21st century British photography is being created.

Clips from the programme can be seen here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08h95c3/clips

Photographers at the BBC (transmission time to be confirmed)

Using the BBC archive, this programme reveals the working practices, lives and opinions of some of the 20th century’s most distinguished photographers. From Norman Parkinson to David Bailey, Eve Arnold to Jane Bown, for decades the BBC has drawn the nation’s attention to the creators of what has become the most ubiquitous contemporary art form. Pioneering BBC programmes like Monitor, Face to Face and Omnibus provide unique and rarely-seen insights into the careers of many leading practitioners.

Through a selection of top photographers, the programme brings into focus the key genres (fashion, portraiture, documentary and landscape) and shows how these talented figures helped develop photography into a revered – and accessible – art form.

What Do Artists Do All Day: Dougie Wallace (transmission time to be confirmed)

Street photographer Dougie Wallace’s startling and eye-catching images capture the life of the inhabitants and visitors to the super-rich residential and retail district of Knightsbridge and Chelsea, with its solid gold-plated Bugatti’s and high end retail consumerism.

BBC Four follows Wallace as he finishes his exhilarating, headline-grabbing photography photo-documentary series ‘Harrodsburg’: an up-close wealth safari capturing the ultra-rich consumers who populate one of the UKs most wealthy and exclusive postcodes.

The recent winner of a Magnum Award for his work, Dougie's images are aggressive, confrontational and opinionated. But he is unrepentant about his methods, and his message: “They come here because the rule is they can do whatever they want. Well, the rule of law in the UK says that I can photograph them. I’m just showing the wealthy, I’m taking pictures of them to highlight things like food banks in Glasgow.”

The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (transmission time to be confirmed)

This is the story of Harry Burton, one of the great heroes of British photography. As the official photographer for Howard Carter’s Tutankhamun excavation during the 1920s, Burton created some of the 20th Century’s most famous images and helped make Tutankhamun an international sensation.

The film explores key locations in Burton’s life, in the UK and Egypt, and sets Burton’s famous black-and-white images of Howard Carter’s Tutankhamun excavation alongside forgotten colour photographs and cine film shot by Burton himself. The team led by Margaret Mountford and contemporary photographer Harry Cory Wright will also stage creative photographic experiments to discover the secrets of Burton’s art, re-creating the make-shift studio and dark-room that Burton set up by the Pharaoh’s tomb to reveal how he produced his iconic images.

Burton immortalised some of the most iconic moments of the 20th century, and besides recording the progress of the archaeology, his images capture the mystery, drama and excitement of one of the great archaeological discoveries of the century.

Smile! The Nation's Family Album (transmission time to be confirmed)

In today's digital age, the classic family photo album has become an object of nostalgic affection. But its more than just a collection of sentimental snapshots. Celebrating everyday moments and shared experiences - from birthdays to weddings, first days at school to teenage parties - amateur photography offers an intimate portrait of Britain’s post-war social history. And each generation had a different camera to tell their story.

From Teddy Boys in photo booths to family holidays captured on Kodachrome, this film reveals the images and the cameras which preserved our most precious memories. Discovering how new technologies and evolving social attitudes inspired the nation to pick up a camera, the film charts a journey from the Box Brownie to Instagram, offering a touching portrait of our changing lives, taken not by the professional photographer but on our own cameras.

The BBC is also seeking family photographs to accompany the series. See: Full entry guidelines for Smile! The Nation’s Family Album.

Details of the National Media Museum's exhibition Britain in Focus which runs from 25 March until 17 June can be found here

Main image: © John Bulmer, Washing Line, Halifax, 1965, from the National Media Museum exhibition Britain in Focus.

This exhibition, at Derby Museum and Art Gallery from 24 March, explores early studio photography from 1854 onwards with a focus on the collection of W. W. Winter Studio in Derby, one of the oldest running studios in the world. Over the last 170 years the Winter photographers have recorded Derby and the people and things that were both important and commonplace in the town as it grew into the city that we know today.

Curated by Greg Hobson.

See more here: https://www.derbymuseums.org/whats-on/people-place-and-things

The National Library of Scotland has an extensive collection of photographic material, including loose and mounted photographs, photograph albums, slides, negatives, volumes illustrated with photographs and photographic postcards. There are several discrete photographic collections but most of the material is dispersed through the print and archival collections. The post of Photographic Collections Curator is one of several roles created as part of a project to improve the Library’s knowledge of these collections, to develop its policies and practices in this area, and to make the collections more accessible through description and digitisation.   

The Photographic Collections Curator will report to the Rare Books, Maps and Music Collections Manager but will work across the entire range of the collections, including General Collections, Manuscripts and Archives Collections and the Moving Image Archive as well as the RBMM collections. They will survey the photographic collections in their entirety, co-ordinate finding aids, inventories and catalogues, and will work on a project to digitise and create metadata for one particular collection.    

Applications are encouraged from individuals who have both subject expertise in the history of photography and its technical processes and experience of working with photographic collections in a library, archive or other cultural heritage institution – in particular, experience of cataloguing and description, collection management, digitisation and/or interpretation.     

Please click here for job description

Working at the Library

See more and apply here

The Legacy of Alfred Hugh Fisher and the Colonial Office Visual Instruction Committee (COVIC) is a PhD research scholarship including stipend and tuition fee costs offered within the Photographic History Research Centre in the School of Humanities at De Montfort University In collaboration with the Royal Commonwealth Society department at Cambridge University Library.  It is available to UK or EU students who are suitably qualified and have outstanding potential as researchers.

In offering this scholarship the University aims to further develop its proven research strengths in the study of photographic histories, practices and cultures. It is an excellent opportunity for a candidate of exceptional promise to contribute to a stimulating, world-class research environment.

The Colonial Office Visual Instruction Committee (COVIC) was a body charged in 1902 with creating a visual record of Britain’s overseas territories for use in British schools. Cambridge University Library (CUL) maintains its photographic archives, and this project will focus on the Fisher Photograph Collection. Mainly comprising of photographs taken by artist and amateur photographer Alfred Hugh Fisher in 1907-1910, the collection documents changes to physical and sociocultural environments across the globe during the first decade of the twentieth century. A collaboration between the Photographic History Research Centre and Cambridge University Library, this project will explore the significance of visual records in cultural exchange, and how subsequent re-use of images from the Fisher Photograph Collection led to innovative understandings of ‘other’ cultures and lands.

PhD supervisor: Dr Gil Pasternak

PhD Commencing October 2017

For a more detailed description of the scholarship, the subject area at DMU and an application pack please visit http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/graduate-school/phd-scholarships.aspx.

For additional details you may also want to check this advertisement: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AXP124/graduate-school-full-bursary-phd-scholarship-the-legacy-of-alfred-hugh-fisher-and-the-colonial-office-visual-instruction-committee/.

Please direct academic queries to Dr Gil Pasternak on +44 (0)116 201 3951 or email gpasternak(at)dmu.ac.uk. For administrative queries contact the Graduate School office email: researchstudents@dmu.ac.uk, tel: 0116 250-6309.
Completed applications should be returned together with two supporting references and an academic transcript.

Applications are invited from UK or EU students with a Master’s degree or good first degree in a relevant subject (First, 2:1 or equivalent). Doctoral scholarships are available for up to three years full-time study commencing in October 2017 consisting of a bursary of £14,296 per annum in addition to waiver of tuition fees.

Please quote ref: ADHFB2

CLOSING DATE: Monday 10th April, 2017.

Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held by Friday 28th April approximately

Making Jamaica which is open at Autograph/ABP, London, explores how a new image of Jamaica was created through photography in the late nineteenth century. More than 70 historical photographs, lantern slides and stereocards reveal the carefully constructed representation of this transitional period in Jamaica’s history. For first time, its people are depicted as an industrious nation post-emancipation, and their surroundings as a desirable tourist destination and tropical commodity.

Under the Dark Cloth: Working with Photography Studio Archives is an International one-day symposium at QUAD, Derby, on Saturday, 8 April 2017, presented to coincide with the exhibition People, Places, and Things: the W. W. Winter’s Archive, on show at Derby Museum during Format 2017. 

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

See more and book here: http://www.formatfestival.com/events/symposium-under-dark-cloth

The newly formed Photographic Collections Network has appointed staff who will be taking the PCN forward over the next 15 months, supported by the steering committee. They are:

• Paul Herrmann, Manager
• Johanna Mannerfelt Empson, Coordinator
• Helen Trompeteler, Researcher
• Steve Slack, Evaluator

For more on the PCN see: http://www.photocollections.org.uk/