Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

March 2010 Blog Posts (28)

Campaign to honour Lacock's Fox Talbot

A recent article which might be of interest to fellow BPH bloggers come from The Wiltshire Times dated 20/2/2010 which reads as follows:

Photographer Trevor Porter has started a campaign to have February 11 called Fox Talbot Day, in memory of the photographic pioneer Henry Fox Talbot who was born on that day in 1800.

Mr Porter organised a dinner for photographers from Wiltshire and beyond at The George Inn in Lacock last Thursday to kick off his campaign. Fox Talbot is… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 31, 2010 at 23:27 — No Comments

Celebrating the Negative (175th Anniversary)

From 1st to 3rd May 2010, the Fox Talbot Museum in Wiltshire is to hold a special photography festival to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the photographic negative. The negative process was discovered by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835. Refer to 'Events' for further info.

The official press release is as follows:

Wiltshire’s Fox Talbot Museum in the village of Lacock is to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the photographic negative with a series of special events… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 31, 2010 at 21:55 — No Comments

Midley History of Early Photography archived

Last year BPH reported that Derek Wood's excellent website dealing with his publications and research was to close early in 2010 (click here to see the original posting). Derek Wood has emailed to say that the 'Midley History of early Photography' will now continue to be permanently available. The British Library has archived it at the UK Webarchive and it can be found here:…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 27, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

New Book: J W G Gutch (now available)

Ian Sumner has authored a book on the early British photographer J. W. G. Gutch based on five albums produced between 1856 and 1859. In search of the Picturesque. The English photographs of J. W. G. Gutch 1856/59 which is now available.

John Wheeley Gough Gutch was born in Bristol in 1808 and was involved in photography from its earliest days. A contemporary of Talbot, Gutch was experimenting with photography as early as 1841. Partially paralysed and using the… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on March 27, 2010 at 9:45 — 2 Comments

For the Love of Photography ...

From your cousins across the Atlantic, I read of an early photography specialist dealer of 19th and early 20th century photographs from New York, Hans P. Kraus Jr, who for a recent exhibition has painstakingly created an entire room evocative of the ancestral home of William Henry Fox Talbot. There’s a replica of the photographer’s Lacock Abbey oriel window from one of his early images. It has a false bay window with a misty view of a gnarly old tree outdoors copied from a photograph that Fox… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 26, 2010 at 17:00 — No Comments

Guide to the architectural collections in the NMR

A draft guide has been published to the photographers and collections of photographs held by the National Monuments Record at English Heritage. The guide has been compiled by Ian Leith and is intended to help users with the new EH Archives website: see…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 26, 2010 at 10:35 — No Comments

18th-century scientist Adriaan Paauw : “The Inventor of Photography"

Well, that's according to collector, Arjan de Nooy, a chemist, whose scientific background led him to pursue a research-based method, focusing on the lives and oeuvres of largely unknown photographers.

His new exhibition entitled "The Collector: Beyond The Amateur - A collector's perspective on the history of photography (see 'Events' for info), begins with work by 18th-century scientist Adriaan Paauw, who De Nooy classes as “the inventor of photography.” Around 1790, this obscure… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 26, 2010 at 10:02 — No Comments

And/Or Book Awards 2010

The two shortlists are announced for the 2010 And/or Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes for books published in the fields of photography and the moving image. A winner from each category will share a prize fund of £10,000. They will be announced during an awards ceremony at the BFI Southbank, London, on Thursday 29 April.

The shortlisted titles for the Best Photography Book are:

Oil by Edward Burtynsky (Steidl)
Looking In: Robert Frank’s…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 26, 2010 at 7:27 — No Comments

Who created the first true colour photograph ? James Clerk Maxwell or Levi Hill ?

Started in the 1880s, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has the oldest collection of photography in an American museum, and includes many unique photography collections and related cameras. It includes early examples of color photography made in the 1850s by Reverend Levi L. Hill, a daguerreotype photographer in the remote hamlet of West Kill, New York, in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. The museum has the only set of Reverend Hill’s 62 early color experiments, originally… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 22, 2010 at 18:11 — 3 Comments

China : Through the lens of John Thomson 1868 - 1872

For those who might not have a chance to view this exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum (see Events) before 6th June, a book has been published to accompany it. It can either be obtained from the Museum Shop (sold out as of today, but with more copies to follow) or from Amazon (168 pages, 310 x 310 mm, hardback with 157 black and white photographs; ISBN 978 616 7339 00 9).

An article on John Thomson was recently covered by the national press too:…

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Added by Michael Wong on March 22, 2010 at 15:02 — No Comments

New Web Site

http://www.jacobsonphoto.com/…

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Added by Ken Jacobson on March 20, 2010 at 13:34 — 1 Comment

'Victoria and Albert: Art & Love' - new exhibition includes photographs from Prince Albert's collection

A selection of photographs from the collection of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, taken between 1848 and 1860, will be on display from Friday 19 March at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London. Works by Roger Fenton, J.J.E. Mayall, Richard Beard, T. Brunell, Leonida Caldesi, Oscar Mallitte, Comte de Montizon and Gustave Le Gray are included.

The exhibition, which also includes oil paintings, watercolours, decorative arts, jewels and textiles, examines the art…

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Added by Sophie Gordon on March 18, 2010 at 13:50 — No Comments

Discovering the Language of Photography: The Gernsheim Collection

Helmut Gernsheim (1913-1995) was one of the most influential figures in the history of photography. He was one of a handful of people whose original research, collecting and writing took the field seriously and changed the way it was regarded. His scholarly and encyclopaedic book, The History of Photography (1955), co-written with his wife Alison, became the authoritative source on the subject. Over the years, Gernsheim managed to assemble a peerless collection of works by leading British,… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 18, 2010 at 11:28 — 1 Comment

NMeM: Head of Development appointed

The National Media Museum has appointed a head of development after advertising the post recently. The successful applicant will start on 29 March. Although I have been asked not able to disclose his name until then if anyone uses Twitter a suitable search may pull up the name for you...

Added by Michael Pritchard on March 15, 2010 at 15:00 — No Comments

NMeM: London presence - more details

More details of the requirements the Natuonal Media Museum require for its London presence have emerged which start to add shape to the project...

The National Media Museum is seeking an architectural and engineering team to undertake the design and onstruction of its London Galleries Project that consists of a suite of facilities created for a range of cultural programming, which will open in September 2012. The National Media Museum’s team of… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on March 11, 2010 at 20:00 — No Comments

EXCLUSIVE: Niépce in England - a major conference

The National Media Museum, Bradford, and Getty Conservation Institute, have announced a major international conference on recent advancements in scientifi…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 9, 2010 at 21:00 — No Comments

In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes Before the Digital Age

For those BPH-bloggers interested in the technological developments in photographic processes from the origins of the medium until the advent of digital photography, there is an interesting book just published in Jan 2010. Written by Sarah Kennel with Diane Waggoner and Alice Carver-Kubik, the book is a compilation of essential information about the predominant negative, positive, and photomechanical processes in use since…

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Added by Michael Wong on March 7, 2010 at 18:16 — 2 Comments

Photography! A Special Collection from the University of Leiden

For those of you who still haven't had a chance to visit the amazing British Library Points of View exhibition, you better to do as it ends this Sunday (7th March) !

However, if you happen to be in the Netherlands, near the Hague, anytime from now until 23rd April, you can catch a Dutch 'version' which they have called 'Photography' which covers the development of photography, from pioneer to the Dutch New Photography movement.

The first image produced using the camera… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on March 5, 2010 at 18:08 — No Comments

NMeM job: Exhibitions Organiser

The National Media Museum has six floors of free galleries, including two temporary spaces. You’ll help us fill them with inspiring exhibitions by leading project teams, liaising with stakeholders and managing budgets of up to £50,000. You will plan and oversee installations, and complete all relevant admin duties, from contracts and insurance to transportation, ensuring all exhibitions are delivered on time and to the highest standard.

Coming from a similar role in a museum…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 5, 2010 at 7:00 — No Comments

George Shadbolt honoured

The life and work of a pioneering the nineteenth-century photographer and journal editor was commemorated at the end of February with a blue heritage plaque. George Shadbolt (1819-1901) is thought to be one of the first people to take a photograph through a microscope and recorded some of the earliest pictures of the Crouch End area, around his old home Cecile House, in

Crouch Hill. His home has since been turned into Kestrel House School which provides education for young people with…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on March 4, 2010 at 16:30 — No Comments