Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

May 2010 Blog Posts (33)

Vintage camera auctioned for world-record 898,000 dollars

As reported in the blog earlier this year, the world's first commercially produced camera, a daguerreotype, dating from 1839 and bearing the

rare signature of its French inventor, sold at auction in Vienna today for a record 732,000 euros (898,000 dollars). It broke the previous record of 576,000 euros, fetched during a Westlicht auction in 2007 for a similar daguerreotype camera made by the Paris company Susse Freres.… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 29, 2010 at 23:11 — No Comments

Rhyl historian's photographs of charabancs under the hammer in Colwyn Bay

A unique collection of more than 600 photographic negatives of charabancs and other memorabilia

garnered by the late Rhyl collector and historian, John Nickels, was auctioned off by Colwyn Bay auctioneers, Rogers Jones Co, yesterday (Tuesday, May 25).

Mr Nickels, who died aged 80 in 2000, spent a lifetime amassing hundreds of glass negatives, photographs and postcards that were almost thrown out. The entire collection was bought for £2,800 by the Omnibus Society to secure it… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 27, 2010 at 16:54 — No Comments

Llandudno's Camera Obscura re-opens

Llandudno's Camera Obscura was first built in 1859 by an 18-year-old Leo Williams. It was the first of several octagonal dark rooms to be built on the site, all to the same design, and only just one of seven such instruments remaining in the UK.

Perfectly positioned on the heights above the Happy Valley on the Great Orme, the obscura is blessed with a panoramic view extending from Liverpool Bay over Llandudno Pier across to the Little Orme, taking in Penmaenmawr across to… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 27, 2010 at 16:50 — No Comments

Benjamin Brecknell Turner & Amsterdam

According to the V&A records, Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-94) was one of the first, and remains

one of the greatest, British photographers. His images were highly praised during his lifetime for their rustic beauty and grandeur.

Born in London in 1815, Turner started work in the family candle and saddle soap business at the age of 16. In 1849 he took out a licence to practice paper negative photography from its inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot, when the new art… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 23, 2010 at 18:04 — No Comments

Old Chinese photography

Although not strictly about British photography the following site includes references to British photographers, publishers before 1911. Terry Bennett announces the launch of a new site covering early photography in China. The site can be viewed here: http://www.oldchinaphotography.com/

Added by Michael Pritchard on May 23, 2010 at 13:43 — No Comments

Haworth-Booth a finale

Mark Haworth-Booth describes on his blog..."An early copy of my book on Camille Silvy arrived from the National Portrait Gallery. We sat on the sofa and looked through every page. It is wonderful! I won't get my other copies until June. This is my finale as a photo-historian and I'm thrilled with it."

The Silvy exhibition will take place at the National Portrait Gallery later this year - it promises to be the exhibition of the year for me and many…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on May 23, 2010 at 5:30 — No Comments

Last photograph of adventurer Captain Scott to be sold off at auction

The last photograph taken of Westcountry-born adventurer Captain Robert Scott and his

wife before his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole will be auctioned off soon. The black and white picture was taken by Steffano Webb, a New Zealand photographer based in Christchurch, just before the 1910 trip to Antarctica is expected to fetch £4,500. In total nine of Webb's photographs of Scott's Terra Nova expedition, taken at Lyttelton in… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 21, 2010 at 10:24 — No Comments

Research Officer post available...

Elizabeth Edwards is directing a HERA Funded Project 'Photographs, Colonial Legacy And Museums In Contemporary European Culture' PhotoCLEC, University Of The Arts London

A leading collaborative research project with University of Bergen and VU University Amsterdam, HERA's "Cultural Dynamics: Inheritance and Identity" strand will examine the ways in which museums reflect and respond to varieties of colonial experiences and their specific visual legacies. It will focus especially…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on May 21, 2010 at 4:30 — No Comments

Images of a rich heritage goes online ...

No kidding, but we have news of yet another photo archive going online.

The public are now able to search online a catalogue describing more than a million historical photographs and documents relating to England’s historic buildings and archaeological sites held by the National Monuments Record (NMR), English Heritage’s public archive. This includes images, plans, drawings, reports and publications covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 20, 2010 at 17:37 — No Comments

The Lockey Photographs - Too Good to Miss .....

The Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution's (BRLSI) Collection includes an album of photographs of

the home counties and other localities by Hilditch, and albums of photographs from 19th century China and Japan presented by the Vacher family. However, an important part of the Collection are the negatives of 86 photographs of Bath taken by the Rev Francis Lockey between 1849 and 1861, using the Fox Talbot calotype process.

In a recent newsletter, the Chair of… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 20, 2010 at 10:58 — No Comments

Museum of London's New Galleries Open ...

On 28 May 2010 the Museum of London unveils its spectacular £20 million Galleries of Modern London.

Three years in the making, five new galleries tell the story of London and its people from 1666 to the present day. 7,000 objects, show-stopping interactives, specially designed family areas, film and changing displays, transport you through the capital’s tumultuous history, rich with drama, triumph and near… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 18, 2010 at 20:30 — No Comments

Roger Fenton and Julia Margaret Cameron - Early British Photographs from the Royal Collection

An exhibition of early British photographs from the Royal Collection opens at Aberdeen Art Gallery on 12 June, running until 21 August 2010.

There is a catalogue to accompany the exhibition, which will also be online at the time of the exhibition.…

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Added by Sophie Gordon on May 16, 2010 at 12:22 — No Comments

Vintage Photographs to Spearhead Sotheby's Photographs Sale

Sotheby's London May 20 sale of Photographs will offer 126 lots covering the history of photography

from the beginnings through to the present with offerings of Contemporary works. Among the sale highlights are two superb examples of the work of Eugène Atget, which have come from a private French collection: La Villette, Rue Asselin, Fille publique faisant le quart devant sa porte is a signature image from an artist who has been called the first Modernist photographer (lot 7, est.… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 15, 2010 at 14:39 — No Comments

V&A Photography Gallery opens ......

To celebrate the annual re-display of V&A's permanent photography collection gallery, which also

includes many recent acquisitions, the Museum held a special viewing on Friday (14th May). One of the highlights was the new display "The Other Britain Revisited: Photographs from New Society". This pioneering weekly publication was founded in 1962 and continued as an independent magazine until 1988.

The magazine carried a large number of illustrations and 'black & white'… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 15, 2010 at 14:00 — No Comments

NMeM secure government support for London base - for now

Amateur Photographer magazine reports that the National Media Museum has received government approval to open a London base. A spokesperson for the Bradford-based museum said this afternoon: 'We have received approval from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for this project.'

Last night, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC's Newsnight that 'none' of the DCMS's budgets are protected in light of the cutbacks expected to be outlined by the new…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on May 13, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

De Montfort university reveal images

A wealth of vital information about the early days of photography could be unearthed by a computer program which mimics human decision-making. De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has amassed a collection of hundreds of exhibition catalogues containing invaluable information about individual photographs but the images themselves are missing as the catalogues were printed before the technology existed to reproduce pictures alongside…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on May 13, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

150-Year-Old Photos Find New Home

Just as when you thought it was safe, out comes yet another announcement of a photo archive going online. This time it's from BT. Yes, British Telecoms.

Over 1,000 historic BT Archive images from the 1860s onwards can now be downloaded thanks to Telefocus - the new BT Archives Image Gallery. It’s the first time the images have been open to the public online. The gallery offers a fascinating insight into the history of telecommunications through images,… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 13, 2010 at 15:00 — 1 Comment

Tate Modern is 10 : More active in Photography

Tate Modern has used the occasion of its 10th birthday not only to show how it is expanding its collection beyond Europe and North America, but more importantly becoming more active in photography, recently appointing a photography curator. It has also announced the formation of a Photography Acquisitions Committee, to be launched on 19 May, to demonstrate Tate’s ongoing… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 12, 2010 at 10:30 — No Comments

MoMA presents history of photography through the lens of female photographers

The Museum of Modern Art's (New York) photography collection is so rich that it can present virtually the entire history of the medium using only images taken by women and in many cases, of women.

Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography presents a selection of outstanding photographs

by women artists, charting the medium’s history from the dawn of the modern period to the present. The show is organized chronologically, beginning with a gallery of 19th and… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 12, 2010 at 10:04 — No Comments

Frederick Evans at the National Media Museum

Frederick H. Evans (June 26, 1853 – June 24, 1943) was a noted British photographer, best known for his architectural subjects, particularly images of English and French cathedrals. He started life as a bookseller, but retired in 1898 to become a full-time photographer, when he adopted the platinotype technique for his photography.

For those BPH bloggers who are fans of his work, but can't make it to the special exhibition put together by the J… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on May 10, 2010 at 10:05 — No Comments