June 2020 Blog Posts (23)

It is little wonder the life of Hemi Pomara has attracted the attention of writers and film makers. Kidnapped in the early 1840s, passed from person to person, displayed in London and ultimately abandoned, it is a story of indigenous survival and resilience for our times.

Hemi has already been the basis for the character James Pōneke in New Zealand…

Mr Weber's group of photographers posed with their cameras at Bidston. Sitting on the wall (from left to right): W Murray, Thomas Moore, Mr Twigge, E Whalley; middle row: Mr Pendlebury (standing), Mr Wharmby, Mr Bolton, Mr Wilson; front row: J H T Ellerbeck, Mr King, H J Palmer, Mr Kirkby. John Henry Townsend Ellerbeck,…

In the 1960's I had left college and worked part time as an assistant to Adolf Morath photographing industrial subjects. Mainly running around and changing the flash bulbs in the multi fash heads he had specially designed for him. He sometimes used the Bowens heads but prefered the ones he had designed himself.

I remeber him taking portaits with these lighte and being amazed that he could aim the lights so accuratley. (with no modelling lights).

For his industrial work he set…

This new publication asks and seeks to answer a number of questions. How is a historical photo collection established, and how does it then grow? What principles and ideas guide the people responsible for such a collection? What do we mean when we say that photographs carry more than their content that they represent, but are material objects at the same…

We formed Document Scotland back in 2012. Since then, we have worked on photography projects which have been exhibited, published, broadcast and shared with friends and audiences both at home and abroad. Highlights over these years include shows at venues such as the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and the many events we have staged across Scotland…

Oxford University Press has just published a four-volume set The Collected Letters of Humphry Davy. Davy is a significant figure in both the history of science and literary history. One of the foremost chemists of the early nineteenth century, he was the first person to inhale nitrous oxide. He pioneered electrochemistry, using the Voltaic pile to…

Following on from the pictures of  Staffordshire Photo Club here are a couple of images of Bolton Camera Club which are of a similar age. The Bolton Camera club started in 1884 and continues till this day. 

I am not associated with the club these pictures come from my collection of photographers using cameras.…

Julia Margaret Cameron: Close Up is a new exhibition at Dimbola Museum and Galleries focusing on Cameron's astonishing close up portraits of great men. The selection was chosen by her son Henry for a volume of work he was compiling called Tennyson and his friends. Printed in large format, these images demonstrate Julia’s genius for…

Photo London has released its recording of a panel discussion about Roger Fenton which was held in conjunction with the 2019 exhibition ‘The Essential Fenton’, curated by Bob Hershkowitz and shown at Photo London that year.

This discussion brought together experts on the pioneering photographer Roger Fenton. Dr Sophie Gordon, Head of…

During the Covid-19 lockdown we’ve all become acutely aware of one of the most essential values of digital preservation: remote access. Most physical collections, libraries, and archives have been closed down for several weeks. Working from home is problematic, especially when we keep in mind that rather than working from home by design or choice, we are…

I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I acquired a pair of painted salt prints stamped 'Mr. Kilburn 222 Regent Street'. I assume these are by William Edward Kilburn but I cannot find other examples of painted salt prints by him.

Can anyone point me in the direction of other examples or tell me more about the ones I have (date…

Glasgow's Street Level Photoworks has released a series of online photographer/artist talks from recently events. They comprise: 

• Recording of an artist talk by Peter Kennard at the book launch of 'Visual Dissent', Street Level Photoworks 2nd October 2019. See: …

In the first third of the twentieth century, two French publications -- VU, and Art et Médecine-- introduced a 'New Vision' in the use of photographs to tell stories... an emphasis on sharply-focused 'documentary' uses of the medium.

VU Magazine…

I bought this framed photograph (print 283 x 232 mm) a week or so before Covid-19 locked us down and it has been propped against a wall in my study waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

I was initially drawn to its 1950s-ish B&W compositional style of abstract lines and blocks of light and shade…

Stafford Photographic Society was formed in 1895. It is one of the oldest photographic societies in the  Midlands. A young man named Charles Fowke was primarily responsible for its formation, he gathered together other photographic enthusiasts and started the YMCA Amateur Photographic Society, so called because they met at the YMCA in Gaol Road. In 1898…

This month, Photoworks begins a year of activities marking twenty-five years of Photoworks. To mark its anniversary year it commissioned Ibrahim Azab to create (PW)_H3RE N0W)//_SINCE TH3N, 2020, re-imagining the Photoworks…

This is another post to the blog concerning mistakes I have found in the titles and descriptions of Crimean War photographs in collections that I hope will come to the attention of curators.

While in the Crimea, Roger Fenton took a portrait of Frederick Augustus Maxse. In the picture, Commander Maxse, who at the time held the rank of commander in the…

The Association of Photographers (AOP) launch a series of breakfast talks with the most influential figures from the photographic community. A number of the talks will be of particular interest to BPH readers.

Talk 2 – Tuesday 9 June 09:00-10:00 - Commissioning Editors

With the COVID-19 dominating the headlines, how are the…

PhD student, Rachel Maloney, the University of Brighton’s V&A Research Exchange Fellow, discusses how her research has had to adapt during lockdown. Rachel is an artist and researcher whose work focuses on memory and personal narrative within family photographs and archival collections. Her project outlined a practice-led research project that would…

The Royal Society played an important role in recording the introduction and progress of photography from the 1830s onwards. A new resources from Google Arts and Culture brings some of the Society's archives relating to photography to the fore.

See: …