August 2019 Blog Posts (19)

David Johnson was a Blackburn based amateur, later professional, photographer who was active in the 1850s and 1860s. Whilst examples of his later studio work survive as carte de visites, I’m interested in establishing whether more examples of his earlier topographical studies have survived the intervening years.

Some of his photographs were exhibited…

Bodleian Library Publishing is publishing a new book Now and Then tying in with an exhibition of the same name. Daniel Meadows is a pioneer of contemporary British documentary practice. His photographs and audio recordings made over forty-five years, capture the life of England's ‘great ordinary’. Challenging the status quo by working…

BPH member Rob Crow is seeking assistance to help identify the members of this group of eight photographers. Seated nearest the camera is Walter Benington (1872-1936) the Pictorialist photographer and leading member of the Linked Ring in its later years.  He was a member of the Ring’s “Hanging Committee” from 1907.  Margaret Harker (1979: 109) has a…

A new exhibition and book will mark the important contribution that Tony Ray-Jones (1941–1972) and his legacy, have made to British documentary photography.

The exhibition and book will focus on photographs taken between 1966–1969 as Ray-Jones, driven by curiosity, travelled across the country to document English social customs and what he saw as a…

Registration for the Charles Piazzi Smyth Bicentenary Symposium at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and associated events, is open until 30 August. Smyth (1819-1900), the second Astronomer Royal for Scotland…

I received recently a purchase from an online auction site. It is in fair condition but has a very non-standard construction. See my photographs. Part of it seemed to be set up almost as Brewster style viewer with opaque screen and pop up mirror.

Any assistance with country of manufacture, date range for manufacturer, and manufacturer much…

Thousands of photographs, prints and letters that reveal the private passions and public interests of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert have been published online to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. 

The Royal Collection Trust has digitised 17,500 documents for a new website, the majority publicly available for…

James Furnival sheds some light on the significance of the Jewellery Quarter and the developments of the photographic industry as we know it.  Birmingham and the Jewelllery Quarter played a very important role in the development of something that we all take for granted now. Through the evening, James will tell us about the key involvements of the JQ…

Gary Stone will be talking about the photographer James A Brimble, author of London’s Epping Forest and owner of Brimble’s bookshop/newsagent in Chingford from the 1940s-70s. Brimble was a member of the Royal Photographic Society from 1941 and Associate from 1942. The talk takes place at Chingford Historical Society, on 19 September, in Chingford,…

The Trustees are seeking to appoint a new Chief Executive to lead the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). This prestigious Society, established in 1853, exists to educate members of the public by increasing their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of photography and in doing so to promote the highest standards of accomplishment in this art…

I must firstly apologise that this is not a British photographic enquiry, but I would be very grateful to know whether any members might have ready access either to hard copies or to an online resource of French local trade directories - les annuaires commerciaux.  The localities concerned are specifically Le Touquet and Nice, covering the period between 1920 and 1940.  During this time a firm of street photographers - Philo-Ciné - took pictures of passers by, including…

This is my third recent post that concerns Roger Fenton and his Crimean War connections. In the first, I showed…

Further to my last post to the blog, I would like to add that Roger Fenton sold the photographic van he took with him to the Crimea in 1855 for £35 just before he left Balaklava to return home. However, he commissioned another when he got back to England and in the summer of 1856 set off with it to photograph landscapes in Scotland.

This new van was…

I am organising a Vintage Photograph Fair, to be held at the Bristol headquarters of the Royal Photographic Society. It will showcase a wide range of fine vintage photographs for sale, from leading photograph dealers in the UK and Europe.

Bristol Vintage Photograph Fair …

Many of us will be familiar with Roger Fenton’s much reproduced photograph of his photographic van, which features Marcus Sparling, his chief assistant the Crimea, sitting on the box seat (see right). The left side of the van also appears in Fenton’s group portrait of cavalry personnel in the image entitled Cooking House,…

The V&A is advertising for an Assistant Curator, Photographs, to replace Catherine Troiano who has moved to a curatorial role at the National Trust. Applications are required by 9 September…

This Paul Cordes (1893-1979) photo and more info on the photographer has been sent to me from the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA who are also looking for any info ....read the new details and continued…

PAN reader Michael-John Jennings the Picture Librarian at News UK is supplying a monthly from the photo archive to The Times newspaper online and tablet editions. MJ told PAN "The aim being to promote our superb archive but also provide some unique content which directly relates to the current news agenda. The readers…

The Netherlands has until now lacked a meeting point for vintage photography. Inspired by the famous Frido Troost (1960-2013), whose Institute of Concrete Matter, offered a space where collectors, curators and photographers could meet and have extraordinary encounters and dialogues on photography, two curators and three collectors have…