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The National Media Museum, Bradford, and Getty Conservation Institute, have announced a major international conference on recent advancements in scientific, art historical, and conservation research relating to the photographs which Joseph Nicéphore Niépce brought to England in 1827. The conference will take place in Bradford from 13-14 October 2010 and additionally will provide a unique opportunity to examine three Niépce plates out of their frames.

This two-day conference will present the results of new, unpublished research and scientific investigations, which have been undertaken during the NMeM and GCI Collaborative Research Project. In the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum are three plates by Niépce and the conference will address the research and conservation of these photographic treasures, and will discuss future conservation measures that would provide for their long-term protection and preservation. The reason why Niépce brought these plates to England, and their subsequent history, will also be outlined more fully than previously published.

A copy of the announcement brochure is available here: Niépce First Announcement.pdf

Aims and objectives

The conference will examine:

• Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and his work

• The first six photographs brought to England by Niépce in context

• Scientific investigation into the three Niépce photographs in the NMeM collection

• Dating and conservation of the original frames

• Conservation and preservation issues related to the Niépce plates

The speakers have yet to be formally announced.

Registration

Attendance to the conference is limited. All registrations will be handled on a first-come, first served basis.

Formal registration for the Niépce in England conference will take place in May 2010. To register initial interest, contact the NmeM at rsvp.nmem@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk. The museum will hold your details on file and email you registration information in May 2010.

The cost is:

• Regular registration (does not include dinner) £90

• Student registration at reduced rate £70

• Wednesday evening dinner £22

Information

For more information, contact the museum via email at rsvp.nmem@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk and it museum will respond to your query accordingly. If you would like to make contact by post, please send correspondence to:

Niépce Conference

c/o Cultural Events Organiser

National Media Museum

Pictureville, Bradford

West Yorkshire BD1 1NQ United Kingdom

The latest V&A Photographs Section newsletter from Curator Ashley Givens includes details of new acquisitions, research, publication and exhibitions that the curatorial staff have been working on.

The annual re-display which opens on Friday, 14 May will present some of the new works and will focus on showcasing photographs from the Collection dating from the 1970s to today. The exhibition will be accompanied by a display titled The Other Britain Revisited: The New Society Collection of Photographs, 1972 to 1982. New Society, a publication of the 1960s and 1970s, aimed to further research in the burgeoning fields of sociology and social work. The display will include photographs by leading names in recent British photography, including Martin Parr, Daniel Meadows, Euan Duff and Brian Griffin. It will also feature issues of

New Society magazine alongside the prints to provide a sense of the photographs’ original context.

The V&A Photographs department, in collaboration with the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) has been awarded funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund to collect photographs related to the black British experience. The aim is both to collect the work of earlier documentary photographers active in the 1950s to 1980s not currently represented in the Collection, and to build upon the existing holdings of work by more recent practitioners. This funding will also facilitate an oral history archive and an exhibition to be held at BCA.

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 or gallery, you’ll already have a good understanding of exhibition administration and delivery procedures, as well as sound knowledge of display techniques, including video and new media display technologies. You should have experience of managing projects, coordinating internal and external stakeholders and developing interpretation strategies too. If you can combine this with good communication, organisational and IT skills, you’ll help us show some wonderful work to visitors!

Award winning, visionary and truly unique, the National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

Contract:

• Hours: Full Time
• Salary: £21,900

Contract Type: fixed term until 31st March 2011

Closing date: 21 March 2010

More details here: http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/974202/exhibitions-organiser/?CMP=EMCJOBEML281&email=jobsbyemail&lijbeid=9948200

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 autism.

Rosemary Wilman, of the Royal Photographic Society, and Keith Fawkes, of the Hornsey Historical Society, unveiled a blue plaque at the building and paid tribute to his contribution to the art. Mr Fawkes told the Haringey Independent: “He was a pioneer – a very important person to publicise locally. All these local people are very important. Crouch End was an interesting area then and these people become more important as the years go by. He was one of the pioneers of photography in Victorian times and he was extremely innovative.”

Around 150 years before digital photography revolutionised the process of taking pictures, Shadbolt pioneered early techniques, including methods of enlarging images. He was an early exponent of combination printing, the practice of combining two separate negatives to create a single image.

During an influential career he spent seven years editing what would later become the British Journal of Photography and was an early member of the Photographic Society of London.

The plaque is one of eight installed in honour of influential local figures as part a community scheme led by John Hajdu, of the Muswell Hill and Fortis Green
Association.