At a ceremony on 3 November Oscar Gustave Rejlander's previously unmarked grave in Kensal Green cemetery had a new stone placed upon it just in time for the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2013. 

The project has been fully funded from Woverhampton Photographic Society funds and from personal donations from members of WPS Historical Group.The project has taken two years to come to fruition, and the WPS is very grateful for the help and support it has  received from staff at Kensal Green, and especially Joe Hughes from the Friends of Kensal Green. The memorial plaque was hand-carved and gilded by the sculptor David Kelly.

Details of the event were noted here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/rejlander-to-be-honoured

Photos courtesy of Dr Donald Stewart FRPS

I’d like to draw members’ attention to a small exhibition in Walthamstow, East London - the original home of one of the largest camera factories in Europe. The emphasis is on popular photography rather than the historical - though there are historical references.

The space is divided into nine sections; 'small people', 'just a bit cut off', 'some exceedingly bad pictures', etc. Each section is prefaced by a vintage photograph with the rest of the images in that section reprinted from scans of either found, archive or contemporary images I've taken with locally-made vintage Ensign cameras. I was unable show the museum’s original photographs and this way the display has coherence and it's not immediately obvious (in some cases) which are vintage and which contemporary images.

It is an accessible and humorous show which also includes a display cabinet of Ensign artefacts and the cameras I used, plus some others from the museum’s collection. Round the room are quotes from Ensign publications and there is also a table display relating to a local man who used an Ensign with some of his family snaps loaned by his daughter.

The feedback I have had has been very positive with people remarking that it makes them want to revisit film and see what cameras they have in their attics. I hope it also makes people appreciate the old photographs they have in their possession.

More information here 

The Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC) at De Montfort University is seeking a dynamic and committed photographic historian specialising in twentieth century photographic history to join their growing team of academic researchers and post graduate students. Candidates' research field will ideally relate to PHRC''s core research strands in global social and cultural practices of photography, photography and science, and the industrial and business history of photography. We welcome applications from candidates with backgrounds in cultural history, visual culture, art history, anthropology, history of science, museum studies or any other relevant field. The PHRC is a highly interdisciplinary research centre, with excellent links to national and international universities and cultural industry partners. A successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively as well as individually, promoting the field of photographic history.

The post-holder will contribute to the research culture of the PHRC and teaching of the MA in Photographic History and Practice. The post holder will also be expected to supervise PhD students in photographic history, engage with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the university, and be able to develop research projects, and develop and undertake viable grant funding applications.

De Montfort University, rated as one of the top ten creative universities in the UK, has a growing reputation as a world leader in photographic history. It works with a wide network of major museums, archives and libraries internationally. Its excellent research library in photography and photographic history supports both research and teaching and it hosts a growing number of digital resources for photographic history.

FACULTY OF ART, DESIGN AND HUMANITIES
Senior Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer Photographic History
Permanent, Grade G, full-time
£34,895 - £44,166 per annum

Closing date: 10 December 2012

More details: https://jobs.dmu.ac.uk/webrecruitment/Documents/7593.pdf

Does anyone know anything about the Indian photographers named Messrs Hughes Bros.?

I am interested in the photographer Charles Henry Manning who was born in London in 1848 and worked for Messrs Hughes Bros., of Madras, India. He later claimed to have photographed the King of Siam while in India. Rama V visited British India during 1870–1872 to see the administration of British colonies. He toured the administrative centres of Calcutta, Delhi and Bombay (Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chulalongkorn).

Manning was later a photographer in Adelaide, South Australia during the period 1875 to about 1884, before moving to New Zealand where he was in business as a photographer until his death in 1895 aged 47 years.

Manning must have been in India sometime before 1875. He also claimed to have worked Johnston, O'Shaunessy and Co, Melbourne and Messrs Tuttle and Co., Sydney. While in Adelaide he photographed Queen Victoria's grandsons Prince Albert Victor and Prince George at his studio in King William Street in June 1881.

More information regarding C. H. Manning: http://canterburyphotography.blogspot.co.nz/2008/08/c-h-manning-christchurch.html

Join artists featured in the exhibition Light from the Middle East: New Photography for a virtual exhibition tour and conversation with Dr Marta Weiss (Curator of Photographs, V&A) and Dr Venetia Porter (Curator of Islamic and Modern Art, British Museum).

Artists participating in the discussion include: Manal Al-Dowayan, Jowhara AlSaud, Abdulnasser Gharem, Nermine Hammam, Taraneh Hemami, Khalil Joreige, John Jurayj, Sükran Moral, Waheeda Malullah,Youssef Nabil, Mitra Tabrizian and Newsha Tavakolian. Graphic designer Tarek Atrissi will also take part.

Light from the Middle East: New Photography, 13 November 2012–7 April 2013, is the first major exhibition of contemporary photography from and about the Middle East.

Light from the Middle East: Artists in Conversation
Tuesday 13 November, 15.30–17.00
Hochhauser Auditorium, Victoria and Albert Museum
Free, drop in

Image: 

Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Wonder Beirut #13, 1997–2006
Courtesy of the artists and CRG Gallery, New York and In Situ / Fabienne Leclerc, Paris

Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson constructed the first mirror camera which was patented in America in 1840 (patent number 1582). It used a large concave mirror rather than a lens to produce a bright image which was then processed using the daguerreotype process.  William Johnson (John Johnson’s father) came to England to market the camera and found that Richard Beard was the sole licensee for the daguerreotype process in England. Beard patented the Wolcott and Johnson camera in England (patent number 8546 of 1840) and opened the first Daguerreotype studio in London 1840.  The photos below showing an original example in the Saco Museum in Maine, USA... Read nore about the project here: Mirror%20Camera%20%282%29.doc

The next London Photograph Fair takes place on November 11th. More than 50 dealers are expected to take part for the first time - full details are in our Newsletter. Please click here to read it:

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/876431/8a3e5992dd/1582525691/966530e687/

or visit our website: www.photofair.co.uk

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This year marks the centenary of the study of photography at Newport. With a number of events, projects and activities planned to celebrate the long-standing reputation of this discipline at the institution, the University is proud to acknowledge the past, present and future of Photography at Newport through this landmark year of celebrations.

The Either/And symposium will examine the place of photography in contemporary culture. Speakers include: Professor Mark Durden, Ben Burbridge, Sarah James, Annabella Pollen and Liam Devlin. Tickets cost £10.00.

 30 Nov 2012 / University of Wales, Newport City Campus

For more information visit: http://www.newport.ac.uk/

Following on from BPH's exclusive posting, here, in early October and here in September the Science Museum has announced that Media Space, the new 1800m2 purpose-built venue at the Science Museum will open in June 2013 with a major exhibition featuring contemporary artists' responses to scientific photography from the last two centuries.

• Based on the 2nd floor of the Science Museum, Media Space, a £4m capital project, will comprise of a 500 m² exhibition space, a 290 m² flexible studio space for installations and events, and a café/bar.
• Media Space will showcase the National Photography Collection from the National Media Museum and use this as a starting point to explore, exhibit and discuss works by contemporary artists across a variety of disciplines.
• The first exhibition, Revelations: Experiments in Photography, will explore contemporary artists’ responses to scientific photography from 1850 to 1920.

Media Space will be based on the 2nd floor of the Science Museum and is a collaboration between the National Media Museum (Bradford), and the Science Museum (London), It  will present two major exhibitions and a series of free installations in its studio space each year. The principal founding sponsor is Virgin Media and principal founding donor the Dana and Albert R Broccoli Foundation. The café/bar will be run by Benugo.

The first major exhibition in Media Space will be Revelations: Experiments in Photography, and the inaugural installation in the Virgin Media Studio space will be by digital art/design collective, Universal Everything. Hyundai Motor Company is Presenting Partner of the Universal Everything installation and further details will be announced in early 2013.

Revelations: Experiments in Photography will explore contemporary art photographers’ responses to scientific photography made between 1850 and 1920. The exhibition of nearly 80 works will draw upon important historical photographs from the collections of the National Media Museum and the Science Museum. Scientific photographs can have psychological and emotional power, revealing the world in new and surprising ways. The creation of these images and their dissemination among different audiences has changed over time as have their uses, impact and status.

The exhibition will include photographs made with the assistance of microscopes, telescopes and aircraft. It will look at the ways in which photography has opened new fields of vision, charted the effects of invisible energy, demonstrated the passage of time and captured moments too brief to be seen by the naked eye. It will include works by a broad spectrum of photographers including William Henry Fox Talbot, Joris Jansen. Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton, Sarah Pickering, Clare Strand, Etienne-Jules Marey and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Hannah Redler has recently been appointed Head of Media Space and the Science Museum Arts Programme. First joining the Science Museum Group in 1998, Redler has been Head of Arts Programme at the Science Museum since 2004. Revelations is co-curated by Greg Hobson, Curator of Photographs from the National Media Museum along with Dr Ben Burbridge of the University of Sussex.

The capital cost of the project is £4 million and the funding has been raised from a combination of corporate sponsorship, private donations and fundraising initiatives. The Principal Founding Sponsor of Media Space is Virgin Media after whom the Studio will be named. Virgin Media has made this long term commitment, building on their current support for the National Media Museum, which includes the Bradford International Film Festival and the Life Online gallery; the sponsorship of Media Space is a further demonstration of this developing partnership. Source magazine reports that the anticipated visitor numbers for the first exhibition which will run from June to September is 80,000-100,000. 

A major donor to the project is the Dana and Albert R Broccoli Foundation set up by the family of the late Bond producer ‘Cubby’. A photography auction at Christies in May 2012 raised £370,000 towards the project and the recent James Bond 50th Anniversary auction raised a further £47,000 through the sale of the Tom Ford dinner jacket worn by Daniel Craig in Skyfall. Media Space has also received generous support in the form of donations or artworks from a large number of individuals, companies and artists including Ed Burtynsky, Luc Delahaye, Rineke Dijkstra, Mary McCartney and Taryn Simon. The Science Museum Group has also invested significantly in the capital project.

Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of Science Museum Group, says, ‘Media Space is a project that is long overdue. The National Photography Collection ought to be widely known and exhibited because it really is astonishing in quality and scale. We hope to reach diverse audiences and the dynamic, innovative and compelling programme at Media Space will make this happen.’

Hannah Redler, Head of Media Space, says: ‘Media Space is a really exciting project that in many ways realises the original vision for South Kensington to be a place where the two cultures of art and science coincide. We’ve enjoyed a long history at Science Museum of bringing contemporary art interventions into our science galleries, but Media Space offers an unprecedented opportunity for our audiences to encounter photographers and artists’ own investigations into our collections.’

Luke Southern, Virgin Media’s Head of Brand Activation and Partnership says, ‘We’re immensely proud to support this incredible new exhibition space. Both the still and moving image can have a powerful impact on people so, whether online, on TV, in the cinema or in a gallery, we care passionately about bringing that to life in a positive way. Media Space will provide the perfect platform to champion and showcase emerging talent as well as established artists who will inspire every generation.’

Revelations: Experiments in Photography will run from June –September 2013. Further information will be announced in December. Gift Aid ticket price £6.60, standard ticket price £6.00. Media Space is based on the 2nd Floor of the Science Museum on Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD. 

For more information see:  www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/mediaspace

Photographers, curators and historians explore contemporary photographic practices and the post-industrial sublime on 16 and 17 November 2012. The symposium will look both forwards and backwards, surveying some of the territories of new photographic landscapes that have emerged since the late 1970s, and addressing the challenges facing photographers today.

Different archaeologies of practice, place and history will be discussed, with presentations from leading practitioners,
curators and academics. The symposium coincides with the exhibition Futureland Now: reflections on the post-industrial landscape, featuring the photographic and lens-based work of John Kippin and Chris Wainwright at the Laing Art Gallery until Sunday 20 January 2013.

Early-bird rate offer! Sign up by 31 October for £20/£10 (student/unwaged), following that attendance will be £30/£15. For more information, please visit www.northeastphoto.net or www.laingartgallery.org.uk or email: Amanda.ritson@sunderland.ac.uk

Perhaps the most exciting element of the new Media Space is how it realises the original vision for South Kensington to be a place where the two cultures of art and science coincide. This vision was common to other initiatives of the period, inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851 and supported by HRH Prince Albert. Most particularly, in this context,' The Photographic Society [of London] will accordingly be hailed with pleasure by artists; good is sure to result from the unreserved intercourse between scientific men and artists' and ' In matters of Science and Art, however, there should be no such thing as resting satisfied.' - Journal of The Photographic Society of London, facsimile edition 1976, pages 76 and 152 available from The Royal Photographic Society Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH, United Kingdom.

Email: reception@rps.org

General Enquiries: +44 (0)1225 325733