Blogs

Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China, 1868-1872, is a photography exhibition running until 16 February 2014 at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum - at Central Ferry Pier No 8.

Born in Edinburgh in 1837, the Scotsman trained as a lensmaker at the age of 14. And then, like many youngsters of his time, Thomson headed east to explore and broaden his horizons. In 1868, after he had visited Singapore and Malaya, Thomson decided to go to Hong Kong and coastal China.

During his four-year stay in China, Thomson traveled to places such as Tianjin, Beijing, Fujian and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong.

When he first arrived in town, he immediately set up a studio on Queen's Road and it did not take him long to establish a good reputation. He was soon invited to take photographs of the commemorative book created for the first visit of Prince Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria.

In 1872, Thomson headed back home to London, bringing with him 600 glass plates created during his stay. It is these plates, held by London's Wellcome Collection, which form the basis of the exhibition. 

W J J Bolding (1815-1899) is the subject of a new book about this 1850/60s North Norfolk photographer. The book records what is known about Bolding along with a selection of his outstanding photographs. A chapter by John Benjafield contextualises Bolding's work in the early history of photography. 

Bolding took up photography sometime in the 1840s making paper negatives and, later, using wet-collodion. The subject of a number of exhibitions over the years and included in the Arts Council's 1975 The Real Thing which described his portraits of estate works and villagers as 'amongst the most powerful portraits in the history of photography'.  Roger Watson, Curator of the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock said of the Victorian Photographer: 'W J J Bolding was a photographer of the first rank. His work deserves to be more widely seen and appreciated'.

A Victorian Gentleman's North Norfolk. W J J Bolding and his place in early photography

Richard Jefferson

JJG Publishing, 2013

ISBN 978-1-899163-78-6

167 pages, hard covers. 

The book is available for £25 and can be purchased from Richard Jefferson (e: richardjefferson@f2s.com) or from Big C, 10a Castle Meadow, Norwich NR1 3DE. Tel: 01603 619990.  All profits go to Big C, Norfolk & Waveney's cancer charity, see: www.big-c.co.uk/boldingsbook.aspx

The Guardian reports on the government scheme to accept items in lieu of tax. Items accepted must be made available to the public for viewing. Included on the list are the following photographic items:

• David Octavius Hill (1802-70) and Robert Adamson (1821-48) 'Calotype Studies', 1846. A rare and highly important album containing a total of 127 photographs comprising 100 calotype photographs by Hill & Adamson. See:  http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=98607
  
  
• Ducamp, M: Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. Paris: 1852. Folio, mounted albumen prints, contemporary green morocco gilt; and 2 others. (3). See: http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=94737
  
  
• Talbot (H. Fox): The Pencil of Nature, 1844, plates 13-18; Sun Pictures, 23 plates, bound in one volume. See: http://www.visitukheritage.gov.uk/servlet/com.eds.ir.cto.servlet.CtoDetailServlet?ID=115202

You are entitled to see these items and if you are a UK taxpayer then you are effectively paying for the foregone tax. There may be other items of photography and the full list is searchable here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/heritage/visit.htm#1

The Fotorestauratie Atelier VOF offers English Master Classes in various subjects surrounding the preservation of photographs. During the first half of the year we are placing special focus on preservation strategies surrounding modern photographs. 
 
All courses will be given in Amsterdam and prices include coffee breaks, lunch and a reader. Classes will be given by Clara von Waldthausen, Hans Meesters or by a guest lecturer. The number of participants is limited to 8 unless otherwise indicated in the course description.

Identification of Modern Photograph Processes

Date:     19, 20 & 21 March 2014

Costs:   495,00 euro
 
This course covers the most common modern photograph processes and finishing techniques in theory and in practice. Participants will learn about and examine the differences between true black and white photographs, early color processes, chromogenic and silver dye bleach photography, inkjet prints and many other modern processes during a three-day workshop that is divided into theory and practical sessions. 
                                                                                                        
Digital Photograph Documentation for Conservators / Restorers 

Date:     14, 15 & 16 April 2014

Costs:   595,00 euro
 
In the last 10 years conservators have made the switch from analoge photograph documentation of their treatments to digital documentation. However there are many differences in the way digital documentation is performed and in the tools needed to produce and ensure longevity of the digital file.  Targets other than the Kodak color scale have to be used, a white balance has to be made and stitching together of images using programs such as Adobe Photoshop can be performed. This master class will provide the background necessary to understand digital photography and document conservation treatment optimally. 

 
Note: An understanding of one's own camera is required and participants are encouraged to bring their own camera and if possible a laptop with Adobe Photoshop. These tools will be useful during the practical sessions. 

 
Presservation of Modern Photograph Collections

Date:      21, 22 & 23 May 2014

Costs:    495,00 euro
 
Which processes can be stored at room temperature and which can better be stored in cold storage? What are cold storage temperatures and what are the requirements to store at these temperatures? This master class will discuss storage of modern photographs as well as focus on deterioration, exhibition, framing and transportation requirements of color, black and white and inkjet prints.
 

Course discussions surrounding the concept of originality versus reproducibility of photographs will be held and the use of exhibition copies will be looked at. Strategies for handling and installing modern photographs will be examined. Experiences in decision-making and working with artists and museum staff will be shared and considered during a number of case studies that will be presented by participants and lecturer. After the course, participants will be able to make warranted decisions concerning the preservation of modern photograph collections, identify damage to the collection and document damage on condition rapports.
 

 
Note: It is recommended that participants have experience in process identification of the most common modern processes including chromogenic, dye transfer, silver dye bleach and inkjet prints. If you do not, may we recommend our master class, “Identification of Modern Photograph Processes” which is given in March. Participants that enroll in both classes receive a 75 euro discount. 
 
Storage & Framing: Theory, Techniques and Materials

Date:      25, 26 & 27 June 2014

Costs:     695,00 euro
 
This hands-on course focuses on mounting and framing strategies for storage and exhibition. Participants will become familiar with mounting materials and techniques for modern and historic photographs as well as the various adhesives for mounting photographs with different primary supports.  Common mounting methods used by commercial framers will be considered and during practical sessions mock-ups will be made using a number of mounting techniques. The use of microclimates in framing will also be examined and the possibilities and limitations of hermetic framing will be evaluated. 


 
Note: This course is limited to 5 participants
 
To register for one of the classes below please send an email to us via the form on the right side of this window with your name, email address, telephone number (optional) and message, and press the "verzend" button to send it to us. Once received, we will be happy to send you a registration form and if desirable a list of hotels in the area.

See more and book here: http://www.fotoconservering.nl/3173912/master-classes

We are happy to announce that The Papers of William Henry Fox Talbot are now searchable online in the British Library catalogue.To search the collection, go to the British Library's online catalogue‎ and search for 

William Henry Fox Talbot or Add MS 88942 : 1647-1952

(first click on "details" and then on "see contents" on the right).

The Talbot Papers were donated to the British Library by the Talbot family in 2005. A subsequent loan collection of further material came to the British Library from the family in 2008. The collection is significant in both scope and scholarly integrity: The papers contain notebooks, letters, photographs, diaries, unbound Assyriological and mathematical folios, natural specimens in herbaria, offprints of Talbot’s articles, patents, artefacts and a small selection of books from Talbot’s library. Whilst the covering dates of the collection are 1647-1952, most of the material is from Talbot's lifetime. The Talbot collection as a whole is still in the process being catalogued. To date, the first series, Talbot's notebooks Add MS 88942/1, has been completed and is already available to readers. The extent recorded online (348 folders) thus refers to this first Series and will be revised accordingly as the cataloguing project progresses.

The photographs in this collection are catalogued separately in the British Library Catalogue of Photographs.

Talbot's correspondence had already been calendared and transcribed by The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot Project.

Regarding the wider archive, several photographic notebooks and thousands of important prints (originating in a donation to the Science Museum by Talbot's grand-daughter) are held at the National Media Museum, Bradford and a smaller part of the archive is currently in the process of being acquired by the Bodleian Library or held in several public and private collections. The library of the Talbot family remains partly at the National Trust Property at Lacock Abbey. The archive of the Talbot family and Lacock Abbey is held on deposit at the Wiltshire County Record Office.

Former Identifiers: Deposit 10690

For an overview of the collection, see also

William Henry Fox Talbot: Beyond Photography (Yale University Press 2013)

A new monograph records the life and achievements pioneering wildlife photographer and cinematographer Oliver G Pike FRPS. The 56-page publication is available for £5 plus p+p from the author's website: http://www.olivergpike.info/

The world's two oldest photographic periodicals have announced their digitisation. The Royal Photographic Society's Photographic Journal, which dates from March 1853 and the British Journal of Photography which dates from January 1854 will be made available in digital forms to researchers and the public. Both publications have been published continuously since their first issue.

BPH understands that The RPS has already completed digitisation of its Journal from 1853 to 2012 and that it will be made available in a searchable form with the launch of The Society's new website in January 2014. The project has been funded through the generosity of a RPS member. The BJP has announced its own digitisation in its January 2014 issue (BJP, January 2014, p. 98) which stated that 'throughout 2014 and beyond, we will be digitising BJP's entire archive'. Its intent 'is to make [it] available to our readers, as well as historians, professors and researchers worldwide'. It is not reported whether access will be charged for. The RPS will make access available to the public without charge.

Commenting on the RPS digitisation to BPH The Society stated: "During a scoping exercise it became apparent how rare runs of the RPS Journal were and digitisation would both preserve the content and make it far more widely available to everyone from photographic historians, to family historians. The Royal Photographic Society was at the forefront of developments in the artistic and scientific development of photography and these were reported and discussed in the Journal. For much of its history the RPS Journal was read and had an influence far beyond its membership. The Society has always been an important body within British and international photography and the Society’s Journal is unique in its longevity". The ability to access the Journal which has never been previously made available in this way will allow The Society's role, that of its members and wider British photography over 160+ years to be studied as never before.

BPH will carry more on both projects as information becomes available. To contact The RPS about it's digitisation email: director@rps.org

With thanks to Bob Gates ARPS. 

The State Hermitage Museum is pleased to invite you to take part in the international conference "Current Research in Photography" held to mark the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage and 175 years since the invention of photography.

The conference will take place on 18-20 November 2014 at the Restoration and Storage Centre of the State Hermitage in St.Petersburg, Russia.  It is planned to discuss the following issues during the conference:

• Study of historical and modern photography
• Restoration and conservation of photographic materials
• New technologies and photography

We hope that the submitted papers will reflect new research into history and attribution of photographs and present the latest restoration methods, modern technologies and projects to preserve photographic collections.

Distinguished arts experts, conservators and other specialists in preservation of the photographic heritage have already agreed to take part in the conference.

Each presentation will last 20 minutes.

The State Hermitage Publishing House is planning to publish the proceedings.

Requirements for publishing: All texts should be submitted in soft copy, A4 format; top, bottom, and right margins: 2 cm, left margin: 3 cm. Line spacing: 1.5, font size: 14, type: Times New Roman, 5-6 figures.

The Organizing Committee preserves the right to reject the materials it receives at its discretion.

If you wish to take part in the conference, we are asking you to forward the topic and an abstract or the text of your presentation to the Conference Organizing Committee until 1 July 2014 by contacting: photoconservation@hermitage.ru

Photography, like other modern media, was readily utilised in the promulgation of political and ideological concepts in Germany between the two world wars. This is especially true for the visualisation of racial and eugenic ideas developed in the nineteenth century and ideas of a ‘Germanic’ nation, subsequently incorporated in National Socialist thinking and propaganda. This exhibition (with illustrated catalogue) shown at the GHIL examines the work of the German photographer Erich Retzlaff (1899-1993) from the turbulent years between the nadir of the Weimar Republic and the downfall of the Third Reich as part of a visual discourse that emerged from an intellectual milieu deeply affected by the parascience of physiognomy and National Socialist race science.

Today almost forgotten in the history of photography, in the early twentieth century, ERICH RETZLAFF (1899-1993) was a prolific and celebrated photographer with several major volumes of his photographs published between the two world wars. In addition to his black and white studies of German workers, landscapes and peasants, Retzlaff was one of the first photographers to use the revolutionary 'Agfacolor Neu' colour film introduced in Germany in October 1936. Erich Retzlaff was considered by the National Socialists something of a pioneer in his idealised depictions of the German proletariat, disseminating notions centred on the people’s community (Volksgemeinschaft), which was at the heart of the National Socialist vision of society. Although his work was not produced under the direct auspices of the Reich Ministry for Propaganda and thus appeared to have a greater degree of creative freedom, Retzlaff was clearly a photographer siding with the regime. Ideological as his work was, Retzlaff's photographs are significant as cultural and historical artifacts of this period of German History.

The accompanying catalogue contains an essay by Christopher Webster van Tonder, an introductory text by Rolf Sachsse, and an article by Wolfgang Brückle. 

The exhibition can be seen at the German Historical Institute London from 22 January 2014 to 21 March 2014

See: http://www.ghil.ac.uk/

Opening Times:

Mo, Tue, Wed, Fri: 10 am – 5 pm
Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm

Closed Weekends and Bank Holidays
Free Admission

This three-day short course at West Dean College will be led by Susie Clark, ACR.  Susie was formerly the conservator for a collection of approximately 20 million photographs at the BBC Hulton Picture Library (now Getty Images) and is now an accredited freelance paper and photograph conservator and consultant.

The course will describe the processes and photographic materials which have been commonly used and how to recognise them. It will also examine the problems caused by different processes and the appropriate methods and materials for their conservation and care. The course will include the opportunity to look at practical examples of processes and deterioration. It will also include lectures and demonstrations of conservation techniques. The roles of the environment, biological deterioration, health and safety, storage and handling will also be covered.

Fully inclusive residential course fee from £547

Website:  www.westdean.org.uk/College

The National Media Museum has had its five year plan to turnaround the museum accepted by the trustees of the Science Museum Group. The plans, presented by Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Head of the museum,will create two new permanent galleries, a temporary exhibition space, an overhaul of the lobby and entrances and will join the museum with a commercial cinema partner. They are dependent on securing funds to realise them. 

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper reports that the Chancellor's announcement of further funding cuts will impact on the SMG and the Media Museum. See: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/10863397.Further_cuts_blow_to_Bradford_s_National_Media_Museum/

OUImages, the online digital media library of the University of Oxford, brings together every element of Oxford's visual identity into a single, easily accessible database.

Within some of the most beautiful architecture in the world, Oxford's colleges, museums and libraries house some of the finest, and most diverse, art collections and historical artifacts, and its departments hold unique imagery relevant to their research. These combined with Oxford's traditions, events, student life and academic activities, form the basis of the extensive photographic and video content of Oxford University Images.

The website already has 6,000 images and the total number is set to grow. They show the changing face of the university, from an early photograph of ladies in large dresses punting on the River Cherwell in 1895 to a group of victorious female rowers from Keble College celebrating after a race in Eights Week in 2010.

You can view the archive on the link here.

In this volume Hanlon turns conventional photographic history inside out, restoring American photography to its proper place among the great early traditions. Too often the United States is seen as a provincial player in calotype photography; a poor cousin to the Britons who invented the technique and the French who perfected it. In this book, we see early American photography as a vital part of that tradition—creative, dynamic, and influential. Accessibly written and exquisitely researched, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in photography and its origins. In addition to being a great reference work, it dramatically expands our understanding of the field."

The author, Phillip Prodger, is currator and Head, Department of Photography, Peabody Essex Museum. 

Illuminating Shadows: The Calotype in Nineteenth-Century America

This peer-reviewed conference taking place 10-11 July 2014 will explore seaside photography in its very broadest sense and provide a critical space for debate and enquiry. This conference invites submissions that explore seaside photography in all its manifestations.

Proposed papers might include, but not be restricted to: the seaside as boundary between different environments; its location in contemporary photographic practice; seaside photography in an historical context, including class, feminist issues and youth; the vernacular; the demotic; regeneration and the rise of leisure as captured in seaside imagery.

Selected papers presented at the conference may be included in a planned peer-reviewed publication.

Day 1 of the conference will take place at Canterbury Christ Church University in Canterbury and Day 2 at the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, Kent, UK on 10 and 11 July 2014. Transportation between the locations will be provided for all speakers and delegates.

Speakers at the conference will include Martin Parr, Brigitte Lardinois (Deputy Director of the Photography and the Archive Research Centre at the University of the Arts in London) and Colin Harding (National Media Museum’s Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology).

The conference will also include an evening reception at the Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury on 10^th July as part of the associated Heritage Lottery Funded photographic exhibition: Beyond the View – Reframing the Sunbeam Photographic Collection.

“In the United Kingdom, one is never more than seventy-five miles away from the coast. With this much shoreline, it’s not surprising that there is a strong British tradition of photography by the seaside. American photographers may have given birth to Street photography; but in the UK, we have the beach. Perhaps the natural outcome is Beach Photography.” (Martin Parr: 2013)

BEYOND THE VIEW

(NEW) PERSPECTIVES ON SEASIDE PHOTOGRAPHY

 July 10 - 11, 2014

Canterbury Christ Church University

Deadline for abstracts: 2 March 2014

Abstract submissions should be of 300 words (Word or PDF only), and include your name, title, email address, academic position and affiliation.

Send to: karen.shepherdson@canterbury.ac.uk

From the submitted abstracts we will make a final selection (subject to peer review process) to be presented at the conference. Successful applicants will be notified by 9 March 2014.

For more information about the conference, please contact the convener: karen.shepherdson@canterbury.ac.uk

(Dr. Karen Shepherdson is principal lecturer in photography at Canterbury Christ Church University and director of SEAS Photography.)

Leicester's De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre has announced its Spring terms seminars which explore Photography Evidence and Law. They are open to everyone at no charge on Tuesdays from 4-6pm in the Edith Murphy Building. 

January 14th (Room: EM 1.27)

Professor Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan/University of York)
"Facing Facts: Photographic Portraiture and the Mass Image in Late-Victorian Law and Popular Culture"

February 4th (Room: EM 1.27)
Dr Erika Hanna (University of Edinburgh)
'Photographs and Truth and the Start of the Troubles: the Scarman and Widgery Tribunals (Northern Ireland 1969-72)

March 4th (Room: EM 1.09)
Paul Lowe (University of the Arts London)
Testimony of Light: Bearing Witness to War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia, 1991-2011

Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, is to take partial retirement on 31 December 2013. He will continue working on specific projects on a part-time basis as Special Exhibitions Advisor. 

Born in 1949 Pepper joined the NPG in 1975 as librarian and curated his first show of E O Hoppé's work two years later. He became curator of photographs in 1978 and was awarded an OBE for services to photography and art in 2002.  He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 2002 and is an annual judge for the National Portrait Gallery's Photographic Portrait Prize.  He has been instrumental in raising the profile of photography within the Gallery as well being an important advocate for photography more widely. 

His biography on the NPG website records some of his background and work at the NPG:

Terence Pepper is Curator of Photographs I am responsible for the acquisition, research and display of photographs in the collection spanning the period from the invention of photography in 1839 up until the present day. The Gallery holds over 250,000 original prints and negatives. Over the last thirty years or so,  I have been responsible, with the help of my department,  in making aspects of the collection better known through cataloguing and originating exhibitions and displays. A particular interest in rediscovering the work of British and international photographers whose works has been concerned with portraiture, particularly with  British subjects, has been central to these activities. Although there is no specific photography space in the Gallery, there are changing spaces that become available periodically in which to show the important part photographic portraiture has contributed to British history, life and culture. As well as the huge number of popular displays noted in the past displays and exhibitions (since 1968) section of the website, there is also an archive of the feature, Photograph of the Month, that combines showing a previously unseen or newly acquired work with a topical event or anniversary.

Biography

My first degree was in Law, which I studied at Queen Mary College, University of London, followed by two years qualifying as a Barrister (Middle Temple). I subsequently took a post-graduate course in librarianship at Ealing Technical College, and worked for one year at an historical commercial picture library, the Mansell Collection, before joining the National Portrait Gallery as Librarian in October 1975. Three years later  I curated and published my first National Portrait Gallery catalogue to mark the centenary of E.O.Hoppe in Camera Portraits by E.O.Hoppe, having become Curator of Photographs in the same year. In 1981 I curated my first major exhibition, Norman Parkinson: 50 Years of Portraits and Fashion, which was shown also in a reduced form in New York at Sotheby’s and at The National Academy of Design. Many years of research on the 8,000 plus negatives and prints by Howard Coster resulted in another centenary exhibition in 1985 including a complete listing of his work in the Gallery’s collection. Twenty for Today in the same year comprised a survey of 20 contemporary photographers whose work had appeared in the new style journals of the 1980s including the Face, Blitz, RitzNewspaper and I-D. In 1988 the exhibitions Helmut Newton and Alice Springs Portraits were followed by research for the first monograph on Lewis Morley: Photographer of the Sixties (1989), including a trip to Sydney to meet with him. A major book written with John Kobal  on the MGM photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull: The Man Who Shot Garbo became the template for a further series of successful exhibitions based on the same formula including Horst: Portraits (2001),  and Beaton: Portraits (2004), as well as the forthcoming Man Ray: Portraits (2013)

Research interests

Publications that have required deeper research over less well trod areas have included James Abbe: The Lure of the Limelight (1995), twice republished in larger formats but using my original research, andHigh Society: Photographs 1897-1914 (1998). The latter contained a series of biographies of leading Edwardian photographers that I had first started to explore in Edwardian Women Photographers. Currently, for a number of future displays, I am researching the work of the photojournalist Michael Peto, as well images of Vivien Leigh and the figures surrounding the Profumo Affair for Scandal ’63.

Recent Publications

My most recent publications all relate to major exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, including a collaboration with David Friend to produce Vanity Fair: Portraits (2008), working with Jon Savage to create Beatles to Bowie: the 60s Exposed (2009), as well as expanding my earlier biographical  research on Hoppe to contribute to Hoppe: Portraits by Philip Prodger. Currently I am working on Man Ray: Portraits (2013) that will run from February to May and then tour to Edinburgh and Moscow; the first major survey of his photographic portraits to be shown in a British national institution.