Blogs

There are a number of new displays and exhibitions in Edinburgh. At the National Gallery a new display within the Scottish galleries looks at textiles and fashion through a small selection of calotypes (positives and negatives) of Hill and Adamson. They highlight the remarkable skill of pioneering photographers Hill and Adamson in using the process to showcase the fashions of the 1840s. They embraced the technical challenge of photographing the varied textiles and fashions of the day. Still experimenting with the calotype process, they successfully reveal the delicate pattern on a pair of lace gloves, the rough wool of tartans and tweeds and the sheen of silk.

At the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG), an exhibition celebrates forty years of collecting photography. There are highlights from Scotland's world-class collection of over 55,000 photographs. Find famous faces, gems of early Scottish photography and new acquisitions which push the boundaries of photography. Arranged thematically - Portraiture, Experimentation, Documentary - the displays bring historical photography and contemporary photography together to hint at the breadth of the collection. Side panels note the need for inclusivity and ask visitors to recommend contemporary photographers whose work should be included in the collection, the other reminds us of the archive and a new acquisition (see below). 

Just opened in the King's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse is Royal Portraits which was originally seen in London. In the balcony space and side gallery the exhibition feels smaller than that in London, but it focuses more directly on the photography with less contextual art. It's engaging, with work photography from Cecil Beaton to Leibowitz, and it shows how royalty has been pictured and used photography, and how they have been photographed has changed over the century.  

Stills gallery current student show is just about to end and a new exhibition from a Hayward touring show will be installed. The popular photobooth remains in situ.

The Annan Archive acquisition

The SNPG's 40th anniversary show teases visitors with a few objects from a very significant recent acquisition, the Annan Archive, This has recently been purchased from the Annan family, with the support of the Art Fund. The archive is extensive and covers both the family and the business of T & R Annan in which, of course, photography features strongly. One case in the exhibition, shows a sample of what is included with several of James Craig Annan's many exhibition medals, his notebook recording exhibition prints; an early ambrotype portrait of Thomas Annan, and his passport to Vienna where he met Karl Klič and negotiated the right to operate his printing process. These are just a very small sample of the entire archive.

During a recent visit, the Ben Harman and Louise Pearson, the photography curators, showed me an original collodion negative (one of a number) from Old Streets and Closes, Hill & Admson prints and negatives, D O Hill portrait sketches and examples of the firm's printing.

National Galleries Scotland and the Art Fund are due to make a formal announcement of the acquisition shortly, and the gallery will be appointing someone to work on the archive readying it for public access. It is very likely that an exhibition exploring the role the firm and the Annan family members played within photography, printing and within Scotland will be held in the future.

BPH will continue to follow work on the archive as it progresses. 

See: 
Hill & Adamson | Fashion & Textiles 1843–1848, until 8 June 2025
Celebrating 40 Years of Scotland’s Photography Collection, until 16 March 2025
Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, until 7 September 2025
Stills - centre for photography

Photographs: Michael Pritchard

I have been looking at early calotypes by Robert Adamson (1821-1848), partner of D O Hill in Edinburgh from 1843) and I now think he and his brother Dr. John were using interesting techniques to 'record' buildings with corrected vertcals - rather than just photographing them. I am beginning to think he might be regarded in this respect as the first professional architectural photographer.

With the early cameras available to him he would not have been able to raise the lens panel (that development seems to have happened after 1850). So I think he was moving the calotpe negative around, inside a larger camera, in order to keep the verticals vertical and adjust the composition. The print below is from the Clarkson Stanfield album at the University of Texas: https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll123   It was sold to the artist Clarkson Stanfield (1793–1867) before the 1st October 1845. 
As far as I know there is no negative for this image so I have inverted and flipped it. This is what would have appeared in the back of Adamson's camera (I am claiming this for Adamson alone as D O Hill is shown lying in the foreground - interestingly he was present in most of the calotypes taken in Greyfriar's Churchyard).

Using the vignetting I have indicated the covering power of the lens with the black circle. (This is of course a positive - in the negative the dark corners here would have been unexposed) You can see that Adamson moved the negative down in the camera back, in order to reduce the foreground and bring the castle into a better position, while keeping the verticals. Given that the image is 6¼ x 4½ he was probably using the camera used for 8½ x 6½ inch negatives (See Colin Ford in the introduction to An Early Victorian Album (New York, 1976) for a list of the sizes H&A used)

  I am working on other examples of this manipulation in Robert's work and some of them are quite remarkable.
I would welcome comments and/or corrections!

Joe

The National Galleries of Scotland have an exciting opportunity within our enthusiastic and dedicated Collection & Research team. We’re looking for a highly motivated and organised individual to assist colleagues in the Portraiture and Photography curatorial team with all aspects of curatorial work.

Do you have a strong interest in an art historical subject area related to the National Galleries of Scotland portrait and/or photography collections? Are you keen to develop your skills, knowledge and experience across a variety of curatorial activities? Do you have the ability to take the initiative together with proven experience of meeting deadlines? If so, we want to hear from you.

In this role you’ll assist with all aspects of curatorial work relating to the collection and programme associated with the Portraiture and Photography curatorial team. This will include assisting with the research, organisation, administration and delivery of exhibitions and collection displays; researching artworks in the collection and answering public enquiries. You’ll also facilitate access for visitors to view artworks not on display, support the acquisition programme and help to develop and create interpretation about the portrait and photography collections for our audiences. You’ll be guided and supported by the Portraiture and Photography curatorial team in carrying out the responsibilities of the role. 

Assistant Cuartor, Portraiture and Photography
Full-time and permanent
Sallary: £29,888-32,602, plus benefits
Hybrid/flexible working

Full details: https://ngs.ciphr-irecruit.com/Applicants/vacancy/296/Assistant-Curator-Portraiture-and-Photography
The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday, 10 March 2025.  

Lawrences Auctioneers is holding an auction of photographs as part of its sale of Books, Manuscripts & Photographs online on 7 March 2025. of particular note are prints from Martin Parr, Tessa Traegar, Peter Lavery and the late Brian Griffin. Historical prints include work from Madamae Yevonde, a topographical album and several lots of photographs from Pakistan and Nepal by Lt. Col R.B. Phayre MC, FWIPS.

Alongside these are several lots of journals and books, plus research files, from the late John L Wilson (see obituary here). These include publications (non-photographic) from William Henry Fox Talbot, a run of History of Photography and John's own meticulously researched PhD thesis The Photographically Illustrated Book 1840-1925: The Changing Response of the Line Artist and the Photographer to the Technical Developments in Photography, 2 Volumes, 1984-1987, and his The Literature of Photography 1839-1905 (unpublished). 

See more here

Image: lot 4070598. BRIAN GRIFFIN (BRITISH 1948-2024). Part of a a collection of fourteen photographs from the Work Series, 1986-87. 

In 1974 Thomas J. Cooper and Paul Hill, then photography lecturers at Trent Polytchnic, Nottingham set out on a four year long project that resulted in them interviewing probably the most influential photographers of the first part of the 20th century. The interviews were compiled into Dialogue with Photography and an ebook version has just been published https://amzn.eu/d/33MywJV .

The interviewees were, according to the New York Times, the 'movers and shakers of 20th century photography' and they were originally published in Camera (Lucerne). On seeing the interviews, editor Nancy Meiselas (sister of Susan) at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York signed up Hill & Cooper, and a year later FSG co-published the book with Thames & Hudson, London. Dewi Lewis then took on that role in the UK until last year. As all the interviewees are deceased, the book is unique, and there is nothing like it around today. In it one can read why Ansel Adams thought The Family of Man exhibition in 1956 took back photography as an art form 10 years, how photography never completely satisfied Henri Cartier-Bresson, that historian Helmut Gernsheim never paid more than £4 for any photograph in his stupendous collection; or about the effects World War Two had on George Rodger and, more surprisingly Cecil Beaton, together with anecdotes from Paul Strand about Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe, Imogen Cunningham on Steichen, Brett Weston on his dad, Edward, and much more revealing photographic history - AND gossip....

How did the owners of the country house engage with photography in the 19th and early 20th centuries? Mainly using the example of the Pennymans from Ormesby Hall in Teesside, and with some examples from W W Winter Heritage Trust collection, Jonathan will explore how photographers were employed, photographs used in the house and photography became a hobby for many including the Pennymans.

Jonathan Wallis has worked in museums and heritage for over 30 years. He began his museum career as a conservator at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, later moving to a number of other museums before joining Derby Museums in 2001. After 17 years he left to work as a regional curator for the National Trust based in Yorkshire and the Northeast. Jonathan’s interests in collections are wide ranging – from British Bronze Age metalwork to Joseph Wright of Derby. His latest research explores the photographic history of a country house, Ormesby Hall, on the outskirts of Middlesbrough and Scarborough's Victorian photographic studios. He has been the Chair of the W W Winter Heritage Trust for the past seven years.

Bookings, by donation, will be shared between the W W Winter Heritage Trust and the Derbyshire Archaeological Society.

The W W Winter Lecture: Photography and the Country House
Jonathan Wallis
Online: 11 March 2025 at 1930-2100 (UTC)
By donation
Bookings here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-w-w-winter-lecture-photography-and-the-country-house-tickets-1077598228309?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam presents a one-day international symposium exploring the vital role of photojournalism and documentary photography in how we perceive our present, understand our past, and view the future. Future Memories brings together photographers, academics, and representatives from art and media institutions. Together, we will discuss the influence of conventions and tropes in visual culture, explore contemporary practices of photographers, curators and institutions, and examine how they perceive the evolving role of photography. The symposium is open to both professionals and the public.

The symposium can be followed physically in the Rijksmuseum and online. 

The price of the ticket includes full access to the Rijksmuseum, where you will have the opportunity to visit the exhibitions on display, including Carrie Mae Weems: Painting the Town, and American Photography. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Symposium: Future Memories | How Photography Shapes Our Understanding of the World
14 May 2025
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
Details, programe, and booking here

Studies in Photography is holding a major conference on Tuesday, 20 May 2025 in The Engine Shed, Stirling. The conference will explore how photography has shaped and recorded the urban architectural heritage of Scotland. By examining Scottish photography from the 1840s to the present day, architectural styles, photographic records, and the influence of new technologies, the conference will provide a comprehensive look at how cities and towns have been represented and perceived through the lens. Academics, students, architects, photographers, and cultural historians will gather to discuss how photography influences not only the perception of Scotland’s built environment but also the way our modern towns and cities are planned and designed.

Conference themes include: 

● How early photographers recorded urban buildings and spaces
● Documenting and preserving architectural heritage through photography
● Architectural styles and photographic representation – from medieval to modernism and beyond
● The cultural and social Impact of architectural photography
● Technological innovation in architectural photography

Speakers will be expected to deliver a 20-minute presentation and contribute to short Q&A sessions. We expect most presentations will be in-person but a small number of online speaking slots for speakers who are unable to attend will be available. If you would like to submit a paper or a topic to present on, please email a proposal to John Pelan. Proposals should include the topic of your presentation, a short biography of the presenter(s) and the name of your organisation (if applicable). Expressions should also indicate if you would like to present in person or online. Submissions should not exceed 500 words.

Shifting Perspectives: Scotland's Urban Architecture: Sciotland's Urban Architecture through the Lens 
20 May 2025
The Engine Shed, Stirling
cfp deadline: 24 March 2025
Conference: 20 March 2025
Contact: John Pelan, chair@studiesinphotography.com
Details: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wytb06U0xYsOozsTmnPw7Q6dTgBcwFWO/view

Supporters:
Historic Environment Scotland
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Scottish Council on Archives

Image: Giuseppe Milo, Riverside Museum Glasgow Scotland Black And White Architecture Photography, 2015, via Wikimedia Commons.

The National Trust have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant National Curator to join the National Trust on a 12-month fixed-term basis. In this role, you’ll work closely with our photography collections, helping to develop them while expanding knowledge, access, and engagement. You’ll support colleagues at several significant places and contribute to our partnership work, ensuring these remarkable collections are shared and appreciated by all.

What it's like to work here

Photographs are mobile and malleable. They travel between people and places, change appearance and form, and traverse through different settings and environments. In image-led societies, photographs are often disrupted or removed from their original contexts to be repurposed by governments, institutions, and researchers, as well as by artists, communities, campaigners, and many others.

How, and to what ends, are these photographs being repurposed, and by whom? How does repurposing photographic materials impact social, cultural, and political phenomena? This conference aims to facilitate discussions on the reuse, recirculation, and transformation of photographs and explore the ways in which they have been re- employed in both contemporary and historical contexts.

The perceived truthfulness of photography, shaped by specific historical conditions, operates within particular institutional practices and historical frameworks (Tagg, 1988). Photography functions as a cultural tool employed for diverse representational tasks (Sekula, 1984). While museums serve as one example of institutional uses of photography, others include the press, the state, civil society, medical institutions, and technological apparatuses. For example, photographs are used to assert perceived objectivity and authority over social and cultural interpretations (Stylianou-Lambert and Stylianou, 2014); explore representations and memories of working people (Adams Stein, 2016); and support political activism (Thomas, 2021).

PhD-Focused Conference

As a PhD-led conference, the event offers an opportunity to refine and reflect upon ongoing and emerging research.

All speaker applicants must be postgraduate students (Masters and PhD) and can be at any stage of their postgraduate journey.

Papers will be 15 minutes long and can be delivered either online or in person. Practice-based presentations, such as, practical demonstrations, experiments or semi-interactive workshops, are also welcome.

Submission Topics

We encourage submissions on, but are not limited to, the repurposing of photographs in connection with:

• Exhibitions and collections in museums, archives, or galleries
• News stories on television, online, or in print media
• Interviews, focus groups, or research with vulnerable people
• Tracking changes to landscapes or human environments
• Analysis of historical events, objects, or societies
• Community initiatives or institutional practices
• The study of health issues, diseases, or medical treatments
• Examination of scientific technologies or instruments
• Promotions of ideologies or policies
• Investigations of industrial processes or techniques
• Social media content or AI systems

Speaker Application

Submit your application HERE

Submission Deadline: 30th April 2025 (GMT)

Financial Support

There are 6 travel bursaries (up to £50) and 6 accommodation bursaries (up to £70) available for non-funded student speakers living outside Leicestershire. Details on how to apply for these will be given to students confirmed as speakers.

Conference Application Webinar (FREE) – Wednesday 16th April 2025, 2- 4pm (GMT)

The organising committee will host a webinar session for students on attending and applying for conferences.

This optional session will provide guidance for students applying to and/or attending a conference for the first time.

• The purpose of conference, expected activities, and best practices for attendees;
• Creating abstracts for presentations and practice-based showcases.

Register your interest HERE by 9th April 2025.

Conference Registration Information

Please log on to: RepurposePhotos2025

Conference Hosts & Organising Committee

This conference is hosted by the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC), De Montfort University, in collaboration with Midlands4Cities, Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.

Organising Committee:

• Javed Sultan, Victoria Shaw, and Emma Hyde – PhD Candidates, PHRC, De Montfort University
• Jo Gane – PhD Candidate, Birmingham City University
• Daniel Rathbone – PhD Candidate, PHRC, University of Warwick

For all enquiries, email: studentphotocon2025@gmail.com

An international student-led-conference on photographic history and visual culture

When: Monday 7th – Tuesday 8th July 2025 (Two days, hybrid)

Where: De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and on Microsoft Teams.

Hansons Auctioneers have two lots of photographic interest in its next library auction, one from the 1870s and the other from the 1930s. Lot two is a group of sixty-five prints from Thomas Child. The prints show China during the late-Qing dynasty (1870-1880). The lot is estimated at £2000-4000. The description reads: 

Lot 2. CHILD, Thomas. Views of North China. EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY. A collection of 65 albumen prints ranging in size from 122mm x 187mm to 230mm x 343mm, 39 pasted on card album leaves, 26 loose or held in corner-mounts (i.e. not stuck down), 20 of the photographs bearing Thomas Child's signature in the negative and dated 1875-78, many accompanied by pasted captions & numbers, most images well-preserved, especially the loose examples, a few with creasing & wear, housed in a folio album bound in half crushed morocco, views include "Garden of Summer Palace, near Pekin", "White Cloud Temple, near Pekin", "Yuen-Ming-Yuen Palace, Pekin", "Ruins of Summer Palace, Pekin", "Camel-back Bridge, Pekin", "View of River from English Club, Shanghai", "The Bund, Shanghai", "Silver Island, Yang-tze-kiang River", "Tien-tsin, from River Pei-ho", "Steamer frozen in Peiho River", "Sedan-Chair and Bearers", several depicting mining operations, workers, incense & tea shops, street scenes, exteriors & interiors of temples, and others, plus one incongruous image of Llandudno. An important archive of early photography showing buildings and people in the Chinese city of Peking [now Beijing] during the late-Qing dynasty. [1870-80]

The preceeding lot includes an original glass plate negative by Hugh Cecil (1889-1974) of Edwards VIII in profile for the Royal Mint. With Edward's abidication in 1936 the coinage was scrapped.  The lot comes with provenance.

The Library Auction
Hanson Auctioneers
2-26 February 2025
Online
See lot 2 here and lot 1 here

A recent eBay search revealed a large collection of stereoscopic cards produced by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke (1877-1953) of Northampton, a keen photographer from his teens and later a respected film-maker.

The name Bassett-Lowke will be familiar to miniature and model train enthusiasts in Britain whilst 'WJ' commissioned the renowned Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) to remodel the interior of his first marital home at 78 Derngate, Northampton.

Thanks to an understanding American eBay seller (allowing for my budget restrictions), I was recently able to add a dozen examples of his 3D work to my collection including a sequence shot at the 1900 Paris Exposition and tours to Germany and France. 

These stereos illustrate a new 3-part series on my Pressphotoman blog.

View here

If anyone knows any more about WJ Bassett-Lowke's photography, in particular his stereoscopic work, or has examples in their collections, I would be delighted to hear from you.

The Photographic Society of Ireland (PSI) was founded, initially, as the Dublin Photographic Society in 1854. It later changed its name to the Photographic Society of Ireland and it continued in existence up to the last quarter of the 20th Century when it became defunct. By that stage, many other camera societies and clubs had been established around Ireland. The photograph above shows the Council of the PSI meeting in Leinster House (now the home of the Irish Parliament) in 1856. The President, sitting front centre, is Sir John Jocelyn Coghill and sitting to his right (left as viewed) and with both hands on the table is Thomas Grubb, the famous Irish lens and telescope maker.

For the past two years I have been cataloguing the camera and general photographica collection of the PSI on a part time basis for the National Photographic Archive which is part of the National Library of Ireland, NLI/NPA. There were some 260 items in the collection which had been started by PSI just after WWII. I have recently done a short article for NLI/NPA describing some of the most interesting items in the collection. 

Among the items in the collection is this Sliding Box Camera from the 1860s with a Grubb Aplanatic Ax lens from the 1870s.

Some of the items came with accompanying photographic material such as this CP Stirns Vest Camera from the 1880s which had been imported by James Robinson of Grafton Street, Dublin.

This plate, which is of the same type as used in the camera shown above, was found in another example of the camera in the  collection. It shows six images on the circular plate, which have been converted to positive here.

Some of the items in the collection are extremely rare, such as this Ives Kromskop stereo colour viewer from the1890s which came in a box with a number of plates and the rare original manual, which gives details of the current state of knowledge on colour photography at that time.

I have a lot more information on these and other items in the collection which I will reveal in talks for the National Library of Ireland, the RPS Historical Group and the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain. Dates to be announced. 

My article is to be found here https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/eyes-past-unveiling-irelands-photographic-legacy .

William Fagan

The School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds, and the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, are offering a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Award "Coaxing Nature to the Screen": Frank Percy Smith and the Transformations of British Natural History in the Pre-WWII Era of Technological Innovation and Mass Entertainment. 

In the 2020s, the world looks to David Attenborough to reveal the wonders of nature on the screen. But in the 1920s that position was held by the London-born amateur naturalist turned "kinematographic wizard" Frank Percy Smith (1880-1945). Drawing on little-explored archival holdings on Smith at the National Science and Media Museum, the project will use Smith's extraordinary career to open up new perspectives on how technological innovation - especially in the sound and vision technologies showcased in the Museum's new galleries - has transformed the knowledge, practice and personnel of British natural history in the long twentieth century.

The project is a historical inquiry into the remaking of British natural history in the wake of the new sound and vision technologies associated with cinema. It will be anchored in a study of the career of Frank Percy Smith, a pioneer of nature documentaries who invented several techniques (including time-lapse photography) that brought never-before-seen perspectives on the natural world to mass audiences. Without university training or credentials, Smith fought hard to be taken seriously for his contributions to natural knowledge while at the same time producing work with suffcient mass appeal to be commercially viable. Both sides of his achievement - and the tensions between them - are visible in the title of a full-page newspaper profile of him in 1936: "Coaxing Nature to the Screen: How Science is Wresting Secrets from Her."

• Open to all applicants (UK and international) for study on a full-time or part-time basis.
• Link to full project details here and details of the White Rose College of Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH) application process here.
• Deadline for applications: 12 noon (UK time) Wednesday 5th March 2025.

Lead supervisors:

• Prof. Gregory Radick, Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds
• Dr Annie Jamieson, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford — one of five museums comprising the national Science Museum Group

For more information see here

Photographs are mobile and malleable. They travel between people and places, change appearance and form, and traverse through different settings and environments. In image-led societies, photographs are often disrupted or removed from their original contexts to be repurposed by governments, institutions and researchers, as well as by artists, communities, campaigners, and many others. 

How, and to what ends, are these photographs being repurposed, and by whom? How does repurposing photographic materials impact social, cultural, and political phenomena? This conference aims to facilitate discussions on the reuse, recirculation, and transformation of photographs, and explore the ways in which they have been re-employed in both the contemporary and historical contexts. 

The perceived truthfulness of photography, shaped by specific historical conditions, operates within particular institutional practices and historical frameworks (Tagg, 1988). Photography functions as a cultural tool employed for diverse representational tasks (Sekula, 1984). While museums serve as one example of institutional uses of photography, others include the press, the state, civil society, medical institutions, and technological apparatuses. For example, photographs are used to assert perceived objectivity and authority over social and cultural interpretations (Stylianou-Lambert and Stylianou, 2014); explore representations and memories of working people (Adams Stein, 2016); and support political activism (Thomas, 2021).

Submission Topics

Papers may, but are not limited to, focus on the repurposing of photographs in connection with:

• exhibitions and collections in museums, archives, or galleries 
• news stories on television, online, or in print media
• interviews, focus groups, or research with vulnerable people 
• track changes to landscapes or human environments
• analysis of historical events, objects, or societies 
• community initiatives or institutional practices 
• the study of health issues, diseases, or medical treatments 
• examination of scientific technologies or instruments
• promotions of ideologies or policies 
• investigations of industrial processes or techniques
• social media content or AI systems

As a PhD-led conference, the event offers an opportunity to refine and reflect upon ongoing and emerging research. 

All speaker applicants must be postgraduate students (Masters and PhD), but can be at any stage of their postgraduate journey. 

Papers will be 15 minutes long and could be delivered either online or in person. Practice-based presentations, such as short films, practical demonstrations, or semi-interactive workshops, are also welcome.

Repurposing Photographic Materials: Transforming Social, Political, and Cultural Heritage
Hybrid conference: 7-8 July 2025
cfp deadline 30 April 2025
Details: https://studentphotocon2025.wordpress.com/call-for-papers/

Originally seen in London at the King's Gallery, Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography moves to Edinburgh and opens at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on 28 February. The exhibition charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, revealing the stories behind the creation of some of the most iconic images of the Royal Family.

Bringing together more than 90 photographic prints, proofs and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives, the exhibition – which follows a successful run in London – will also consider the artistic and technological advances in photography as it evolved into a recognised art form.

Alessandro Nasini, curator of Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, said: ‘The Royal Collection holds some of the most enduring photographs ever taken of the Royal Family, each one captured by the most celebrated portrait photographers of the past hundred years – from Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson to Annie Leibovitz and Rankin.

‘Alongside these beautiful vintage prints, many of which are which are being shown in Scotland for the first time, we are excited to share archival correspondence, photographers’ handwritten annotations and unreleased proofs that lift the curtain on the process of commissioning, sitting for, and selecting royal portraits. We hope visitors will enjoy going behind the scenes to discover how these unforgettable royal images were made.’ 

Photographs taken to mark milestone birthdays of members of the Royal Family are among the star works in the exhibition, including images from the famed 1971 series taken by Norman Parkinson to mark Princess Anne's 21st birthday. The ‘coming of age’ portraits reveal a sophisticated and stylish woman as she interacts with her surroundings of the gardens of Frogmore House, or stands in front of a fantastical painted scene reminiscent of a Scottish landscape, featuring a galloping white unicorn bearing her royal standard. 

Another highlight will be a portrait of The King when Prince of Wales by Godfrey Argent, released to mark his 18th birthday in 1966. Taken in the library of Balmoral Castle, the photograph shows the young prince smiling while standing in a tweed jacket and a Balmoral tartan kilt.

Visitors will see glamourous images from the first half of the 20th century, taken by some of the most respected photographers of the era. All of the photographs in the exhibition are vintage prints – the original works produced by the photographer – and the earliest works date from the 1920s and 30s, the golden age of the society photographer. A highlight will be the earliest surviving photographic print of a member of the Royal Family to be produced in colour. Taken by Madame Yevonde, a pioneer of colour photography, the photograph shows Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (sister-in-law to King George VI and Edward VIII) on her wedding day in 1935.

Another example is an ethereal photograph of Queen Elizabeth II as a princess, taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1951. Arriving in Ottawa, Canada, in 1924 as a refugee from Armenia, Karsh went on to earn a worldwide reputation for his use of dramatic lighting and ability to capture his sitters' character and dignity.

In the mid-20th century, no royal photographer had a greater impact on shaping the monarchy’s public image than Cecil Beaton. The exhibition will present some of Beaton’s most memorable photographs, taken over six decades. These include Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s famed 1939 shoot in the Buckingham Palace Gardens, dressed in gowns designed by Norman Hartnell, and Beaton’s original Coronation portraits of Queen Elizabeth II – arguably the most prestigious photography commission of the century. 

Close relationships between royal sitters and photographers will unfold throughout the exhibition, seen most clearly through the lens of Lord Snowdon, born Antony Armstrong-Jones. One of the most sought-after photographers of the 1950s, Snowdon’s unpretentious style soon attracted the attention of the Royal Family, and he became a member of the family himself when he married Princess Margaret in 1960. His remarkably intimate portraits of the Princess, taken both before and during their marriage, hint at the depths of trust and collaboration between them. 

The bold and colourful later photographs in the exhibition will demonstrate the extraordinary variety, power, and at times playfulness of royal portrait photography over the past four decades. These works range from Andy Warhol’s diamond-dust-sprinkled screenprint of Queen Elizabeth II to well-known photographs by David Bailey, Nick Knight, Annie Leibovitz and more. The exhibition concludes with the official Coronation portraits taken by Hugo Burnand in May 2023.

Following a successful trial in 2024, The King’s Gallery will continue to offer £1 tickets to this exhibition for visitors receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits. Other concessionary rates are available, including discounted tickets for Young People, half-price entry for children (with under-fives free), and the option to convert standard tickets bought directly from Royal Collection Trust into a 1-Year Pass for unlimited re-entry for 12 months.

Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography
Edinburgh, The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse
28 February – 7 September 2025
See: https://www.rct.uk/collection/exhibitions/royal-portraits-a-century-of-photography/the-kings-gallery-palace-of-holyroodhouse

Image: (top) Cecil Beaton,Proofs from sitting with Queen Elizabeth,1939; (below, left) Madame Yevonde, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester on her wedding day, 1935,  © National Portrait Gallery.

In this talk Professor Michelle Henning will reread and contextualise Walter Benjamin’s “Work of Art” essay (1935-36) and his claims about how film and photography allowed humanity to  “experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order.”  Benjamin was reflecting on a specific imperial war — when the Italian fascists pioneered new, brutal tactics of chemical warfare (ecocide / domicide) in the 1935-36 invasion of Ethiopia. Through the connections between photography and poison gas, the destruction of aura appears as racialized atmospheric violence.

The event is hosted by Photoecologies Study Group a new space for exploring the critical intersections of photographic practice, theory and philosophy. Scholars and artists from a range of backgrounds are invited to share their current research, approaching photomedia as an environmental, elemental and energetic assemblage.

Initiated by the journal Philosophy of Photography, the study group aims to:

• Create a space for researchers to share and discuss new and exploratory work related to photographic ecologies
• Develop alternative philosophical and critical perspectives on photography and ecology, past, present and future
• Foster interdisciplinarity, cross-pollination and hybrid frameworks of analysis
• Disentangle the complicity of photography with violent and extractive systems of capitalism and colonialism

The sessions will take place online. Each session will include a speaker (30-40 mins), a response (10 mins) and a group discussion (40 mins).

Photoecologies Study Group is organised by Alex Fletcher, Noa Levin and Rowan Lear.

Photography, Poison Gas and Aura
Michelle Henning, hosted by Photoecologies Study Group
Online, 25 February 2025, 1700-1830 (GMT)
Detail and registration here  

Michelle Henning is Chair in Photography and Media at the University of Liverpool and a writer and artist. Her next book  A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog and Empire,  will be published by the University of Chicago Press in Fall 2025.

Autograph and Parse Journal present a new symposium examining ideas to rethink, reimagine and reshape the histories embedded in archival collections. We will consider how archival materials can be reactivated through diverse perspectives and disciplines, challenging dominant narratives. With a focus on decolonial and queer methodologies, this symposium will invite discussion on approaches that encourage a continual re-engagement with archives.

Encounters: Art, Power and Archives will highlight a broad range of voices, including artistic and scholarly research, creative and social projects, and provocations. Hosted in Autograph's galleries, the symposium will take place surrounded by exhibitions underscoring the critical role of archives.

Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos is the first display of remarkable portraits from 1970s Lagos, possible through the ongoing efforts of the Lagos Studio Archives project, which aims to preserve and present the legacy of Nigerian studio photography. You will also see Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Staging Desire, the culmination of meticulous research into the artist’s archives, presenting never-before-seen works.

As this event takes place in the galleries, limited tickets are available to ensure the best experience for everyone. Autograph's events are popular and we recommend early booking. The ticket price includes lunch.

Encounters: Art, Power and Archive
18 March 2025 | 9:30am - 5:30pm
Autograph, Rivington Place, London. EC2A 3BA
Early bird tickets £25 / full price £40
Full details: https://autograph.org.uk/events/symposium-encounters-art-power-and-archives/?mc_cid=36cc6d0d73&mc_eid=b331f6dd6d

Image: Sasha Huber, Tailoring Freedom - Jack and Drana, daguerreotype, from the series Tailoring Freedom (2021-22), commemorating seven enslaved individuals, adopting art as a means to heal colonial traumas. Co-commissioned by Autograph. See: https://autograph.org.uk/commissions/sasha-huber-tailoring-freedom

This is an exciting opportunity to manage and enable the delivery of the Isca Photographic Project. Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, this innovative project will rescue, preserve, publicise and promote a unique and irreplaceable visual record of twentieth-century Exeter and its inhabitants. The Project Officer will co-ordinate and organise the activity detailed in the Project Plan, to ensure the different elements of the project are completed to a high standard, on time and within budget.  We are looking for a highly organised and flexible individual with proven project management experience, a passion for heritage and culture, and strong written, verbal and communication skills. 

The South West Heritage Trust is an independent charity which provides heritage services across Somerset and Devon. We run two Archive and Local Studies services and three museums, including the Museum of Somerset, and look after Somerset’s historic environment, including over 400 acres of historic landscapes.

For further information please contact Scott Pettitt (Head of Devon Archives & Local Studies) on 01392 888700 or at Scott.Pettitt@swheritage.org.uk.

Details of the role are here: https://swheritage.org.uk/isca-photographic-collection-project-officer/
Learn more about the Isca collection here: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/isca-photographic-collection-of-exeter-saved-by-178-579-grant