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Just as when you thought the world's first commercially produced camera, a daguerreotype, dating from 1839 and bearing the rare signature of its French inventor which sold at auction in Vienna last year for a record 732,000 Euros could not be broken, well think again!

An Asian collector has splashed out more than 1.3 million Euros (or USD $1.9 million), via telephone bid, for a rare Leica no. 7 in an auction held at Vienna’s Westlicht gallery, making it the most expensive camera in the world. 

The Leica from 1932 is the seventh model of a 25-part test series of cameras produced two years before they were officially released on the market. Organisers hoped the camera – described as the Rolls-Royce among cameras – might go for around 400,000 Euros. The bidding for the camera started at $286,360 and went on for 20 minutes before the auctioneer declared it sold.

No, it wasn't me as my absentee bid was outbid by a few Euros. I'm still looking for that Chinese vase in my loft ......

I saw a brief piece about this incredible photographer on the 'Genius of Photography' that piqued my interest. A deeply flawed individual with a troubled past. His father committed suicide when he was just a teenager and he grew into an obsessive alcoholic. Smith was commissioned to spend three weeks photographing the steel workers of Pittsburgh but ended up staying three years. In terms of jobs over running I suspect that this must be a record. I have written a little about him on my blog. More importantly there are links throughout the post that will enable you to find out more and there is a good clip I found on youtube.

This is one of his most famous photographs that closed the 'Family of Man' exhibition curated by Edward Steichen and is clearly sentimental but is touching especially as this is a photograph of his children. He died with 18 dollars in the bank but leaves a lasting legacy for future generations of photographers.  

Ghost Signs.

No not photographic proof of things that go bump in the night but faded adverts painted on the side of buildings. I have spent almost a year photographing the many near my home in South London. Please click on the above link to see a few examples and there is a link at the bottom of the page providing information about the history of this fascinating subject. 

The Project Photograph Conservator, a member of the library staff supervised by the Director of Preservation and Conservation Services,  will assess and perform treatments on damaged or at-risk photoprints, film- or glass-based slides and negatives, and cased photographs. She or he will also advise the Director of Conservation regarding treatment of photographs and may research and recommend improved storage options for photographic materials.

This is a part-time, limited-term position (Monday-Friday, 21 hours per week, one year).

Primary Responsibilities:

- Develop conservation plan for working with material in the Grant Collections.

- Perform conservation and preservation tasks on variety of Photo types including (but not limited to) all types of cased photographs, albumen prints, cellulose negatives, silverprints, glass negatives and slides, colored prints, 35mm film.

- Assisting with decisions on long-term preservation and developing conservation plan for working with the collections in the NEH grant.

- Contribute to collection inventories and finding aids regarding items treated for mold.

Job Requirements:

B.A. in an art or science field (or equivalent experience), and conservation training or experience specifically in photography preservation required; experience working with 19^th Century  photographs preferred, including, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and albumen prints.  Strong organization and communication skills; familiarity with a variety of computer applications preferred. Must be able to lift 40 pounds.

Details of the application, including contact details, can be found here. Good luck, especially in lifting the 40lbs!

ZeitagTO, a free app available for the iPhone and iPad, aims to pull local history out of climate-controlled government archives and into the hands of those who are curious to see the Toronto that was by showcasing various images based on your location within the city.

Gary Blakeley, a graphic designer who emigrated to Canada from England in 1987 hired a developer, and slowly populated the app with more than 500 images from the City of Toronto Archives, which was supportive of the project. Zeitag TO pinpoints where you are on an interactive city map of Toronto and displays historical photographs nearby and includes more than five hundred photographs of the city dating from the nineteenth century to the 1980s. Each is shown with the date and street. Tap the screen and the text bars disappear to show the image full screen. Tap the Info icon to reveal archival information, geographical coordinates, and any original caption. Some locations have photographs from several eras, allowing you to scroll forward or backward through the decades.

The official press release can be found below, and further details here.

Zeitag%20TO%20Press%20Release%202011.05.25.pdf

Photographing the City builds on the
success
of
the
2009
Visual
Literacy
Series
–
Staging,
Manipulation
and
Photographic
Truth. This
year
there
will
be
two
major
events
based
on
Photography
and
the
City.

Andy
Golding
and
Eileen
Perrier
will
focus
on
how
to
think
through
the
production
of
photographic
projects,
how
to

contextualise
the
city,
its
development
and
inhabitants
and
consider
ways
in
which
the
city
and
its
social

conditions,
(housing,
work,
poverty,
war),
cultural
trends
(music,
film,
fashion)
and
artistic
production
can
be

represented
through
photography.



They
will
discuss
the
genres
of
documentary,
urban
landscape,
street
photography,
fashion,
photojournalism,

conceptual
art
and
constructed
photography
in
representing
city
themes.
Informed
by
significant
historical

images,
beginning
with
Henry
Fox
Talbot's
photograph
of
the
construction
of
Trafalgar
Square,
they
will
show
the

development
of
student
work
from
their
summer
school
“Photographing
London”
leading
to
the
most
fascinating

and
revealing
images.
The
teaching
and
learning
experience
has
evidenced
a
structure
to
creative
practice
and

has
resulted
in
a
valuable
and
growing
archive
of
city
based
photography.




Tom
Hunter
will
talk
about
his
own
photographic
practice
and
how
it
responds
to
the
city.
His
work,
which
focuses
on
his
 local
neighbourhood
of
Hackney
in
East
London
covers
topics
including
the
representation
of
marginal
groups, such
as
squatters
and
travellers
within
the
city.
His
work
also
sets
out
to
document
the
changing
face
of
the
inner
city
by
looking
at
council
estates
through
their
architecture,
the
residents
and
their
histories.
He
will
also
be ooking
at
local
businesses,
which
chart
the
different
waves
of
immigration,
which
have
made
such
a
powerful mpact
on
the
history
and
development
on
the
East
End
of
London.
http://www.tomhunter.org 




Marco
Bohr
Representing
Tokyo. Marco
Bohr's
presentation
will
focus
on
the
different
approaches
used
by
Japanese
photographers
to
represent the
megapolis
Tokyo.
From
the
student
uprisings
in
the
late
1960s
to
the
post‐recessionary
period
of
the
1990s, the
photographic
representation
of
Tokyo
is
inextricably
linked
to
social,
political
and
ideological
shifts
in
Japanese
society.
Marco's
talk
will
focus
on
how
photographers
utilized
photographic
techniques,
such
as blurriness,
high
key
printing
or
overexposure,
to
create
a
subjective
vision
of
a
dense
urban
landscape.
The varying
impressions
of
Tokyo
project
a
cityscape
that
is
fluid,
evolving
and
multifaceted.
Marco
is
currently completing
his
PhD
on
Japanese
photography
of
the
1990s
at
the
University
of
Westminster.




Rut
Blees
Luxemburg
will
talk
about
her
photographs
which
explore
the
public
spaces
of
the
city,
where
the
ambitions
and unexpected
sensual
elaborations
of
the
‘modern
project’
are
revealed
and
contested.
In
her
photographic
work
she
brings
to
light
the
overlooked,
the
dismissed
and
the
unforeseen
of
the
urban
complex
and
creates immersive
and
vertiginous
compositions
that
challenge
prevailing
representations
of
the
city.
Her
large‐scale photographic
works
expand
the
concept
of
the
common
sensual
in
relation
to
urban
public
space
and

representation.
Rut’s
work
has
been
exhibited
internationally
and
included
in
key
publications
and
exhibitions
on

contemporary
photography
and
art.
Her
monograph
‘Common
sensual’
collects
the
artist’s
work
including
her

collaborative
forays
into
opera,
literature,
architecture
and
urban
culture.
www.rutbleesluxemburg.com  


The event takes place on 18 June
2011
at the University
of
Westminster, 35
Marylebone
Road,
London,
NW1
5LS,
(Opposite
Baker
Street
Tube
Station), London

RPS
Members
and
Students
£15/Non
Members
£20


To book call reception on 01225 325 733 or email reception@rps.org

The Harry Ransom Center annually awards over 50 fellowships to support projects that demonstrate the necessity of substantial on-site use of its collections by applicants. The fellowships support research in all areas of the humanities, including literature, photography, film, art, the performing arts, music, and cultural history. 

When Harry Ransom purchased the Gernsheim Collection in 1963, he acquired what was then the largest privately held historical photographic archive in the country. It included what is is now acknowledged to be the world's first photograph - Niepce's first permanent photograph from nature, dating from 1826-1827. Along with additional manuscript material and items relating to Niépce's early experiments, the Gernsheim Collection contains outstanding examples of the earliest attempts at making photographic impressions, as well as much of the finest photography from the Victorian era to the twentieth century, as represented by the work of over twelve hundred photographers.

The 2012-2013 Research Fellowships, ranging from one to three months with various stipends, have been announced and details can be found here. The deadline for applications is 1st February 2012. 

Well, folks, this is your chance to head to the good old US of A, delve into this amazing archive and sample some Texan hospitality at the same time!  Good luck!

Photo: Color digital print reproduction of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce's c. 1826 heliograph
View from the Window at Le Gras. Harry Ransom Center and J. Paul Getty Museum.

RE: Two Postgraduate Grants to Attend Polar Visual Culture: An International Conference

Dear Colleagues,

                        The School of Art History at the University of St Andrews is offering two small grants of £100 each to eligible postgraduate students from outside higher education institutions to attend the forthcoming conference Polar Visual Culture: An International Conference. This conference will take place on June 17^th and 18^th in St Andrews, and is open to all interested participants. For further information and a programme, please visit the conference website at http://www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/newsandevents/pvculture/

In recognition of the costs associated in attending this event, the Royal Historical Society has provided these funds for postgraduate students to defray some of the costs associated with travel and accommodation. We would welcome a short email from postgraduate students eager to attend this event and working in any field or endeavour related to the broad themes and concerns of this conference. Please send a short statement by Friday June 3^rd to Dr Luke Gartlan at lg321@st-andrews.ac.uk 

The grant funds will be provided after the conference on submission of original receipts. We invite all those interested in the issues associated with this conference to join us in St Andrews.

Kindly,

Dr Natalie Adamson and Dr Luke Gartlan (co-organisers)

When thinking about homeless people and beer, negative connotations can’t help but arise in your mind. However, this may all change as members of Cambridge's homeless community have created a series of photographs using pinhole cameras made from beer cans. Photographer Mark Woods-Nunn worked with members of the charity Flack to make the cameras.

Each camera was made by removing the top of an empty beer can, fitting a new lid and making a hole in it with a pin. A piece of photographic paper was then put inside the can. Installing the cameras at locations throughout Cambridge and taking a minimum of 3 months to develop, the images come with high expectations, and they do not disappoint.

Entitled "Pinholes & Portraits", the exhibition was held over two days this week at The Chesterton Tower, Chapel St, Cambridge. A news report can be found here.

Photo:  Three-month beer can exposure revealing the sun's journey across the sky. Copyright: Flack

Projects to catalogue the picture archives of the renowned East End photographer Phil Maxwell and the Morning Star newspaper, formerly the Daily Worker, have been started by archivists in the City of London. The collections are being made ready to go online by the prestigious Bishopsgate Institute.

Phil Maxwell has been photographing London’s East End for more than 30 years and has agreed to work with the institute to digitise his large collection of negatives which show the social, political and cultural life of its people. The archives contain 20,000 images of protest, politics, social conditions and international affairs from the 1940s to the 90s.

Images appear on the institute’s website as the projects progress: www.bishopsgate.org.uk/librarycatalogue.aspx

Photo:  Two women at Percy Ingle, Whitechapel 1985, copyright Phil Maxwell.

Photographs by legendary photographer Harry Hammond celebrating the birth of British rock are part of a new exhibition now on show.  Hammond, who died aged 88, in 2009, was the first great photographer of British rock’n’roll, chronicling the first decade of that music, up to and including the emergence of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

For nearly two decades starting in the late 1940s, Hammond captured the definitive images of virtually every leading British musician, as well as many of the visiting American artists. From Tommy Steele to the Beatles, Shirley Bassey to Dusty Springfield, he captured the emergence of British rock 'n' rollers. First circulated through the New Musical Express, his work set the standard for pop photography for following generations.

Entitled "Halfway to Paradise: The Birth of British Rock Photography" , the exhibition comprises over 100 of Hammond's photographs which takes visitors back to the birth of British rock. It includes a great soundtrack and interactives which explore the music, musicians and fashions of the time.  It has been drawn from the from the V&A Theatre and Performance collections.

If you want to get rockin', details of the exhibition can be found here. And an obituary of Hammond can also be read here and here.

The Drew Archival Library of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society is seeking a Photo Archives Intern. The Intern will be responsible for cataloging and digitizing two large photographic collections consisting of images dating from the 1840’s to the late 20th century.

Applicants must be in a graduate program in Library Science or Archives or recently graduated and have experience working with photographic collections. Knowledge of Past Perfect Museum Software is a plus. This is a paid internship of approximately 100 hours. Interested applicants should send a resume to Carolyn Ravenscroft, Archivist, DRHS, P.O. Box 2865, Duxbury, MA 02331 or email at cravenscroft@duxburyhistory.org.

Summer 2011 – Start and End dates are flexible.

Don't forget about the London Photographica Fair this coming weekend (22nd May). It is the UK's largest photographic collectors fair and is organized by a separate sub-committee of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain.

Having grown from small beginnings a typical Photographica will have around 200 tables offering everything from daguerreotypes and images, to brass and mahogany field cameras and Leica, through to old and new photographic books, collectible photographic accessories and supplies and tools for restoration. Photographica is international in its stallholders and attendees.

Details of the Fair can be found here, and also in the official flyer below:

photographica%202011.pdf

One of London's most iconic landmark - the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel - or formerly better known as The Midland Grand Hotel was the last and most extravagant of the great Victorian railway hotels, costing 14 times more than its nearby rival the Great Northern. It opened when the railway boom was turning to bust, the 19th century's equivalent of the bursting of the dotcom bubble.

This and other buildings (including country houses, factories, hospitals, shops, banks, railway stations, cruise liners) were photographed then mainly by Bedford Lemere & Co, the pre-eminent English firm of architectural photographers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today the Bedford Lemere collection, held by the National Monuments Record, is an important source of images of English architecture and life from 1870 until the Second World War. You can view the online collection here, or better still head to a new V&A exhibition this summer.

Curated by Anne Woodward and Gary Woodward from English Heritage, it will explore Bedford Lemere & Co's extraordinary client list, the evolving role of commercial photography and the lasting social significance of the images. The high quality photographs offer a rare glimpse at late Victorian interiors such as Heal & Son showrooms in 1897, the bar at the North Eastern Station Hotel in 1893 and a host of other 'new' interiors and exteriors.

As part of this year's Wisbech Photographic Festival, Peckover House in Wisbech will be showing an exhibition on William Fox Talbot, the British inventor and pioneer of photography. The exhibition entitled "Children in camera: 1860s photographs from the pioneer photographer" has been kindly put together by the National Trust's Lacock Abbey, the birthplace of Talbot. Other exhibitions are also being held at the Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum and the Wisbech Institute.

Details of the Festival, including the Talbot exhibition, can be found here.

Photo:  The Lillian Ream Collection: Market Place Wisbech, part of the Festival's exhibit.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is offering (2) Ralph M. Parsons Curatorial Fellowships in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department. The Parsons Fellows will provide general assistance to the Curator and the Department Head, as well as the Associate Curator, while also conducting scholarly research in connection with the permanent collection and related projects in the Photography Department, which includes over 13,000 works. The Parsons Fellowships support professional development, with opportunities to gain significant curatorial experience specific to photography, and to acquire a broad understanding of museum practices through cross-departmental activity. Within the context of departmental priorities, the Fellows will conduct scholarly research on areas of the permanent collection in his/her area of specialization and will equally be encouraged to develop familiarity with works outside of his/her field of expertise. Areas of potential focus include, but are not limited to: California photography, Japanese photography, and Contemporary photography. In addition to permanent collection activities, each Fellow will also be engaged in a variety of duties relating to the internal organization of special exhibitions. Both Fellows will be fully integrated into the curatorial department, and will participate in projects pertaining to collection care and conservation, cataloguing, on-line access, acquisitions, programming, outreach and publications.

Application details can be found on this link here. Good luck!

I recently discovered and subsequently fell in love with one of these cameras in a charity shop I visited back in February with my fiancée, Cat. She purchased the camera for me for a valentines gift and after a little haggling, we walked away with the camera for the princely sum of £8.  Now I didn't know a lot about these cameras at all. I remember my grandad having what was called a 'Box Brownie' (I now know there are a number of Kodak cameras that fall into this category) but all I knew as a child was that t took pictures. I remember playing with the shutter, and wondering what the red window on the back was for. Years later, I come across one and I still know very little about them. The chap in the shop took it away to inspect it and after a few minutes said it appeared to be in perfect working order, and that the film it took, 120, was still readily available. I took him at his word and scampered home to inspect my new toy in privacy. And here she is in all her glory.

Since I knew nothing about her, I decided to do a little investigation. As it turns out, she doesn't take 120 format film at all, she takes 620 format film. As you guys will know all too well, this format was special developed by Kodak for nefarious reasons to try and 'lock' the camera user to Kodak film. A neat idea, or so they thought. Unfortunately, 620 film was discontinued by Kodak some time ago, and is very rare indeed. So would I ever be able to take pictures with this wonderful machine? As it turns out, yes I can! After some more research, it turns out there are a number of possibilities to take pictures with a brownie. One way, is to re-spool 120 stock onto a 620 spool. Since I don't have a darkroom, or a changing bag, or even the knowledge of how to perform such a task, this was a no-no. And besides, I'm lazy and always on the lookout for an easier way.  Secondly, I could obtain film from someone who had already performed this task. A quick search on Ebay confirmed by suspicions. Yes, there are a few people out there who have done this, but they want an absolute fortune for the privilege! Not only am I lazy, I'm also a Yorkshireman, through and through! There must be an easy, yet cheap way. After more o-nline research it turns out, with a little jiggery pokery, you can adapt 120 film so that your Brownie camera accepts it to shoot with. To perform the task, you need to obtain some sturdy nail clippers and a fine file or sand paper. (I obtained some very cheap nail clippers and a metal nail file from a certain chemist that rhymes with 'Hoots').  First, buy some 120 stock. You'll find it's cheaper if you buy multi-packs, but being the cautious sort, I decided to buy just one roll of Ilford B & W 100 speed in case there were any issues.  Before I started I checked the retaining spring on the camera housing to make sure it was nice and tight to ensure there wouldn't be any light leaks. I took the film out of it's packet and got everything together on a nice flat surface. First, I trimmed the edges of the 120 spool to make it the same diameter as the 620 spool. There is a little lip that runs around the edges which is roughly the same size, which makes a nice guide.  After flipping the spool over and doing the other end, I carefully ran the metal file over the whole thing to make it nice and smooth. Next, I compared the spools for hight. 620 spools are ever so slightly shorter than 120 spools, so I used the file to bring them down just a little bit.  I offered the spool up to the camera to see what it was like, and what do you know, it was a perfect fit! Now I'd never used one of these cameras before, and surprisingly, details on how to load the film were pretty scarce. through trial and error, I worked out which way round the film was supposed to go and how to feed it into the take up spool.  I loaded the housing back into the camera body, and sealed it shut.  t was a little stiff at first, but I managed to wind the film onto the first frame, success! Now all I needed was a fine day and something interesting to shoot!  A couple of weeks ago, Crich Tramway Museum held a 40's weekend. Both my fiancée and I are 40's enthusiasts and I prayed the sun would be out so that the conditions for shooting with my brownie were favourable. Luckily, it was a perfect day, and my 12 exposures ran out quickly. Then it was off to my local Jessops to get them developed. What with Bank holidays and royal nuptials, it took over a week to get the photos back. Gingerly, I opened the envelope and to my utter shock, the results were stunning! Despite shaking more than Elvis in an earthquake and completely ignoring distance and speed settings, most of the pictures were crisper than a winters day!  I honestly couldn't believe these pictures were taken with a camera over 50 years old! My father has kindly offered to scan the negatives for me and I'll post the results as soon as I have them.  I've managed to obtain some expired 620 colour stock (expired in 1983!) and I'm now scanning the weather forecasts for more sun so I can shoot some more pictures with my favourite camera, there's life in the old brownie yet!