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Jobs: Professor of Photography & Lecturer in Photography

Posted by Michael Wong on July 28, 2010 at 19:06

Any BPH bloggers fancy a job at Princeton University? - but you might need a green card first, I think!

If so, read on ....

Job Title: Professor
Department: Visual Arts - 213
Requisition No: 1000505

Position Summary: The Visual Arts Program, under the aegis of the LewisCenter for the Arts, is inviting applications for a tenured position in photography at Princeton University.

The successful candidate will work with the Director of the Visual Arts Program to develop all aspects of the study of undergraduate photography at Princeton University. In addition to a full-time teaching load, duties will include assisting the Director in the conceptualization and implementation of the photography curriculum, planning equipment and technology needs, monitoring work spaces and laboratory facilities, and fostering a vital role for photography within the Visual Arts Program, the Lewis Center for the Arts, and the University.

She/he is a practicing artist in the field of photography, with anational or international reputation. She/he can demonstrate a deep commitment to undergraduate teaching and advising.

She/he is able to participate in and contribute to the fabric of theVisual Arts Program, including the installation of student shows and the evaluation of portfolios submitted by applicants to the University, applicants to the Visual Arts Program, Junior independent projects, and Senior thesis projects.

Where and what to send electronically: Applicants need to applyonline at http://jobs.princeton.edu. Please submit a CV, a statement about your teaching philosophy (one page or less), sample syllabi and (if applicable) scholarly work, and the names and contact information of three references (required).

Where and what to send via US postal service or international courier:

Princeton University
Visual Arts Program Office
c/o Photography Search Committee
185 Nassau Street
Princeton, NJ 08544

Approximately 20 images of recent work on a CD. Images must beformatted as jpegs and be no larger than 1200 pixels in any one dimension at 72 dpi. Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelop (SASE) if you wish to have your CD returned to you.

Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and complieswith applicable EEO and affirmative action regulations. Women and minorities encouraged to apply.

Essential Qualifications: Exhibiting artist with a deepcommitment to undergraduate teaching and advising. MFA or equivalent professional experience required.

Deadline: Open until filled.

For the post of Lecturer in Photography - see Requisition No: 1000055 on their website.

Good luck!

How to turn £50 to £128 million .....

Posted by Michael Wong on July 28, 2010 at 11:00

Nope, I'm not turning to be a con-man, but if this story is true then I'll be heading to the car boot sale at Laycock soon.

It's been reported in the press that a Californian antique buff, Rick Norsigian, found some negatives in a stack of ageing manilaenvelopes at a garage sale in Fresno, California 10 years ago. He claims to have paid less than $70 for the negatives from a man who bought them from a salvage warehouse in Los Angeles, California in the 1940s. They are now worth a mere $200 million (£128m).

This is because they are not just any negatives - a team ofexperts concluded that the 65 negatives were the early work of Adams, most likely taken between 1919 and the early 1930s and rescued from a fire in 1937. The photographer declared himself heartbroken at the fire, which destroyed an estimated one-third of his work.

However, the photographer’s family rejected the claim and insisted that thephotographs were fakes. Matthew Adams, the photographer’s grandson, said: "There is no real hard evidence. I'm sceptical."

Bill Turnage, managing director of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, said: "It's an unfortunate fraud. It's very distressing."

Even though, it might sound like an episode of Dallas, I'm still off to the car boot sale .....

Photo: Rick Norsigian holds up a photograph made from a glass negative shot by the late photographer Ansel Adams (Copyright: AP)

Classic British Motoring Prints from 1896 online

Posted by Michael Wong on July 26, 2010 at 22:07

For the first time ever, a unique picture library of over 5,000 historic photographs, advertisements and

other promotional material from the archives of the British motor industry have become available online.

At the heart of Motorgraphs is the extensive historic photographic archive of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT) along with two exceptional private collections – the Grand Prix Library and the Spitzley Collection. Between them these priceless resources span over a 100 years of the motor industry and motor sport including racing, rallying, advertising, manufacturing and social history. Many of the photographs were taken by such legendary action photographers as Geoffrey Goddard, George Monkhouse and Nigel Snowden.

Prints for private use can be obtained directly from the site. Scans for commercial purposes such as publication, press, graphic, and exhibition use are also available upon request. Details can be found here.

Photo: An Arrol Johnson car crica 1900: Scottish pioneers in the field of motoring.

John Mercer - the local, unsung hero ?

Posted by Michael Wong on July 25, 2010 at 15:00

John who?, I hear you ask, if you are as ignorant as I am on this one.

John Mercer (1791 - 1866) of Great Harwood is one of Lancashire's unsung heroes. A Victorian man of science, his interests in chemistry, printing and dyeing raised the game for the Lancashire textile industry. He was also fascinated with the new concept of photography, and worked long and hard at achieving colour photography. He was accustomed to work with dyes, so followed this route, and created single coloured photographs on cloth in a rainbow of different shades.

According to the Encylopedia of 19th century Photography, "As John Mercer discovered in the 1850s, the cyanotype process is also particularly well suited for printing photographs onto cotton textiles
..."

He never achieved full colour, but at a meeting of the British Association in Leeds in 1858, he exhibited colour photos, some on paper, others on cambric.

If you are keen to learn more about this local hero, check out the exhibition here. Also, a box containing Mercer's experiment on chromatic photography can be found in the National Archives (Ref: UDCL/8?19 n.d.)

Photos: Probably on cambric, with the colours perfectly preserved. He also took photographs of friends, such as Frederick Steiner another calico printer. (Courtesy of the Lancashire Record Office)

Flickr turns royal blue in colour

Posted by Michael Wong on July 25, 2010 at 14:00

You would have probably read about this one in your Sunday papers today.

Historic photographs from the current Royal Collection exhibitions at TheQueen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and on loan to museums and galleries around the UK are to go online tomorrow (26/7/2010) at the British Monarchy Website Flickr account. They include photographs from the Royal archive masterpieces of early British photography collected by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the second half of the 19th century.

Photo: Queen Victorian and Prince Albert 1854 by Roger Fenton.

George Washington Wilson, James Valentine & John Thomson

Posted by Michael Wong on July 24, 2010 at 18:35

What do these three early Scottish photographers, George Washington Wilson, James Valentine and

John Thomson have in common ?

Well, they all visited Morocco at some stage during their budding photography career. In the heart of Marrakech, a newly established House of Photography has recently been opened, housing over 3,500 historical photos and portraits of Morocco between 1862 to 1950. But do you know that the ground floor is devoted to photographs (portraits and life scenes) by both Wilson and Valentine, as well as those of the Spanish Carvilla and many others like the images of Gabriel Veyre, partner of the brothers "Lumière".

On the second floor, you will find beautiful iIlustrations of glass plates in excellent state of conservation depicting the work of René Bertrand, one of the best photographers of Marrakech who lived in Gueliz in 1933 and who was interested in the Berber tribes of the High Atlas. Photographs of the early 20th century are also on display.

You can view important photographs related to the Grand Tour, this elite movement, precursor of mass tourism, of the european educated bourgeoisie. A permanent reference of Antiquity can be seem, such as in a beautiful sepia view of the Chellah in Rabat.

The third floor of the Maison concentrates on the Berber traditions, with the documentary films by Daniel Chicault, shot in 1957, in color, first documentary filmed among the Seksawa tribe is a perfect illustration of the master study of Berques " Social Structures of the High Atlas ", and there is the attic room with documents on architecture.

So the next time you are in Marrakech, rather than bargaining at a souk or smoking hashish, do pay a visit to the Maison de la Photographie right in the heart of town ...

Photo: This cultural venue was established by Patrick Manac’h and Hamid Mergani.

Ikon Gallery's Edgerton show featured on Radio 4

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 21, 2010 at 15:29

BBC R4's Front Row radio programme will be discussing Birmingham's Ikon Gallery Harold Edgerton show as part of a wider debate about ground-breaking photography. The show begins at 7.15pm and will be available on the BBC's Listen Again feature for a week afterwards. Click here to listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Scotland’s hidden photographic treasures go online

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 21, 2010 at 5:26

A huge slice of Scottish photographic history has been uploaded onto the internet in a bid to share the nation’s history with the world. Over 2,000 previously archived pictures were posted onto Flickr by the National Library of Scotland. The formerly hidden treasures include the World War One photographs and an image of the chilling order for the massacre of Glencoe.

Library bosses decided to post the pictures online using Flickr’s Commons licence, meaning anybody can use them for non-commercial purposes. A further batch of 1,000 photographs will be added by the NLS before the end of the year.

Gill Hamilton, the NLS systems librarian, said: “This is a fantastic resource for the general public.

“There are no known copyright restrictions on Flickr’s The Commons photos, so everyone has access to use these images for non-commercial purposes.

“Flickr Commons is a great way for the National Library of Scotland to share its photographic collections with the world and we’re looking forward to adding to our Flickr Photostream throughout the coming year.”

Pictures of Scotland’s cities dating back to 1840 were posted on the site by the National Galleries of Scotland earlier this year.

Click here to see the Library's photo sets online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlscotland/

Niepce in England - the video...

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 20, 2010 at 20:30

The National Media Museum/Getty Conservation Institute conference being held in October has published a short video explaining the purpose of the conference (click below to play). The video features Dusan Stulik talking about Niepce and the importance of his work within the conference context.

For more information about the conference click here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/niepce-in-england-conference

China In Those Days: An Historical Postcard Journey

Posted by Michael Wong on July 19, 2010 at 22:30

Sorry ! - you can call me bias, but I just have to squeeze this one in for those BPH followers in the China Photography sub-group.

Withan excess of over 1600 postcard images spanning from the late 1890s to the first decades of the 20th century, this recently published book is very likely the largest pictural collection of ancient images on China and "China Offshore".

Started with one man's passion and obsession withcollecting postcards, Thomas Brandt, a German based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has probably amassed arguably the world’s largest historic collection of China and Chinese overseas postcards - a total in excess of 9,000 images, with the earliest produced in 1895.

The book’s concept, research, writing andeventual publication took four years to complete. Over 1,600 postcards were finally selected for the book, and among them are many of Brandt's favourites. Apparently, 30% of the images have not even been seen in China.

Printed inGermany on the best Italian paper, with the edges gold-plated by hand, the book comes

with a special marker with a magnifier. Each copy of the 336-page book is signed by the author. The weighty book, which spans 30cm x 29.7cm, and is 3.8cm thick, costs a reasonable 139 Euros despite the huge costs involved in producing it.

Brant has been travelling around Asia giving talks on the book and its images. Who knows, he might head to London soon. Further information on the book, including a gallery showing a small selection of the images, can be found here.

As they say, each postcard is worth a thousand words ......

Photo: China In Those Days and its author, Thomas Brandt; Postcard of the Chinese practice of foot-binding - another‘exotic’ trait that fascinated and still fascinates the West.

Job: NMeM Development Officer

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 19, 2010 at 5:00

Can you demonstrate solid experience and achievements in raising funds from trusts, foundations and public bodies? Would you like to apply this within one of the world’s most prestigious museums? Our ability to meet our funding targets is critical to the delivery of world-class projects, exhibitions and visitor attractions. For this reason, we’re looking for a Senior Development Executive at The National Media Museum. With your experience in raising funds in the cultural sector, we will look to you to develop and manage a portfolio of key prospects and donors.

You will identify and research funding opportunities, then devise and implement cultivation strategies. Engaged and enthused by Museum plans and future projects, you will be able to communicate with clarity and accuracy;, passion and insight, building strong relationships internally and externally and a network of repeat-income sources. Experience in preparing fundraising applications, demonstrating fundraising success and bringing a strategic, professional approach to senior-level relationships is essential.

The Science Museum, The National Railway Museum and The National Media Museum form the unique NMSI family of museums. We aim to be the most admired museum in the world by engaging and inspiring diverse audiences, while at the same time rewarding and developing the people who contribute to our success.

For a full job description please email recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk or visit http://www.nrm.org.uk/AboutUs/Jobs.aspx

Interested? Please send your CV and covering letter by clicking the Apply button clearly stating which role you wish to apply for.

Closing date: 1st August 2010

We welcome applications from all sections of the community in which we work. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and we guarantee interviews to suitably qualified disabled applicants.

Job: Pitt Rivers Museum: Project Scanning Technician

Posted by Michael Wong on July 19, 2010 at 0:13

Better late than never ! Deadline is this Friday 23rd July 2010.

Project Scanning Technician
Salary Grade 3 £17,111 - £19,743
Full time fixed term appointment until 31 August 2011

The Pitt Rivers Museum is seeking a Project Scanning Technician to work with the Museum’s Photographic Collection scanning photographs from the Wilfred Thesiger Collection as part of a project funded by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

The post holder will carry out the digitisation of photographic collections relating to the United Arab Emirates The ideal candidate will be a team player who has a proven experience of working with archival photographs or an interest in photography, experience of using Adobe Photoshop, image editing software and previous digitisation experience, have good organisation and record keeping skills and shows an attention to detail.

A completed application form (also available in MS Word format) with a CV and covering letter, should be sent to the Museum Administrator, Pitt Rivers Museum, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PP.

Closing date for applications: 17.00 Friday 23rd July 2010, interviews will be held soon after that date.

Details can be found here - Good luck !

RPS Honours Falconer and Wilson

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 18, 2010 at 10:26

The Royal Photographic Society has honoured British Library photography curator John Falconer with it's Colin Ford Medal and Michael Wilson, the National Media Museum's chair of trustees, with an award for outstanding service to photography and an Honorary Fellowship. More details will be published when the full citations are made available in September.

The Originals of G.R. Lambert

Posted by Michael Wong on July 17, 2010 at 17:14

Yes, I know. It's not quite British ! But it is historic 19th century photography, so bear with me on this one ...

The Singapore Philatelic Museum will be exhibiting some 100 rare picture postcards capturing the history and heritageof Singapore from early next month. They were taken by G.R. Lambert, a famous German photographer who arrived in Singapore in 1867.

He produced the first picture postcard of Singapore, in addition to taking 3,000 photographs of landscapes and people of Singapore in the 19th century. He was extensively patronised by the British colonial authorities to record political occasions and official visits.

He was not only renowned in Singapore, but also in the region. He was appointed as the official photographer to the King of Siam, and also the Sultan of Johore in British Malaya. And by the end of the 19th century, his photographic company, G.R. Lambert and Co, was the largest and most successful photographic studio in Asia.

During the "Golden Age of Picture Postcards" from 1906 to 1913, there was a postcard craze which saw the company having a turnover of about quarter of a million postcards a year. The exhibition was made possible through the donation of the picture postcards by avid philatelist Koh Seow Chuan.

So, if you are heading to the Far East for a holiday and/or to sample some culinary delights, details of the exhibition can be found here.

Photo: A photograph of Cavanagh Bridge in 19th centurySingapore.

Peter Henry Emerson @ the Musee d'Orsay

Posted by Michael Wong on July 17, 2010 at 15:37

If you are a fan of this Victorian medic turned photographer, you're in luck !

"Photography Not Art" - these three words written by Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936), one of the principle exponents of photography as an art form in its own right, say a lot about the complexity of a debate which started with the birth of photography and went on for several years. The phrase, replaced in 1899 the expression "Photography, a Pictorial Art" to close his treatise on naturalist photography, proved above all that the absolute diktat of painting had not spared even the most innovative minds.

Published in 1889 byan Anglo-American doctor who had changed career, Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art was, however, very quickly compared to "dropping a bombshell at a tea party". This was the start of a crusade against the academism of artistic photography. The manifesto was in fact offering an antidote to the artificiality of the composite prints of Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901), the master of clever manipulation of negatives. Emerson also intended it as a response to the criticisms he had endured since his conspicuous entrance into photography.

Twenty-three yearsafter the only monographic exhibition in France devoted to this polemist photographer, the Musée d'Orsay invites you to (re) discover his first and last collections, two key moments in a career that lasted barely ten years.

Details of the exhibition can be found here.

Photo: Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936); Poling the Marsh Hay; 1886.
Platinum printfrom a silver gelatin bromide glass negative H. 23,2; W. 29,1 cm
Paris, musée d'Orsay

Patterson Curatorial Fellowship: September 2010

Posted by Michael Wong on July 17, 2010 at 14:28

The William and Elizabeth Patterson Curatorial Fellowship in Photography at the San Francisco Museum

of Modern Art is an annual fellowship for serious graduate level students with a demonstrated interest in a museum career in photography. This year SFMOMA is offering one part-time 20-week fellowship beginning in mid-September 2010.

The Fellowwill be undertaking in-depth research on SFMOMA’s extensive permanent collection of photography. During the Fellow’s residency, he or she will conduct scholarly research on individual artists and objects, write texts for publication on the Museum’s website, verify and correct existing cataloguing information, and perform data entry. He or she will also be expected to contribute to the department’s day-to-day activities, as assigned.

The fellowship requires a 17.5 hour/week commitment and includes a stipend of $7,875. The successful applicant will have a master’s degree (or higher) in art history with an emphasis on the history of photography and a demonstrated commitment to a museum career. He or she will possess excellent writing, research, and communication skills, as well as reading ability in at least one foreign language.

Further details, including application forms, can be found here.

Harry Ransom Center: 2011-2012 Research Fellowship Programme

Posted by Michael Wong on July 17, 2010 at 14:20

The Harry Ransom Center, an internationally renowned humanities research

library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has just announced its 2011-2012 Research Fellowship program. The Center will award over 50 fellowships to support scholarly research projects in all areas of the humanities, including literature, photography, film, art, the performing arts, music, and cultural history.

Details including application forms can be found here, with a deadline of 1st February 2011. Good luck !

The Gernsheim Collection

Posted by Michael Wong on July 17, 2010 at 14:09

To coincide with the exhibition "Discovering the Language of Photography: The Gernsheim Collection", UT Press is publishing a catalogue to accompany it.

Entitled "The Gernsheim Collection", the book includes more than 125 full-page plates from the collection with extensive annotations in which the Ransom Center's senior research curator Roy Flukinger describes each image's place in the evolution of photography and within the collection. The catalogue also traces the Gernsheims' passion for collecting and their career as pioneering historians of photography, showing how their efforts significantly contributed to the acceptance of photography as a fine art and as a field worthy of intellectual study.

The book also includes a foreword by George Eastman House Curator of Photographs Alison Nordström and an afterword by former Victoria and Albert Museum Curator Mark Haworth-Booth.

A must-have for the libraries of all photo historians. A full press release can be found here.

Revealed: the National Media Museum's London Presence

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 14, 2010 at 21:38

A Freedom of Information request by JIm Bretell to the National Museum of Science and Industry has thrown light on the NMeM's plans for its London presence - although the NMSI declined to make available the 'substantial' documentation that the project has generated. In a token gesture it has published a partially redacted section of the NMSI Trustee minutes of 8 February 2008 these show:

the aim of the London presence is to raise the national and international profile of the NMeM and to draw people to Bradford
the space would be occupied by charging exhibitions with free entry to a media cafe. It would also act as a learning space
the space could also be used to show photographic images from the National Railway Museum collection
The funding plan would commence when at least 50 per cent was committed

The running cost and break-even number of visitors was dedacted.

The extract can be viewed here: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/38445/response/99877/attach/3/donotreply%20nmsi.ac.uk%2020100713%20164649.pdf

and details of the original request and MNSI covering letter here: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/national_media_museum_possible_l#incoming-99877

Silvy exhibition opens this week

Posted by Michael Pritchard on July 11, 2010 at 17:00

The National Portrait Gallery's Camille Silvy exhibition opens this week on 15 July. For any BPH readers in London the NPG bookshop is already selling curator Mark Haworth-Booth's book and catalogue of the show along with other relevant books, poster, cards and souvenirs. As one would expect the book is a fascinating read with well-reproduced illustrations and excellent value at £20 (hardback only). The exhibition space itself remains hidden behind locked doors...

Details of the exhibition and associated lectures and events can be found here: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2010/camille-silvy1.php Most of the events are free but are likely to be popular and you are advised to turn up early to ensure a place.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.