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This proposal is for a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD which will focus on the records in photographs and film held by Imperial War Museums (IWM) of Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK during the Second World War. It will open up new perspectives and information on this largely unexplored collection by looking at how and why these images and footage were commissioned, the subjects chosen, the intended audiences and messages. It will also investigate how they have been used more recently in developing understanding and making memory.

During the Second World War, 10,000 Black men and women from the Caribbean served in the UK - in the armed forces, industry, forestry or the Merchant Navy. The majority of these volunteers responded to British recruitment drives in the Caribbean, while some, particularly early in the war, made their own way to Britain to join the fight. Although the Colour Bar had been officially lifted in 1939, many of them would experience discrimination during the recruitment process or in the course of their service.

The experiences of these people varied across the different areas where they contributed to the war effort. Many Caribbean volunteers served in the Royal Air Force, whereas the Army proved far less receptive to Black men and women serving in its ranks. Those involved in industry and agriculture experienced racial discrimination from employers, trade unions and government officials. Although the Colonial Office was keen to encourage recruitment of Caribbean men and women, it was mostly an exercise in public relations and an attempt to quell any dissent to ensure that those who served in Britain would return home ‘convinced Ambassadors of Empire’.

The PhD project will focus on the visual record – photographs and film – held in IWM’s collection showing Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK. That record was commissioned largely (though not exclusively) by government departments, including the Colonial Office, the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Supply, or by branches of the armed forces. It formed part of a wider propaganda campaign that showed Britain’s empire pulling together in a joint struggle, overlooking differences of race and ethnicity.

Our understanding of this material is, however, very limited. There is clearly much to uncover and more nuanced stories to tell. This CDP PhD will ensure that we can address this issue and bring IWM collections into critical dialogue with other national and international collections (official and unofficial), perspectives and knowledge bases external to IWM. By
way of wider context, the PhD student might also look at the official visual record of volunteers serving in the Caribbean itself, as well as in other parts of the world.

Key research questions to be addressed include:

• How and why were the photographs and film commissioned and circulated?
• What subjects did the photographers and film-makers choose and how were those subjects represented?
• Who were the intended and actual audiences?
• Where do the tensions lie between the official narrative and the actual experience of Black men and women from the Caribbean serving in the UK
• How have histories been obscured or excluded through the colonial context in which they were produced?
• How has this visual record shaped meaning making for families and communities today?
• How have these images and film been used more widely, in museums, and in education (including at IWM)?

In addition to research at IWM, the student will be expected to engage with sources held at such archives as:

• the UK National Archives
• Black Cultural Archives
• University of the West Indies
• Royal Air Force Museum
• National Army Museum
• Royal Museums Greenwich

‘Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War
IWM co-supervisor: James Taylor, Principal Curator, Public History
Funded by AHRC
Read the full call here

Vivienne Gamble has been appointed director of Edinbrugh's Stills Centre for Photography. She will start in her new role in January 2025. She takes over from Ben Harmer who moved to the National galleries Scotland as senior curator (photography) in the summer.   

Gamble is the co-founder and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Peckham 24 festival of contemporary photography. Established in 2016, Peckham 24 takes place annually during Photo London Week. With a focus on supporting new talent and experimental artists working with photography, the festival creates a vibrant takeover of a number of warehouse and gallery spaces across Copeland Park in the heart of Peckham’s South London artistic scene.

From 2015-2023 she ran Seen Fifteen Gallery, also in Peckham. Seen Fifteen’s programme was dedicated to contemporary photography, and the most recent curatorial project, The Troubles Generation, considered the legacy and impact of the Northern Irish Troubles on artists who were brought up in the shadow of the conflict. Gamble also currently lectures in photography and exhibition practice as an Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts, London.

She said: "It will be an honour to lead Stills on to a new chapter in its illustrious history as a pioneering venue that has championed photography since 1977.  As Stills approaches its 50th anniversary, I am particularly excited about the opportunity this offers to celebrate everything the organisation has contributed whilst also working on innovative plans for the future role we can play in the photography scene in Scotland, the UK and internationally."

Stills board chair Lewis Blackwell said: "Vivienne stood out in a very strong field of applicants that came forward for the role and will allow us to continue to grow our reputation for being a major centre for photography in Scotland on a local, national and international stage. Her work in co-founding the Peckham24 photography festival, and then leading it to an international reputation over the past eight years, greatly impressed the interview panel. In the curatorial strengths and executional innovation, we see an approach that indicates Vivienne can be an excellent fit for the next stage of Stills' development. We are also keen to have her organisational and entrepreneurial abilities added into our team. To follow Ben Harman in the Director role, after he did so much to advance Stills over the past decade, will not be easy. We exist in very challenging times for the arts and funding. But we are confident that Vivienne can bring great strengths and fresh energy to Stills."

https://stills.org/

Photo Oxford Festival is returning in autumn 2025 with the theme of 'truth'. At a preview event Katy Barron, festival director, previewed three exhibitions from Jillian Edelstein, Yan Wang Preston and Edmund Clark. She also noted that the Bodleian Library would be hosting a retrospective exhibition of the Oxford-based photography Paddy Summerfield (1947-2024), curated by Alex Schneideman and Paddy's family. 

The festival receives no public money and is still seeking support for its programmes and community engagement activities.

Sign up for more information at the Photo Oxford website. 

Photo Oxford
25 October-16 November 2025
https://www.photooxford.org/

Image: (Right) Paul Bullivant, chair of trustees, and festival director, Katy Barron introduce Photo Oxford 2025. (Left) Edmund Clark introduces his Cosmopolemos project that will be shown in Oxford next year.

Michel Auer, one for the most significant collectors and dealers of cameras and photography and a historian and supporter of photography, has died aged 91 years. Auer will be best known by some for his books on cameras and, latterly, for his Foundation based in Hermance, Switzerland which exhibited photographs and cameras from his collection as well as having a public presence through exhibitions and public events.

Michel was born in Zurich in 1933. After school he completed an apprenticeship as an advertising photographer in Zurich. After returning from Swiss military service he created an advertising photography studio in Geneva in 1955. In 1958, he obtained a federal master's degree in photography.

In 1960, he created the Big laboratory in Geneva, specializing in large-size photo enlargements in black and white and colour which he ran until 1975. He gave up advertising photography in 1961 and devoted himself to collecting cameras and writing books on the subject where his own photography presented the cameras as beautiful objects in their own right. In the 1970s the market for photography was still evolving and Auer was able to acquire important cameras through auctions and especially through markets where rarities were unrecognised. He was also able to secure cameras directly from their manufacturers and he acquired all the spare parts and incomplete Compass cameras from Le Coultre in Switzerland.

 In 1976, he created a stand at the Pucres de Clignancourt, Paris, flea market with Michèle Ory specializing in cameras and photographs. He married Michèle in 1980 and the two formed a strong partnership united in their photography interests and activities.

Michel created three, possibly more, significant collections of cameras which formed the basis of other museums. In 1973 Auer sold his first collection to the Provinciaal Museum voor Fotografie in Antwerp museum, now known as FoMU. The collection focused on the development of cameras and the technical history of photography and included landmark cameras alongside rarities and key display pieces. Since then the FoMu collection has been supplemented by other collections, not least that of Agfa-Gevaert.

The second sale was in the early 1990s to the JCII Camera Museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum had a significant collection of Japanese products acquired as part of its own activities but was weak in Western cameras. Auer’s collection added significant cameras from the history of photography as well as expanded its breadth with cameras from the UK, US and Europe.

His third collection was his final personal collection and includes significant cameras as well as rarities. This now sits with his Foundation.

Michel’s first books were essentially catalogues of his collection(s) and most likely acted as a catalogue to raise awareness to support a sale.  The first were produced at a time when there were very few other books on the history of the camera for collectors. His first Collection Michel Auer appeared in 1972 and eventually ended up as three volumes. It formed a go-to catalogue for collectors and auction houses assisting with identification and dating at a time when there was limited reference material.

His 1975  Illustrated History of the Camera was the first coffee-table book of cameras, beautifully illustrated with Auer’s own photographs of cameras, and it set out a useful camera history describing many rarities from his collection. Michel also collaborated with another collector Eaton S Lothrop to produce a book on disguised cameras that was well illustrated and had a depth of research from Lothrop.  With Michèle he produced an important history of amateur cine cameras. Not all his books appeared in English but they all remained key references, although often not as well-known as they should have been, pre-internet.  

Later, as Auer focused on photography he and Ory produced in 1997 a CD-Rom based resource of biographical information of photographers based on the printed Encyclopaedia which had received a special commendation at the 1986 Kraszna-Krausz Awards. The which resource is now available online.

In 1984 the Auers opened a photography centre at the Grütli in Geneva and started holding exhibitions of photography. It later moved to the BAC contemporary art building and finally in March 2009 along with Michèle, Michel created a Foundation which allowed him to exhibit his collection of photographs as well as objects related to photography. It held regular exhibitions of photography, talks and had its own publication programme. A partnership with the city of Montpelier which might have provided a long-term home for the collection and foundation came to nothing.  The Auers’ collection now consists of a large collection of cameras, some 21,000 books and 50,000 images. As Etienne Dumont noted in his appreciation of Auer the future of the collection remains uncertain.  

Michel Auer was married to Françoise Guerin, whom he divorced in 1968, and then to Michèle Auer-Ory in 1980 until his death. He had three children with his first wife, Martine, Laurence and Georges Nicéphore.  

Michel died on 22 October 2024.

Principal publications

Collection Michel Auer (Editions Camera Obscura, 1972)
Catalogue Michel Auer, (Editions Camera Obscura, 1977)
The above were released together with a third volume as Le livre guide to des appareils photo anciens / The collectors guide to antique cameras (Editions Camera Obscura, 1990)
Histoire illustrée des appareils photographiques / The Illustrated History of the Camera (UK edition, Fountain Press,1975)
Kameras gestern und heute (1975)
L'Œil invisible: Les appareils photographiques d'espionnage also Die Geheimkameras (with Eaton S Lothrop, Editions EPA, 1978)
Histoire de la caméra ciné amateur (1979, with Michèle Ory (Les Editions de l'Amateur, Paris / Editions Big S.A, Geneva, 1979)
Encyclopédie internationale des photographes de 1839 à nos / Photographers Encyclopaedia International 1839 to the present (with Michèle Ory, Editions Camera Obscura, 1985)
150 ans d’appareils photographiques à travers la collection Michel Auer / 150 Years of Cameras through the Michel Auer Collection (Editions Camera Obscura, 1989)
Collection M+M Auer une histoire de la photographie (Editions M+M, 2003)
802 photobooks from the M+M Auer collection ((Editions M+M, 2007)
Weegee the Famous. Collection Michèle et Michel Auer (with Michèle Ory, Editions M+M, 2008)

See: http://www.auerphoto.com/ and https://www.bilan.ch/story/ed-michelauer-868874801675

Image: Michel Auer, self-portrait, 1985. Under a Creative Commons licence

The Queen’s second son, fifteen-year-old Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the first royal to tour to the colonies on this side of the globe, he steamed out from England on board HMS Euryalus, in 1860, bound for the Cape Colony in South Africa. This Royal Tour has a special significance for the State Library of New South Wales. Rare photographs of the tour were collected by a young navy Lieutenant, Arthur Onslow, who, while returning from Australia, passed through Cape Town after the Prince’s tour and his photographs are now held in the Library as part of the Macarthur family collections. In the image above we can see the young Prince (third from the right) with Governor Sir George Grey (fourth from the right) in outback South Africa. For more see https://wordpress.com/post/geoffbarker.wordpress.com/893

Bonhams auction of Books, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs includes several lots of photography interest including Peter Henry Emerson's Pictures of East Anglian Life (1888), estimated at £3000-4000, a presentation copy to the amateur photographer, historian and founder of the photographic record W.J. Harrison; a copy of Fred Judge's Camera Pictures of London at Night (1924), estimated at £600-800;and of special note is a lot of six albums from the Farquhar family. The albums include some 180 carte-de-visites of the 1860s (photographers including Camille Silvy), several portraits of houses associated with the family or that of the Nugents in the 60s, and 2 images of Crystal Palace by P.H. Delamotte. The later albums include a charming record in photography and watercolour of the childhood of two brothers, Harold and Rupert, usually attired in fancy dress (or in very early childhood in dresses).

The British Film Institute is seeking an Archives Assistant to join the BFI’s Special Collections team on a fixed term basis, undertaking general collections duties including retrieval, accessioning, basic cataloguing, preservation and digitisation, and to support colleagues in the provision of a vibrant research service. The Archives Assistant will also be responsible for responding to enquiries, and assisting researchers and visitors to the Archive. 

Key responsibilities include: 

• Support colleagues in care of the collection, carrying out basic preservation, appraisal and rehousing work. Training will be provided in key preservation skills
• Support colleagues in the acquisition and processing of new offers to the collection 
• Co-ordinate the movement and location of materials in store and between sites 
• Carry out general archive-based duties to support access to the archives, including provenance research, listings, and potentially basic cataloguing and written interpretation, if required 

We are looking for candidates who have: 

• Commitment to working in an archive, library or museum environment, with experience in either archival services or a customer-facing role  
• Computer literate with good knowledge of Microsoft Office 
• Attention to detail and the patience to carry out repetitive work to a consistently high standard 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to work well both individually and as part of a team 

A full list of responsibilities and minimum requirements can be found in the job description. 

Leon Jacobson, a long-time collector and dealer in nineteenth-century cameras and photographs has died at the age of 101. He was among a number of dealers who turned an interest into a business, become one of a pioneering group of dealers in photographs and photographic equipment in the early 1970s. 

The son of Russian non-practicing Jewish immigrants, Leon was born in New York City in 1923. He attended Union College studying engineering. After World War II interrupted his degree course, he returned from the army and, thanks to the GI bill, was able to complete his degree at Princeton University where the army had earlier sent him on courses. Leon became an electrical engineer, working most of his career with General Electric in Syracuse, New York, He worked on radio-controlled missile guidance systems including for some of the early space launches by NASA and developed new methods for making printed circuits. He also taught a course in creativity for engineers which lead to important innovations. As a teenager he used to hang out at a local photographer’s premises in his home town of Gloversville, New York, sometimes helping out.

His first proper camera was a Foth Derby and he became a keen amateur photographer. In the late 1960s, he developed an interest in early cameras and photographs. When his son Ken came to London to study biophysics – initially lacking a scholarship from either UK or US governments – Leon handed him a copy of Sotheby’s seminal New York 1970 Strober photography catalogue with the admonition to look for old cameras and see if you can find anything ‘by some guy named Talbot.’

As a result of this collaboration and his own efforts, his wife Hilde and he became one of the first to publish a regular catalogue (a simple mimeograph) selling early cameras and photographs alongside people like Tom & Elinor Burrnside and George Rinhart. As Syracuse is not too far from Rochester, home of George Eastman House and photography museum, many of the young interns (later to become well-known names in the field like Grant Romer and Keith Davis) would often arrive for coffee and cookies at the Jacobsons’ house and also discover one of the few places where their meagre interns' salaries still allowed them to come home with an good early photograph as a souvenir.

Leon became quite adept at restoring old cameras needing conservation and gave a talk on this subject at the 1972 annual symposium held by the Photographic Historical Society of New York. In 1974, with the assistance of an electron microscopist at General Electric, he published a paper solving the problem of what caused ‘measles’ on daguerreotype plates that had been 'cleaned.'

In 1972 He published several arrticles in Eaton Lothrop's The Photographic Collectors' Newsletter which ran from 1968-1975 - the first publication of its type that predated any collecting or historical societies.   IHe was elected to the board of the Photographic Historical Society of America in 1975.

With thanks to Ken Jacobson

The organisers have announced that Photo|Frome will return in April 2025 with the theme ‘inEquality’. Through photography from internationally acclaimed, national and regional artists, we reflect on stories of global and local justice and equality. The festival runs from 5 April – 27 April 2025. with free exhibitions (indoor and outdoor), talks, workshops, portfolio reviews, pop-up portrait studio (Faces of Frome), curator tours and more.

One of Photo|Frome’s principal installations features stills photography by Joss Barratt around the films of acclaimed director Ken Loach, known for his focus on marginalized communities. This includes ‘Carla’s Song’, which it is pairing with Susan Meiselas' renowned documentary on Nicaragua. By combining fiction and reality it explores the same issues but from totally different angles, giving new perspectives. The work of Tish Murtha, Paul Seawright, Nick Hedges and Fast Forward, Women in Photography is also featured alongside other Ken Loach films.

Other exhibitions take different creative approaches to the theme. This includes Joanne Coates whose work explores rurality, hidden histories, and income-based inequalities, Sujata Setia’s ‘A Thousand Cuts’, Sarah Palmer’s ‘Wish You Were Here’, and Evgeniya Strygina’s ‘Home from Home’.

Photo|Frome will again offer an international Open Photobook Award and the MPB Student Awards. In 2025, it will also have a new Open Call on the inEquality theme. Details of all three will be separately announced.

The photographer Paul Lowe has died, aged 61 years. Professor Paul Lowe was an award-winning photographer and a Professor of Conflict, Peace, and the Image at London College of Communication. He was also an author, critic and educator. His work was widely published and his work is represented by Panos Pictures. Paul has covered breaking news across the world – including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela’s release, famine in Africa, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the destruction of Grozny.

He was a consultant to the World Press Photo foundation in Amsterdam, advising online education of professional photojournalists in the majority world. Paul's book Bosnians, documenting 10 years of the war and post-war situation in Bosnia, was published in April 2005 by Saqi books. 

See a tribute from Max Houghton here: https://www.1854.photography/2024/10/tribute-paul-lowe/
and https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/oct/24/photographer-paul-lowes-life-in-pictures

Grace Lau's Chinese portrait studio has been on a memorable journey through Hastings, Southampton, London, Eastbourne, finishing this year at St Leonards on Sea. This exhibition shows a selection of the portraits captured on route. The portrait studio was made of ‘mock’ traditional Chinese furniture, with a decorative backdrop and accessories. Grace Lau acted as Creative Director, alongside photographer Richard Chung. People were asked to pose in a similar manner to Victorian studio portraits. However, in contrast to the historical setting, those having their portraits taken were encouraged to keep their modern-day accessories, such as mobile phones, shopping bags, and clothing.

“Through this project I am making an oblique comment on Imperialist visions of the ‘exotic’ Chinese and, by reversing roles, I have become the Imperialist photographer documenting my exotic subjects in the south of England.” (Grace Lau 2006)

"21st Century Types demonstrated, in a powerful visual way, the diversity of British in the 21st century. These rich many layered opulent portraits made by a Chinese born feminist photographer are a monument to place, race, people and the passing of time, and a direct political comment of the uses of photography as propaganda. Grace’s positioning of herself as an outsider photographer, drawn to photograph the procession of ‘types’ that pass in front of her camera, was essentially performative - acting the part of the stern Chinese studio portraitist who would not allow her subjects to smile, she creates a theatre of photography in which the émigrè’s drama is played out." (Prof. Val Williams 2019)

This project was funded by Art Council England and supported by John Hansard Gallery.

Portraits in a Chinese Studio. An exhibition of portraits by Grace Lau
Solaris Print, 76 Norman Rd, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN38 0EJ
9 November -21 December, 2024
See: https://www.solarisprint.co.uk/

Quickshaws Tours is offering an twelve night tour in Sri Lanka to discover the places photographed by and associated with Julia Margaret Cameron, who died and was buried in the country in 1879. The tour will take in the first Cameron plantatio described in her letters, their coffee estates including Dimbulla, places she photographed, and her burial place at St Mary's Church, Bogawantalawa. In addition the tour will take in other historic places, sights and landscapes as well as the food and culture of the country.  

The tour has been produced by, and will have the services of, Cameron scholar Aneela de Soysa. Discover where she lived and made her last photographs, and explore her life in British Ceylon on a tour of Sri Lanka. The tour is for art historians and photographers interested in the work of Cameron to experience the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka then and now and includes seven World Heritage Sites.

Discover Julia Margaret Cameron in Ceylon 1875-1879
Tour led by Aneela de Soysa
9-21 February 2025
For full details of the itinerary and cost see: https://www.aneeladesoysa.com/

UPDATED: The organisers have jus tannounced a shorter 8-night tour that covers the principal Cameron sites, and omits some of the other Sri Lanka sites. 

See Aneela de Soysa speak about Cameron here

Image: Julia Margaret Cameron, Two Young Women, Ceylon, 1875-79, Albumen Print, AIC

Photography entered the museum shortly after its invention in the 19th century, serving as a reproduction tool, a scientific process, a printmaking method, and an expressive medium. However, precisely because of these multiple functions, photography’s accommodation posed challenges then, as it does now with the mutable nature of contemporary “post-photographic,” born-digital images.  

This conference seeks to examine the past, current, and future positioning of photography and its rich histories within museums. It aims to bring together curators, museum workers, archivists, artists, scholars, and researchers across disciplines, such as art history, visual culture, photography, museum, curating and archival studies, to explore international shifts in museum practices and their implications for global photographic cultures.  

Key questions and issues include, but are not limited to:  

• In an era of “massification” of images, how can museums collect analogue and born-digital photography strategically to create relevant and sustainable photographic collections for the future?
• In what ways institutional practices—in terms of collecting, accessioning, documentation, preservation, and accessibility—need to be adapted or what new methods are required to accommodate different types of photographic images, including “networked images” and “computational photography,” in museum collections?
• How can photography’s vernacular cultures be collected and displayed in the physical and virtual museum?
• How can normative exhibition practices be adapted to engage diverse transnational publics, online and on site?
• How can photography be used as an accessible vehicle within the museum to consider broader social and political issues and processes?
• How can museum practices facilitate a two-way interaction with audiences, enabling them to acquire agency in influencing what the museum does as a social site?
• In what ways can photography within the museum context contribute to the decolonisation process for its audiences?
• What does an inclusive transnational history of photography look like?
• How may commissioning expand an institution’s discursive space?  

Speakers: 

Shahidul Alam, Photojournalist, Human Rights Activist, Founder of Drik, Pathshala and Chobi Mela (and Visiting Professor, Northern Centre of Photography, FESCI (Bangladesh)
Martin Barnes, Senior Curator, Photography, V&A South Kensington (UK)  
Michela Bresciani, Curator, Ecomuseo Urbano Metropolitano Milano Nord - EUMM (Italy) 
Briony Carlin, Lecturer in Contemporary Art Curation, Newcastle University (UK) 
Angela Cheung, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, SOAS (UK) 
Giuseppe Chiavaroli, PhD Researcher, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) 
Agnese Ghezzi, Postdoctoral Researcher, LYNX - Center for the Interdisciplinary Analysis of Images, Contexts, Cultural Heritage, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy) 
Fabrizio Gitto, PhD Researcher, University of Italian Switzerland and Research Fellow, LYNX - Center for the Interdisciplinary Analysis of Images, Contexts, Cultural Heritage, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy) 
Sze Ying Goh, Curator, National Gallery Singapore (Singapore) 
Alexandra Gow, PhD Researcher, University for the Creative Arts/National Galleries Scotland (UK) 
Lucia Halder, Head of the Photography Collection, Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (Germany) 
John Kippin, Artist and Professor Emeritus in Photography, Northern Centre of Photography, FESCI (UK) 
Jayne Knight, PhD Researcher, University of Brighton/National Science and Media Museum (UK) 
Sandra Križić Roban, Senior Scientific Advisor in Tenure, Institute of Art History, Zagreb (Croatia) 
Carol McKay, Independent curator and writer (Associate Head of School (Arts), University of Sunderland to October 2024) (UK), paper with Amanda Ritson, Curator and Project Manager, NEPN at University of Sunderland (UK) 
Daniel Palmer, Professor of Contemporary Art and Cultural Theory and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, RMIT University (Australia) 
Christina Riggs, Professor (History of Visual Culture), Durham University (UK) 
Colin Robins, Photographer and Lecturer in Photography, Plymouth University (UK)
Katrina Sluis, Associate Professor and Head of Photography and Media Arts, The Australian National University (Australia) 
Baiba Tetere, Lecturer in Social Sciences, Riga Stradins University (Latvia) 
Oliver Udy, Photographer and Head of Photography, Falmouth University (UK) 
Liz Wells, Independent Writer and Curator, Professor Emeritus in Photographic Culture, University of Plymouth (UK) 

The conference is part of the Museum Dialogues, a 12-month research networking programme which aspires to transcend the disciplinary boundaries of art history, visual culture, photography, new media, museum and curating studies and bridge theory and practice. It seeks to unite scholars, archivists, curators, museum workers, and artists from across the globe with a view to developing a comprehensive understanding and exchange of innovative solutions, inquiries, and practical challenges relating to the exhibition, collection and interpretation of photography. 

Supported by UKRI/Arts and Humanities Research Network and University of Sunderland.  

Conference and Project Team 
Principal Investigator: Professor Alexandra Moschovi, Professor of Photography and Curating, Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland
Co-Investigator:  Dr Iro Katsaridou, Assistant Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 
International partner: Matteo Balduzzi, Curator, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy.  
 
Steering group member: Emeritus Professor Arabella Plouviez, University of Sunderland

UoS Coordinator: Amanda Ritson, Programme Manager of NEPN (North East Photography Network), Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland

Technical Support: Michael Daglish, Senior Technician (Photography), University of Sunderland

Photography and the Museum 
Re-evaluating the Past, Capturing the Present, Anticipating the Future 
Friday 22, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 November 2024 
University of Sunderland and Online 
Registration is now open here.

The Prix Pictet photography prize which hatnesses the power of photographyto draw global attention to issues of sustainability, has announced a five-year partnership with the V&A Museum, London. The Museum, which has hosted recent awards ceremonies, will host the awards ceremony and shortlist exhibition for the next five cycles of the Prix Pictet. The first exhibition in this series will take place from 26 September-19 October 2025 in the Museum’s Photography Centre. Additionally, one of the galleries in the Centre will be renamed ‘The Pictet Gallery’ in January 2025, in recognition of the Pictet Group's support for photography.

The Prix Pictet has staged over 150 shortlist exhibitions in many major cities of the world with visitor numbers of over one million. The ten Prix Pictet winners to date are Benoit Aquin, Nadav Kander, Mitch Epstein, Luc Delahaye, Michael Schmidt, Valérie Belin, Richard Mosse, Joana Choumali, Sally Mann and most recently Gauri Gill.

Duncan Forbes, Head of Photography at the V&A, said, "The Photography Centre at V&A is the largest space in the UK dedicated to a permanent photography collection, and we’re delighted that with the support of Prix Pictet the Museum will continue to celebrate photography’s many histories and explore its extensive impact on our lives.”

Separately, the Prize has announced that V&A Trustee Zewditu Gebreyohanes will join judging panel for Storm. Gebreyohanes was appointed a trustee of the V&A in 2022. She is a Senior Researcher at the right-leaning think tank The Legatum Institute. Prior to this she was Director of the pressure group Restore Trust which attempted to influence the direction of the National Trust. Between 2021 and 2022 she worked at the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange, where she was Head of the History Matters Project: a policy unit focussing on the preservation of British history and heritage.

See: https://prix.pictet.com/ and  https://prix.pictet.com/in-focus/zewditu-gebreyohanes-to-join-the-prix-pictet-judging-panel-for-s

The PhotoLondon resource - PhotoLondon.org.uk - which has been active for many years and hosted by the Museum of London is currently offline. The Museum has recently upgraded its website and may have impacted PhotoLondon. This has been raised with the Museum and is currently under investigation. Sadly, because of the way the site is constructed the underlying data is not visible through archive.org.   

Hopefully, the site will be online before too long.

It is well known that after Adamson Octavius Hill’s only other photographic partner was Alexander McGlashon. They exhibited in Edinburgh in December 1861 and in the London International exhibition which ran from 1st May to 1st September 1862; they also published an album in 1862 of fifteen photographs titled: “Towards the Further Development of Fine Art Photography”. A selection of their work can be found at the following link:- https://www.nationalgalleries.org/search-all/McGlashan

While the Rock House garden in Edinburgh was the location for some of these images it was not the only location.

Of the Rock House images particularly notable is that of Hill’s daughter Charlotte, “Burd Alane”. She is not identified as the subject of this portrait by the National Gallery or indeed by the Met in New York which also holds a copy, but the title of the photograph clearly points to it being her and comparison with John Adamson's 1855 portrait of her is conclusive.

However the image which won the plaudits is entitled “Horae Subsecivae” and is of the author John Brown and his cousin John Taylor Brown. This and several other images are in an indoor setting which may be inside the Rock House but it is noticeable that a curtain and table feature in various McGlashon CDVs suggesting that these images may have been taken in McGlashon’s studio at 130 Princes Street.

A further group of photographs includes one titled “Our First Grandchild: May-Day at Millfield” conveniently identifying the location as Millfield House in Polmont, the home of railway engineer, volunteer soldier and subsequently Edinburgh Member of Parliament, John Miller. As Miller’s first grandchild Marjory Cunningham was born on 11th August 1859 from the appearance of the child in the photo we can readily date this photograph to 1st May 1861.

Was this the end of Hill’s involvement with photography? Perhaps not. Certainly his association with McGlashon continued and there is a CDV of Hill with his wife Amelia Paton in which both are very smartly dressed, including in Hill’s case a top hat and cane, leading to the suspicion that this was taken at the time of their wedding on 18th November 1862.

However the story does not end there as very intriguingly I have discovered an 1864 newspaper report (The Scotsman, 25 January 1864) that during his recent visit to Edinburgh the portrait of Dean Stanley of Westminster by McGlashon & Walker (McGlashon’s then partner) “was arranged by Mr D. O. Hill, R.S.A.” Whether this meant that Hill was actively involved in the sitting or just that he introduced Stanley to McGlashon cannot now be ascertained but it does point to Hill’s continuing appreciation of McGlashon's photographic skill and may even represent Hill’s final photographic involvement.

BBC Radio 4's programme Toast will be looking at the story behind Kodak's business failure. Kodak made photography mainstream so why did it falter in a digital age? The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, discovers how Kodak rose to become a massive global enterprise best known for its cameras and film. Alongside him is the serial entrepreneur, Sam White, ready to offer her opinions on the business's fortunes.

Kodak is still trading profitably but is now a much smaller business than it once was. Sean and Sam hear from expert guests including:

• Kamal Munir - Professor of Strategy & Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School which is part of the University of Cambridge
• Don Strickland - Kodak's former Vice President of Digital Imaging
• Paul O'Sullivan - who runs a film processing business in London
• Andrew Long - who worked in Kodak's consumer products division in the UK.

The programme will be broadcast and available to listen live on BBC Radio 4 on 7 November at 1232 and will then be available on BBC Sounds.

See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024sy5

Recent sightings of the Northern Lights in southern Britain have flooded our timelines in recent weeks as people try to capture its wonderful colours on their smartphones. Now The Polar Museum is inviting visitors to see stunning early attempts to capture the natural phenomenon in a new free exhibition, showcasing the work of Danish-born school teacher and self-taught scientist, Sophus Peter Tromholt (1851–1896).

In 1875 Tromholt moved from Denmark to Norway. There he taught at a school, lectured in astronomy, wrote many articles and several schoolbooks, and even composed two pieces of music. However, the northern lights were always his main interest. He wanted to capture them using photography and determine their height in the atmosphere. In 1885 he published his results in the book, Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis.

During 1882-83 in the first International Polar Year, Tromholt spent a year living with the Sámi of Kautokeino in northern Norway. He didn’t succeed in taking photographs of the northern lights as photographic plates were not sensitive enough at that time. Instead, he chose to photograph the Sámi people living there, and became famous for his respectful portraits of named Sámi individuals – pioneering at that time. It was in Tromholt’s prints of Sámi people and landscapes at the University of Bergen Library, guest curator and artist Dr Christine Finn encountered Tromholt's sketches of the heavens over Kautokeino, originally made to accompany his newspaper articles and provide illustrations for his book.

Guest curator and artist, Dr Christine Finn, said: “These pictures were created from original glass negatives archived in Bergen. The wooden surface against which Tromholt photographed the drawings is visible, knots and all. Also left for context are the numbers which represent duration or time, almost certainly in his own hand. These traces are part of the ‘archaeology’ of the Aurora as it progresses from Tromholt's eye to brush and pen marks, glass plate negative, then digital file, and now, a print on fine art photographic paper. We do not know if he began with sketch books, or even coloured the works. It is to be hoped more evidence will emerge over time.” 

These awe-inspiring, large scale prints will go on display at the Polar Museum, including Tromholt's self-portrait in his open-air photography studio. He is posed amongst scientific equipment and fresh wooden construction, dressed in Sámi clothing and gazing at the camera, possibly being gazed at himself by some of those who called him the ‘Star Man’.

The Sámi people live in modern-day Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Historically they supported themselves through fishing, reindeer farming and hunting. Today, some Sámi people live outside the traditional Sámi homeland known as Sápmi. The Polar Museum holds many examples of Sámi objects, art and clothing, some of which can be seen in the upcoming exhibition.

The leading British stage and screen actor, Michael Maloney (currently on UK tour as Hercule Poirot in Lucy’ Bailey and Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express) has recorded an extract from Sophus Tromholt's descriptions of auroras from Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis. Visitors will be able to access this via headphones in the gallery. 

Prof. Richard Powell, Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute said: “The Aurora Borealis, and their representation, have a fascinating history. We are delighted to host this innovative and timely exhibition here at the Institute.”

Dr David Waterhouse, Curator of the Polar Museum said: “This exhibition combines the history of science and photography with Dr Finn’s artistic processes in order to bring this fascinating story to life some 140 years later. As the recent increase in solar activity makes the northern lights visible throughout the UK, many of us can relate to the frustrations of Aurora photography. Tromholt was a pioneer in the subject – moving to the Arctic Circle in order to study and capture their image. What better timing for an exhibition focused on the Aurora?”

Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis
15 November 2024-22 February 2025
Curated by Dr Christine Finn
The Polar Museum, Cambridge
Free to visit, Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-4pm.
https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/

Image credit: Sophus Tromholt, Picture Collection, University of Bergen Library, Norway

The Kraszna-Krausz Foundation is delighted to be collaborating with the V&A South Kensington to present the Photography Book Award Symposium 2024. Drawing together political and personal histories, artists Hristina Tasheva, Alice Proujansky and Lewis Bush will present their award-winning and nominated publications, followed by a conversation chaired by Dr Duncan Forbes, Head of Photography at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award Symposium 2024
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
17.00 – 19.45
The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Free event, booking required
Click here to book

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery will take to the skies and see the world from above the clouds through the remarkable work of Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer. A trailblazer in his field, Buckham (1879-1956), a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, soared above the realms of what was thought to be possible in twentieth century photography and aviation. He moved aerial photography from straight documentary bringing to it an artistic and pictorial aesthetic. From 18 October 2025– 9 April 2026, meet the man behind some of the most iconic aerial photographs, marvel at the death-defying lengths he took to capture the perfect image and explore how his innovative techniques paved the way for modern technologies such as Photoshop and AI.

Anne Lyden, Director-General at the National Galleries of Scotland said 'We're really excited to announce our 2025 public programme, which is packed full of fantastic exhibitions. Breathtaking installations at the Royal Scottish Academy, soaring above the clouds at the Portrait gallery, and modern and contemporary highlights from your national collection at the Moderns. Whether you want to be inspired, find a moment of calm or share a joyful experience with friends - there's so much to discover at the National Galleries of Scotland.'

Image: Alfred G. Buckham, Aerial View over Edinburgh, c.1920. Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection.