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Historians, curators and photographic practitioners have begun to re-examine older forms of photography, yet many cultural studies of nineteenth-century photography have been overly reliant upon twentieth-century theoretical constructions. 

This multidisciplinary conference will move away from these models, exploring issues such as early photographic 'authorship', traditional technological narratives, and the ideologies of photographic realism. 

Keynote speakers: Kate Flint, Lindsay Smith and Kelley Wilder. 

For more information contact: rethinkingphotography@gmail.com.

A celebration of photography inspired by Joseph Swan and his adventures with carbon, collodion and light.Joseph Swan is the inspiration for this festival of photography in Newcastle, running from Monday, 20 October to Sunday 26 October 2014. It marks the 100th anniversary of Swan`s death on 27 May 1914 and aims to highlight his important work in the field of photography.

Newcastle Photography Festival aims to create a platform for photography in the North East of England while celebrating one of photography’s greatest local sons, Joseph Swan. Taking place in venues across the city, it will present an exciting mix of exhibitions, participative workshops, photography walks culminating in a symposium where many of the participating photographers will visit to discuss their work.

Newcastle Photography Festival a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and support of local involvement in photography. See more here: http://newphotofest.com/newcastle-photography-festival/

You are invited to a panel discussion on Saturday June 28 at Christie's, London, to celebrate the sale of important photographs to benefit the Shpilman Institute for Photography. The discussion will feature Martin Barnes, curator of photographs at the V&A, Shalom Shpilman, President and Founder, SIP, and Dr Nissan Perez, Vice President, SIP.

Please see attached invitations. London.pdf

De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Taylor Bursary for its MA in Photographic History. The Bursary offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA, and is open to all students UK, EU and International. To apply for the Taylor Bursary, please submit your cv and a proposal outlining your MA thesis topic, in English, to the Admissions Committee by 15 July 2014. This proposal should be no longer than 4,000 words. For questions about the MA programme or the Taylor Bursary Fellowship please contact Programme Leader, Dr Kelley Wilder at kwilder@dmu.ac.uk.

The Taylor Bursary will be awarded to applicants who will contribute significantly to the field of photographic history.

The MA in Photographic History is the first course of its kind in the UK, taking as it does the social and material history of photography at its centre. It lays the foundations for understanding the scope of photographic history and provides the tools to carry out the independent research in this larger context, working in particular from primary source material. You will work with public and private collections throughout Britain, handling photographic material, learning analogue photographic processes, writing history from objects in collections, comparing historical photographic movements, and debating the canon of photographic history. You also learn about digital preservation and access issues through practical design projects involving website and database design. Research Methods are a core component, providing students with essential handling, writing, digitising and presentation skills needed for MA and Research level work, as well as jobs in the field.

For further details on the course and application process, please see a course description: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-courses/photographic-history-practice/photographic-history-and-practice-ma-pgdip.aspx

Brett Rogers, director of The Photographers' Gallery, London, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire, for 'services to the arts' in the Queen's Birthday Honours list published today. This was the only photography award made although other arts organisations were represented.

Brett Rogers, as Australian by birth, has thirty years of experience promoting photography and visual arts both in the UK and in Australia, where she worked as Exhibitions Manager at the Australian Gallery Directors’ Council from 1976 to 1979. She curated photography exhibitions where she was responsible for supporting original research into neglected areas of Australian women photographers, as well as touring photographic shows from abroad. In 1980, Rogers moved to the UK to complete an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art. 

She joined the British Council in London, where she worked in the Visual Arts Department of the British Council and held the joint roles of Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions. Rogers’ increased the profile and activity of British photography abroad with shows by such figures as Julia Margaret Cameron, Madame Yevonde and Martin Parr. Rogers was also responsible for initiating a series of important group shows including Documentary Dilemmas: British Documentary Photography in the Nineties, Look at me: Fashion and Photography in Britain 1960-1997, Reality Check - British Photography and New Media 2002-2004, and Common Ground, Aspects of contemporary Muslim experience 2002-2005.

Brett joined The Photographers’ Gallery as Director in 2006. She has overseen the Gallery’s move from Great Newport Street to Ramilles Street and a major redevelopment of the new premises. The refurbished building reopened in 2012. 

Check out an interview with Brett here: http://www.emahomagazine.com/2013/05/brett-rogers-30-years-of-curating/

The DGPh History of Photography Research Award 2014 will be open for all elements of research into photography’s many aspects. Besides aspects of traditional history and theory of photography, topics will be considered that deal with photography’s social meaning, or the impact that the medium has had on society. The applicant's work should represent an autonomous, innovative, and original  contribution to these areas. The award is open to researchers from all fields.

Applications and manuscripts for the DGPh History of Photography Research Award may be submitted in either English or German. Applications should consist of a published or unpublished manuscript produced during the last two years before the deadline. Project outlines, or yet unfinished manuscripts etc. will not be accepted.

Allocation will be the decision of an expert jury. The jury will publish its reasons to reward the winning entry. The jury consists of the  chairpersons of the History and Archives section of the DGPh, the previous prize winner plus one or a group of invited counsellor(s).

The decision of the jury will be final and binding. The award is honored with a total of 3,000 Euro. The jury holds the right to split the prize between two applicants in equal parts. The award will be handed over at a public event organized by the DGPh.

Submission requirements are:

- A complete manuscript in paper form (two copies) and as electronic file form (pdf)

- An abstract of the submitted work (approx. 300-500 words)
- A curriculum vitae (résumé)
- A list of publications.

The final date for submissions is August 19th, 2014 (date of postmark).

Submissions should be addressed to:

Geschäftsstelle der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie
Overstolzenhaus
Rheingasse 8-12
D 50676 Cologne
Germany
email dgph@dgph.de

More information about the German Photographic Society: www.dgph.de

To commemorate the International Archives Day, the Municipal Archive of Girona (AMGi) and the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) of Girona’s City Council (Catalonia) have made available a resource for the preservation of their personal archives. This resource includes basic recommendations emerged from the experience of the archive's technicians.

This resource is available in English on http://www.girona.cat/sgdap/docs/dia2013_def-eng.pdf

BPH has just learnt that Roger Mayne died of a heart attached on Saturday, 7 June. A fuller obituary will be published later today. BPH sends its condolences to his wife Ann Jellicoe, their daughter Katkin and son Tom. 

UPDATED:

Tom Gitterman of his New York Gallery wrote in an email: 

Roger’s seminal body of work on the working class neighborhoods of London in the 1950s and early 1960s made him one of the most important post-war British photographers.

Photography was a way for Mayne to connect with people and explore the world around him. Mayne’s honest and empathetic approach to photography is evident in the candid response from his subjects and has influenced generations of photographers. 
 
Though his talent as a photographer was recognized early in his career, it was his solo exhibition at The Victoria and Albert Museum in 1986 and the subsequent use of his images on album covers and concert backdrops for the musician Morrissey in the 1990s that renewed interest in his work.  Thanks to the early support from his first dealer, Zelda Cheatle and Mark Haworth-Booth, former curator of photography at The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the continual support of my colleague Lindsey Stewart at Quaritch, his dealer in London, Mayne’s photographs are revered and included in numerous private and institutional collections worldwide.  Most recently, Mayne’s work was featured in Art of the ‘60s at the Tate Britain in 2004, Making History at the Tate Liverpool in 2006, How We Are: Photographing Britain at the Tate Britain in 2007 and Roger Mayne: Aspects of A Great Photographer at the Victoria Gallery, Bath in 2013.
 
Mayne first became interested in photography while studying chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford University from 1947-1951. In 1953 he developed an interest in the St. Ives School, which embraced the abstract avant-garde movement, and became friendly with the painters Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton. Mayne consciously printed with high contrast to emphasize the formal qualities in his work and increased the scale of his prints to have a further dialogue with the painting of the time. 

In 1954 Mayne moved to London to become a photographer, and in 1956 he discovered Southam Street.  It was a street in a working class neighborhood of West London that would be demolished to make room for high-rise apartments.  During the five years Mayne photographed there, it was full of energy: teddy boys, jiving girls, and kids playing in the street.  Mayne also photographed other streets of West London and similar working class neighborhoods in Britain. For Mayne even the empty streets and dilapidated buildings had “a kind of decaying splendor.” Though modernization ended community life in the streets, Mayne’s work preserves the spirit of that time.  By 1959 Mayne’s images were so indicative of this period that Vogue used them to illustrate teenage styles.  Colin MacInnes used one of his images on the cover of Absolute Beginners, a novel told in the first person by a teenage freelance photographer living in West London that commented on the youth culture of the time.  

Throughout this period Mayne worked as a freelance photographer and his photographs were reproduced regularly in magazines and newspapers.  His work was included in group exhibitions at the Combined Societies, a progressive group of local photographic societies in Britain that broke away from the Royal Photographic Society.  His work was also included in Otto Steinert’s Subjektive Fotografie in Germany, a series of group exhibitions and books of international photography that emphasized personal expression and the aesthetic potential of the medium. Mayne had solo exhibitions in 1956 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y. and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. As early as 1956-57 the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago acquired his work.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent Roger. My relationship with him has affected me greatly, always reminding me to be as true to others as I am to myself. I will miss him.

Tom Gitterman

Gitterman Gallery
41 East 57th Street, Suite 1103
New York, NY 10022
212 734 0868
info@gittermangallery.com
www.gittermangallery.com

An obituary was published in The Guardian newspaper: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/roger-mayne

Image top: © Roger Mayne, Self-Portrait, 1956; Above: Edinburgh; Courtesy: Quaritch.

Does anyone know the true photographer of this image? I've seen it variously attributed to Thomson and A. Fong.  Published in "A New History of Photography" Edited by Michel Frizot (Page 149) as "attributed to Fong".

My copy has a letterpress description below… and is listed as No. 321, so obviously part of a series, book, or album, but I can find no information about this.

Thanks in advance for any help!

David

Doha News reports that plans for the proposed Qatar-based International Media Museum in Doha have been scrapped amidst staff and budget reductions. Several senior staff working on the Media collections have recently left. The newspaper reports that: 'QMA employees have also alleged that teams working on plans for three proposed museums – the Pearl, Media and Children’s museums – have been significantly reduced, and plans for individual museums scrapped.

'However, a QMA spokesperson told Doha News today that while the organization had considered establishing permanent homes for the Pearl and Media collections, these plans were never formalized. The collections remain, however, and their respective teams are still working on them, she said, adding that there had been “no change” to plans for the Children’s Museum.' Reference to the photography and related collections have been removed from the QMA, now Qatar Museums, website which has recently been updated.

The Qatar state has acquired significant holdings of photography, originally through the collecting of Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, and subsequently taken over by the state.  Al Thani collected photography, cameras and printed materials - from the late 1990s. The QMA collections include significant holdings of daguerreotypes and the S F Spira Collection amongst many others. According to the QMA: 'The IMM possesses one of the most outstanding and valuable photographic collections in the region and one that ranks with major collections through the world. The photographs are of exceptional quality and span from the 19th century to present. The collection includes photographs from early daguerreotypes through albums and photography - illustrated books to contemporary colour photographs and photographic advertising poster. Also IMM possesses a collection of films and photographic and film technology as well as a significant rare book collection.' Recently buying of photography by the QMA had largely stopped. 

Details of the QMA Photography collections can be found here: http://www.qma.org.qa/online/index.php/en/collections/photography

Plans for a photography museum, later re-named International Media Museum, were first drawn up by 2002 and were well advanced with designs (shown above, left) prepared by the renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Construction never started.

In February 2013 World Architecture News revealed plans (image below, right) from Fernando Romero Enterprise’s (FR-EE) latest building concept: PH Museum in the Middle East. The location of the building was widely believed to be Doha. WAN noted: 'The main bulk of the 3,800sq m museum takes the form of a large canopy, shading visitors from harsh sunlight beneath a circular overhang. Romero has taken his cue from ‘the mechanics of a camera’, falling in line with the functionality of the space as a museum of photography and photographic equipment.

FR-EE explains: “Inspired by the mechanics of a camera, the organization of the museum reflects the complexity of a camera lens. The interior is organized radially from the center of the building and a spiraling ramp connects these spaces to emphasize spatial continuity.'

The proposed opening had been postponed several times since, most recently with a date of 2017 being suggested. This now appears to be unlikely as QM reviews its cultural strategy, assesses its budgets, appoints a new CEO after the departure of Edward Dolman, and adopts a policy of Qatarisation for employees. Sadly, the photography museum appears to have become a casualty of those changes. 

See: http://dohanews.co/qatar-museums-authority-announces-re-branding-amid-job-loss-uncertainty/ and 

http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/main/search/search?q=Qatar

The RIBA announces an international symposium on architectural photography in conjunction with the first major retrospective of the British architectural photographer Edwin Smith (1912-1971), whose prolific work helped redefine the notion of post-WWII Britishness. The symposium will take place on 13-14 November at RIBA in London. 

The symposium will honour the legacy of Robert Elwall (1953-2012), an acclaimed British historian of architectural photography and curator, since 1976, of the RIBA's Photographs Collection that now bears his name. With some million and a half architectural images, the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection is one of the most extensive resources for the study of the influence of photography on architecture and the creative process.

A call for papers

The RIBA invites papers from photographers, researchers, academics, curators and students in conjunction with the first major retrospective of the work of the British architectural photographer Edwin Smith (1912-1971) – Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith . Interested participants are invited to submit a 300-word abstract, brief biography and a presentation title by no later than 31 July 2014. The call for papers is available here. 

See website for further details details http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/November2014/BuildingWithLightTheLegacyOfRobertElwall.aspx

In September 2014, RIBA’s new Architecture Gallery will present the first major retrospective of Edwin Smith (1912 – 1971), one of Britain’s foremost 20th century photographers. Hailed by Sir John Betjeman as a ‘genius at photography’ and by Cecil Beaton as ‘an understanding and loving connoisseur of his subject’, Edwin Smith captured the essence of the places, landscapes and buildings he photographed.

Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith will display 100 extraordinary black and white photographs from a collection of over 60,000 negatives given by Olive Cook, Smith’s widow and collaborator, to the RIBA Library. From urban scenes documenting British social history to evocative landscape images and atmospheric interiors, the images displayed reveal the genius and breadth of his work. Alongside his images of Britain the exhibition will show photographs taken on his travels to Europe as well as his published books and photographic equipment. Specially filmed contributions ranging from Alan Bennett to broadcaster Gillian Darley offer personal perspectives of Smith’s work.

Edwin Smith was highly sought-after by publishers and in the 1950s he was commissioned by Thames & Hudson for a series of books, among them English Parish Churches (1952), English Cottages & Farmhouses (1954), Scotland (1955), England (1957), and The Living City: A New View of the City of London (1957). He was also commissioned by Vogue, Shell Guides and numerous other magazines and writers to illustrate features and books on subjects varying from Great Houses of Europe to The Wonders of Italy.

The late Robert Elwall, author of Evocations of Place: The Photography of Edwin Smith and previous curator of the RIBA Photographs Collection:

“The recurring themes of Edwin Smith’s work – a concern for the fragility of the environment, both natural and man-made; an acute appreciation of the need to combat cultural homogenization by safeguarding regional diversity; and, above all, a conviction that architecture should be rooted in time and place – are as pressing today as when Smith first framed them in his elegantly precise compositions.”   

Valeria Carullo, RIBA, co-curator of the exhibition: “Edwin Smith’s images provoke an immediate emotional response and at the same time offer the opportunity for observation and reflection. This exhibition offers a timely reappraisal of his exceptional work and emphasises the prominent place he deserves in the history of British photography”

As post-war social and urban change began to alter the look and character of British towns and cities a movement to save Britain’s heritage gained momentum. The 1950s saw the birth of the Victorian Society and in 1951 the first volume of Pevsner’s Buildings of England was published. Smith shared similar sensibilities and his work contributed to the appreciation of traditional British architecture, local craftsmanship and regional building materials.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks, films and events. 

Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith

Exhibition: 10 September 2014 – 6 December 2014  

Architecture Gallery, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1

FREE ENTRANCE

Image: St Lawrence, Didmarton, Gloucestershire (1961) © Edwin Smith / RIBA Library Photographs Collection

I am pleased to announce that the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the London Borough of Sutton Archives £95,900 towards the digitisation, conservation, cataloguing and research of the David Knights-Whittome glass plate negtaive collection. An additional £10K from Sutton Council means a total of nearly £106,000 for the project.

The project will see 11,000 Edwardian images cleaned, digitised, researched, catalogued and made available to the public. The glass plate negatives were taken between 1904 and 1917 by photographer David Knights-Whittome.

The majority of the pictures depict local people, while the rest are an eclectic mix of images of the interior and exterior of stately homes throughout the UK and Europe. There are also images of three generations of the Royal family; local and regional schools, colleges and theatre groups; and weddings.

Sutton Archives is recruiting a team of volunteers who will be trained to handle, clean and digitise the glass plates, and to catalogue and research the images. Volunteers will also contribute to a blog which will record the project.

As part of this two year project there will be sessions for the public and local historians to research their own World War 1 ancestryand learn how to care for their own photo collections. Sutton Mencap will be involved in a project which will involve people with learning disabilities using the images as an inspiration for their own artwork.

Further details from Kath Shawcross, Borough Archivist & Local Studies Manager

k.shawcross@sutton.gov.uk

Daguerreobase, is a European funded non-profit research project that aims to collect at least 25.000 descriptions of daguerreotype objects in the Daguerreobase database and make a digital representation of them available on the Europeana portal. It has just published Daguerreotypes. Europe's Earliest Photographic Records which is freely available as a download here: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/journal/50-booklet-daguerreobase

In addition in June 2014 the first issue of The Daguerreotype Journal - Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes will be published. This European Daguerreotype Association Quarterly will be published in the context of the Daguerreobase Project and it will be available onwww.daguerreobase.org

The BBC reports that Bradford's National Media Museum (NMeM) saw 480,000 visitors in 2013, in a drop of 13,000 compared to 2012. The NMeM said a fall in cinema goers was responsible for the drop in numbers. The Head of the NMeM, Jo Quinton-Tulloch said the decline in visitors was 'disappointing' but noted that general admissions to the museum's galleries and exhibitions had gone up by 8% compared with 2012.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27505644

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has announced that more than 400,000 high-resolution digital images of public domain works in the Museum’s world-renowned collection may be downloaded directly from the Museum’s website for non-commercial use—including in scholarly publications in any media—without permission from the Museum and without a fee. The number of available images will increase as new digital files are added on a regular basis. 

The Museum's photography collection comprises some 34,886 items, including works by William Henry Fox Talbot Alfred Steiglitz and many of the greats of photography, which will now be downloadable under the initiative.

In making the announcement, Mr. Campbell said: “Through this new, open-access policy, we join a growing number of museums that provide free access to images of art in the public domain. I am delighted that digital technology can open the doors to this trove of images from our encyclopedic collection.”  

The Metropolitan Museum’s initiative—called Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC)—provides access to images of art in its collection that the Museum believes to be in the public domain and free of other known restrictions; these images are now available for scholarly use in any media. Works that are covered by the new policy are identified on the Museum’s website (http://www.metmuseum.org/collections) with the acronym OASC. (Certain works are not available through the initiative for one or more of the following reasons: the work is still under copyright, or the copyright status is unclear; privacy or publicity issues; the work is owned by a person or an institution other than the Metropolitan Museum; restrictions by the artist, donor, or lender; or lack of a digital image of suitable quality.)

OASC was developed as a resource for students, educators, researchers, curators, academic publishers, non-commercial documentary filmmakers, and others involved in scholarly or cultural work. Prior to the establishment of OASC, the Metropolitan Museum provided images upon request, for a fee, and authorization was subject to terms and conditions.

Additional information and instructions on OASC can be found on the Museum’s website at http://www.metmuseum.org/research/image-resources/frequently-asked-questions.

Image: Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907.

An illustrated talk about the use of comic cartoon cut-out boards by the beach photographers of Great Yarmouth 1890-1965. Great Yarmouth born photo historian Paul Godfrey has been researching the commercial seaside photographers of the town for several years. His talk will describe the photographic methods used by beach photographers, what life was like for the photographic artist on Great Yarmouth Sands in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century plus the origin and the evolution of some of the designs of the painted boards and much more. This talk is a part of the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival 2014 http://www.greatyarmouthartsfestival.co.uk and is inspired by the Festival’s Trail of Jack Cardiff Boards. Wednesday 11^th June 2014 at 5.30 pm. Admission Free. St. George’s Theatre, King Street, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR30 2PG.

The Vernon Lamb Archive is a collection of new photographs, created between 2013 and 2014 from the original negatives (plates) by Robert White of Hertfordshire. The original collection began about 1910 when Vernon Lamb arrived in Matlock and stopped in 1915 after he joined the Army. However, it is almost certain that all the non army images were taken between 1910 and 1914, whereas the pictures of soldiers were taken between 1914 and 1915.

Read more about the history of the archive, how it was digitised and see the images that have been copied, together with historical research notes here: here: http://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/vl_archive/index.htm

The archives consists of around 1000 half-plate negatives of which only a selection of the more interesting ones have been copied. 

Image: Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) Army Training Camp, © The Vernon Lamb Archive and Robert White

More than 100 photographs by acclaimed British photographer Bob Carlos Clarke, including iconic images of Keith Richards, Marco Pierre White, Caprice, Mandy Smith and Rachel Weisz, have been acquired by the National Media Museum for the National Photography Collection.

Carlos Clarke (1950-2006), became best known for his sexually provocative and stylised images, as well as a perfectionism and experimental approach in printing. For 30 years he photographed models, actors, musicians, commercial adverts and several still life pieces.

His career started after he left the Royal College of Art in 1975, but his rise to fame came in the 1980s, and for the next two decades his work was synonymous with glamour, eroticism, fashion and fame.

Greg Hobson, Curator of photographs at the National Media Museum, said: “Bob Carlos Clarke is undoubtedly a significant figure in British photography, representing many of the things that were both most interesting, but also most challenging in the rapidly evolving photographic landscape of the 1980s and 90s. He was a versatile and imaginative photographer, and there is a consistent level of quality in all his work, in particular in the photographs that he meticulously printed himself.”

Lindsey Carlos Clarke, Bob’s wife, said: “I am delighted that these important images are now part of the National Photography Collection, so that the nation has access to them now and in the future.”

Michael Terwey, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at the National Media Museum added: “Carlos Clarke’s exemplary craft in photography makes this a compelling and relevant contemporary acquisition for the National Photography Collection. We are very grateful for the help and support of Lindsey Carlos Clarke, Ghislain Pascal and Philippe Garner over the last year in making a selection of more than 100 prints that are representative of the career of a unique talent.”

The acquisition for the National Photography Collection includes several of Carlos Clarke’s most recognised and acclaimed photographs, but it also features lesser known examples including a shot of Mick Jagger performing at the Roundhouse in 1971, several images from ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ series (1994), as well as advertising shots for Wallis and Smirnoff and prints of his intriguing still life work.

 A significant selection of the photographer’s work is currently displayed in the exhibition BOB CARLOS CLARKE: LIVING DOLLS at the Little Black Gallery in London. www.thelittleblackgallery.com

Image: Masked Blonde, 1996 © The Estate of Bob Carlos Clarke

A selection of work by the London photographer Bob Collins (1924-2002) goes on display in a new exhibition, showcasing his photography of life in London, from major events to the everyday, and including some of his earlier amateur images.

While Collins’ portfolio was dominated by portraiture, from stars of the screen to eminent artists, this new exhibition at the Museum of London shines a light on his documentary work, captured as he traversed the streets of London from the late 1940s to the 1960s, and as recently as 1990. The 50 images on display have been selected to show Collins’ acute observational skills when photographing within crowded places, a common theme found amongst the two thousand plus Bob Collins’ images, which the museum holds in its Photography Collection.

The photographs cover a range of subjects - from the London nightlife of the buzzing West End, to the porters of Billingsgate Fish Market during the 1950s. He recorded memorable scenes during the 1960s such as at Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Championships, central London in the grip of rush hour and anti-Vietnam protest marches. Collectively, the spontaneity and eye for detail seen in his photographs exemplify the technical and aesthetic talents of Collins’ photojournalism

Observing the Crowd: Photographs by Bob Collins can be seen at the Museum of London, 16 May to 13 July 2014. See: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/observing-the-crowd-photographs-by-bob-collins/