Blogs

The photograph is the new work of art – and a Chelsea gallery has plans to make great pics available at affordable prices in a special two-day event at the end of this month.

The most expensive snap ever cost a New York buyer a cool £2.8millon two years ago. But thanks to Splinter, a concept from the Michael Hoppen Gallery in Jubilee Place, the event will offer a wide range of 19th, 20th and 21st century photography with many pieces priced at a few hundred pounds and all under £1,000, it’s the perfect environment for new and experienced collectors to browse through hundreds of photographs to add or start a collection, or simply find the perfect present.

MACK, publishers of some of the most respected contemporary photography books today will also take part as will the Royal College of Art students.

info@michaelhoppengallery.com | +44 (0)20 7352 3649 | www.michaelhoppengallery.com

Saturday 27th April (10am – 5pm) and Sunday 28th April (11am – 5pm) 2013.

At: 3 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TD

Entry Fee: £2

Participating Dealers:

Jenny Allsworth, Daniella Dangoor, Brad Feuerhelm, Sean Sexton, Pierre Spake, MACK & RCA

Image:  Inselele, from the series The Afronauts, 2012, Cristina de Middel - Exhibited by Brad Feuerhelm

Today, 21 April, would have been photographer Norman Parkinson's birthday. He is commemorated with a google doodle. See more about Parks by clicking here

2013 marks the centenary of the birth of Norman Parkinson, one of the greats of British photography with an incomparably glamorous career which spanned seven decades. To celebrate the occasion, the Norman Parkinson Archive has granted Arena access to its entire collection of over 350,000 negatives. Arena presents an amusing and visually stunning profile of this uniquely talented man with original contributions from his colleagues and admirers including Jerry Hall, Iman, Grace Coddington (American Vogue), Celia Hammond, Nena Thurman and Carmen dell’ Orefici – the world’s oldest working supermodel. The Arena film is broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday, 21 April 2013 (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s40mv) 

A man of great charisma and a true English eccentric, Arena examines Park’s larger-than-life persona, and considers how his well-rehearsed eccentricities were deployed to reassure the uneasy sitter and disarm the experienced model. Once described as an ‘elegant giraffe’, Parkinson, who was 6’5”, sported a twirling moustache, liked to dress in kaftans, loud beach shirts, heavy gold jewellery and a Kashmiri bridal cap.

He grew up in a semi-detached house in Putney, South London, and failed to distinguish himself at Westminster School. After an apprenticeship with a declining firm of staid court photographers in Bond Street, he set up his own London studio at the age of just twenty-one. One of a new generation of heterosexual photographers, he was among the first to 'get girls to run and jump and let the air through their knees' and to photograph them on buses and in pubs rather than the genteel confines of the studio. Parkinson concentrated on taking pictures of beautiful women. 'Being photographed is a whole section of a woman’s identity' he claimed, and felt they should always be flattered by the camera.

Filmed in New York and London, the Arena documentary presents an abundance of glamorous images and explores the life and times of ‘Parks’, heir to Cecil Beaton and precursor of David Bailey, whose singular ability to tune into the vibe of the times meant he outlasted all his peers and never went out of fashion. Parkinson became the Royal Family’s favourite photographer and brought a new informality to their portraits. The documentary includes BBC archive material and interviews with Parks dating back to 1965.

In his later years, (describing himself 'I look like a decaying colonel'), he further distinguished himself with his Mr Porkinson’s sausages, which he produced on the pig farm at his Tobago dream home and would sometimes smuggle back to England wrapped in pairs of socks. In 1990, he collapsed on a location shoot for luxury magazine Town & Country and died a few days later, aged 76.                                                                                                                   

In addition The Norman Parkinson Archive is working exclusively with Bath in Fashion 2013 to stage a unique centenary exhibition (13 April-12 May) which will celebrate one of Britain’s most influential and idiosyncratic fashion photographers. The free exhibition has been curated by high profile fashion designer, Roland Mouret.  See: http://tinyurl.com/brn2k4o. 

Image: © The Norman Parkinson Archive 

The head of Bradford's National Media Museum, Jo Quinton-Tulloch, responds to a series of questions from The Guardian newspaper. Read the piece here. 

A project using Google hopes to map worldwide photographic preservation projects in order to strengthen photographic preservation efforts across the world. A Google Map of World Wide Photographic Preservation Projects can be found by clicking here. This Google map is designed to record our progress in working collaboratively and across boarders to preserve the world's photographic heritage.  As a tool, this map is designed to inspire and facilitate future international collaborations in education and training, collection assessments, conservation treatment, research, digitization and much more. More information can be found here.

This map was first presented by Debra Hess Norris at the 2013 joint Winter Meeting of the American Institute for Conservation Photographic Materials Group (AIC-PMG) and the International Council of Museums Conservation Committee Photographic Materials Working Group (ICOM-CC PMWG) in Wellington, New Zealand.

Map Pin Keys for Types of Projects: Collaborative projects are listed by city and country in the left column of the map.  By clicking on one of the projects, the viewer is brought to that location on the map and more detail about the project is revealed.

How to add content. We encourage you to add your collaborative projects to this map. Anyprojects connecting two or more countries are welcome to be represented.  Please organize your project information to mimic the example format along with your project's web-link if available, and email this information to Debra Hess Norris (e: dhnorris@artsci.udel.edu) or Megan Kirschenbaum (e: meganjane123@gmail.com) Example Format:

    1.  Location: City/Country

    2.  Project Title:

    3.  Type of Project: (preventive care or education and training

        or treatment and documentation or research and analysis)

    4.  Engagement Dates:

    5.  Collaborator: (agencies, institutions, etc.)

    6.  Funders: (if relevant)

    7.  Project's Primary Goal: (one sentence or so only)

Future Goals. We hope that this map will serve as a resource as we work together to strengthen photographic preservation efforts across all continents and to imagine new initiatives aimed at building capacity and knowledge in underserved regions of the world.

This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic curator to enrich Scotland's outstanding national collection of photography and shape a national and international programme to exhibit and promote it. 
Based at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, which has a Gallery dedicated to the display of photography, the new curator will have a specialism relevant to the wide-ranging collection, which runs from the birth of photography in the nineteenth century to contemporary practice; he or she will develop and manage exhibition projects, recommend acquisitions and commissions and undertake scholarly research.
The closing date for all applications is 26th April 2013.
It is anticipated that interviews will be held on Monday 6th May 2013.

For full job description and other information, please click on this link here.

Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr. Between 1966 and 1969 Tony Ray-Jones created a body of photographic work documenting English customs and identity. Humorous yet melancholy, these photographs were a departure from anything else being produced at the time. They quickly attracted the attention of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London where they were exhibited in 1969. Tragically, in 1972, Ray-Jones died from Leukaemia aged just 30. However, his short but prolific career had a lasting influence on the development of British photography from the 1970s through to the present.

In 1970, Martin Parr, a photography student at Manchester Polytechnic, had been introduced to Ray-Jones. Inspired by him, Parr produced The Non-Conformists, shot in black and white in Hebden Bridge and the surrounding Calder Valley. This project started within two years of Ray-Jones death and demonstrates his legacy and influence.

The exhibition will draw from the Tony Ray-Jones archive, held by the National Media Museum.  Around 50 vintage prints will be on display alongside an equal number of photographs which have never previously been printed. Martin Parr has been invited to select these new works from the 2700 contact sheets and negatives in the archive. Shown alongside these are Parr’s early black and white work, unfamiliar to many, which has only ever previously been exhibited in Hebden Bridge itself and at Camerawork Gallery, London in 1981.

Tony Ray-Jones was born in Somerset in 1941. He studied graphic design at the London School of Printing before leaving the UK in 1961 to study on a scholarship at Yale University in Connecticut, US. He followed this with a year long stay in New York during which he attended classes by the influential art director Alexey Brodovitch, and became friends with photographers Joel Meyerowitz and Garry Winogrand. In 1966 he returned to find a Britain still divided by class and tradition. A Day Off- An English Journal, a collection of photographs he took between 1967-1970 was published posthumously in 1974 and in 2004 the National Media Museum held a major exhibition, A Gentle Madness: The Photographs of Tony Ray-Jones.

Martin Parr was born in Epsom, Surry in 1952. He graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in 1974 and moved to Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where he established the ‘Albert Street Workshop’, a hub for artistic activity in the town. Fascinated by the variety of non-conformist chapels and the communities he encountered in the town he produced The Non-Conformists. In 1984 Parr began to work in colour and his breakthrough publication The Last Resort was published in 1986. A Magnum photographer, Parr is now an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker, collector and curator, best-known for his highly saturated colour photographs critiquing modern life.

Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr. The exhibition will run at Media Space, Science Museum from 21 September 2013 – 16 March 2014. The exhibition will then be on display at the National Media Museum from 22 March – 29 June 2014.

The exhibition is curated by Greg Hobson, curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum, and Martin Parr has been invited to select works from the Tony Ray-Jones archives.

Greg Hobson, curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum says, ‘The combination of Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones’s work will allow the viewer to trace an important trajectory through the history of British photography, and present new ways of thinking about photographic histories through creative use of our collections.’

Martin Parr says, ‘Tony Ray-Jones’ pictures were about England. They had that contrast, that seedy eccentricity, but they showed it in a very subtle way. They have an ambiguity, a visual anarchy. They showed me what was possible.’

Media Space is a collaboration between the Science Museum (London) and the National Media Museum (Bradford). Media Space will showcase the National Photography Collection of the National Media Museum through a series of exhibitions. Alongside this, photographers, artists and the creative industries will respond to the wider collections of the Science Museum Group to explore visual media, technology and science.
 
The Principal Founding Sponsor of Media Space is Virgin Media after whom the Studio will be named. A major donor to the project is the Dana and Albert R Broccoli Foundation set up by the family of the late Bond producer. Media Space has also received generous support in the form of donations or artworks from a large number of individuals, companies and artists.

21 September 2013 – 16 March 2014, Media Space, Science Museum.

With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Autograph ABP is recruiting for a full time Archive Project Coordinator.

Working closely with the Archive Manager, the post holder will coordinate our new three-year Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) project, The Missing Chapter – an initiative designed to expand the scope of Autograph ABP’s existing collection, take its Photography Archive out of the gallery context, and into direct engagement with different audiences through a dedicated programme of activities and outputs.

The role is designed to:

• Coordinate the overall professional development, delivery and facilitation of the Missing Chapter project
• Develop and maintain relationships with key organisations, institutions and individuals collaborating on the project
• Manage a series of projects and programmes, including a range of research and participatory outreach activities offered throughout the development and delivery phases of the project
• Implement and manage 18 short-term internships over a three-year period
• Support the development, promotion and maintenance of Autograph ABP’s photography collection

The post holder will be expected to work closely with the Autograph ABP Outreach Coordinator on key aspects associated with audience engagement and delivery of public programme activities as part of the Missing Chapterproject.

The person appointed will have a minimum of 3 years professional experience managing projects within the arts, media or heritage sectors.

For a detailed person specification and key responsibilities, refer to the full job application pack.

Autograph ABP is an international, non-profit-making, photographic arts organisation established in 1988 to educate the public in photography through addressing issues of cultural identity and human rights, supported by Arts Council England.

More information: click here.

The British Embassy in Beijing recently held an exhibition at the JW Marriott Hotel in Beijing presenting China as seen through camera lenses dating as far back as 1870. This is the first time this exhibition has been displayed in China.

‘Picturing China 1870-1950: Photographs from British Collections’ presents a wealth of images of a country undergoing rapid change in its society, culture and heritage as well as providing snapshots of expatriate life at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. These images are part of a unique collection gathered from private collections of photographs taken, commissioned or purchased by the tens of thousands of Britons who lived in or visited China from the 1870s until the 1950s.

The images on display come from the ‘Historical Photographs of China’ project at the University of Bristol, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the British Inter-university China Centre, and the British Academy.

Photo: John Oswald in the tea tasting room at Oswald & Co., Foochow (Fuzhou), c.1890. Unknown photographer. © SOAS

Orientalist Museum in Doha has an opportunity for a curator of photography collection with several years experience to undertake the management of the museum collection.

Successful candidates will be required to manage the photography collection including, but not limited to, attention to proper storage and conservation needs and to research of the collection, incorporating new information into the museum database, exhibitions and publications; plan, design, and execute the photography exhibition program in collaboration with the Orientalist museum research team, plan exhibition installation design and assist with the actual installation as necessary; supervises presentation of traveling exhibitions scheduled by the Orientalist Museum. Conducts ongoing research on the Museum's photography collections. Works collegially with curators in overlapping disciplines on matters of mutual interest. Develops exhibitions and installations from the Museum's permanent collection. Conducts research, selects objects, and works with registrars on coordination of loan agreements, packing and shipping, and other exhibition details. Writes catalogues, brochures, and other publications; writes exhibition wall labels and extended object labels. Develop the photography collection as a research resource for local and international scholars. Work closely with the education department and supervise the docent training as it pertains to the interpretation of photography exhibitions. Foster collaborative projects within the museum and with international museums and related cultural and educational organizations. Perform other duties assigned by the Director of the Orientalist museum.

See: http://www.museumjobs.com/jobdetails.php?JobID=7588

George Eastman House recently announced it is adding high-resolution photographs to the Google Art Project, offering yet another platform to share its unparalleled collections. Eastman House, the world’s oldest museum of photography, is the first museum of photography to be selected for inclusion in the Google Art Project. The resolution of the images combined with a custom-built zoom viewer allows users the ability to discover details never before seen. In addition Eastman House has included all available cataloging data, allowing viewers access to information not previously available online. 

The initial group of 50 Eastman House photographs on Google Art Project spans the 1840s through the late 20^th century and a wide variety of photographic processes from the 174 years of the medium’s existence are represented.

Visitors to the Google Art Project can browse works by the artist’s name, the artwork, the type of art, the museum, the country, collections, and the time period. Google+ and video hangouts are integrated on the site, allowing viewers to invite their friends to view and discuss their favorite works in a video chat or follow a guided tour from an expert to gain an appreciation of a particular topic or art collection.

You can check it out yourself on this link here.

Moose on the Loose is a Biennale of Research organized by the UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre.

The Biennale celebrates research into photography at the University of the Arts, London. It opens on May 2 with the exhibitions A Model War and Closer. Highlights include Community Matters: Photography Collectives of the 1970s,and Today on 23 May at the Swedenborg Society, plus Professor George Hardie, Graham Goldwater and Alexander Cooper in conversation at LCC on 2 May,and Patrick Sutherland looking back at his archive on 7 May. All welcome.

Full programme at http://www.mooseontheloose.net/

Some of you may be interested in this photo auction, taking place on April 25th in Barcelona. https://www.soleryllach.com/soler4/catalogo/0390-1

Rachel

The Royal Photographic Society's Historical group is presentating a day of reconstructions and demonstrations on 7 July in Bath...Roger Smith, a member of the Scientific Instrument Society has made a facsimile of the Wolcott and Johnson mirror camera, following as closely as possible the patent filed by Richard Beard.  David Burder will use the camera to demonstrate the daguerreotype process. This is probably the first time that a Wolcott camera has been used to make a daguerreotype since the early 1840s. 

There will be other demonstrations of early processes and prints, including wet-plate collodion (Guy Brown) and the bromoil process (Brian Iddon). Examples of prints resulting from some of the early processes will be provided by Donald Stewart.

This is a day devoted to notoriously unpredictable  processes - nothing is promised but an exciting day out.

The cost of £15 for non-Group members and booking is essential as space is limited.  

To see more and to book click here.

The proceedings of a conference that examined three plates from The Royal Photographic Society’s Collection by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce dating from c1826-27 have been published. The investigation by the National Media Museum and Getty Conservation Institute re-wrote photographic history and revealed a hitherto unknown photographic process.

In October 2010 the National Media Museum, Bradford, held a major conference, supported by The Royal Photographic Society, to present the findings from an extensive investigation into three plates by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce contained within the Society’s Collection. The conference brought together specialists from different areas ranging from conservators, to historians of picture frames, paper and fingerprints, as well as photographic historians. Exciting new findings were presented about the plates which rewrote the photographic history books. They revealed for the first time that the plates were the result of three different processes including a previously unknown photographic process.

The majority of the papers from the conference have been published by The Society’s Historical Group in a special edition of The PhotoHistorian and a one-off issue of The Society’s Imaging Science Journal totalling some 93 pages.  These are available as a set only in a commemorative folder for £20 including UK and worldwide postage.

The proceedings can be ordered via The Society website by clicking the link www.rps.org/niepce or by contacting The Royal Photographic Society on +44 (0)1225 325733 or reception@rps.org

I will be doing a two day silver gelatin dry plate workshop from Double Negative Darkroom on the 27/28 April. This two day workshop will cover all aspects of the contemporary Silver Gelatin Dry Plate technique - both glass plate negatives and Ambrotypes.

I have spent the last few years almost solely on the Silver Gelatin Dry plate technique and is by far and away my most popular workshop, so this is a great opportunity to discover a fantastic area of photographic history. The course will be run over two days and will cover all aspects of the Dry Plate technique - including glass plate negatives as well as Ambrotypes.

The glass plate technique is a very fascinating and rewarding form of photography and puts users directly in-touch with photographic history and a very artisan, craft-based form of photography where you, the photographer, control every stage of the process - from creation of the plate, through to the processing and conception of the finished, physical article.

The course will be run from Double Negative Darkroom - one of London's best equipped darkrooms.

Double negative Darkroom
178A Glyn road
London
E5 0JE

The cost of this two-day workshop is £330.00 (£110.00 deposit). To book email jon@jonathanstead.com or doublenegativedarkroom@gmail.com.

Students are welcome to bring large format cameras if they have one and wish to work with their own equipment - and they are also welcome to bring 35mm cameras or medium format cameras as most can be converted to take plates - making plates of various formats possible... I will bring some examples and we can discuss options of how you can convert your camera - for future use as a dry plate camera. (please note it will not be possible to convert cameras on site).

All materials will be supplied, as will cameras - but as above, if there is anything you would prefer to work with your own gear (light meter for example) please do bring it along.

Noel Chanan’s latest hardcover, The Photographer of Penllergare- a life of John Dillwyn Llewelyn 1810 to 1882, is an in-depth, richly illustrated and forensically researched hardcover book. Llewelyn was married to a cousin of William Henry Fox Talbot, the British inventor of photography, and consequently became an inspired pioneer of photography from the 1850s. In addition to being an accomplished photographer, he was a highly productive polymath, benevolent landowner and a driving force in social and economic change around him in South Wales and London. Far from being a mere coffee table book, the scholarly endeavour employed to enrich the images and narrative, results in a rewardingly revealing history with oft times touching tales of sadness and joy.

Critically, the book engages with the photographic object, its processes and production, reflecting the sense of consideration, appreciation and commitment that Llewelyn appears to have applied to every facet of his life. It is a large format volume measuring 290 mm x 256 mm containing 276 pages which are steeped in the visual and literal history surrounding Llewelyn family. The 235 images, 160 of which are photographs, contain a range of facsimiles of watercolours, salted paper prints, daguerreotypes and albumen prints. The choice of images describes the life and times of a wealthy family in a bygone era as well as Llewelyn’s deliberate and consistent exploration and development in photographic genres. Excerpts from the family’s diaries stretching over three generations engage the reader in the real life experiences of his family in Swansea in the 1800s.

The photographs are clearly labelled and located appropriately to the text with additional detailed descriptions of the images relating to the titles, medium of reception, medium of print, and dimensions in the appendices giving appropriate significance to the processes he used. The photographs themselves are displayed in their present condition often showing evidence of damage but also how the photos were used: corners cut off and albums, paper scraps used in experiments and general wear and tear. The tonal shifts from one image to the next indicate the author’s determination to reflect each image in as close to its true state as possible. The comprehensive footnotes, detailed timeline and family trees complement the narrative historical content.

This volume weaves together a diverse range of elements that record the rich detail, dark shadows and joyous highlights of John Dillwyn Llewelyn, a revisualisation of the life of one who made a significant contribution to early photography. It is a smorgasbord of fascinating narratives that can be dipped into or consumed from cover to cover.

Janine Freeston

The Photographer of Penllergare- a life of John Dillwyn Llewelyn 1810 to 1882

by Noel Chanan

Details of the book's availability can be found here: http://www.the-photographer-of-penllergare.co.uk

SEAS Photography website is now chugging along...some 20000+ images to add... and some glitches to iron out. But if you've time do have a browse... SEAS Photography 

The South East Archive of Seaside Photography (SEAS Photography) was first established in 2012 with assistance from a Heritage Lottery Fund award. It is located at Canterbury Christ Church University: Broadstairs Campus under the Directorship of Dr Karen Shepherdson.

SEAS Photography currently consist of two inter-related heritage strands:the Sunbeam Collection and Walkies Collection. 

http://www.seasphotography.org.uk/

Here is a singular opportunity to expand the vision of an important, multi-faceted centre that is not only a major gallery, but also an academic force in the world of photographic arts: a growing collection and an exhibition space that has inspired the creation of groundbreaking new works, publications and touring exhibitions. Since its opening in September 2012, more than 150,000 people have visited the Ryerson Image Centre. Situated at the heart of the university campus in downtown Toronto, this 4,500 square foot facility is dedicated to the exhibition, research, study and teaching of photography and related disciplines, including new media, installation art and film. It is home to an amazing trove of photographic works, highlighted by the world-renowned Black Star Collection of some 292,000 photographs. The Centre has Canada’s largest photographic teaching collection, a growing number of photographers’ archives, and a broad selection of moving image media.

Your inclusive, high energy leadership of the Ryerson Image Centre will expand its profile among Ryerson students, Toronto’s public and the international art community. As the Centre’s Director and chief relationship developer and a key fundraiser, one of your priorities will be to expand upon the many international partnerships already in place and create a visionary strategic plan that embraces the interests of multiple stakeholders. Reporting to the University Provost, you’ll be an advocate of the Centre’s academic mission as you put a significant focus on scholarly exhibitions, managing and building the research collection and supporting research. In addition to your role as champion of the Ryerson Image Centre, you will also add best practices and sound fiscal management to the organization while supporting progressive development of your team.

An accomplished organizational leader and advocate, you will also bring a zeal for the arts and academia to this administrative and entrepreneurial role.

To be considered for this position, please submit your resume and related information online by selecting where you heard about the role and clicking “Add to List” below.

For questions, please contact Margaret Vanwyck in the Toronto office at +1 416-366-1990.

See: http://www.odgersberndtson.ca/ca/executive-opportunities/11566/