Blogs

The Visual Studies Research Institute at the University of Southern California invites submissions for a conference on Getting the Picture: The Visual Culture of the News, which will be held May 4-5, 2014.  The conference is part of a three year project on “Visual Evidence.”  The full paper call is here.

They invite submissions from junior scholars and graduate students in their final year working across all times and places on “news pictures.” Send a 250-word abstract and CV by November 1, 2013 to vsri@usc.edu; include “News Pictures” in the email title. Travel and expenses will be paid. Papers will be pre-circulated and commented upon and there is an expectation that participants will read the papers of other participants (between 10-12 papers). They will be due April 25, 2014.

Source: No Caption Needed

More information

I am looking for any information on a trading company THE LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHIC Co. in Torquay. The company used the stationery as shown in the link http://www.photographyinphilately.com/piwigo/picture.php?/732/search/117

Is it mentioned somewhere ?

Bonhams book auction on 12 November contains an extraordinary cache of ten Hill and Adamson calotypes; an album featuring work by Dodgson, Cameron and Rejlander; and an image by Le Gray. 

According to Bonhams' catalogue the album was compiled by Rev. F.H. Atkinson, and relates to his family and acquaintances including the Tennyson family, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Rejlander, and locations on the Isle of Wight and Ceylon. It has approximately 165 albumen prints (mostly carte-de-visite portraits, some views, others larger), mounted between one and six per page, mostly captioned (many with cut signatures of sitters pasted beneath), with a 3-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY JOHN RUSKIN (mounted), newspaper cuttings, contemporary morocco, later cloth wrappers with Atkinson arms embroidered on upper cover, 4to, [c.1862-1890s]

Corfield Cameras: A History and Collectors' Guide is a new publication by John E Lewis being launched today at Ballymoney Town Hall, Northern Ireland. In the 1950s when most British camera manufacturers seemed content to produce outdated designs or very expensive models, K G Corfield Ltd bucked the trend. Their range of Periflex 35mm cameras and related equipment brought a breath of fresh air to the market and challenged the strong German competition. Within a few years the business was transformed from a cottage industry into Britain's most modern camera manufacturing plant. 

This history of the company and its products is based on thirty years research, plus interviews with the former management, including Sir Kenneth Corfield, and employees. For collectors and historians there is a section which provides full technical details of all Corfield products, together with advice on their purchase and restoration.

The 200-page book includes over 150 illustrations and is available for £10.95 plus £1.75 UK postage or £7 overseas. Orders can be sent directly by email to: corfieldphoto@btinternet.com   

Allegory and Illusion: Early Portrait Photography from South Asia presents approximately 120 photographs and a selection of albums, glass plate negatives, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visites, and postcards illustrating the rich tradition of portrait photography in India, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Nepal from the mid-19th century to early 20th century. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi.

The exhibition explores the democratizing aspect of photography by presenting royal court portraits alongside photographs of the middle class that were often circulated as carte-de-visites, cabinet cards, or postcards.

The photographs in the exhibition are drawn exclusively from the Alkazi Collection of Photography. They reveal an alternate history of 19th-century India that reflects a transition between Mughal culture and British rule, as seen for example in late 19th-century photographs that reference miniature painting aesthetics. The exhibition looks at the form of the painted photograph, popular and idiosyncratic in India and Nepal in the 19th century, for both artistic purposes and as a gesture toward realism.

It is the first public exhibit in recent memory of early portrait photography from South Asia, and is held at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York until February 2014. Details can be found here.

An installation by Charlotte Cory, one of the country's leading surreal photographic artists. The exhibition is an imaginative, witty and informative exploration of the Brontës and the history of early photography, drawing on the Victorian craze for collecting cartes des visite – portraits once produced in their millions and now discarded. Using twenty-first century techniques, Cory creates colourful new characters for these long forgotten figures, which are at the same time poignantly reminiscent of Victorian taxidermy; animals collected and preserved for posterity in their glory, and now extinct.

Capturing the Brontës, Brontë Parsonage Museum to Dec 31. Full details can be found here.

Photographic researcher, Paul Godfrey, has written and published a small book,"Snapped at Gorleston on Sea", (ISBN 978-0-9926929-0-2) about commercial seaside photographers from the past who traded there. It focuses on Jackson's Faces and J Barker & Sons Ltd who both specialised in walking/promenade photography of strollers on Gorleston seafront in the summer months, along with William Hastings, an early holiday camp photographer, This 50 page A5 format book covers the firms involved, their handling methods, the cameras used and the people who ran or worked for these firms. One chapter is devoted to establishing the date of a Gorleston Promenade photograph. The period covered is from around 1921 until the early 1960s. The book contains 50 black and white photographs many of which have not been published before. Price £6

Further details from the author's web site http://www.greatyarmouthphotographic.co.uk/paulgodfrey/

Walter Kevis worked as a photographer from the 1870s to 1908. Following his marriage to Emma, they settled in Petworth, where he specialised in portrait photography. He also undertook much outdoor work too.

His shop in Lombard Street had a built-in studio made of wood and glass on the second floor where most of his photographs were taken, His wide ran the downstairs tobacconist shop. In his publicity, Kevis described himself as a "Portrait & Landscape Photographer". The bulk of Kevis's photography business was devoted to the production of studio portraits, both in the small "carte-de-visite" size and the larger "cabinet card" format, yet he was prepared to do work away from the studio, offering to take "landscapes etc" to order.

Virginia Cottage in Lombard Street is now being sold by land and property auctioneers Clive Emson in November.

I recently acquired an amazing group of circa 40 glass stereoviews depicting prison life in the penitentiary of Clermont [Clermont-Ferrand, I believe) in the Auvergne in France. In addition to life in prison, they depict exhibits at the Exposition  Penitentiaire. Although I can not find any reference to where and when this exposition was organised, I assume it formed part of the Exposition Universelle of Paris in 1889. However, in my opinion, the most interesting images are those dedicated to prison life. Although clearly staged, they provide a fascinating glimpse into a Dickensian world. Among others there are scenes of the prison courtroom, washerwomen, young boys fencing, the kitchens, and many, many others. I suspect the images were made on order of a ministry or other government body to show how modern,humane and efficient the new prison (or workhouse) functioned. Anyway, I am fascinated by these views and am trying to find out more about them. Perhaps there is anyone out there who can tell me more ?! 

This from an email into the Press Photo History Project: 'I am looking and have been looking for years now, for the photographs that Tomas Jaski took of my niece’s christening (Eleanor Virgo) at Westminster Abbey in May 1991, which features several photographs of my children. 
Tomas Jaski had a ground floor studio and shop front at 38 Wellington Street, London WC2 in the 1980s. He is no longer at this address.'

Tomas Jaski - real name Mr Zbigniew Jastrzebski

• Born in 1927
• A director/photographer at Tomas Jaski Limited. Established in 1961, dissolved 2001.
• Thomas Jaski took official photographs at the Royal Academy of Music for many years until c.late 1980s.

....More here: Press Photo History Project

Thanks !

The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) is excited to offer three research fellowships in 2014. Research fellows will have the opportunity to study the RIC’s collections first-hand, including the famous Black Star Collection of approximately 292,000 photojournalistic prints, a fine art photographic collection, as well as several world-renowned artist archives. Fellows will work at the RIC’s premier research centre, which conducts cutting edge primary research, and offers workshops, conferences and a number of publication programs.

Two research fellowships at the PhD level will be awarded, each of which includes a $3,000 stipend. The RIC will also offer one research fellowship at the MA level, with a stipend of $1,500. Candidates must hold or be working on the respective degree.

application is now available for download:http://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/ric/PDF/Fellowship-Guidelines-Final.pdf

Applications for the opportunity to conduct research on the RIC's collections are due October 31, 2013

It has been reported that the deadline placed by the UK government on a temporary export ban on the ‘Signor 1857' - an album containing 35 works by various photographers, belonging to Julia Margaret Cameron, lapsed last night.

A prospective UK buyer was - despite significant efforts - unable to raise the £121,250 needed to secure it , even after the government-extended 3-month export ban.  Neither the name of the buyer, nor the destination of the album, have been disclosed. The DCMS would not say if the prospective purchaser was a UK organisation, or an individual.

You can read the full report here and how BPH reported the original sale and export licence deferral here (http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/export-cameron-album-121-250-needed-to-save-it) 

The news comes at a time when Sotheby's is about to auction another, and previously unknown, Cameron album (see: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/auction-newly-discovered-album-complied-by-julia-margaret-cameron) 

Pete James, Curator of Photographic Collections at the Library of Birmingham will discuss how, over the last 148 years, Birmingham’s four libraries have been the subject of a wide range of projects by architectural, documentary and amateur photographers. The talk will explore some of the ways in which the libraries and their staff have been represented, recorded and celebrated, culminating in the Reference Works project.

The Library of Birmingham holds some 3.5 million items ranging from daguerreotypes to digital works by lead contemporary artists. In 2006 the collection was awarded Designated Status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in recognition of its national and international importance.

The Library of Birmingham, Arts Council England and collaborative partners have created GRAIN, a hub and network of photography within the region. The combination of REFERENCE WORKS and GRAIN will make The Library of Birmingham a national and international centre for photography.

The event is the second in a series of Artists Talks linked to REFERENCE WORKS at the new Library of Birmingham.

Archival Sources - A talk by Pete James
Wednesday 16^th October

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Admission Free

Meeting Room 4 - The Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, Birmingham.

http://www.reference-works.com

http://libraryofbirmingham.com

http://grainphotographyhub.co.uk

A descendant of Victor Albert Prout was published a book about this photographer. Victor Albert Prout (1835-77) came from a family of artists and was himself an artist as well as an early photographer. He lived in Australia for a total of eighteen years, first as a child with his father, John Skinner Prout, and later returned there with his wife and children when he worked both as a photographer and a portrait painter. For 130 years nothing more was known about him but his work is now prized and collected in museums and galleries in many countries, including Australia, America, the United Kingdom and Germany. The story of his own and his family's life, and his own tragic death, has now been written.

The book is available from the publishers J & J Osmond, at Joan.Osmond@tesco.net

As a photographer who engages with culture and tradition in my work, I am, not unnaturally, aware that there is some point where contemporary photography becomes the stuff of photographic history.

In this spirit, I should like to draw fellow members' attention to my exhibition PHOTOGRAPHIES (details in events). The exhibition contains four sets of prints (Surreal?, Voiture, Oradour, ART) looking at ways photography relies on perception, realism, cultural reference and time.

You may view the exhibition online at this private gallery link: PHOTOGRAPHIES

A pdf briefing on the exhibition is available HERE

An afterthought: does anyone else see E H Shepard's Piglet (from Winnie the Pooh) in the shadow of the Miro? As cross-cultural references go, that may be somewhat extreme, but now I've seen it, I can't "un-see" it....

In 1908, thirty-one-year-old American adventurer Robert Sterling Clark organized a scientific expedition to northern China for the purpose of creating a detailed geographical survey of the area, recording daily meteorological observations, photographing the people, places, and landscapes, and collecting samples of the flora and fauna.

Departing from the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province, the Clark expedition traversed “Shên-kan” (the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu), reaching as far westward as Lanzhou before returning to Taiyuan. In all, the team covered nearly 2000 miles (3200 km), primarily on horse and mule. A complete documentation of their journey, Through Shên-kan: The Account of the Clark Expedition in North China, 1908–9, was published in 1912. Despite having devoted a number of years to planning the expedition, Clark never again returned to China. In 1910 he settled in Paris and began collecting art, an interest that would become the passion of his life.

Shanghai Museum is hosting this exhibition until 1st Dec 2013, details of which can be found here. 

For those BPH readers with an interest in Whitby, or the genius of Sutcliffe as one of Britain's most famous photographers - he was awarded an honorary fellow by The RPS in 1935, and was a prolific writer for Amateur Photographer - there is an article to celebrate his birthday which you can read in the Whitby Gazette here.

The Guardian has reported that the National Media Museum has purchased Richard and Cherry Kearton's movie camera which appeared at auction in Newcastle recently. The £4000 acquisition was made with the support of the Royal Photographic Society - both Kearton brothers were members of The Society. The early 20th Century hand-cranked 35mm Urban Trading Company motion-picture camera was used by Cherry Kearton on his trips to Africa in the first two decades of the last century. It will be included in upcoming exhibitions dealing with scientific and war photography.

Richard and Cherry Kearton, working from the 1890s, and were possibly the world's first professional wildlife photographers. Starting at home in the village of Thwaite in north Yorkshire with a cheap box camera, they managed to capture some of the finest early pictures of in their nests, insects, and mammals. But having no telephoto lenses or fast film, they had to lug around massive plate glass cameras and devise ever more bizarre ways to get close to their shy quarries. 

Cherry Kearton became the Attenborough of his age, moving into wildlife documentaries, working with US President Roosevelt and travelling on safari to east Africa, Borneo and elsewhere. He took some of the first film of the first world war, at Ypres, and went on to found a film company. He died on the steps of the BBC having just broadcast a film he had made about his pet ape, Toto. 

Read the full report here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/06/wildlife-photography-pioneers-attenborough-camera

On 28 September Dr  Afzal Ansary ASIS FRPS, as a member of the DGPh and on behalf of the chair of the management board, presented Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS with corresponding membership of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh).

The DGPh, based in Cologne, is an internationally respected organization which brings together leading individuals in the photographic world for the purpose of promoting all aspects of photography, across its artistic and scientific applications.  Members are elected in recognition of their services to photography in the broadest sense and the DGPh currently has more than 900 members.

Michael was elected for his contribution to the study of photographic history. He is Director-General of The Royal Photographic Society and a photo-historian. 

Image: Dr Afzal Ansary (left) and Dr Michael Pritchard (right). Photo: Robert Gates ARPS.