Blogs

This exhibition explores the history of 19th century photographic studios in Drogheda, Ireland and the carte-de-visites process in particular. The images are from the photographic historian, Orla Fitzpatrick's collection. 

A small fanzine/booklet (designed by Niall McCormack of hitone design) is available through cailleach books

https://www.cailleachbooks.ie/products/paraphrase-1-cartomania

Co-curated by Fitzpatrick with Michelle Lalor, the exhibition also includes a video piece by Conor McMahon with music by Tara Boath Mooney and Diarmuid MacDiarmad.

The exhibition runs at the Kiosk, Louth, and Orla Fitzpatrick will be giving a lecture on the history of these studios on Thursday 13th September at Barlow House, Narrow Street West at 7pm. 

Taking place on 2 December is an illustrated lecture discussing the life and influence of Hungarian emigré Andor Kraszna-Krausz (AKK). The talk, which will present new research is being given by Dr Michael Pritchard. It is hosted by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation in partnership with the Liszt Institute - the Hungarian Cultural Cemtre - and will be followed by a drinks reception. 

Born in Hungary, Andor Kraszna-Krausz (AKK) studied in Germany and moved to Berlin, working as an influential editor and reviewer on photography and film publications, amongst other activities. He moved to Britain in 1937 and set up Focal Press, which he built up to become the world’s leading photography publisher. By the time AKK retired in 1978, over 1200 titles had been produced and more fifty million books sold, in multiple languages. AKK was a cultured man with interests ranging from motor cars to antiques, literature, and his dogs.

AKK left his archive to the, then, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, now the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, and established the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation and book awards for photography and the moving image. As part of a commission to celebrate the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation’s fortieth anniversary, Dr Michael Pritchard undertook new research, and this talk presents new insights into AKK’s life and work and discusses his legacy.

Dr Michael Pritchard holds a PhD in history of photography and has been an active photography historian for many years. During his career at Christie’s, he worked on the Kodak Historical Collection readying it for public access at the British Library, and was a director of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) from 2011 to 2024. He now consults on photography and its history for institutions, photographers, and collections. He edits the British Photo History blog and The PhotoHistorian and is currently researching a history of British photography and the RPS.

Since 1985, the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation has sponsored the now annual Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes celebrating excellence in photography and moving image publishing. The Awards recognise individuals who have made an outstanding original or lasting contribution to literature concerning photography or the moving image (including film, television, and new media). In addition to the Awards, the Foundation organises a range of events, including talks and symposia, and provides grants in support of publishing relating to photography and the moving image.

Teaching the World Photography: Andor Kraszna-Krausz (1904-1989)
2 December 2025 at 1830
Hosted by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation in parternship with the Liszt Institute
Delivered by Dr Michael Pritchard
Free, but registration required
Liszt Institute, 17-19 Cockspur St, London SW1Y 5BL, London
See: https://culture.hu/uk/london/events/teaching-the-world-photography:-andor-kraszna-krausz-%281904-1989%29

Image: Andor Krszna-Krausz with Contax camera / Kraszna-Krausz Archve / NSMM. 

As part of Glasgow’s Aye Write festival two recent Scottish-focused photography publications are the focus of talks. Curator Louise Pearson delivers a fascinating insight into the life and work of an aerial photography pioneer in Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer. This is based on the current exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and itsaccompanying publication.

The same day, but following after, renowned photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper and writer Catherine Mooney sit down with contributor and Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland, Anne Lyden, to discuss Desire Lines: A Year of Celtic Saints, their stunning new photography book. 

Alfred Buckham. Daredevil Photographer
Louise Pearson
Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 1615
Mitchell Library, Glasgow
See: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/alfred-buckham-daredevil-photographer-louise-pearson

Desire Lines: A Year of Celtic Saints
Thomas Joshua Cooper, Catherine Mooney and Anne Lyden
Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 1800
Mitchell Library, Glasgow
See: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/desire-lines-a-year-of-celtic-saints-thomas-joshua-cooper-catherine-mooney-anne-lyden

Are you passionate about photography, history, and uncovering stories hidden in collections? Do you already have experience of cataloguing or working in a research environment? This is your chance to play a key part in bringing one of Scotland’s most remarkable photographic collections to life. 

We have a rare opportunity to join our Collection & Research team to support the cataloguing of The Annan Collection. This is an extraordinary archive spanning over 150 years of photographic history. 

We’re looking for someone who brings strong organisational skills, a keen eye for detail, and confidence using digital tools to record and manage information accurately. You’ll be a clear communicator who enjoys working collaboratively as part of a team, while also taking initiative when working independently. 

You’ll have a qualification in art history, the history of photography, or demonstrable knowledge of a subject area relevant to The Annan Collection, along with some experience of cataloguing or working in a research environment, which can come from any background. 

You’ll be at the heart of a major project to create catalogue records and support the digitisation of the collection objects. This will give you the chance to build on your current research skills and grow your knowledge of photography collections. You’ll develop detailed insight of the photographs, negatives, archive documents, camera equipment and ephemera held in the collection.  

Importantly you will facilitate access to the collection for internal colleagues and external individuals and groups to help make the collection accessible to a wide public audience. Additionally, you will help work towards a public display of the material from The Annan Collection. 

Cataloguing Assistant (The Annan Collection)
National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh
Full -time and Fixed Term (22 months from January 2026 )
Salary £27,363 - £28,491 per annum (pay award pending)
Application Deadline: 12 noon, 21 November 2025
See the full details and apply here: https://ngs.ciphr-irecruit.com/Applicants/vacancy/338/Cataloguing-Assistant-The-Annan-Collection

See also: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/scottish-photography-40-and-a-major-archive-acquisition

Fiona Kinsey, Senior Curator, Images & Image Making, at Museums Victoria with responsbility for the Kodak Australasia collections is leaving after twenty-eight years, with twenty-one of those spent on the Kodak collection.

She writes: "Along with a team of Museum staff and a group of former workers from Kodak Australasia, I have spent many years on a long-term project to document and interpret the Kodak Heritage Collection which I led the acquisition of in 2005. This extensive and significant collection is comprised of tens of thousands of items including photographs, objects, documents and moving footage films relating to the company’s operation in Australia, as well as 50 oral history interviews undertaken by the Museum with former Kodak Australasia staff. It has now been registered, image-captured and published online. Explore our flagship website for the collection, Kodak Snapshots - 120 Years of Manufacturing in Australia - Museums 

Previously, with a small team of curators, collection managers, public programs staff and photographers, I was lead curator on a community collecting project in 2006. The result was the Melbourne’s Biggest Family Album Collection of over 1000 images, dating from the 1880s to the 1980s.

During my time at Museums Victoria I have also worked on a wide variety of other collections, ranging from leisure and information technology to domestic life, including the Hecla Collection, which I helped acquire. I have also contributed to exhibitions on a diverse range of topics including The Melbourne Story, horology (clocks and watches), CSIRAC (Australia’s first computer), tools of trade, Kodak Australasia, and Museum Victoria’s Treasures."

 During her time at Museums Australia Fiona was instrumental in forming links with other Kodak historical collections at the British Library (Kodak Ltd), in Rochester (Eastman Kodak Co) and with other scholars. She spoke regularly about the Australia Kodak collection forming a network with researchers and institutions. 

Fiona I will remain connected to the museum as Curator Emeritus but will not be monitoring emails. If in future you have any questions about Kodak's history in Australia or the collection, please contact the Ask Us team by email at: discoverycentre@museum.vic.gov.au

See: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/about-us/staff/fiona-kinsey/

and some Kinsey-Kodak publications:

Links

• • Kodak Snapshots
  • Audio-Visual Material in the Kodak Heritage Collection at Museums Victoria
  • Kodak Collection Audio-Visual Material
  • Kodak Heritage Collection
  • Baker & Rouse, Photographic Manufactures & Retailers, 1887-1908
  • Images & Image Making Collection
  • Melbourne's Biggest Family Album Collection

The Autochrome Lumière, publicly released in 1907, was the first commercially successful colour photography process and was heralded as a revolution in photography. Today, autochromes are rare and valued objects in cultural institutions, tied to the origins of widely accessible colour photography. The dyes used in the autochrome plates are extremely light sensitive and fugitive, meaning that the colours in autochromes tend to change or fade when exposed to light or external factors, like moisture. When autochromes are damaged, there are limited options available for physical restoration. For this reason, despite their historical and cultural significance, many cultural institutions have chosen not to exhibit original autochrome plates.

Across 2023-2025, PERCEIVE have been examining the unique materiality of autochromes and devising ways for plates to be exhibited and restored, including via digital interventions. PERCEIVE, standing for Perceptive Enhanced Realities of Coloured collEctions through AI and Virtual Experiences, works on new ways to perceive, preserve, exhibit, understand and access fragile, coloured cultural heritage. PERCEIVE’s scenario considering historical colour photographic processes focuses on autochromes and has involved a collaboration between Colourlab at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Fragile Colours: Perceiving and Experiencing Autochromes
Monday, 1 December 2025, 1000-1630
V&A Museum, London, and online
See the programme and book at the links here: In person and Online

19 is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary study in the long nineteenth century, based at Birkbeck, University of London. The latest issue No. 38 2025, edited by Gülru Çakmak and Patricia Smyth, '19th Century Visual Technologies in Contemporary Practice' presents scholarship on photography, stereography and  immersive media. It explores the relevance of nineteenth-century visual technologies in shaping contemporary understandings of perception, memory, and cultural practice. The articles collected examine the interplay between technological innovation, spectatorship, and ideological frameworks. Through analyses of immersive exhibitions, virtual reality reconstructions, and contemporary photographic interventions, the collection investigates how historical technologies of vision continue to shape collective memory, national identity, and public engagement.

Contributors adopt a media archaeological approach, attending not only to canonical technologies but also to experimental or marginalized practices that challenge teleological narratives of progress. From immersive panoramas and stage spectacles to early photographic processes such as daguerreotypes, cyanotypes, and albumen prints, historical case studies demonstrate how visual media mediated experiences of reality, illusion, and historical memory. These nineteenth-century forms are shown to resonate in contemporary art and heritage practice, where artists and curators recontextualize, critique, and reinterpret their optical logics and ideological assumptions.

See the articles (and those from past issues here): https://19.bbk.ac.uk/articles/

Illustration: from  Plaster Peaks, Photography, and the Spread of Scientific Knowledge: The Tale of Tenerife by Kris Belden-Adams

If some kind member has a copy of Le Courrier Cinematographique for 1927 (volume18), I'm hoping that the following text might be found on page 46: "Philo - Ciné de l'Imperator tourne sans relâche les promeneurs qui, le lendemain, peuvent aller voir s'ils se reconnaissent dans les agrandissements faits d'après le négatif et en acheter à bon compte des épreuves."

It may only be brief, but I would be very grateful indeed to know the full text of this little article.

With my thanks.

Roger Mayne is one of the most significant and influential photographers in British history. His images captured the poverty and hardship of inner city life in West London in the late 1950s with a rare and touching sensitivity and tenderness. The people he photographed – especially the children – are full of joy, fun, energy and life. And they are absolutely obsessed with football.

OOF Gallery’s winter 2025 exhibition is the first ever show dedicated to the portrayal of football in Roger Mayne’s work, featuring original prints of some of his most notable and iconic photographs. The game (and here it is a game, not a sport) appears over and over in his photography: kids in shorts dive to save wild shots on hard concrete, leap into the sky to head the ball to a mate, dribble down the middle of the road. These are images of kids at play, doing what they do best. It's children living totally free, expressing themselves, even in unimaginably deprived circumstances. They are photographs of joy against the odds. Much of Mayne’s most important work has football at its heart. Through his eyes, it represents something we all seem to eventually forget: the simple ecstasy of youth.

Roger Mayne: ‘Football’
28 November 2025 - 1 March 2026 (closed 21 December to 14 January inclusive)
OOF Gallery, Warmington House, 744 High Road, London N17 0AP.
Admission is free. Use entrance for the Tottenham Experience at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Open Mon, Thu, Fri, 10-5, Sat 11-5 & Sun 12-4. Closed Tue & Wed. Opening hours are subject to change on event days.
See: https://oofgallery.com/

Image: Three young men and a boy playing football in Brindley Road. © Roger Mayne Archive _ Mary Evans Picture Library. Courtesy OOF Gallery

The Icon Photographic Materials Group is bringing back the Lighting Talks to close the year. The format will be online, and presenters will have five minutes to share their topics. As always, the event is open to anyone with an interest in the care and preservation of photographic materials.

We invite you to submit a titled abstract (c.100 words) with your name, affiliation and time zone and/or location to phmgicon@gmail.com by Friday, 21st of November.

Subjects can range from treatment practices, preventive conservation, scientific research, education, outreach and funding, but is not limited to these topics.

The 5-minute presentations should include around five PowerPoint slides, which should be illustrative rather than textual.

Please contact us via email at phmgicon@gmail.com as soon as possible for further details or to discuss your idea.

The event will take place on Wednesday 10th December 2025, 10 am - 1 pm GMT

Where do dreams begin?

Fabrizio Massari and I shared a dream over 20 years ago.

I don’t recall how we first became friends, living in towns 80 miles apart. Fabrizio collected camera, while I collected the sort of photographs that his cameras might have made. We met at flea markets, swapped news, then we joked about the idea of opening a museum together…

Recently I found a copy of the original project that we drew up for a small museum dedicated to the History of Photography. We offered to loan our collections for permanent exhibition in Spoleto, the town where I live in Italy. Spoleto wasn’t interested. They were building a museum of contemporary art under the guidance of an art critic, Giovanni Carandente, and photography was not on the menu…

Our dream died there, or so it seemed.

But a year ago, Fabrizio phoned me one day. He had found a sponsor and a space for our project in Matelica, the town where he lives in the Marches. Our dream was brought to life again, but could we make it a reality?

With initial financing and exhibition space provided by a generous local cultural/social foundation named “Il Vallato,” our museum opened its doors last Saturday, October 25th, 2025, and hundreds of people turned up. Dedicated to the Simonetti family (they were the first photographers in Matelica), our Bottega Immagini (The Image Workshop) combines a large exhibition space for historical photographs and the cameras that made them, together with a darkroom, a studio space, and ample wall space for temporary exhibitions of analogical photographs.

It truly is a dream come true!

It could not have been achieved without the constant presence and endeavour of Fabrizio Massari (to whom I am eternally grateful), and the joyful band of young enthusiasts in Matelica, led by our President, Simone Bomprezzi, who did all the shoulder work, the lifting, carrying, cleaning and decorating.

If you happen to visit the Adriatic coast, you might care to look in and say hello.

Michael G. Jacob, Spoleto.    

This link provides a glimpse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATz1cET2CJ8

Over 120 years ago Henry John Elwes and Dr Augustine Henry embarked on an epic project to create a comprehensive catalogue of British and Irish Trees. This monumental work was published in a series of seven volumes, containing 2022 pages, 412 main photographs and recorded over 500 species of tree. This new book is first to focus on the previously overlooked role of photography in the original, including 64 litho-printed reproductions, contextualised with an essay by photographic historian and writer, Michael Pritchard.

The original project was underpinned by the Victorian fascination for recording the world, new printing techniques and the application of photography for art and science. The original volumes contained collotype reproductions of the photographs, selected for its wide tonal range and ability to retain detail. However, despite photography forming an integral part of the publication only a few photographers were credited. Those credited are from photographs supplied from the owners or neighbours of particular estates and Elwes’s typescript discussing the making of the book, only passing reference is made to the photography and to two photographers, Mr Wallis and Mr Foster. Closely directed by Elwes, the photographers would have approached their subjects objectively to record photographs taken to show the shape and characteristics of the tree, context, or occasional details. Scale was indicated with the inclusion of a person or group or people. Those same instructions regarding composition and approach were likely given to other uncredited photographers who contributed it an attempt to lend the project a typological uniformity.

The book was featured in a four-page spread in The Telegraph Magazine, 25 October 2025.

Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
RRB Photobooks, November 2025
£35, ISBN: 9781068386732
Taken from The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 1906-1913
by Henry John Elwes and Dr Augustine Henry
Essay by Michael Pritchard
Notes on Printing, Trees and Terminology by Björn Andersson
See details and order here

Good morning all. A new version of 'Fixed in Time', my guide to dating daguerreotypes & other cased photographs by their mats & cases, is available as both a free PDF and as a print-on-demand full-color paperback. Be forewarned that most of the designs illustrated and dated are American mats & cases, but I've included as many British products as I was able to date. The dates are based on finding over 7,000 objectively dated cased images, mostly online. You can pick up the free PDF or order the book at www.fixedintime.com . This has been a 13-year labor of love.

I recently came across a reference to what appears to be a sub type of carte de visite (rather than to cartomania) – the “sensation carte de visite”.

It’s not a term that I had come across before, and a search for the phrase on BNA only found it in use in adverts by a couple of UK photographers in the period 1860 – 1870, Thomas Plimmer in Belfast and four years later by James Hardie in St Andrews (St. Andrews Gazette and Fifeshire News - Saturday 14 August 1869 p1a).

I’m hoping that someone may be able to enlighten me as to exactly what they are / were, and perhaps show us an example.

Thanks.

Image: Belfast Morning News - 01 April 1865 p2d (© British Library / British Newspaper Archive)

This exhibition is curated by Brighton Photography Research Group member Curated by Julia Winckler in conjunction with Fotohof Salzburg. Commissioned by the Town and Country Planning Association, renowned photographer and cameraman Wolf Suschitzky (1912-2016) photographed nine New Towns of the first wave of post-war New Town development within a decade of their initial construction. A small selection of these was shown at London’s Royal Academy in 1959 as part of the ‘Britain’s New Towns: Ten Years on’ exhibition. The bulk of the negatives were never printed, publicly displayed or published.

During a research residency in 2022 at FOTOHOF Salzburg in Austria, where the Suschitzky archive is now held, Julia Winckler rediscovered the New Town photos and immediately recognised their significance. Through a sympathetic lens, and reflecting his belief in and optimism for a better post-war future, Suschitzky had captured an extraordinary record of the phenomenal achievements of post-war reconstruction and aspiration to build a better society. Highlighting the innovative architectural forms, shopping arcades, houses, schools, nurseries, alongside business and industrial contexts, they also show the inhabitants engaged in their day-to-day activities and the green spaces that were a feature of the New Town ideals.

Displaying a selection of these images, some of which that were exhibited for the first time during a recent exhibition at Crawley Museum (funded by an IAA Ignite/AHRC grant, and co-curated by Julia Winckler, Georgia Wrighton University of Brighton), Fotohof Salzburg and Crawley Museum, along with a portfolio produced from Suschitzky’s wonderfully evocative contact books, this new exhibition at Dorset Place Gallery provides a remarkable opportunity for students and staff from a range of disciplines to engage with his images, which not only contain huge historical significance but also reflect contemporary resonances and topical concerns over the current housing provision crisis and ongoing political and societal discourse on how this can be resolved.

New Towns seen through the lens of Wolf Suschitzky
1 Dorset Pl, Kemptown, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 1ST
Tuesday 28 October – Saturday 1 November 2025, Opening 1200-1700; Saturday 1 November: between 1100-1630
Exhibition launch event and curatorial walk through: Tuesday 28 October 17:00-18:30
Opening times:  Tuesday 28 October, Wednesday 29 October, Thursday 30 October, Friday 31 October between 12:00-17:00; Saturday 1 November: between 11:00-16:30
Details here

Image – Wolf Suschitzky, Corby, 1959, Contact Sheet image, courtesy of Fotohof Salzburg & Suchitzky/Donat Estate

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on my Old Wallhanging Enlarger. It is fitted with a Dallmeyer lens, but has no indication as to the maker. It measures 123cms from top to bottom and is taking up a lot of room, so I'm thinking of selling it and would love to be able to attrbute it to a certain maker. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Gerry Palmer.

I'm writing on behalf of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) to invite you to an upcoming virtual program with Geoffrey Batchen, Letha Wilson, and Mary Statzer. This will be taking place on November 8th at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US). This program is free to SPE members and $29 to register for non-members. Please share this information widely and join us if you are available.

This event's conversation brings together expertise from three different moments within photographic history. Historian Geoffrey Batchen will ground us in the way that photographs may serve as a form of "vision as a sense of touch" and share examples found within Victorian traditions. Curator Mary Statzer will lead us in exploring the hybrid and experimental practices of the 1970's Museum of Modern Art exhibition Photography into Sculpture. And contemporary artist Letha Wilson will bring us to the present by sharing her own creative practice. By skipping a stone across time, together we consider the motivations, strategies, and resulting forms that connect image-makers expanding into the third dimension.

Please register in advance for this event.

You will receive the link to register in your emailed receipt.

Photography's Objects
Geoffry Batchen, Letha Wilson, and Mary Statzer
Photography's Objects—Pushing into the Third Dimension
8 November 2025, 12:00PM - 1:00PM EST; 1600-1700 (GMT/UTC)
Free to members, $29 non-members
See: https://www.spenational.org/events/2025/11/08/photographys-objects

Paul Martin was referred to in his time as 'the Dickens of the lens' thanks to the way in which he captured the lives of the streets of London and their inhabitants. He and his family were refugees who fled France in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war. This plaque, celebrating his life and work, will be placed on the former studio he shared with Harry Dorrett and from which they ran their business, Dorrett & Martin, producing, amongst other items, a large number of very evocative pictures of Wandsworth Common.

You are welcome to come along and learn more about Martin and see examples of his work. 

Friends of Wandsworth Common Heritage Group. The plaque is generously funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Wandsworth's year as London Borough of Culture.

Wandsworth Green Plaque unveiling to Paul Martin
Friday, 7 November 2025 at 1400
16 Bellevue Road SW17 7EG  
Please do let us know if you are able to attend by replying to history@wandsworthcommon.org

Quickshaws Tours is offering 10-day and 14-day tours in Sri Lanka to discover the places associated with Julia Margaret Cameron, who died and was buried there in 1879. Explore her life in British Ceylon and the links between England, India and Ceylon of the period.

The tour will take you to the places she lived, including Dimbola, her grave at Bogowantalawa, and introduce her Ceylon photographs. In addition, the tour will also visit other historic places, sites, and landscapes, as well as explore the country's food, culture.

The tour has been produced by Cameron scholar Aneela de Soysa, who will guide you through the journey. The tour is designed for art historians, photographers, and individuals with an interest in the life of Julia Margaret Cameron. The shorter 10-day tour focuses on Cameron's journey, while the longer tour extends into the country's broader cultural heritage. The tour covers 7 World Heritage sites.

Explore Julia Margaret Cameron in Ceylon 1875-1879
Tour led by Aneela de Soysa
7- 16 February 2026 Short Tour
7- 20 February 2026 Long Tour
For details of itinerary and costs, see: http://www.aneeladesoysa.com

Image: Julia Margaret Cameron, Two Young Women, Ceylon, 1875-79 Albumen Print, AIC. (see attached)

Join us for this special event at the V&A South Kensington celebrating the artists and editor shortlisted for this year’s Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award. Hear about the joys and challenges of making award-winning and nominated photobooks.