Blogs

The London Street Photography Festival 2011 was drawn to an official close last night at an operatic evening of celebration, music, drinks, food, fun, laughter (not necessary in that order!) and a charity auction of exhibition prints to help fund next year's event. 
Held at the magnificent German Gymnasium in Kings Cross, the venue was packed to the brim with well-wishers, supporters, partners, contributors and artists of the Festival.
The evening kicked off with Brett Stott, the organiser, presenting the Festival's inaugural Student Street Photography Awards 2011 to a well deserved Tom Archer. The 21-year old Sheffield graduate had his work exhibited at Orange Dot Gallery in London, and has just recently published his first photo book.
The remaining of the evening was then handed over to Michael Pritchard who presided over the fund-raising auction. Or should I say, 'fun'-raising, as the crowd roared with laughter on occasions as the former Christie's auctioneer managed to ease the crowd and got them to dig deep into their wallets.  A raffle, with some stunning prizes including an Eurostar return trip to Paris, was the grand finale.
I, for one, will be looking forward to next year's Festival with great anticipation. It is to the organiser's great credit to have put this Festival together which included ten free exhibitions and a number of free events, talks and workshops. If you have enjoyed the Festival this year please help them to make it happen again next year by visiting their site here.
May it long continue as London's photographic community does welcome such a great event ...
                                                       Where 'dehydrated' guests were well hydrated...

                                                                           ... and fed.

                                                      Music flowed to the rhythmn of the jazz trio...

                                The amazing German Gymnasium where the event and auction took place.

                 Some of the lots for sale included Allison Ball's iconic hand burnished lino print of the festival logo.

                          ... not sure how this Lot got in! But it did get the ladies in the crowd 'excited'.

                  Alas, all good things have to come to an end ....., but a splendid time was guaranteed for all!

I have been busy photographing historic faded adverts for just over a year now. It has been great to record these important symbols of our culture in a creative way. I donate all the work to The History of Advertising Trust who are compiling an archive.

Ghost Signs of London is the link to see the latest work. I am trying to build up some historical information about each of the signs as they will disappear before to long. There was one on Oxford Street which is now demolished and sadly I did not get to photograph. 

Got to be quick.....

I'm trying to get some biographical material on Harold Burdekin and John Morrison who jointly published a book on night photography of London circa 1930 and on the photography of Alfred Howarth Blake, founder of The Society of Night Photographers of England and London Correspondent of American Photographer, member of the Linked Ring, nickname "Cockney"  active around the turn of the 20th century.  Any help, pointers etc., will be appreciated.

Donald Stewart  

If you happen to be visiting New York City this autumn, do drop into 962 Park Avenue at 82nd Street where you can view a fine display of more than 20 albumen prints from 1864 to 1874 taken by 19th century British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879). Although a late starter in photography at the age of 48, she is considered one of 19th century’s greatest portraitist.

The majority of these photographs were gifted to her niece, Adeline Maria Jackson, and have remained in the family and not been exhibited before. One of the highlights of the display is a carbon print of A Beautiful Vision, Julia Duckworth, 1872, Cameron’s cherished niece and goddaughter who was a frequent sitter and provided inspiration for her aunt’s photographs. Julia later became the mother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.

Other notable 'celebrities' caught on image by Cameron include Sir John Herschel, a strong support of her, whose 1867 portrait is considered one of the most iconic images of the distinguished astronomer. The following year while working on The Descent of Man, his second landmark book on evolution, illness forced Charles Darwin to take a break in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, an island in the English Channel where Cameron created the majority of her work. “I like this photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me,” wrote Charles Darwin about one of the portraits that Cameron made of him.

Details of this exhibition hosted by Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs can be found here. A fully illustrated catalogue, Sun Pictures Twenty, Julia Margaret Cameron, with text by Larry J. Schaaf, accompanies the exhibition.

Photo:  Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879) A Beautiful Vision, Julia Duckworth. Carbon print, June 1872, 33.5 x 25.4 cm.  (Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs ).

The British Science Festival is one of Europe's largest science festivals, taking place each September. Each year the Festival travels to a different UK location, bringing you the latest in science, technology and engineering. For 2011, it will take place in the historic city of Bradford from Saturday 10th September - Thursday 15th September, hosted by University of Bradford and Bradford College.

A special one-day 'hands-on' Workshop focussing on the insights into recent product developments, the history of photography, and explorations into the works of black and white darkroom printers will be hosted by Ilford Photo, in conjunction with Bradford College Photographic Department. Entitled 'Faster than the Speed of Light', visitors to this Workshop will also get the first look at the Harman TiTAN 4x5 pinhole camera.

The afternoon includes a photographic studio workshop and darkroom workshop. One of the UK’s master printers will demonstrate the making of a black and white print, and give participants the opportunity to work alongside them in producing pictures through this conventional process.

Admission is free, but booking is required. Details of the Workshop can be found here, and the full agenda here.

As part of their lunchtime talks, the Nottinghamshire Archives will this year be exploring the fascinating world of photographs. Talks include archivist Chris Weir delving into the archives to highlight a selection of fascinating photos, local historian Peter Hammond looking at the history of family portraiture in Nottinghamshire, archivist Peter Lester exploring different photographic techniques over the years and Nick Tomlinson investigating a range of photos which can be explored on the innovative web site.

Details of some of the lectures can be found in the Events section here and here, as well as in the archives own website here.

A special exhibition dedicated to the photographic techniques used in the age of Louis Daguerre has been organised by the museums of Bry-sur-Marne and Lagny-sur-Marne. One of the highlights of the exhibit will be the display of part of a collection of about 50 prints by Louis Adolphe Humbert de Molard, never shown before to the general public.

From a rich Parisian family, Baron Louis Adolphe Humbert de Molard was one of those wealthy amateurs who brought their talent and passion to early photography. He took up photography in 1843 using, as here, the daguerreotype. Later, in the mid 1850s, he became one of the first French photographers to use the calotype, a technique on paper developed in England by Fox Talbot, and introducing the principle of positive and negative.
His images were sometimes taken spontaneously, but more often they were composed like genuine genre scenes. This choice can be explained in part by the long exposure time, but equally by the heritage of the pictorial tradition

A conference will also be organised at the same time, including the publication of a catalogue. Details of the exhibition can be found here and here.

Photo: Louis Dodier as a prisoner 1847 Daguerreotype
H. 11.5; W. 15.5 cm © RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

As Princeton's first professor of the history of photography, from 1972 to 2002, Peter C. Bunnell mentored a generation of scholar-curators while building one of the great North American teaching collections. In celebration of the endowment of the Peter C. Bunnell Curatorship of Photography, this exhibition presents a “timeline” of works representing the major photography exhibitions mounted at the Museum during Bunnell's years. Showcasing the great range of his scholarly interests, from the daguerreotype to Pictorialism to contemporary color photography, the exhibition chronicles the collection’s evolution from its beginnings to the turn of this century, by which time it numbered over 20,000 objects.

In 1972, Peter C. Bunnell was appointed as the David Hunter McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University. Over the following three decades, he combined a busy teaching schedule with service as curator of photography at the Museum, where he also served twice as director (1973–78 and 1998–2000). 
Bunnell built a collection at the Museum that helped him to teach hundreds of undergraduates and fourteen doctoral students, who in turn have brought photography to a wider audience as curators at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. This year, Bunnell’s remarkable legacy at Princeton has been secured with the endowment of the Peter C. Bunnell Curator of Photography. 
The works in The Bunnell Decades illustrate a selective chronology of the principal exhibitions of photography mounted during Bunnell’s years at Princeton. The Steerage was the first photograph to enter the Museum’s collection, in 1949, and it appeared twenty-three years later in Bunnell’s first exhibition, on the work of Alfred Stieglitz and the members of his group, the Photo-Secession of New York. 
In the year preceding Bunnell’s appointment, David Hunter McAlpin, Class of 1920, gave the Museum over 450 photographs as well as funds for further acquisitions. Building on these resources, Bunnell crafted one of the country’s leading teaching collections, all the while organizing exhibitions to reflect its diversifying strengths. Some of his scholarly interests, showcased here, include Pictorialism; photographs from nineteenth-century France and Britain, postwar Japan, and the American West; and that ever-shifting field, the “contemporary.”

Details of the exhibition can be found here.

Photo: Lewis W. Hine, American, 1874–1940: An Industrial Design, 1920, Gelatin silver print, 34.1 x 24.6 cm. Anonymous gift (x1973-34).

Continuing in the Royal Academy's Sackler Wing is the highly acclaimed Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century  Brassaï, Capa, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Munkácsi until  2 October 2011.  The exhibition is dedicated to the birth of modern photography, featuring the work of Brassaï, Robert Capa, André Kertész, László Moholy Nagy and Martin Munkácsi. The juxtaposition of photographers suggests a reappraisal of individuals is overdue.  

Each of the key photographers left their homeland of Hungary to make their names in Europe and the USA, profoundly influencing the course of modern photography. Many other talented photographers who remained in Hungary, such as Rudolf Balogh and Károly Escher, are also represented in the exhibition. Over 200 photographs from 1914 to 1989  show how these world renowned photographers were at the forefront of stylistic developments and reveal their achievements in the context of the rich photographic tradition of Hungary.  Brassaï, Capa, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy and Munkácsi are each known for the important changes they brought about in photojournalism, documentary, art and fashion photography. By following their paths through Germany, France and the USA, the exhibition explores their distinct approaches, signalling key aspects of modern photography. 

André Kertész (1894–1985) showed an intuitive talent for photography which blossomed when he moved to Paris in 1925.  Using a hand-held camera,  he captured lyrical impressions of the ephemeral moments of everyday urban life. Proud of being self-taught, Kertész considered himself an ‘eternal amateur’ whose vision remained fresh; his highly personal style paved the way for a subjective, humanist approach to photography. 

A painter and designer as well as a photographer, László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) became an instructor at the Bauhaus in 1922.  He was a pioneer of photograms, photomontage and visual theory, using unconventional perspectives and bold tonal  contrasts to manifest his radical approach.  His camera-less images and experimental techniques reflect on the centrality of light to the medium. 

Martin Munkácsi (1896–1963) was a highly successful photographer first in Budapest, then Berlin, covering everything from Greta Garbo to the Day of Potsdam.  He moved to the US in 1934, securing a lucrative position with Harper’s Bazaar, revolutionising fashion photography by liberating it from the studio. Taking photographs of models and celebrities outdoors, he invested his photographs with a dynamism and vitality that became his hallmark.  

The image of modern Paris was defined by Brassaï (1899–1984).  Introduced to photography by Kertész, who was then at the heart of an energetic émigré community of artists, Brassaï is known for his classic portraits of Picasso.  His stunning photographs of sights, streets and people bring vividly to life the nocturnal characters and potent atmosphere of the city at night. 

Robert Capa (1913–1954) left Hungary aged seventeen, first for Berlin where he took up photography, then on to Paris. He is often called the ‘greatest war photographer’ documenting the Spanish Civil War, the D-Day landings and other events of World War II.  In 1947, he cofounded Magnum Photos with Henri Cartier-Bresson and George Rodger.  

The exhibition also celebrates the diversity of the photographic milieu in Hungary, from the early 20th century professional and club photography of Rudolf Balogh, Károly Escher and József Pécsi, to the more recent documentary and art photography of Péter Korniss and Gábor Kerekes.  Key works by over forty photographers show how major changes in modern photography have been interpreted through a particularly Hungarian sensibility. Varied subject matter includes ‘Magyar style’ rural images; urbanite ‘New Objectivity’ photography in Budapest and Berlin; vivacious fashion photographs; powerful photojournalism of war; and emotive social documentary in post-war Hungary. Highlights include images from Brassaï’s Paris by Night series, and such iconic photographs as Capa’s Death of a Loyalist Militiaman, 1936; Munkácsi’s Four Boys at Lake Tanganyika, c.1930 and Kertész’s Satiric Dancer, 1926.  The exhibition features works from the Hungarian National Museum of Photography in Kecskemét together with the National Museum, Budapest and public and private collections in Hungary and the UK.

The exhibition has been curated by Colin Ford, founding director of the National Media Museum, with Péter Baki, Director of the Hungarian National Museum of Photography together with Sarah Lea, Royal Academy of Arts.

Open to public: until Sunday 2 October 2011 between 10am – 6pm daily (last admission 5.30 pm) and Fridays until 10pm (last admission 9.30 pm)  Admission is £9 full price; £8 registered disabled and 60 + years; £7 NUS / ISIC cardholders; £4 12–18 years and Income Support; £3 8–11 years; 7 and under free. RA Friends go free. 

Tickets are available daily at the RA. Advance bookings: Telephone 0844 209 0051 or visit www.royalacademy.org.uk. The Royal Academy of Arts is at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J OBD.

A National Trust scheme called Moments and Memories is giving the abbey a new lease of life, bringing contemporary displays while also telling tales of years gone by.

The story of Lacock Abbey is told through the words of Matilda Talbot, the last owner of the abbey, who donated it to the National Trust in 1944. Her book, My Life And Lacock Abbey, not only captures her own memories and experiences here, but creates an impression of how her ancestors might have lived during their residencies.

Fox Talbot is heavily represented in this National Trust project. There are also many interactive elements for visitors, including jigsaws, games and Victorian animation with Zoetropes and a piano.

The full news report can be found here.

Photo: Abbey visitor experience officer Rachel Holtom with the zoetrope used by the Talbots. Copyright Wiltshire Times.

‘Ways of Looking’, a new festival of photography in Bradford opens on 1st October 2011. Exploring the theme EVIDENCE, the festival includes premières of newly commissioned works by internationally renowned Magnum photographer Donovan Wylie, and Turner Prize winning artists Douglas Gordon and Jeremy Deller.

Inspired by the theme EVIDENCE, the festival will address, overturn, and playfully interact with photography’s assumed status as ‘evidence’ in a range of arenas including history, politics, science, law, and conflict. In contrast to other photography festivals, ‘Ways of Looking’ does not advocate a lead curator, but instead offers multiple curatorial approaches ranging from museum institutions to grass-roots collectives. Many of the works have been specially commissioned for the festival and will be shown for the first time in Bradford.

Highlights include Douglas Gordon’s large-scale window installation taking inspiration from the former glories of Bradford’s iconic Gaumont cinema, and Jeremy Deller’s personal take on Bradford’s civic photography collection. Photography’s relationship to surveillance is explored by Donovan Wylie, who travelled to Afghanistan to document military watchtowers, whilst Simon Ford and Colin Lloyd have drawn on CCTV technology and scientific imaging techniques to examine the validity of optical evidence. Red Saunders’ epic photographic tableaux vivants recreate momentous but overlooked events from Britain’s struggle for democracy, whilst Alan Dunn investigates the archive of West Yorkshire Police to re-examine crime photographs from the 1950s.

Based entirely in Bradford’s compact city centre, with its wealth of dramatic nineteenth century architecture, the whole festival can be easily accessed by visitors. As well as museum and gallery venues, photography will be on display in public spaces and on billboards, whilst a specially commissioned interactive digital game will transport participants on an intriguing journey through the spaces and histories of ‘hidden’ Bradford. 

An accompanying events programme will offer talks by photographers, portfolio reviews, and film screenings. Unmissible events include a series of debates ‘Photography on Trial’ at City Hall’s spectacular Victorian Court Room, and a major conference ‘Media and Conflict Interchange’ at the National Media Museum.

Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery and co-founder, said ‘Ways of Looking is a boutique festival – small but considered. We believe it has the potential to grow to become a key biennial on the international circuit of photography festivals’.

Nicola Stephenson, Director of The Culture Company and co-founder, said ‘a bit like Berlin, Bradford is edgy, post-industrial, and home to some fantastic art spaces. Its cosmopolitan and diverse population make it a great destination for festival goers’.

Colin Philpott, Director of National Media Museum, said ‘Ways of Looking draws on Bradford’s amazing wealth of photographic activity and world-class collections. It epitomises Bradford’s renaissance as a cultural centre, and perfectly complements its new status as the world’s first UNESCO City of Film’.

‘Ways of Looking’ is organised by Impressions Gallery, National Media Museum, and The Culture Company, with partners Bradford Grid, Bradford Museums and Galleries, Fabric, Gallery II University of Bradford, and Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery and Studio Theatre. The festival is funded by Arts Council England through the National Lottery Fund and supported by Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

Jeremy Deller at Bradford 1 Gallery
2 September – 27 November 2011

Turner Prize Winner Jeremy Deller has created a new exhibition especially for Ways of Looking, drawing on the extensive photographic archives in the collections of Bradford Museums.

Bradford 1 Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1SD
Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Thurs late to 8pm, Saturday 12pm to 5pm, Sundays throughout October
12pm to 5pm FREE
Tel. 01274 437800
Web www.bradfordmuseums.org 

Hidden by Red Saunders at Impressions Gallery
28 September to 10 December 2011

Saunders’ epic photographic tableaux vivants (‘living pictures’) recreate momentous but overlooked events in the struggle for equality and democracy in Britain. The show
includes the world premiere of three new Yorkshire-based works, set at the time of the Civil War and the Swing Riots, specially commissioned by Impressions Gallery and The Culture Company.

Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1SD
Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Thurs late to 8pm, Saturday 12pm to 5pm, Sundays
throughout October 12pm to 5pm FREE
Tel. 01274 473843
Web www.impressions-gallery.com 


Outposts: Donovan Wylie Bradford Fellowship 2010/11 at National Media Museum
30 September – 19 February 2012

In this world premiere, Magnum photographer Wylie continues to interrogate the
architecture of conflict through a systematic survey of military outposts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province. Specially commissioned by the National Media Museum, Bradford College and the University of Bradford, the exhibition also features the acclaimed bodies of work Maze, British Watchtowers, Police Stations, and Green Zone.

National Media Museum, Bradford, BD1 1NQ
Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm FREE
Tel. 0844 856 3797
Web www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk


The Tracker Chronicles by Simon Ford and Colin Lloyd at Gallery II, University of Bradford
1 to 28 October 2011

Combining surveillance technology with data collection, digital print and re-imagined objects, The Tracker Chronicles plays with an array of information gathering devices, exploring their possible meanings and applications. Live camera feeds and data streams are overlapped and interfered with, movement is mapped across a public atrium space occupied by a CCTV tower and a time travelling chandelier. The Tracker Chronicles explores the complex connections between looking, listening and reading, in different times and spaces. 

Gallery II, Chesham Building and Richmond Atrium, Richmond Building, University of Bradford BD7 1DP
Mon to Fri 11am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 3pm FREE
Tel. 01274 233365
Web www.brad.ac.uk/gallery 


Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works 1972-1987 curated by Val Williams at National Media Museum
1 October 2011 – 19 February 2012

This major retrospective includes Meadow’s major projects, as well as recently discovered work from his archives. Meadows was one of a group of photographers who spearheaded the independent photography movement in the early 1970s. Working in a collaborative way via interviews with his subjects, his complex, passionate and sometimes deeply autobiographical work forms an astonishing record of urban society in Britain. The project has been funded and supported by a partnership between the National Media Museum, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Birmingham Central Libraries, Photography and the Archive Research Centre, University of the Arts London,
and Photoworks UK.

National Media Museum, Bradford, BD1 1NQ
Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm FREE
Tel. 0844 856 3797
Web www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk 


Case Open at Pop Up
30 September to 30 October 2011

Responding to the theme EVIDENCE, the winners of this national open call have been selected by director of Impressions Gallery and Chair of Ways of Looking Anne McNeill, National Media Museum curator Greg Hobbs, curator of South Square Gallery David Knowles, and Programme Manager of Pop Up Ann Rutherford.

Pop Up, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1SD
Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm FREE
Tel. 07780 917320
Web www.creativebradford.co.uk


Makeshift Monuments by Diane Bielik at The Old Hungarian Club
Friday 30th September to Sunday 30th October

An exhibition of photographs made during the run up to the closure of the Hungarian club in Bradford which shut its doors in the summer of 2010 due to diminishing membership. Diane Bielik’s father, Attila, is Hungarian and was an active member of the club for many years. The news of its closure was the impetus to begin photographing the club as there was a desire to ‘capture’ this place before it was gone. The photographs will be incorporated onto the walls and the viewers will need to move through the rooms of the disused social club to see the exhibition. 

An Impressions Gallery off-site project
The Old Hungarian Club, 4 Walmer Villas, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD8 7ET
Friday to Sunday 1-6pm FREE
www.dianebielik.co.uk 



• ART IN PUBLIC SPACES

‘Scene for a small crime’ by Alan Dunn at Bradford Interchange Station
14 October to 30 October

Alan Dunn’s ‘Scene for a small crime’ is a new billboard artwork produced in collaboration with the poet Roger Cliffe-Thompson, photographer Leila Romaya and West Yorkshire Police. Inspired by a 1950’s crime scene photograph found in the Police Archive in Wakefield, Dunn has orchestrated a crime scene photograph riddled with clues, odd timings and mirrored patterns. 

Platform 3, Bradford Interchange, Bridge Street, Bradford BD1 1TU
Open during station opening hours
FREE (rail ticket may be required for station access)
Phone 0113 812 3130
Web http://www.alandunn67.co.uk



Self portrait of you and me (blue skies) by Douglas Gordon at Impressions Gallery
Douglas Gordon: 30 September to 30 October

Self portrait of you and me (blue skies) is a new public realm artwork produced by Douglas Gordon for the large windows of Impressions Gallery. Directly facing the former Gaumont Cinema, the fragile face of late 1960’s icon Syd Barrett is blown up, hangdog expression and collar upturned against the elements, his image then tragically and delicately pushed by the artist to the point of combustion.

Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1SD
Open during gallery opening hours
FREE 
Phone 0113 812 3130
Web http://lostbutfound.co.uk/



1963 by Shanaz Gulzar at Bradford Interchange Station
30 September to 13 October

1963 is a new billboard created by the artist Shanaz Gulzar in collaboration with the Bradford & District Youth Offending Team and Nacro. Inspired by a mythical 1960’s pop moment in Bradford involving the Beatles, the Stones, Bo Diddley and Cilla Black, the young people create two new cinematic posters for an imaginary venue.


Platform 3, Bradford Interchange, Bridge Street, Bradford BD1 1TU
Open during station opening hours
FREE (rail ticket may be required for station access)
Phone 0113 812 3130
Web http://www.alandunn67.co.uk


RE:BRADFORD by Bradford Grid, outdoor exhibition in Bradford City Centre

Photography collective Bradford Grid have created new work in response to images sourced from local residents’ family albums and personal recollections of Bradford between 1950 and 2000. Investigating the photograph as a source of both information and inspiration, they explore how photographs act as historical ‘evidence’ through which the present can be viewed.

City centre, various outdoor locations
Open 24 hours FREE
Web www.bradfordgrid.co.uk


Evidence by Invisible Flock and Impressions Gallery, locations throughout Bradford city centre
1 October to 31 October 2011
Created especially for Ways of Looking this participatory game invites players on a series of journeys, transporting them on an interactive trail across Bradford and through time. Throughout the festival four different journeys can be undertaken, all offering glimpses of magic, intrigue and hidden histories; uncovering secret worlds and revealing the city in a whole new light. Armed with phones, cameras and a sense of adventure, players will be asked to help capture the city’s heart.

Online and during venues opening times.
Tel. 01274 473843
Web www.impressions-gallery.com

See: http://www.waysoflooking.org/

This is a rare opportunity to impact on a truly unique institution. As Deputy Director/Head of Public Programmes, you will provide a key leadership role for the National Media Museum and specific project direction for our pioneering Internet Gallery.
The National Media Museum is home to Britain’s media heritage, containing three and a half million objects of national and international significance. Our ambitions include a world first – in Spring 2012 we will be opening a gallery about the history and impact of the internet, and we also plan to open an exhibitions and events space in Central London.
The Museum’s Head of Public Programmes, who also acts as Deputy to the Director, is taking maternity leave. The key priority of the covering role will be to drive the delivery of the Museum’s recently revised strategy and action plan designed to boost audiences, increase further levels of audience satisfaction and engagement and to boost the Museum’s profile and reputation. You will also play a key role in directing the internet gallery project.
Substantial experience of delivering cultural programmes to create world-class visitor experiences is essential for this role. Ideally, you will already have a successful track record in a relevant area, such as: temporary and touring exhibitions; cinema and film festivals; events programmes; media, web or broadcast. Energetic, persuasive and collaborative, you will quickly establish yourself as a catalyst for creative thinking.
Award winning, visionary and truly unique, The National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio, gaming and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, it aims to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

Salary: £47,000 - £55,000 pa

Full-time, Maternity cover, 12 months commencing October 2011.

Closing date: Tuesday 30th August 2011. It is expected interviews will be held on Monday 12th September.
For a full job description or to contact Colin Philpott, Museum Director for an informal discussion about this role, please email recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Good luck!

The Ancestry.co.uk website has published 4,400 parole records with 500 photographs of some of the prisoners sentenced in the mid-19th century. All the records are from The National Archives of the UK. 

The database includes images of the records themselves, which make up a file on the convict. Their contents varies but can include next of kin, religion, literacy, physical description, a medical history, marital status, number of children, age, occupation, crime, sentence, dates and places of confinement, reports on behavior while in prison, letters or notes from the convict, and (from 1871 forward) a photograph.

Photo: A prison photograph of Mary Richards, who was jailed for five years in 1880 at the age 59 for stealing 130 oysters. Photograph: Ancestry.co.uk/PA

The highlight to officially end London Street Photography 2011 will be an evening of entertainment, food, vodka cocktails and an opportunity to purchase exhibition prints and celebrate the festival with other partners, contributors, and artists. All proceeds will go towards ensuring that the festival will be here in 2012.

A PDF of the catalogue is available here: Auction_catalogue_small.pdf.

A flyer for the event is here: LSPF_11_auction_flyer.jpg

Details of the items on auction, including the programme for the evening, can be found here.  So please put that date in your diary!

Photo: The German Gymnasium(London NW1) where the auction will be held.

This conference examines the politics, poetics and ethics of the photographic visibility of the colonial past in museums in multicultural societies and the construction of postcolonial identities. It will explore the use of photographs in public narratives of difficult histories and examine different sets of problems and approaches across a number of European countries. It raises questions not only about the patterns of engagement, nostalgia, suppression, disavowal and unspeakability which cluster around representations of the colonial past, but questions about the role of photographs in the public space. What is the work expected of photographs? Is the apparent immediacy of the past in photographs too direct and uncontrollable to be accommodated in the carefully managed spaces of state multiculturalism?  What is the role of the artist’s intervention, digital environments, and community projects?  Are there ’safe spaces’ where the colonial might be addressed? Ultimately what kinds of narratives are museums constructing and for whom? How can the complexities of colonial relations be represented in museums and do photographs help or hinder?

The conference is part of the European-funded PhotoCLEC project, an international collaboration of scholars from the UK, The Netherlands and Norway. (see: http://www.heranet.info/photoclec/index). The conference will include the launch of the project’s web resource.

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Benoît De L’Estoile (CNRS)

Dr Wayne Modest (Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam)

Other Confirmed Speakers include:

Professor Susan Legêne (VU University, Amsterdam), Professor Sigrid Lien (University of Bergen), Professor Elizabeth Edwards (DMU), Miranda Pennell (Filmmaker, Goldsmiths College, University of London), Dr Chiara de Cesari (University of Cambridge), Dr  Sabine Cornelis (RCAM) and Dr Johan Lagae (Univeristy of Ghent).

Date: 12 and 13 January 2012

Venue:  Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

A collaboration between De Montfort University and Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Fee: £35  Optional symposium dinner: £38

Places are limited. Please contact Mandy Stuart (astuart@dmu.ac.uk) to reserve your place.

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/aad/photographic-history-research-centre/  

The Curator (Digital Programmes) will be responsible for a developmental programme including researching, commissioning and curating digital content for the ground floor digital display, the Gallery’s website and identifying other potential platforms. This will include researching and advising on the technical specifications for the delivery of all aspects of the digital programme and the generation of and support for collaborative research projects. The post includes research collaboration with The Centre for Media and Culture Research, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, London South Bank University.

The post holder will initially undertake a research phase to help develop a Digital Strategy for the Gallery and work with partners on a significant AHRB application, aiming to recruit a supporting PhD research position. Through the Digital Strategy and the establishment of digital content management platforms, the post holder will engage and develop new and existing audiences for the Gallery and offer creative ways of working with photographers/artists. The post will sit within the Programming team, line-managed by the Head of Exhibitions but will also work closely with Communications and all other Gallery departments (Technical, Development etc).

The Role

The Curator (Digital Programmes) will be responsible for a developmental programme including researching, commissioning and curating digital content for the ground floor digital display, the Gallery’s website and identifying other potential platforms. This will include researching and advising on the technical specifications for the delivery of all aspects of the digital programme and the generation of and support for collaborative research projects. The post includes research collaboration with The Centre for Media and Culture Research, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, London South Bank University.

The post holder will initially undertake a research phase to help develop a Digital Strategy for the Gallery and work with partners on a significant AHRB application, aiming to recruit a supporting PhD research position. Through the Digital Strategy and the establishment of digital content management platforms, the post holder will engage and develop new and existing audiences for the Gallery and offer creative ways of working with photographers/artists. The post will sit within the Programming team, line-managed by the Head of Exhibitions but will also work closely with Communications and all other Gallery departments (Technical, Development etc).

Core Duties and Responsibilities
•Develop an effective and sustainable digital strategy for The Photographers’ Gallery;
•Curate and commission digital content as part of the Gallery’s public programme in collaboration with relevant gallery teams (including exhibitions and talks/events);
•Research and advise the Gallery on the technical specifications for the ground floor digital display;
•Work with relevant external bodies and the in-house development team to help identify and secure project funding and sponsorship;
•Advise and assist on the delivery of the gallery’s on-line and digital archive;
•Work on a significant AHRC grant application aiming to support a complementary PhD research post related to the Gallery’s digital programmes;
•Develop key national and international partnerships to ensure the Gallery is seen at the heart of digital content debates;
•Present papers and attend conferences and symposia at universities and cultural organisations, as well as contribute articles to relevant publications.

Required skills/experience
•Strong project management skills with previous experience of curating / commissioning image-based web/digital projects;
•Knowledge and understanding of cultural debates and theoretical developments surrounding photography, digital technologies and new media;
•Solid understanding of social media networks and participatory digital arts projects;
•Knowledge and understanding of relevant funding sources and application procedures for digital media;
•A technical knowledge of equipment necessary for supporting digital photographic practice;
•Clear understanding of content management and Digital Asset Management systems;
•Good knowledge of copyright issues with regard to digital images in different contexts.

Desired experience
•Knowledge and experience of evaluating arts projects related to audience development or education/learning;
•Experience of working on digital archives and resources;
•Published work in the area of digital exhibitions or projects.

See: http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=561&show=page

The Photographers’ Gallery strives to be an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Charity no 262548

All eyes will be on George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film this fall as it presents the largest exhibition in its history -- The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection. More than 500 photographs by the masters of the medium will be on view. It is dedicating all of its primary gallery space to this exhibition.

Earlier this year The New Yorker referred to the collector as “the legendary W.M. Hunt." He is a renowned curator and dealer who has been collecting photographs for 40 years. Eastman House will present the first major U.S. exhibition of the collection, of which APERTURE is simultaneously publishing a book titled The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious, to be released in October.

The collector’s first purchase was an Imogen Cunningham photograph, in which the subject’s eyes are veiled and unseen by the camera.  The featured works range from daguerreotype to digital by photographers such as Berenice Abbot, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, Many Ray, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, and Joel-Peter Witkin, as well 19^th-century work from Nadar, Alinari, and Roger Fenton. The whole range of photographic processes  as well different formats is featured via the 500 photographs, selected from the 1,500 images in the collection.

Details of the exhibition can be found here, and the official press release here.

Photo:  Carrie Levy. Untitled, from Domestic Stages, 2004

From: Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7782, 27 June 1904, Page 7 - National Library of New Zealand: Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper, who died the other day, aged 95, was said to be the first person who ever sat for a photograph. She posed for her brother, Dr. John W. Draper, who had discovered a process by which a daguerreotype could be made in a few minutes. The photograph was made in 1839, when Miss Draper was known in New York society as "Dolly" Draper, and the picture, with the statement that the subject had to pose "only about six minutes," created a sensation in artistic circles. The original picture became the possession of Lord Herschell, whose heirs still retain it.

A new exhibition celebrates the life and contributions of Freelan Oscar Stanley. This exhibit is a collaboration between the Stanley Museum and the Estes Park Museum and highlights objects from the collections of each institution such as Stanley dry-plates.

This photograph developing process invented and patented by F. O. and his twin brother Francis Edgar revolutionized the art of photography. They sold the company to Eastman Kodak in 1905, as their interest had turned to steam-powered automobiles.

Details of the exhibition can be found here.

Photo:  Twin brothers F. O. and F. E. Stanley invented a dry-plate photographic process later sold to Eastman Kodak.