Blogs

One of fifteen sets of the Reports by the Juries (1852) given by the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851 to William Henry Fox Talbot and presented by him to his daughter Matilda sold at auction in London today for £216,000 including buyer's premium (£180,000 hammer price). The successful bidder was the London-based dealer, author and collector of middle eastern photography Badr El-Hage. El-Hage, who is known to have close links with several museums and collectors in the Middle East, was presumably buying the four volume set on behalf of a client.

Bidding on the lot, which was estimated at a very modest £20,000-30,000, opened at £16,000 with commission bids and then it quickly became a bidding battle between a seated and relaxed El-Hage and a nervous tall gentleman standing close by him at the back of the auction room. The standing gent was taking instructions via a mobile phone. One telephone line was also open.

El-Hage entered the bidding early on battling with the standing gentleman who looked to have it within his grasp at £150,000 before El-Hage, returned at £160,000. The standing man paused, hands shaking, and asked his caller whether he wanted to carry on. For a fraction of a second the lot appeared to be his at £170,000. El-Hage, with no hesitation, then bid again taking the price to t £180,000. The standing man asked his caller if he wished to bid and then stopped at that point. El-Hage raised his bidding number 795 and the auctioneer brought his hammer down. The lot had sold.

The four volume set which contained some of the strongest calotype prints in any set I have seen will require an export licence. As there are other sets in the UK - albeit without the particular Talbot provenance - this is unlikely to present any great hurdle. There are sets in, for example, the British Library, at the National Media Museum and in the University of London's Senate House. Furthermore, there are, presumably, still sets in the hands of descendents or passed to libraries from the 115 recipients presented with copies back in 1852 and some more of the 15 sets that Talbot was awarded - although it is likely that the full quota was never completed.

There have been two relatively recent sales: in 2001 Christie's sold a set with medals, originally presented to Lt. Crossman RE for £64,250 (including premium) and in 2007 a set formerly from the Fred Spira Collection, originally presented to John Gott, sold for €75,600 (inc premium) approx £45,200.

A link to the original BPH blog report which includes a link through to the full catalogue description is here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/reports-by-the-juries-1851

The Royal Photographic Society, has announced that its Director General, Stuart Blake, will be retiring in the coming months. Society President, Rosemary Wilman, acknowledged Mr Blake's more than 20 years' distinguished service, initially as finance officer and since 2004 combining this role with that of Director General. The Society’s Trustees are now in the process of recruiting a new Director General, with a revised remit, to work with them in leading the future direction and development of The Royal Photographic Society. Details of the post, and how to apply are below.

BPH readers may be interested to know that a former Director General went on to head the National Media Museum and British Film Institute.

Founded in 1853 and the recipient of a Royal Charter in 2004, The Royal Photographic Society is an educational charity and learned society, ‘to promote the Art and Science of Photography’. The Society is the largest membership organisation representing individual photographers in the UK and also has a considerable overseas membership, a testament to its high global reputation.

Membership is open to all with an interest in photography, regardless of experience. The interests and activities of The Society are diverse, covering both the amateur and professional fields in all their varied aspects. The Society recognises world-class achievement with its global leading Distinctions. It runs a highly-respected annual programme of educational events, the prestigious annual Royal Photographic Society Awards and national and international exhibitions. With The Society’s staff and headquarters based in the beautiful city of Bath, the work of the Society involves a large and highly engaged volunteer community, who, along with its Trustees, support its wider regional and overseas operations.

With the retirement of the present Director General, The Society is seeking a dynamic and visionary individual to take up this critical post. The Director General will work with The Society’s Trustees to lead the future direction and development of the Organisation, and in addition, will have management responsibility for its staff and daily operations. As the key representative of The Society to its stakeholder and volunteer community, and to potential new members, the Director General will demonstrate flexibility, confidence and creativity. The post holder will drive innovative developments to raise the profile of the organisation nationally and internationally. Whilst an interest in photography and the arts is highly desirable, a genuine passion for the mission and future of The Society in the 21st Century is essential.

For further information on how to apply for this post, please visit www.perrettlaver.com/candidates, quoting reference 0886. The deadline for applications is midday on Wednesday 22nd June 2011.

How would you like to view 100 exquisite salt prints of Hill & Adamson’s most celebrated images from 1843 to 1847? Well, the Bicknell Album which is the only known large presentation album of their work still in private hands will be on exhibit in London shortly.

All other known Hill & Adamson albums are in permanent public collections. Hill himself personally selected and assembled the 100 calotypes for Henry Bicknell who was a major 19th century art collector.

You can view this plus other images by William Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins, Roger Fenton, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, and Alvin Langdon Coburn in an exhibition entitled Early British Masters in Photography put together by Hans P. Kraus, Jr. Fine Photographs, a dealer in 19th and early 20th century photographs, specializing in the paper negative era which flourished before 1860.

In addition to early British photographers, the exhibition will include work by Gustave Le Gray and Edward Steichen. The American artist Steichen’s elegiac and painterly composition, Little Round Mirror, 1902, is considered one of his most important early achievements in photography. A gum over platinum print, it is one of only four exhibition prints known. 

Details  of this London exhibition can be found here.

Photo: David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson, A Newhaven Pilot
Salt print from a calotype negative, 1843-1845, 19.8 x 14.0 cm
In "The Bicknell Album" of 100 calotypes by Hill & Adamson

The Britain from Above Project will make accessible approximately 95,000 images dating from 1919 to 1953 from the Aerofilms Collection. This important historic aerial archive was acquired by a partnership of English Heritage, and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and Scotland in 2007 and illustrates the changing face of Britain throughout the 20th century. This post will be based in Edinburgh and will have particular responsibility for cataloguing the Scottish images which date from 1919-1953.

The post holder will be expected to have a degree in history, geography or other relevant discipline and/or a proven track record of working with photographic or other archives. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a high level of computer literacy and experience of using GIS and aerial photographs.

RCAHMS provides a challenging and stimulating working environment. Benefits include flexible working hours, generous support for Continuing Professional Development and a choice of Civil Service and stakeholder pension is also available. RCAHMS is an equal opportunities employer and operates a no-smoking policy within its building.

RCAHMS - The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Fixed Term Appointment - 8 Months. £22,664 to £27,359.

For further information and an application form, contact HR department at personnel@rcahms.gov.uk, or in writing to HR department, RCAHMS, John Sinclair House, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh, EH8 9NX (Tel: 0131-662 1456; Fax 0131-662 1477).

Closing date for the return of completed application forms 12.00pm on 22nd June 2011.

One exhibition that might not come across your radar is Snaps Walking Pictures at Bridlington until 3 August 2011. Easy On The Eye have a display of walking picture images running from April 16 – August 3 2011 at Sewerby Hall, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. I have also done an online gallery of the images for people who might be interested (“Snaps” Walking Pictures ).

The idea for this display arose after contacting East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and curators at Sewerby Hall and Gardens, who were helpful in furnishing me with information and images they held regarding the Snaps company and William Foster-Brigham, who operated in Bridlington.

It is difficult to display original waking pictures. They were produced at speed and can become brittle with age and sensitive to light. For the exhibition I decided to produce a series of prints based on the original images but incorporating graphic and handwritten elements often found on the back of the photographs, placed there by the producers and subsequent owners. The original images were scanned at very high resolution then edited digitally, although nothing has been removed from the photographs themselves beyond some cropping. These new images were then uploaded to a local photographic processors via the internet and outputted onto Fujiflex, one of the new photographic papers developed in recent years for digital photographs. One cannot help but wonder what William Foster Brigham would have made of all these innovations in his trade.

The original photographs are largely from the Easy On The Eye collection of Walking Pictures. In most cases the people are unknown but where we have any detail it is given in the caption list accompanying the gallery. I would like to thank Colin Harding at Bradford Media Museum for the loan of a couple of images. Also David Barnard who ran the remainder bookshop Wharf 18, Prince Street. David allowed me access to the premises to look for traces of the Snaps business before he closed his shop at the start of 2011.

See: http://gohomeonapostcard.wordpress.com/exhibition/ 

As already reported here in brief Elizabeth Edwards, who has published extensively over the last 30 years in the areas of photography, history and visual anthropology, will join De Montfort University (DMU) as the first Director of the Photographic History Research Centre.

Many of Professor Edwards’ edited books and monographs – such as Photography and Anthropology (1992), and Raw Histories (2001) – have become required reading across the subjects of photographic history, art history, history, anthropology and the history of science.

Her recent work includes the book, Photography, Anthropology and History (co-edited with Christopher Morton, 2009) and a forthcoming monograph with Duke University Press on photography and the historical imagination in late-Nineteenth- and early-Twentieth-Century England.

She is known equally well for her collaborative efforts to digitise museum collections, most notably through the creation of The Tibet Album, British Photography in Central Tibet 1920-1950.

Professor Edwards succeeds Emeritus Professor Roger Taylor, who retired last session. Professor Taylor’s research in photographic history prepared the formation the centre, as acknowledged in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Professor Edwards currently leads the HERA-funded project, ‘Photographs, Colonial Legacy and Museums in Contemporary European Culture’ (PhotoCLEC), which transfers to DMU with Professor Edwards. The university is also pleased to welcome Matthew Mead, the Research Fellow associated with this project.

Both Edwards and Mead joined the university on 1 June 2011.

National Media Museum - Award winning, visionary and truly unique, The National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate about the world of media.

You will provide wide-ranging support to the Marketing and PR team, from general admin through to collating press cuttings and distributing marketing materials. It’s the perfect opportunity to build your knowledge of marketing and PR, learning to write copy, produce basic artwork and co-ordinate photography and filming and represent the Museum at events. Knowledge of PR/Marketing and an interest in the arts would be ideal – but if you have office experience, good organisational skills and the confidence to work with people at all levels, you’ll soon settle in.

Marketing and PR Assistant
£14,500 Bradford

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk  

Closing date: 10th June 2011
Interviews: 23rd & 24th June 2011

We welcome applications from all sections of the community in which we work. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and we guarantee interviews to suitably qualified disabled applicants.

We regret that we can only respond to successful applicants.
No agencies please.

Just as when you thought the world's first commercially produced camera, a daguerreotype, dating from 1839 and bearing the rare signature of its French inventor which sold at auction in Vienna last year for a record 732,000 Euros could not be broken, well think again!

An Asian collector has splashed out more than 1.3 million Euros (or USD $1.9 million), via telephone bid, for a rare Leica no. 7 in an auction held at Vienna’s Westlicht gallery, making it the most expensive camera in the world. 

The Leica from 1932 is the seventh model of a 25-part test series of cameras produced two years before they were officially released on the market. Organisers hoped the camera – described as the Rolls-Royce among cameras – might go for around 400,000 Euros. The bidding for the camera started at $286,360 and went on for 20 minutes before the auctioneer declared it sold.

No, it wasn't me as my absentee bid was outbid by a few Euros. I'm still looking for that Chinese vase in my loft ......

I saw a brief piece about this incredible photographer on the 'Genius of Photography' that piqued my interest. A deeply flawed individual with a troubled past. His father committed suicide when he was just a teenager and he grew into an obsessive alcoholic. Smith was commissioned to spend three weeks photographing the steel workers of Pittsburgh but ended up staying three years. In terms of jobs over running I suspect that this must be a record. I have written a little about him on my blog. More importantly there are links throughout the post that will enable you to find out more and there is a good clip I found on youtube.

This is one of his most famous photographs that closed the 'Family of Man' exhibition curated by Edward Steichen and is clearly sentimental but is touching especially as this is a photograph of his children. He died with 18 dollars in the bank but leaves a lasting legacy for future generations of photographers.  

Ghost Signs.

No not photographic proof of things that go bump in the night but faded adverts painted on the side of buildings. I have spent almost a year photographing the many near my home in South London. Please click on the above link to see a few examples and there is a link at the bottom of the page providing information about the history of this fascinating subject. 

The Project Photograph Conservator, a member of the library staff supervised by the Director of Preservation and Conservation Services,  will assess and perform treatments on damaged or at-risk photoprints, film- or glass-based slides and negatives, and cased photographs. She or he will also advise the Director of Conservation regarding treatment of photographs and may research and recommend improved storage options for photographic materials.

This is a part-time, limited-term position (Monday-Friday, 21 hours per week, one year).

Primary Responsibilities:

- Develop conservation plan for working with material in the Grant Collections.

- Perform conservation and preservation tasks on variety of Photo types including (but not limited to) all types of cased photographs, albumen prints, cellulose negatives, silverprints, glass negatives and slides, colored prints, 35mm film.

- Assisting with decisions on long-term preservation and developing conservation plan for working with the collections in the NEH grant.

- Contribute to collection inventories and finding aids regarding items treated for mold.

Job Requirements:

B.A. in an art or science field (or equivalent experience), and conservation training or experience specifically in photography preservation required; experience working with 19^th Century  photographs preferred, including, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and albumen prints.  Strong organization and communication skills; familiarity with a variety of computer applications preferred. Must be able to lift 40 pounds.

Details of the application, including contact details, can be found here. Good luck, especially in lifting the 40lbs!

ZeitagTO, a free app available for the iPhone and iPad, aims to pull local history out of climate-controlled government archives and into the hands of those who are curious to see the Toronto that was by showcasing various images based on your location within the city.

Gary Blakeley, a graphic designer who emigrated to Canada from England in 1987 hired a developer, and slowly populated the app with more than 500 images from the City of Toronto Archives, which was supportive of the project. Zeitag TO pinpoints where you are on an interactive city map of Toronto and displays historical photographs nearby and includes more than five hundred photographs of the city dating from the nineteenth century to the 1980s. Each is shown with the date and street. Tap the screen and the text bars disappear to show the image full screen. Tap the Info icon to reveal archival information, geographical coordinates, and any original caption. Some locations have photographs from several eras, allowing you to scroll forward or backward through the decades.

The official press release can be found below, and further details here.

Zeitag%20TO%20Press%20Release%202011.05.25.pdf

Photographing the City builds on the
success
of
the
2009
Visual
Literacy
Series
–
Staging,
Manipulation
and
Photographic
Truth. This
year
there
will
be
two
major
events
based
on
Photography
and
the
City.

Andy
Golding
and
Eileen
Perrier
will
focus
on
how
to
think
through
the
production
of
photographic
projects,
how
to

contextualise
the
city,
its
development
and
inhabitants
and
consider
ways
in
which
the
city
and
its
social

conditions,
(housing,
work,
poverty,
war),
cultural
trends
(music,
film,
fashion)
and
artistic
production
can
be

represented
through
photography.



They
will
discuss
the
genres
of
documentary,
urban
landscape,
street
photography,
fashion,
photojournalism,

conceptual
art
and
constructed
photography
in
representing
city
themes.
Informed
by
significant
historical

images,
beginning
with
Henry
Fox
Talbot's
photograph
of
the
construction
of
Trafalgar
Square,
they
will
show
the

development
of
student
work
from
their
summer
school
“Photographing
London”
leading
to
the
most
fascinating

and
revealing
images.
The
teaching
and
learning
experience
has
evidenced
a
structure
to
creative
practice
and

has
resulted
in
a
valuable
and
growing
archive
of
city
based
photography.




Tom
Hunter
will
talk
about
his
own
photographic
practice
and
how
it
responds
to
the
city.
His
work,
which
focuses
on
his
 local
neighbourhood
of
Hackney
in
East
London
covers
topics
including
the
representation
of
marginal
groups, such
as
squatters
and
travellers
within
the
city.
His
work
also
sets
out
to
document
the
changing
face
of
the
inner
city
by
looking
at
council
estates
through
their
architecture,
the
residents
and
their
histories.
He
will
also
be ooking
at
local
businesses,
which
chart
the
different
waves
of
immigration,
which
have
made
such
a
powerful mpact
on
the
history
and
development
on
the
East
End
of
London.
http://www.tomhunter.org 




Marco
Bohr
Representing
Tokyo. Marco
Bohr's
presentation
will
focus
on
the
different
approaches
used
by
Japanese
photographers
to
represent the
megapolis
Tokyo.
From
the
student
uprisings
in
the
late
1960s
to
the
post‐recessionary
period
of
the
1990s, the
photographic
representation
of
Tokyo
is
inextricably
linked
to
social,
political
and
ideological
shifts
in
Japanese
society.
Marco's
talk
will
focus
on
how
photographers
utilized
photographic
techniques,
such
as blurriness,
high
key
printing
or
overexposure,
to
create
a
subjective
vision
of
a
dense
urban
landscape.
The varying
impressions
of
Tokyo
project
a
cityscape
that
is
fluid,
evolving
and
multifaceted.
Marco
is
currently completing
his
PhD
on
Japanese
photography
of
the
1990s
at
the
University
of
Westminster.




Rut
Blees
Luxemburg
will
talk
about
her
photographs
which
explore
the
public
spaces
of
the
city,
where
the
ambitions
and unexpected
sensual
elaborations
of
the
‘modern
project’
are
revealed
and
contested.
In
her
photographic
work
she
brings
to
light
the
overlooked,
the
dismissed
and
the
unforeseen
of
the
urban
complex
and
creates immersive
and
vertiginous
compositions
that
challenge
prevailing
representations
of
the
city.
Her
large‐scale photographic
works
expand
the
concept
of
the
common
sensual
in
relation
to
urban
public
space
and

representation.
Rut’s
work
has
been
exhibited
internationally
and
included
in
key
publications
and
exhibitions
on

contemporary
photography
and
art.
Her
monograph
‘Common
sensual’
collects
the
artist’s
work
including
her

collaborative
forays
into
opera,
literature,
architecture
and
urban
culture.
www.rutbleesluxemburg.com  


The event takes place on 18 June
2011
at the University
of
Westminster, 35
Marylebone
Road,
London,
NW1
5LS,
(Opposite
Baker
Street
Tube
Station), London

RPS
Members
and
Students
£15/Non
Members
£20


To book call reception on 01225 325 733 or email reception@rps.org

The Harry Ransom Center annually awards over 50 fellowships to support projects that demonstrate the necessity of substantial on-site use of its collections by applicants. The fellowships support research in all areas of the humanities, including literature, photography, film, art, the performing arts, music, and cultural history. 

When Harry Ransom purchased the Gernsheim Collection in 1963, he acquired what was then the largest privately held historical photographic archive in the country. It included what is is now acknowledged to be the world's first photograph - Niepce's first permanent photograph from nature, dating from 1826-1827. Along with additional manuscript material and items relating to Niépce's early experiments, the Gernsheim Collection contains outstanding examples of the earliest attempts at making photographic impressions, as well as much of the finest photography from the Victorian era to the twentieth century, as represented by the work of over twelve hundred photographers.

The 2012-2013 Research Fellowships, ranging from one to three months with various stipends, have been announced and details can be found here. The deadline for applications is 1st February 2012. 

Well, folks, this is your chance to head to the good old US of A, delve into this amazing archive and sample some Texan hospitality at the same time!  Good luck!

Photo: Color digital print reproduction of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce's c. 1826 heliograph
View from the Window at Le Gras. Harry Ransom Center and J. Paul Getty Museum.

RE: Two Postgraduate Grants to Attend Polar Visual Culture: An International Conference

Dear Colleagues,

                        The School of Art History at the University of St Andrews is offering two small grants of £100 each to eligible postgraduate students from outside higher education institutions to attend the forthcoming conference Polar Visual Culture: An International Conference. This conference will take place on June 17^th and 18^th in St Andrews, and is open to all interested participants. For further information and a programme, please visit the conference website at http://www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/newsandevents/pvculture/

In recognition of the costs associated in attending this event, the Royal Historical Society has provided these funds for postgraduate students to defray some of the costs associated with travel and accommodation. We would welcome a short email from postgraduate students eager to attend this event and working in any field or endeavour related to the broad themes and concerns of this conference. Please send a short statement by Friday June 3^rd to Dr Luke Gartlan at lg321@st-andrews.ac.uk 

The grant funds will be provided after the conference on submission of original receipts. We invite all those interested in the issues associated with this conference to join us in St Andrews.

Kindly,

Dr Natalie Adamson and Dr Luke Gartlan (co-organisers)

When thinking about homeless people and beer, negative connotations can’t help but arise in your mind. However, this may all change as members of Cambridge's homeless community have created a series of photographs using pinhole cameras made from beer cans. Photographer Mark Woods-Nunn worked with members of the charity Flack to make the cameras.

Each camera was made by removing the top of an empty beer can, fitting a new lid and making a hole in it with a pin. A piece of photographic paper was then put inside the can. Installing the cameras at locations throughout Cambridge and taking a minimum of 3 months to develop, the images come with high expectations, and they do not disappoint.

Entitled "Pinholes & Portraits", the exhibition was held over two days this week at The Chesterton Tower, Chapel St, Cambridge. A news report can be found here.

Photo:  Three-month beer can exposure revealing the sun's journey across the sky. Copyright: Flack

Projects to catalogue the picture archives of the renowned East End photographer Phil Maxwell and the Morning Star newspaper, formerly the Daily Worker, have been started by archivists in the City of London. The collections are being made ready to go online by the prestigious Bishopsgate Institute.

Phil Maxwell has been photographing London’s East End for more than 30 years and has agreed to work with the institute to digitise his large collection of negatives which show the social, political and cultural life of its people. The archives contain 20,000 images of protest, politics, social conditions and international affairs from the 1940s to the 90s.

Images appear on the institute’s website as the projects progress: www.bishopsgate.org.uk/librarycatalogue.aspx

Photo:  Two women at Percy Ingle, Whitechapel 1985, copyright Phil Maxwell.

Photographs by legendary photographer Harry Hammond celebrating the birth of British rock are part of a new exhibition now on show.  Hammond, who died aged 88, in 2009, was the first great photographer of British rock’n’roll, chronicling the first decade of that music, up to and including the emergence of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

For nearly two decades starting in the late 1940s, Hammond captured the definitive images of virtually every leading British musician, as well as many of the visiting American artists. From Tommy Steele to the Beatles, Shirley Bassey to Dusty Springfield, he captured the emergence of British rock 'n' rollers. First circulated through the New Musical Express, his work set the standard for pop photography for following generations.

Entitled "Halfway to Paradise: The Birth of British Rock Photography" , the exhibition comprises over 100 of Hammond's photographs which takes visitors back to the birth of British rock. It includes a great soundtrack and interactives which explore the music, musicians and fashions of the time.  It has been drawn from the from the V&A Theatre and Performance collections.

If you want to get rockin', details of the exhibition can be found here. And an obituary of Hammond can also be read here and here.