Blogs

The Star newspaper reports on Simon Robinson's collection of photographs taken by street photographers which is 'exciting' officials at the National Media Museum which is organising an exhibition on them in 2012. A book is also being published.

Simon Robinson had been collecting old photos for more than three decades when, two years ago, his sister noticed something rather peculiar. Among the thousands of snaps bought in bulk from antique shops, jumble sales and postcard fairs were hundreds of strikingly similar pictures of people walking along town streets. They featured different subjects in different places from different decades but the style was always virtually identical – person mid-stride, rarely looking at the camera, urban-life carrying on all around them.

“I hadn’t noticed the similarities before,” says the 57-year-old of Stannington. “But I was fascinated – especially because some were clearly taken in Sheffield. I had no idea what the connection was.” Two years on, his quest to find out has seen him travel across the country, discover hundreds more photos, and will, this year, result in a unique book which is already exciting officials at Bradford’s National Media Museum... The full report can be found here: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/a_brisk_walk_down_memory_lane_1_4176252

Simon is still looking for more ‘walkies’ for the book. If you have one which might be suitable email admin@easyontheeye.net or call 0114 233 3024.

Colin Harding, Curator at the National Media Museum has undertaken extensive research into 'walkies', the photographers and companies which led to the exhibition Sunny Snaps. 

If you happen to be in Jo'burg this summer, do try and pop into this unique museum located on the top floor of Museum Africa along Bree Street, Newtown. Established in 1968, the collection includes more than 400 antique cameras, 5,000 photographs and 2,000 photographic books, dating back to 1860 - all of these were part of a 30-year collection donated to the museum by Dr Arthur Bensusan, an amateur photographer and one-time Johannesburg mayor, in 1968.

It houses spy cameras from the 1800s, a camera that once belonged to Winston Churchill, as well as what may well be the first official war photograph, a Crimean War scene taken in 1854. There is also a display on the development of cinematography. For those research/ephermera fans, there is a specialised library filled with photographic cuttings, pamphlets, journals, books and magazines on the work of photographers, their equipment and processes and techniques. The book collection is broad and includes reference works, how-to guides in many fields, and a large collection of the published work of photographers.

One of their star attractions on display is the negative of the oriel window in Lacock Abbey by Fox Talbot.  It was purchased by the City of Joburg from Bensusan back in 1970 for R860.

Details of the Museum can be found here.

How do we tell the story of photography’s beginnings? Who invented the medium? When and where was the first photograph made? What shaped the earliest ideas about and conventions of photography? Why do we ask such questions?

Friday, April 27, 2012
9:30am-5:30pm

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Teleconference Lecture Hall, Alexander Library

169 College Avenue

New Brunswick, NJ

Participants: Jordan Bear, University of Toronto; Mirjam Brusius, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and University of Cambridge; Marcy Dinius, DePaul University; Anne McCauley, Princeton University; Terry Matilsky, Rutgers University; Julia Munro, Georgia Institute of Technology; Stephen Pinson, New York Public Library; Beth Saunders, CUNY Graduate Center; Shawn Michelle Smith, Art Institute of Chicago

Introductions by organizers Tanya Sheehan and Andrés Zervigón, Rutgers University

Sponsored by the Center for Cultural Analysis, School of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Vice President for Research at Rutgers University.
 
For more information, please visit http://cca.rutgers.edu or contact developingroom@gmail.com.
  
Photography&its Origins Poster

If you want to know what the connection is, then have a read of this interview with Brian May, whose exhibition is currently on at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.

Organised in partnership with the National Media Museum and featuring photographs from the Collection of The Royal Photographic Society, this new exhibition to be held at the Holburne Museum in Bath surveys the many ways in which photographers have explored still life.

Entitled Art of Arrangement: Photography and the Still Life Tradition, it includes photographs by Ansel Adams, Harold Edgerton, Roger Fenton, T R Williams, Edward Steichen, William Henry Fox Talbot and Madame Yevonde, as well as contemporary photographers such as Chris Killip and Don McCullin.

Details of the exhibition can be found here, and the 3 accompanying exhibition talks are also listed in the Events section. The talks include former RPS Curator Pam Roberts talking about Roger Fenton.

Photo: Dessert, about 1923. Frederick G.Tutton. The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum

Brass, a Leeds-based marketing agency, has been appointed by the National Media Museum to help it launch and attract visitors to the museum new gallery called Life Online which will open in March 2012..
Life Online will be the world's first gallery to explore the social, technological and cultural impact of the internet and web. It will trace the history of the internet, show how it has changed people's lives and track the latest trends.

Brass is engaged to work with the National Media Museum, to devise digital content and social media strategies that will generate physical footfall to the gallery and provide long term interaction with various digital exhibits being created to keep the Life Online content up to date and relevant to changing trends and technological advances.

Mark Kelly, Andrew Brown and Ally Manock from Brass are also part of the Museum's Life Online Advisory Panel tasked with informing elements of the exhibition content and audience marketing.

Commenting on the creation of Life Online, Tom Woolley, curator of new media at the National Media Museum said, "Life Online is an exciting project which will be powered by ideas, thoughts and opinions of physical and virtual visitors to the gallery. We hope to create an invaluable and continuous public archive of society's relationship with the internet and web."

Mark Kelly, digital solutions director at Brass said, "This is a fascinating assignment for Brass to be associated with and will ensure that we remain at the forefront of knowledge with regard to the evolution of the internet and web based communications and how they change and impact on people's daily lives".

The National Media Museum's London presence, MediaSpace, at the Science Museum moves a step closer. A contract has been issued for preparatory works at the Science Museum:

• Enabling works contract - located at Science Museum London.
• Reconfiguration of 4 existing galleries on 2nd floor of Museum.
• Erecting hoardings.
• Demolition of existing walls and removal of existing steel mezzanine structure.
• Removal of existing false ceiling.
• Strip out of mechanical and electrical installations.
• Removal of all waste from site.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is pleased to offer a two-year advanced training fellowship in the conservation of photographic materials beginning in the fall of 2012. Under the supervision of the Conservator of Photographs, the Fellow will participate in all departmental activities including examination, documentation, analysis, and treatment on the Carter’s extensive collection of photographs, and will contribute significantly to the institution’s program of exhibitions. In addition, the Fellow will conduct research on the collection and is expected to produce a formal paper before the end of the appointment based on research completed during the fellowship.

The Fellowship will provide excellent hands-on treatment experience and practice in conservation management for the museum’s collection. By participating in all the departmental activities, the Fellow will gain professional experience in the conservation of photographs while commencing a conservation career.

The Fellowship includes a competitive stipend with monthly study/research/housing allowance. Office hours will be scheduled Monday through Friday (no telecommuting).

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. As such, the museum pledges to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual preference, national origin, disability, or status as a veteran.

The application deadline is February 13, 2012. Send cover letter, resume, and two letters of recommendation to HR Manager, 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107 fax 817.665.4315 or to human.resources@cartermuseum.org. Further details can be found here.

In case any BPH readers are researching on this late Victorian and Edwardian postmistress/assistant chemist, but who enjoyed photography as a hobby in her spare time, the West Derby Society has a collection of 156 of her original glass plates which gives a strong female slant on life in northern England more than a century ago. She focused mainly on fashions, children and characters including men in uniforms!

The Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona seeks an experienced, creative, and effective leader for its internationally renowned acquisition and exhibition programs. The Center is the world's largest archive repository and research center for the study and appreciation of modern American photography that reaches an international audience through an active exhibition and loan program. The collections include 100,000 fine prints by over 2,000 artists, 5 million photographic archive objects (negatives, contact sheets, manuscripts, and other documentation), oral history and other media materials, and a library of rare books, journals, artists' books, and exhibition catalogs.

As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, the University of Arizona recognizes the power of a diverse community and encourages applications from individuals with varied experiences and backgrounds.

Details of the job description, requirments etc can be found here. Post (Job No: 49311) will remain open until filled. Good luck!

Further to this earlier blog, this remarkable collection of 109 Antarctic photographs as seen through the eyes of Captain Scott as he documented the first part of his epic journey to the South Pole will now be saved for the nation by the Scott Polar Institute thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund which enabled their acquisition - exactly 100 years to the day since his expedition reached the South Pole!

The photographs themselves were printed in the Antarctic by members of Scott's team as they waited for his return from the Pole, and for most of the past 70 years were considered lost.  Many pictures of the expedition were taken by the official photographer Herbert Ponting but these are the only photographs in existence taken by Scott himself. The pictures have been owned by a private enthusiast in America for ten years before being saved by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), at Cambridge University, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). They are being unveiled today to mark the 100th anniversary of the expedition reaching the pole.

Thanks to a previous HLF award, the original 1,700 glass-plate negatives of Herbert Ponting's photographs were bought by SPRI in 2004. The acquisition of Scott's own photographs brings the two collections together for the first time, making this the largest photographic record of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910 – 1912.

The purchase of the photographs by SPRI will allow the images to be reunited with Scott's camera, which was given to the Institute by the late Lady Philippa Scott in 2008. Once they have been fully conserved, the photographs will be digitised and made available online.

You can read the original HLF press release here and SPRI's here, and a news article here, with exhibition details here.

The Royal College of Art will be holding a number of special events throughout this year to celebrate its dodransbicentennial (that's 175th years to people like me who needed to check wikipedia!). This will include exhibitions, alumni events in the USA and UK, and the publication of a history of the RCA written by Fiona McCarthy. Neville Brody, Dean of the School of Communication, has designed the special 175 anniversary logo, which will be used throughout the year.

Of interest to BPH readers might be the New Masters' programmes coming on stream in 2012 which includes one on History of Photography & Film, Moving Image, and Documentary Animation.

Purpose of the Job

Delivers day to day records and enquiries management duties including:

•efficient processing of enquiries;

•facilitation of retention of corporate information held in paper and electronic records current and closed;

• facilitation of compliance with regulatory and legal requirements and information rights legislation across NMSI; and

•provision of advice and easy and appropriate access to information for internal and external researchers.

Key Deliverables/Accountabilities

1.Supporting delivery of efficient and legally compliant records management and enquiries service congruent with national museum and non-departmental public body status.

2.Operates within extensive statutory and regulatory framework.

3.Provides advice and appropriate access to information to all NMSI staff and visitors.

4.Contributory care for the physical care and organisation of the corporate record (c 80,000 paper records and for electronic records as they are established).

5.Promoting the service across NMSI in order to ensure buy-in from all teams.

6.Supervision of volunteers on specific projects.

7.Technical advice regarding records management and access to information issues.

8.Take care of own personal health and safety and that of others and report any health and safety concerns appropriately. Ensure proactive compliance with NMSI H&S Policies, including risk assessments and implementing safe systems of work.

Working Relationships and Contacts

•Corporate Information and Enquiries Manager (line-manager) and Head of Corporate and Collections Information (CCI) for direction, guidance and support.

•Liaising with colleagues in CCI team and the wider Information Group to receive and provide support and advice and to work on joint projects.

•Staff at all levels of NMSI to provide advice and guidance on access to information issues and records management.

•Supervision of volunteers and interns regarding specific records management projects.

•Providing support to members of the public regarding enquiries or granting access to paper records.

Line Management and Budget Responsibility

Directly line manages: 0

Indirectly line manages: 0

Contractors/freelancers: 0

Budget Holder of £ 0

Candidate Profile

Experience

•Sufficient experience to be able to undertake records management tasks without direct supervision.

•Familiarity with the main elements of records management theory and practice and best practice standards including legislative requirements for access to information enquiries.

•Ability to work methodically with an analytical approach to problem solving taking the initiative within policy and precedent.

Skills, Knowledge and Relevant Qualifications

•Good written and oral communication skills to obtain and impart knowledge

•Knowledge of legislation, guidance and directives governing records management and information rights and an appreciation of their impact

•Good working knowledge of standard information technology packages and their applications and the ability and willingness to adapt to new systems

Behaviours

•Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills

•Pays meticulous attention to detail

•Ability to use judgement and make decisions within policy and precedent

•Supportive and collaborative team working style

•Ability to follow procedures and protocols consistently

•Actively explores ideas for improvement

•Takes pride in delivering work to a high standard

•Uses initiative

Scope for Impact

The NMSI Corporate Information & Enquiries Team delivers best practice records and enquiries management procedures which support effective administration across NMSI. Such policies and procedures, incorporating a robustly operated Retention Schedule and Publication Scheme, ensure efficient use of resources – both staff and space – and facilitate appropriate access to information in the spirit of transparent operations.  The jobholder delivers core functions which underpin our status as a national museum and ensure accountability and legislative compliance and operates within an extensive framework of statutory obligations and responsibilities. Failures in this area could result in administrative and regulatory lapses and potential legal and/or financial liability.

Please note:

•This job description is not exhaustive and amendments and additions may be required in line with future changes in policy, regulation or organisational requirements, it will be reviewed on a regular basis.

•This role is subject to a Disclosure Scotland basic criminal record check.

National Museum of Science and Industry

Job Details

Job Title: Corporate Information and Enquiries Officer, NMSI

Department:      Corporate & Collections Information, NMSI

Location: NRM and NMeM

Reports to: Corporate Information and Enquiries Manager, NMSI            

Date:     7 December 2011

Please apply via our recruitment website https://vacancies.nmsi.ac.uk

Closing date is 22nd January

Interviews will be held on 10th February

Maternity Leaver cover for 6 months

Based at National Railway Museum in York and the National Media Museum in Bradford

Location:              National Railway Museum York and National Media Museum Bradford

Category:            Administration

Salary:   £16,500

Type of Contract:             Contract

Hours:   Full Time

added: Jan. 12, 2012       deadline: Jan. 22, 2012

More information

Downloads: http://www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/jobs/job/2425/

Below are details of the Courtauld spring term programme for the Research Seminars which relate to photography Seminars are free and open to all. They will be held at The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN – unless stated otherwise.

• Monday 9 January – Sylwia Serafinowicz (The Courtauld Institute of Art): Photography and Temporality at the First Biennale of Spatial Forms in the Polish People’s Republic (Elblag, 1965). 6.00pm, Research Forum South Room
• Monday 6 February – David Low (The Courtauld Institute of Art): Moments of Crisis: Photographs of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-16. 6.00pm, Research Forum South Room
• Tuesday 10 January – Professor Christopher Pinney (University College London): Gandhi, Camera, Action: Popular Visual Culture and the Graphic of Iterability. 5.30pm, Research Forum South Room
• Wednesday, 22 February – Jan Banning (photographer): Bureaucratics and Other Unorderly Subjects. 5.30pm, Research Forum South Room
   
• All seminars are free and open to all

Further information : http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/calendar.shtml

Research Forum

The Courtauld Institute of Art

Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

.... no, I meant, wrong!

That's what one might encounter when trying to research one's family tree, especially names, as most of us only change our surnames on marrying, say, or by reverting to a maiden name on divorce. For example, in the cabinet photo on the right, it’s assumed that the elderly couple belonged to Jarrow, as that was the address of the photographer, called Whinfield. For the younger pair in the photo below, it's assume, were Shields folk, as behind the camera in this instance was Robert Carling, whose studio was in King Street.

In Victorian times, changing your name was very difficult as the strict marriage laws made it almost impossible to get a divorce. According to an expert in family history research, “One of the easiest options to get out of marriage was to desert your partner, so don’t just assume that if a person appeared on the 1881 census and not on the 1891 census that they had died, especially if you can’t find a death between those years.

If you find all this rather confusing, but might help with your photographic research, then do attend a fascinating series of talks coming up in South Shields, sponsored by the South Tyneside branch of the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society (NDFHS), in partnership with the Local History Library. The first, next Wednesday, January 18, is on William Dring, who was born in South Shields and who was one of the first convicts to be transported to Australia. The talk, by the NDFHS’s John Stobbs, also promises to be useful in that it will provide information on how to access online information, other than parish records, before state registration, and will give a short overview of the criminal justice system in the 18th century. 

William Dring and Other Australian Convicts takes place at South Shields Library Theatre next Wednesday, from 2.30pm to 3.45pm. Admission is free. For further information contact the Local Studies Library on 0191 424 7860. 

You can read the rest of the article here.

Similar in concept to HistoryPin, a local San Francisco resident, Dan Vanderkam, has overlaid photos taken from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection onto a Google map of San Francisco to create a searchable, historic database.  The San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, located in the San Francisco History Center, contains photographs and works on paper of San Francisco and California views from 1850 to the present.

To start using Old S.F., just pull the sliders along the top to adjust the date the photos were taken (starting at 1850 and ending at 2000) and then click on one of the red dots to see images from that location. It's a fascinating journey through some of San Francisco's most famous (as well as its most intimate) landmarks - witness the chaos and destruction that followed the 1906 earthquake, or watch the elegant Golden Gate Bridge as its construction slowly creeps across the Bay. It's your own personal time machine to San Francisco - and you're holding the controls.

Congratulations to Smethwick Photographic Society (the home of Midland Photography) which is celebrating its 90th year. It is currently holding its 37th International Exhibition of Photography at the Old School House in Churchbridge, Oldbury which they bought 12 years ago. The Society began in 1921 when an advert was placed in a local newspaper, inviting people who were interested in photography to attend a meeting at the Technical School. The Victorian Old School House was repaired and restored, and now includes a dark room, a studio, a lecture theatre and other facilities for their own and visiting exhibitions.

You can view some of the entries on the website link here.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the British Journal of Photography have uncovered that the 3 largest UK museums are using more of their resources to acquire photographic works. You can read the facts and figures in their exclusive online article here.

The National Media Museum in Bradford has started work on the world's first gallery to explore the social, technological and cultural impact of the internet and the web. Set to open on 30 March 2012 the gallery will be the first in the world to link the history of the internet with its impact on how we live our lives.

The gallery will bring together historically significant content, multimedia displays, and a programme of special exhibitions exploring contemporary trends and issues related to how the internet and the web are changing society.

The £2 million project will explore various themes, including the origins of the internet, global communications, issues of online identity and the nature of digital communities and businesses.

Life Online will be made up of two spaces in the Museum. The permanent gallery on the ground floor will reflect and interact with the story of the internet and the web, from the very first email, to the rise of home computing and the non-stop evolution of social and technological communication. It will also explore the future of the internet.

The exhibition space will showcase experimental temporary exhibitions dedicated to exploring the ever-changing relationship between society and the internet. The first Life Online exhibition, called [open source], will focus on the open source online culture of sharing and collaboration, whilst examining current threats to net neutrality which could signify the end of online culture as we know it.

Visitors will be able to actively participate with the Life Online gallery, exhibition space and online presence - through a series of interactive elements. This will enable Life Online to be powered by the ideas, thoughts and opinions of both physical and virtual visitors. This model of engagement will ultimately create an invaluable public archive of society's relationship with the internet and the web in the 21st century.

An additional purpose-built learning space will house an exciting programme of workshops and events investigating the processes of producing online content and issues surrounding our relationships with the web as we explore our online world.

Tom Woolley, curator of new media at the National Media Museum said: "We have been planning for this gallery for a long time and it is fantastic to see the building work commence for our new permanent gallery Life Online. Although other galleries tell the story of the internet, no other links that ever-evolving history with the impact the internet has on our lives and we are very excited to house the world’s first gallery of its kind here in Bradford. There are many exciting milestones ahead as we build towards the gallery opening in March 2012 and we look forward to sharing the finished gallery with visitors."

The content of the gallery has been informed by a variety of web experts and pioneers including Ben Hammersley, the UK Prime Minister’s Ambassador to TechCity and editor at large of Wired Magazine; representatives from Google and Microsoft; Freeserve co-founders Rob Wilmot and Ajaz Ahmed and Helen Milner, the managing director of UK Online Centres. A senior member of the Virgin Media broadband team is the most recent addition to the gallery advisory panel. A variety of Universities have also advised including Oxford, Bradford, Nottingham Trent, Southampton, Brunel, Manchester Metropolitan and Lancaster.

Life Online is funded by the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and the DCMS Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund. The project also has a number of corporate supporters such as Virgin Media; Brass, one of the UK’s foremost creative and digital marketing agencies; and by leading environment, brand and interaction agency Start JudgeGill who are assisting with the creation of the Life Online Exhibition space.

Image: Joe Brook, Life Online Gallery Development Manager holding a scale model of the National Media Museum foyer and Life Online gallery