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A new exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography not only reveals the tricks used in the first decades of photography to keep young clients still, but also explains the rapid advances in photographic technology during the 19th and early 20th centuries by focusing on that trickiest of subjects: the child.

Take, for example, a family portrait (No. 8) taken between 1840 and 1865. It's unusual to see such a young child in an early photograph like this because the daguerreotype method required an exposure time of several minutes. An adult could make use of neck and back supports to remain immobile, but the only way to keep a child still long enough was to put an adult in the picture to hold the child still. If you look closely, you can see that the mother and father are holding the baby's arms and legs down.

Similar techniques were used in Japan as well. In a photograph of a Japanese woman and a baby (No. 24) taken by Felice Beato, an experienced photographer who came to Japan in 1863, the baby is secured to the woman's back with a cloth. Even so, the image is blurred because the child moved his head. For a composed photograph of the interior of a Japanese home, intended for sale to foreign tourists (No. 25), Beato used a doll rather than risk a real child who might move and spoil the shot.

In addition to works by Lewis Carroll, Julia Margaret Cameron and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the exhibition includes photographs by Harold Eugene Edgerton, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology perhaps best known for capturing the corona made by a drop of milk at the moment it splashed. He used the same strobe equipment to catch his daughter Mary Lou mid-air as she was jumping rope (No. 27). There are similar juxtapositions of works by celebrated Japanese photographers including Suizan Kurokawa, Shomei Tomatsu and Daido Moriyama.

Details of the exhibition can be found here, and a full report here.

Photo: Childhood blooms: Children sell flowers in a photograph by Renjyo Shimooka (c. 1862-78). COURTESY OF THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY

In October 2010 the National Media Museum hosted the 'Niépce in England' Conference where they could announce and share with the photographic, conservation and scientific communities the ground breaking findings which had been discovered during the collaborative research partnership between the National Media Museum (NMeM) and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI).

The aim of the project is to record the ‘signature’ of every photographic process and the variants throughout the history of photography. Within the National Photography Collection at the NMeM are three early examples of photography by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and there is no better place to start on a project than at the beginning.

This new research places Niépce in his rightful place within the history of photography as it revealed new exciting evidence about the examples of photography which Niépce had brought to England to show the Royal Society of London in 1827. Photo historians had always assumed, incorrectly, that the examples Niépce brought were examples of his Heliographic process. However, scientific analysis revealed that the NMeM has examples of three different photographic processes by Niépce.

Speaker: Philippa Wright, National Media Museum

Details of the talk can be found here.

Booking for this lunchtime lecture will open later this summer - meanwhile please mark your diaries and keep an eye on the website!

If only Mrs Robinson knew - she would have bid for this 1930's photograph of a nude Joe DiMaggio in the showers at Yankee Stadium. It recently sold at auction for US$17,233 to John Rogers, owner of the Rogers Photo Archive in North Little Rock.

The Rogers Photo Archive is the largest privately owned collection of photographic images with well over 33 million images that include all photographic formats such as original vintage studio and cabinet photographs, wire and news service photos, glass plate negatives, and high quality digitals.

Details of the lot can be found here, and the Archive here.

..... A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (woo, woo, woo)

and so the song goes ...

Photo: Joe DiMaggio shown in all his glory basking in the showers of Yankee Stadium. Obviously aware of being photographed in such a state, he is seen smiling for the camera, Boudoir Photograph.

Launched in December 2010, the Collections Portal is the public side of a digitization project that will enable Web visitors to discover ever-larger portions of the Museum's collections.  It currently offers more than 62,000 photographs of New York City, thousands of which have never been available for public viewing.  And this is just a start - more photography will be added to the portal as imaging and cataloging work is completed, and the Museum has just begun digitizing the prints and drawings collections.  Be sure to use the magnifying glass icon below each picture to explore the images with the zoom feature - they captured the objects at an exceedingly high resolution, enabling you to investigate even the smallest details of these historic images.

The Collections Portal website can be found here.

The Design Museum, London, is holding a retrospective of Britain’s leading product designer titled Kenneth Grange - Making Britain Modern. Grange was responsible for designing some of the most iconic and familiar products and appliances that shape our daily lives. These include Kodak cameras such as the Instamatic range during the late 1950s-1970s. The exhibition is well worth visiting.

Correspondence between Kodak and Grange is held in the Kodak Historical Archive at the British Library.

More details are here: http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2011/kenneth-grange

The exhibition is at: Design Museum, Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD. Open: 10.00 -17.45 daily. Last admission: 17.15. Admissions: £10.00 Adults, £9.00 Concessions, £6.00 Students under 12s Free.
T: 020 7940 8790 W: www.designmuseum.org 

The photographs below show the entrance of the exhibition and part of the exhibit dealing with the Instamatic camera - which is just part of the photographic/Kodak content.  

The Edinburgh Photograph Society (EPS) was set up in 1861 (two other societies, the earliest in the world, were founded a few years previously, both also in Scotland) after the 1851 Great Exhibition in London prompted interest in the subject, and the society will next month mark its 150th birthday with a civic reception at Edinburgh City Chambers.

The EPS started out as the Photographic Society of Scotland, founded under the patronage of Prince Albert. However, a number of members found the group too formal and objected to the decision to exclude a particular photograph (‘Two Ways of Life’ by the Swedish fine art photographer, Oscar G Rejlander) from an exhibition because it featured semi-nude females.

The group began to meet informally, then in 1861 in a room behind a watchmaker's shop on South Bridge they established the Edinburgh Photographic Society. The society still meets for a weekly lecture on Wednesday nights, just as it has done for the past 150 years, though the subject matter has changed somewhat. Early lecture titles include A new tent for photographic purposes mounted on a wheelbarrow (1865) and Cycling with the camera (1886).

You can read the EPS's full history here, and a news article here.

Photo: Members of the sixth Annual Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom held in Edinburgh in 1892.

Were you a young person living in Swindon between the 1940’s and 1960’s? Did you live in the Gorse Hill, Parks, Penhill, Pinehurst or Old Town areas? Do you remember having your photo taken? If so, a £25,000 community project (with grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund) is looking for you!

Between the 1940s and 1960s, the famous Swindon photographer Albert Beaney took hundreds of pictures of local people.  A collection of about 40,000 of his negatives and prints are now held by Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, in Bath Road.

Now a social history project called Back to Black and White, based on his work, aims to track down as many people in Mr Beaney’s photographs.  A partnership between Swindon Borough Council’s Create Studio’s, Swindon Museum & Art Gallery, and Swindon Youth Forum, this project will also features the young people taking new photographs which, along with the Beaney photos, will be displayed in an exhibition at the Artsite Gallery in Theatre Square.

If you think you have a Beaney image at home or had your picture taken when you were young please do get in touch: You can call Marilyn Fitzgerald on 01793 465333 or email her at mfitzgerald2@swindon.gov.uk

The full news article can be found here.

Photo: Copyright  Beaney image - Cricklade Rd - Bob townsend end left and John Townsend end right.

The director of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film will retire in one year, on July 31, 2012, the organization announced Friday. Anthony Bannon has been director of the museum since 1996 and his 15-year tenure makes him the longest-standing director in the history of the museum. An international search will begin in coming months and Bannon will assist in the search process, Eastman House officials said.

"I am totally invested in George Eastman House and its wonderful extended family, but I feel it is time," said Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director. "We have set into place a new and vigorous strategic direction, and it is time for new energy and vision to move that forward.

“I have been saying for years that our forbearers here at George Eastman House wrote the book about the photograph and film as objects worthy of preservation, of care, and of significance. Now it comes to us to share how these work in history and culture and to use them as vehicles that can carry us to any destination we might choose."

During Bannon’s tenure the museum created three post-graduate preservation schools, alliances with museums and universities, collectors clubs in large U.S. cities and many of the most-attended exhibitions in the museum's 64-year history, museum officials said. The museum also digitized its collections and began social-media campaigns to share its collections with the world.

Bannon led an effort to diversify the board of trustees, which now has more of a national focus with many members from outside the Rochester area, museum officials said. He also led creation of collectors clubs in large cities such as New York City and Los Angeles, and has initiated plans for satellite schools in photograph conservation in South Korea and Qatar.

Bannon plans to remain as George Eastman House Senior Scholar, a title appointed by the organization’s board of trustees. He said he plans to continue working in the arts field as speaker, writer and consultant.

See: http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=188227

A new project to curate and digitise historic photography from Wales’s national collections has been made possible with the support of a £600,000 gift from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, which is marking its 50^th Birthday this year.

Natural Images - Amgueddfa Cymru’s new initiative, which begins in Autumn 2011, will involve transferring the finest examples from the Museum’s extraordinary collection of around 500,000 photographs and historic items, into an accessible digital format.

Items from the Museum’s photography collection are currently spread across several disciplines from geology and botany to social and industrial history and more recently, art. Waleshas a proud place in the history of photography and through Natural Images, the Museum will re-assess its place within the national collection, bringing together the diverse and extraordinary images to give an overview of this rich collection.

The Museums hosts works by a wide range of photographers, some anonymous and others famous like the Welsh pioneer of photography John Dillwyn Llewelyn. One of the great strengths of Wales’s historic photography collection is the 1,500 images and objects associated with Dillwyn Llewelyn. It includes original prints from the 1850s and examples of his pioneering and technically ambitious work with the ‘instantaneous process,’ capturing fleeting moments such as the breaking of a wave at Caswell and perhaps the earliest surviving photograph of a Guy Fawkes bonfire (c.1853).

Another important aspect of the collection is albums of photographs and books on photography. The Museum not only owns a first edition of The Pencil of Nature by William Henry Fox Talbot - one of the first books to describe photography, but also images by the Calvert Richard Jones, who developed his own technique for taking panoramic photographs and accompanied Fox Talbot when he toured Britain whilst working on the book.

The official press release can be found here.

Photo:  "Remember, Remember the 5th of November" 1853 by John Dillwyn Llewelyn. This image is probably the first in Wales showing a Guy Fawkes figure.

The picturesque village of Rossinière, nestling in the Sarine Valley between Chateau d’Oex and Gruyères, will be playing host to the second Alt+1000 contemporary mountain photography festival this summer. The quiet village of just 400 inhabitants is best known for its 17th and 18th century wooden chalets and other historic buildings, steep lush green backdrop and typical Pays d’Enhaut mountain culture. It was also home to French-Polish modern artist Balthus, who lived and worked at the famous Grand Chalet with his wife from 1976 until his death in 2001.

Nathalie Herschdorfer, the former curator at Lausanne’s Elysée photography museum, has been brought in to lend her professional know-how to the young festival, which will henceforth become a biennial event.

As an introduction to the contemporary works the public also has a chance to discover the very first photographs of Switzerland – French daguerreotypes by Girault de Prangey made only a few years after the invention of the camera – and the series Swiss Views by the famous 19th century English photographer Francis Frith.

If you're tempted to head there this summer to enjoy both the high life and the festival, details can be found here.

I am undertaking a part-time MA in Digital Media [September 2010 to 2012] at the School of Media, University of Lincoln.  I have completed my first year creative project - phew! - and welcome feedback.

Click on Storytelling Snaps to see my original online interactive project where you pick through the photos and hear stories that span a lifetime of memories over one man’s eighty years.  They are spontaneous stories triggered the moment I showed him family archives that were stored away. Now they have been given a digital life to a new audience whereby each snapshot shares its tale.

I was curious about how a shot captures a moment that can trigger a memory and release a story.  In Sontag’s essay Plato’s Cave (1977) for me she accurately described photographs as “experience captured” and that, in essence, conceptually inspired my project.   

These are battles that are forever etched in America’s memories. The man who captured some of the most horrific images during the War Between the States was Alexander Gardner, an intrepid Scotsman, a jeweler’s apprentice of Calvinist upbringing, a newspaper publisher, entrepreneur and photographer. Gardner’s historically significant compilation of images, his Photographic Sketch Book of the War, is one of the most acclaimed photographic books ever published, and yet little known. Published in 1866 in two stunning volumes and with an original price tag of $150, only 200 copies were ever printed, with fewer than 14 remaining intact to this day. A complete set of the works sold at Christie's in 2009 for $92,500, beating the $40,000 - $60,000 pre-auction estimate.

As America remembers the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Conflict, this publisher's (Tehrkot Media) goal is to bring this work of art and these images back to life and to make it widely available to those around the country, as well as around the world, who share their love of photography as well as the history of this great era.

This app is a faithful re-publication of Gardner's 1866 masterpiece where you can enjoy:· Alexander Gardner’s original introduction from 1866.· Beautifully illustrated title page by renowned Civil War artist Alfred R. Waud.· 100 Civil War images with accompanying captions written by Alexander Gardner between 1865-66, shortly after the cessation of hostilities.· Biographies of photographer Alexander Gardner as well as acclaimed illustrator, Alfred R. Waud.· Information on how photographers operated in the field during the early days of battlefield photography.· Analysis of a number of Civil War photographs explaining how the photographers staged them in an effort to heighten the dramatic effect of the images, which captured the essence of the War.· Share your favorite photographs with friends and family either through email or buy them a print of an image to hang on their wall.

Details of this iPad app can be found here, and if you don't have one yet - no worries - some of the images can be found here. A BPH blog on this historic book from this legendary Scotsman can be found here too.

For anyone who has an interest in public access to and interpretation of old images you might be interested in www.historypin.com which officially launched on Monday, after about a year in 'beta'.  The launch coincided with the availability of new features and also a mobile app (currently just for Android smartphones).  One of the key features is being able to discover the photographs taken at any location - including the ones taken near where you are - and visualising these both on a map, overlaid on Google Street View, and on your mobile through an interactive viewer.  Aside from the online stuff, they are doing some great community projects bringing together young and old, exploring local history through photographs.

You can find out more at www.historypin.com.  The short videos give a good flavour of how it works.

I have been having a play around and have created a tour of Kew Gardens, exploring the history of the gardens through a small selection of pictures from my own collection.

Dear Colleagues,

I seem to have lost touch with Nancy Keeler who I knew during the time that he was living in Paris, which was some time ago. If anyone knows of her current whereabouts, in the US, I presume pleas send her my contact details

Michael Gray michaelgray@imageresearch.org

The National Media Museum in Bradford, part of the National Museum of Science and Industry, is looking for a Web Producer to lead the development of its website into a dynamic and world-leading online arena for inspiring involvement in the media.
With a background in either Web Content, Web Design, Web Development, or Web Project Management, you will understand how of all of these combine to create dynamic and compelling online user experiences, and have the drive and organisation to deliver innovative and effective online solutions to the needs of the Museum and its audiences. 
With experience of managing and developing high-volume, large-scale websites you will have a thorough understanding of the use of the web in cultural, commercial and learning contexts.
Reporting to the Head of Web, you will work with stakeholders across the Museum to ensure that online work is coordinated with our brand and our wider cultural output. While you will have a pro-active hands-on approach to delivering solutions, you will also coordinate the work of other specialist members of the Web Team and external agencies. 
Passionate about digital technologies and what they can do for users, you will be a key advocate for the potential of the web within the Museum, and for the needs of the Museum within the Web Team.
For more information and full job description please contact: recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk
Closing date for application: Friday 22nd July

Job ref: 29530 
Position: Web Producer 
Organisation: National Media Museum 
Location: UK, England, Bradford 
Closing date: 22/07/2011 d/m/y
Job Type: C 
Salary: £27,000

The National Media Museum is one of the leading museums in the north of England, receiving over 500,000 visitors a year and we want you to contribute to our ongoing success.
We are expanding our team and looking for extrovert, engaging and entertaining communicators to fill these stimulating roles. With your excellent presentation and performance skills and your keen interest in media, you will help bring the galleries to life for our diverse range of visitors. As part of the Explainer team in the Learning Department you will present live shows and gallery sessions as well as use your creative skills to develop and deliver art and media based activities for families and groups. It will be up to you to ensure visitors including families, school groups and teachers have an enjoyable, inspiring and educational visit.
If you have a passion for media, for communication, and for engaging children and adults of all ages, we’d love to hear from you. These posts are 4 days per week including one weekend day and there are a variety of shifts are available. 
For a full job description please email recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

A landmark exhibition, which shows previously unpublished material from the Wittgenstein Archives and examines the role and importance of photography in the Wittgenstein family, and in his philosophical work can be viewed in Cambridge until next week.

Wittgenstein had a great interest in photography. In his writings there are numerous references to photography, which he uses to illustrate and clarify his arguments. He himself was a keen photographer and in the 1930s he created his own photo album. During his time as a primary school teacher and architect he carried out a number of photographic experiments together with his sisters and the court photographer Moritz Nähr, a friend of the family. Some of them are closely related to his philosophical work, for instance his experiment based on Francis Galton's composite photography, from which Wittgenstein subsequently developed his concepts of 'language game' and 'family resemblance'.

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was born in Vienna, at one of the summer residences of the family on the outskirts of Vienna, in Neuwaldegg, on 26 April 1889. This exhibition marks the 60th Anniversary of his death in Cambridge on 29 April 1951.

If interested, details of this exhibition can be found here, with a news article here.

William McKinney was born at Sentry Hill in 1832. Besides being a farmer, McKinney was a man of many interests with an absorbing love of the countryside. This intense interest in his own locality was carried into his hobby of photography which he took up in the 1880's. He photographed not only his family and friends but also everyday life on the farm.

Sarah Edge is Professor of Photography and Cultural Studies at the University of Ulster where she is a member of the Centre for Media Research.  A new photographic exhibition of work by Professor Edge is now open for viewing featuring images exploring the ties between Ulster and its Scots heritage, focusing on the works of McKinney. Her work involves revisiting the sites of historical photographs, re-photographing them and comparing these images against information drawn from the original photographs. It aims to create debate about how a personal and community identity can be shown through photography. She also draws upon documents held in the William McKinney archive held in Sentry Hill, County. Sentry Hill was the home of the McKinney family, who came to Ireland from Scotland in the early 1700s.

Details of the exhibition can be found here, and some background information in the pdf below:

Sarah%20Catalogue%20Design%20Download.pdf

Photo: Copyright Professor Sarah Edge