Blogs

Shining Lights is the first critical anthology to bring together the groundbreaking work of Black women photographers active in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, providing a richly illustrated overview of a significant and overlooked chapter of photographic history. Seen through the lens of Britain’s sociopolitical and cultural contexts, the publication draws on both lived experience and historical investigation to explore the communities, experiments, collaborations, and complexities that defined the decades.

The innovative and diverse work created during this period spanned documentary and conceptual practices, including the experimental use of photomontage, self-portraiture, staged imagery, and photography in dialogue with other media. Shining Lights showcases the breadth of this work, illuminated by ephemera and archival material, historical essays, and roundtable conversations. First-hand experiences and critical reflections are provided by new writings by pioneers of the period, including Pratibha Parmar, Roshini Kempadoo, and Symrath Patti, alongside a foreword by Sonia Boyce. Taous Dahmani’s concluding essay provides a summary of key issues from an art historical perspective.

Amongst the fifty-seven photographers included are Maxine Walker, Ingrid Pollard, Claudette Holmes, Mohini Chandra, Carole Wright, Sutapa Biswas, Maud Sulter, Brenda Agard, Anita McKenzie, Mitra Tabrizian, Poulomi Desai, Virginia Nimarkoh, Nudrat Afza, Merle Van den Bosch, and Eileen Perrier.

Edited and researched by Joy Gregory, one of the period’s most influential photographic artists, alongside art historian Taous Dahmani, Shining Lights is an unparalleled contribution to the study of photography and the experiences of Black women artists.

Shining Lights: Black Women Photographers in 1980s–90s Britain
Joy Gregory (editor)
Autograph and Mack Books
£60.00
Order: https://autograph.org.uk/shop/shining-lights-black-women-photographers-in-1980s-90s-britain-1168

Photo London has announced that it will be celebrating French photography with an exhibition The Magic Art of French Calotype. Paper Negative Photography 1846–1860, curated by Robert Hershkowitz. Its title references Francis Wey’s pronouncement in 1851 that “Photography has attained a magic feeling that neither painting nor drawing could have reached.”

Hershkowitz explains the appeal of these early images: “When the pursuit and acquisition of fine photographs became the common passion of a very mixed group of art savvy individuals and American and Canadian museums in the late 1970s, early French paper negative photography was considered the most desirable, the images the most intriguing intellectually, the prints the most delectable. This exhibition introduces this body of photographic work to a British audience; it is almost non-existent in British institutions with perhaps a few dozen examples buried among hundreds of thousands of British ones, and these never exhibited.”

The exhibition will be on show duering Photo London which will show at Somerset House, London from 16-19 May 2024

Details: https://photolondon.org/photo-london-2024-details-revealed/

Image: Charles Nègre, Street Vendor, c.1852. Courtesy of Robert Hershkowitz Ltd. 

The work presented here is the result of a collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and Disruptive Print, then part of the Centre for Print Research at the University of the West of England. The National Portrait Gallery approached us when they were looking for someone who could help them to print colour images taken by Madame Yevonde in the 30s of the last century. Madame Yevonde was the most famous user of the VIVEX process, the photomechanical reproduction process for colour photographs before the second world war in the UK. The VIVEX process was a commercial method and therefore only ill documented. What we know is that the images were taken through red, green, and blue filters on black and white film and then printed by layering pigmented gelatine layers in cyan, magenta, and yellow in top of each other, but how exactly is lost. We will discuss the registration of the three negatives and possible printing methods.

Designed by the Société française de photographie and supported by the Ministry of Culture (Department of Photography/Delegation for Visual Arts/Directorate General for Artistic Creation), ICONOS PHOTO is a portal dedicated to research in French photographic collections and archives. Accessible to all free of charge, ICONOS PHOTO is designed as a work and exchange tool for researchers, photography professionals, curators, independent curators, restorers, students and any public interested in the medium. Through this sharing of data and knowledge, it aims to unite a community around the question of photographic heritage, to offer a showcase to the collections, and to stimulate research into the history of photography.

It was opened in December 2023 and the ICONOS PHOTO directory is a search engine for photographic collections, funds and archives preserved by French heritage institutions. Designed as a referral tool, its objective is to share data in a single tool that allows users to find their way through the funds and be directed to the right institutions for their research. It cross-references information generated by institutions in the form of descriptions of their funds.

The project gives access to the collections of the Société française de photographie, Musée Nicéphore Niépce, and Archives départementales de la Mayenne.

Details: https://iconos-photo.fr/

Spanning eight weeks, this course introduces and explores key themes concerning the photographic sector now. From topics such as curatorial strategies, working with young people and the impact of digital, each session goes behind the scenes at The Photographers’ Gallery to consider what it means to present and work with photography in the 21st century.

Together we will think through the opportunities and obstacles of engaging with diverse photographic practices to push the boundaries of how we interpret the image. Taking place weekly at the Gallery, sessions include a blend of lectures, visits to the Gallery, group discussions and presentations. Each week will feature guest contributions from TPG staff, photographers and artists.

Inside Out: The Workings of a Photographic Gallery (2024)
In person, 1 February-28 March 2024
London: The photographers' Gallery
Led by Dr Sara Dominici
Book: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/inside-out-workings-photographic-gallery-2024

There have always been unacknowledged or under-acknowledged forces that operate around photography. Some of them are human, like family members, camera assistants, darkroom personnel, curators, editors and the like. Others are non-human, like algorithms, chemicals, equipment of various sorts and transportation. The explosion of AI has pushed the field of photography studies to once again consider the practices surrounding photographs, but has at the same time neglected existing assistants like the skills force, the editors, image technicians, programmers, curators, and historians that enable and narrate photographic making. In the face of so many assistants, the primacy of the photographer as a central person through whom we understand photography recedes.

For this conference we would like speakers to consider the role and agency of human and non-human assistants in the making, collecting and dissemination of photographs. We look for papers from diverse methodological perspectives that not only enlarge the notion of the photographic assistant, but also consider the role of those assistants (or that assistance) in the formation of photographic practices, images, archives and histories.

We welcome 15-minute papers on topics that address themes like (but not limited to):

• Technological, physical or chemical photographic assistants
• Catalysts like War and Conflict, the Environment, and Race as assistants to photographic practices
• Non-human assistants and AI
• Senses as photographic assistants
• History of assistants and their changing roles
• Agency of the Assistant
• Issues of authorship
• Practice as a collaborative endeavour
• Supply lines and transportation

Please send paper proposals to phrc@dmu.ac.uk by Friday the 2^nd of February 2024, embedding in the document your name, contact details, up to 5 keywords and institutional affiliation (when applicable).

Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University
Conference: 17-18 June 2024
Hybrid event, Online and at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Details: https://photographichistory.wordpress.com/annual-conference-2024/

This new exhibition will explore the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day.

Examining the relationship between the sitter and the photographer, as well as the change in status of both the photographer and photography itself, the display will feature over 150 stunning portraits of the Royal Family.

More details to follow when available

Royal Portraits: A century of photography
17 May-6 October 2024
London: King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
See: https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/royal-portraits-a-century-of-photography/the-queens-gallery-buckingham

Sometime off, but worth making a diary note for is this forthcoming exhibition from Tate Britain. Travel back to the 1980s in the UK through an exhibition spotlighting photographers, collectives, and publications that responded boldly to the tumultuous Thatcher era. Amidst race uprisings, miners' strikes, section 28, the AIDS pandemic, and gentrification, witness the power of photography as a catalyst for social change and artistic experimentation.

The images capture the essence of protest and societal shifts, amplifying voices of marginalised communities such as the Black arts movement, queer experience, South Asian diaspora, and women. Delve into the influential photography journals like Ten 8 and Cameraworks and explore the impact of collectives like Autograph ABP, Half Moon Photography Workshop, and Hackney Flashers.

Photographing 80s Britain: A Critical Decade
Tate Britain, London
21 November 2024 - 5 May 2025
https://www.artfund.org/explore/exhibitions/2024/11/21/photographing-80s-britain

Image:  © Paul Trevor, Outside police station, Bethnal Green Road, London E2, 17 July 1978

Following a recent Court of Appeal ruling on UK Copyright law art historian Dr. Bendor Grosvenor, a long-standing campaigner on academic image use, has written an interesting article in The Art Newspaper on how the case affects image fees and UK museums where the original artwork is itself out of copyright:  https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/12/29/court-of-appeal-ruling-will-prevent-uk-museums-from-charging-reproduction-feesat-last

He adds more detail in a thread on his Twitter (X) feed, including feedback that he has subsequently received from the National Gallery and the Tate: https://twitter.com/arthistorynews

It may well also interest map and photo historians.

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BPH editor's note: The ruling clarifies that copyright cannot be reinstated for straight copies of out of copyright 2D works of art. In Grosvenor's words: "It means these photographs [of 2d artworks] are in the public domain, and free to use." However, with instititutions and galleries acting as gatekeepers for their collections the supply of high res files is likely to remain something that they continue to charge for. Any low (and rarely high res) files online or available for download of out of copyright work are now free to use. 

The basis for this is in Lord Justice Arnold's (THJ Systems v Sheridan, 2023), ruling that, for copyright to arise: “What is required is that the author was able to express their creative abilities in the production of the work by making free and creative choices so as to stamp the work created with their personal touch... “his criterion is not satisfied where the content of the work is dictated by technical considerations, rules or other constraints which leave no room for creative freedom”. As Grosvenor summarises: "if the aim of a museum photograph is to accurately reproduce a painting (which it must be), then it cannot acquire copyright." He concludes: "For art history, this is a judgement where everyone wins."

As I noted earlier, with instititions still controlling supply - and the conditions of use - then there may be little change in the cost of using images in publications, online, and especially for commercial use. The argument from institutions is that reproduction fees support digitisation programmes, the staff and photography departments needed to deliver photography, and the servers and tech infrastructure that make them available. There is now perhaps a stronger argument for publicly funded digital imagery of out of copyright material to now be made freely available in high res versions. For some commercial picture libraries this ruling may undermine parts of their business model, although they have tended to be better at watermarking and limiting material to low res images, and with a commercial remit have been under less pressure to change. Publicly-funded institutions have less of a defence.   

Institutions in the United States are ahead of the UK in this area with many making reproductions of their artworks (including photographs) freely available in low and high res versions for non-commercial use, and some even allowing commercial use. For photography where reproductions of the same artwork may appear in different collections US collections continue to be the first port of call for those seeking to reproduce material. 

There are several legal summaries and this is one of the more useful: https://www.vennershipley.com/insights-events/originality-in-copyright-a-review-of-thj-v-sheridan/

Dr Michael Pritchard

UPDATE: 

BAPLA has published its response to the case, reminding us that copyright and image fees are two separate things. See: https://bapla.org.uk/statement-from-bapla-on-thj-v-sheridan/

I posted during the year a notice about the talk I was giving at the extant 19th Century Darkroom at Strokestown Park House in Strokestown, County Roscommon, Ireland. The talk was well received and was repeated again at the site in late October. Also in October I gave a revised version of the talk online to the Research Group of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain (PCCGB). That version of the talk has now been posted on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3tokUD-FGY&t=2178s

Comments would be greatly welcomed, particularly as regards the techniques employed by the photographer Henry Pakenham Mahon, some of which are described in his notebooks which survive. Of particular interest are the use of the exposure tables in Burton's Photographer's Notebook and also his use of Fitch's film which was relatively new in the late 1890s and early 1900s. 

London-born photographer Bert Hardy (1913-1995, UK) was an influential English press and documentary photographer known for his work as chief photographer for Picture Post magazine. Born into a working-class family in Blackfriars, Hardy was self-taught and worked as both a combat photographer and an advertising photographer during his illustrious career. 

Discover the key moments in Hardy’s unparalleled career – from self-taught news and sports photographer, to serving combat cameraman, renowned Picture Post photojournalist and successful advertising entrepreneur.  

As well as historic material from his work for Britain’s leading photo-magazine, Picture Post, this retrospective includes photographs during his time in the Army Film and Photographic Unit, including imagery from the Blitz in London to the liberation of Bergen-Belsen and war in Southeast Asia.  

Hardy’s extensive social documentary work in mid-century Britain in cities including London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Belfast, Tyneside and Glasgow, his travels across postwar Europe and images from the many conflicts he reported on will be on show, alongside a rich selection of material from Hardy’s archive, complemented by some of his lesser known colour work.

The archive, now held by Cardiff University, includes press passes, correspondence, diaries and original publications, as well as camera equipment. 

Bert Hardy: Photojournalism in War and Peace
Friday, 23 February 2024 - Sunday, 2 June 2024
London: The Photographers' Gallery
See: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/bert-hardy-photojournalism-war-and-peace

Image: Sugar Ray Robinson, 1951. © Bert Hardy

Sean Sexton is the subject of an interview by Orla Fitzpatrick on RTE's website and a television documentary. The interview focuses on Sean's collection of photographs of Ireland, arguably the most important of such material anywhere in the world. The collection of over 20,000 images spans the history of photography covering post-famine Ireland right through to the turbulent revolutionary years. The collection will be the subject of a forthcoming RTE documentary.

As Orla notes: 'Sexton's collection includes all formats, genres and processes, from early salt-paper negatives and once-off daguerreotypes through to snapshots and spy cameras. Portraits, landscapes and even nudes are in the collection.'  He began forming the collection from 1973, later funded, in part, by his purchase in Bermondsey market of a trove of photographs by Charles Jones. 

The collection has been featured in two books and is still awaiting a permanent home in Ireland where it rightly belongs.  

Framing Irish History - The Sean Sexton Collection will be screened on RTÉ 1 on December 28th at 6.30pm and on RTÉ Player

Read the article here: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/1217/1422502-sean-sexton-photos-collection-ireland-history/ 

Print World magazine has an interview with Stuart Humphryes who posts on Twitter using the handle BabelColour @StuartHumphryes discussing his book The Colors Of Life which was published in September. Humphryes  discusses his practical approach to enhancing the colour of early images. 

See: https://www.printweek.com/content/features/reliving-the-colours-of-an-earlier-world

Tony Richards writes on Instqgram... Deep in the uncatalogued depths of The John Rylands Library sits original photographic plates of the vast collections. These are 12x16 inch plates of a Persian Manuscript, but the box labels I found of interest. R W Thomas & Co Limited, Dry Plate Factory. Originally a chemist, R.W. Thomas began to specialise in photographic goods in the 1850s. Later, the company began to produce dry plates, including one of the first nonhalation plates. These, if I remember rightly, mention nonhalation somewhere elsewhere on the packaging.

The Imaging Archive Project will start in January 2024. We aim to eventually catalogue, clean, digitise, rehouse, and create metadata of the full collection for investigation and comparison when linked to recent digital capture versions of the original works.

#johnrylandslibrary #librartspecailcollections #library #heritageimaging #digitisation #collectionsmanagement #photoconservation #metadatahttp

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1FI-SAoC_L/?igshid=YzZhZTZiNWI3Nw%3D%3D

This new publication, Veins of Influence. Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra is now available to purchased. The limited edition hardcopy of  Veins of Influence is available now at the iconic DAUNT BOOKS on Marylebone High Street and DAUNT online  Daunt Books- Veins of Influence. 

Ebook available on Amazon Kindle

"An impactful and far reaching contribution to the field of photography and visual impression."

The government's Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme and Cultural Gifts Scheme (CGS) enable UK museums, galleries, libraries and archives to acquire significant objects, in most cases at no cost to themselves. Managed by the Arts Council of England the 2023 report has just been published and there are two entries of particular interest to BPH readers. All applications and need to meet the Waverley pre-eminence criteria which is used in assessing objects offered under both schemes:

1. Does the object have an especially close association with our history and national life?
2. Is the object of especial artistic or art-historical interest?
3. Is the object of especial importance for the study of some particular form of art, learning or history?
4. Does the object have an especially close association with a particular historic setting?

The two photography collections are: 

• The Bernard Howarth-Loomes collection of early photography has been accepted in lieu of tax. The daguerreotypes; daguerreotypes made into jewellery; a plate scene of Niagara Falls by Platt D Babbitt; ambrotypes and tintypes; cartes-de-visites, including the portrait by Robert Howlett of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, set against the background of the chains of the Great Eastern; and pre-photographic equipment. Bernard Howarth-Loomes (c.1931-2003) was a photographic collector specialising in stereoscopic views. This collection encompasses many different photographic techniques including 13,000 stereographs and early and rare images. It provides a unique learning opportunity for the study of the history of photography and optical science, particularly stereography. It also provides a social insight into how the Victorians explored their world and how they chose to present themselves to their friends and family.
  
  The Panel considered the collection from the estate of Ethel Alma Howarth-Loomes, pre-eminent under the first, second and third criteria, in acceptable condition and fairly valued. The collection has been permanently allocated to National Museums Scotland in accordance with the condition attached to its offer.

• The Janette Rosing collection of photographs of Cornwall. This Cornwall and Scilly Isles-focused collection was carefully selected by Janette Rosing (1942-2021) over a 50-year period and comprises over 3,800 photographs dating from the early 1850s to the early 1900s. There are seven rare photographs by or attributed to Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902) as well as a range of images not held in other public collections. The topographical nature of many of the photographs in the collection offers a visual history of Cornwall over the 19th century. The photographic postcards from the early 1900s provide social-historical insights into recreational and leisure activities in the region.
  
  The Panel considered the collection, accepted from the estate of Miss Janette Rosing, pre-eminent under all four criteria, in acceptable condition and fairly valued. It has been permanently allocated to Kresen Kernow in Cornwall in accordance with the condition attached to its offer. 

Read the full 2023 report and case studies here

Dogs have been a subject matter within photography since it was first introduced. Was this by hapless accident or have dogs been a central theme within photography since the beginning and why? Looking at the parallel trajectory of dogs (most notably pedigree dogs) and photography in Great Britain, Heidi Hudson, Curator of Photographic Collections at the Royal Kennel Club, will examine the role the dog plays out in early photography as subject matter, muse, prop, and symbolic representation.

Heidi Hudson is Curator of Photographic Collections at the Royal Kennel Club and holds a Master of History of Art with Photography from Birkbeck College. Heidi is a specialist on Victorian dog photography as well as contemporary dog photography. Heidi manages all photography on behalf of the Kennel Club including the world-famous Crufts dog show. Heidi owns a Portuguese Water Dog named Bob.

Lunchtime Lecture: Promoting the Dog through Photography- The making of man’s best friend in early British photography
Thursday, 8 February 2024 at 1300-1355
Free
Book here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/1pxJ5oVv1b/p23096-lunchtime-lecture-dog-photography-feb-2024

Image: W. G. Campbell, 'The Lesson', 1856, albumen print. Print taken from the 'Photographic Album of the Year, 1857' RPS.1211-2018. The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund.

Dancing Through Time: from Pop to Punk in the City of Derby is an exciting new heritage project, made possible thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which will explore the social clubs, dance clubs, dance movements and music scenes in Derby from the 1960s to the late 1970s.  

In preparation for a series of FORMAT related exhibitions in 2024 and 2025 showcasing the project, Déda and QUAD are asking for help from the people of Derby and Derbyshire. They’re asking for those involved in the dance, clubs and music scene in Derby between 1960 and 1979 to submit any photos, memories and memorabilia they have of the venues, the people or anything that captures the overall feel of the scene. Were you there, or did you know someone who was? 

The project hopes to bring these venues alive once again and allow people to share memories while making sure this period of social change in the city is never forgotten. Due to this, an online archive will also be created with the images and is due to be launch in mid 2024. 

To get involved with the project, scan and share your images, memorabilia and stories via the online form, by emailing oceanf@derbyquad.co.uk or by following the @DancingThroughTimeDerby Instagram page and submitting  your images using #IWasThereDerby. Updates on upcoming public events will be announced periodically via the QUAD and FORMAT newsletters, social media and websites to stay tuned and get ready to dance through time. 

Image: Dancing on the stage at Clouds,1966. Photo: Eric Chapman

This two day course, led by Laura Clarke Oaten, will provide an introduction to Photopolymer Gravure plate making and printing. The course will allow participants to expose, develop and print their own plate using imagery they have bought with them, be it a drawing or a photograph. Once the plate has been made, they will learn how to print their plate, and leave with a beautiful original print of their own making.

Participants of the course will leave with their own hand printed artwork. They will also have a good understanding of the process of photopolymer gravure which would give them the confidence to return for future workshops, or to enter any print room and know what to do.

Introduction to Photopolymer Gravure Printing
Led by: Laura Clarke Oaten
Course Duration: 2 Days, 10am to 4pm
Dates: 18th & 19th April 2024
Price: £249.00 full price / £199.00 concessionary price
Details and booking here

Photographer Arai Takashi was born in the late 1970s in the Japan of the Cold War. During his youth he was exposed on a daily basis to representations of nuclear technology in films, anime, manga, and novels. The zeitgeist of the Atomic Age and its inseparable fears of an apocalypse formed the background sentiment of his childhood, while nuclear power plants mushroomed in the Japanese islands under the slogan ‘Atoms for Peace’. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, followed by the Fukushima nuclear accident, was the first moment when his worst fears seemed to come true after Japan retreated into the amnesia of the bubble and post-bubble economy.

Since he started to make frequent visits to Fukushima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and other nuclear sites in Japan and the US, he has been considering the complex disparities between the different levels of narrative told by individuals, communities, and nations. Like Svetlana Alexievich (awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature), he asks how we can break out of our shells and expand our imaginations to encompass the invisible, global, and multi-generational threats of nuclear catastrophe.

In this talk moderated by Simon Baker (Director of MEP: Maison Européenne de la Photographie and former Senior Curator, International Art at Tate), Arai will discuss his interdisciplinary approach to nuclear issues utilising the uncertainty of the daguerreotype, one of the earliest photographic techniques, and the instability and fragility of his body and mind as an individual artist.

The Daguerreotype at the End of Our World
18 January 2024
Live event: 1800-1900
Daiwa Foundation
See: https://dajf.org.uk/event/the-daguerreotype-at-the-end-of-our-world