Blogs

Impressions Gallery is hosting a seminar alongside its exhibition Invisible Britain: This separated Isle. Why does photography have a duty to ethically represent people from marginalised communities? How can photographs change stereotypical media narratives around class, and in particular working class identity? Is socially engaged photography the key to producing authentic and trustworthy visual representations of people and communities?

Join photographers Amara Eno, Ciara Leeming, Joanne Coates and filmmaker and curator Paul Sng for a lively and informative discussion. 

Invisible Britain: Photography & Representation
Saturday 8 October 2022, 1400-1530 (BST)
Tickets are ‘pay what you can afford,’ suggested donation of £3 or £5
Book: https://www.impressions-gallery.com/event/invisible-britain-photography-representation/

Katherine Howells at The National Archives has written a blog post on photography in India. She starts: In the second half of the 19th century, photography began to flourish in many areas of the world, including India. New photographic societies were established and amateur and professional photographers, both Indian and British, began to expand their activities and set up photographic studios.

With the 1862 Fine Arts Copyright Act, photographers and studios were able to secure copyright protection for their photographs in the United Kingdom. Photographers working in India took advantage of this opportunity, particularly when they intended to sell photographs abroad. The copyright records we hold at The National Archives therefore provide us with a small window into the photographic industries flourishing in India in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Marking South Asian Heritage month, this blog explores how commercial photography took off in India in the 19th century and highlights photographers appearing in the copyright collection who were part of this story.

Read the full blog post here: https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/early-photography-in-india-tracing-photographers-through-copyright-records/

Heritage Open Days taking place across British from 9-18 September 2022 include events relating to photography. The RPS is throwing open its building and holding a series of events around its own history;  Reading's role in the history of photography is explored, and Derby's W W Winter studio will be opening. 

Separately, the RPS is also running an Anthotype workshop on 17 September. Details here.

Take a look at these events and search for others here

The RPS events can be booked here: 

An enquirer is seeking information on the photographer Ted Reed, who did publicity stills for the 1955 Laurence Olivier film Richard III. Does anyone know anything about him or his studio? Two of his portraits from the 1940s are in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Please respond here or message directly. 

Dr Grant Scott has announced that 12 August will be the first Bill Jay Day. Look out for articles, photographs and more to celebrate a remarkable man. 

#BillJayDay

In a message to friends and colleagues Dr Catherine Troiano has announced that she has re-joined the V&A Museum, London, as Curator of Photography, with a focus on contemporary and digital practices. She was previously the National Trust's inaugural Curator, Photography. That role has been filled by Anna Sparham. 

She was at the V&A Museum as an assistant curator from 2015-2018 and then Curator, Photographs from September 2018.  She completed her PhD at De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre. 

Catherine's 2019 appointment at the Trust was announced here: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/national-trust-appoints-troiano-as-national-photography-curator in 2019. 

The Public Engagement Research Fellow will spend the equivalent of one month (can be worked flexibly) at Pennine Heritage conducting research into an area of our archives, which will then form the basis for a public engagement activity. Our archives have been under-studied in relation to the history of science, so the Fellow may be the first researcher to explore some of these collections. The Fellow will report to our Heritage Manager, who will provide training as required in archival research, object handling, exhibition production, digital content production, and schools programming. There is potential for research into several areas of our archives, including:

• The national and global trade networks of local textile firms
• How the textile industry has shaped the landscape of the Calder Valley
• Pioneering local female photographers Alice Longstaff and Ada Westerman
• Vernacular Architecture in the Calder Valley
• Design and technology within the Birchcliffe Centre, the Grade II Listed former Baptist Chapel which Pennine Heritage owns and operates
• Local nursing and healthcare provision in the 20th century

Research topics are not limited to this list, and we welcome applications which engage with other areas of our archives. If you are unsure whether our archives contain enough material for your proposed research topic, feel free to contact our Heritage Manager, Dr Francesca Elliott, at admin@pennineheritage.org.uk and she will be happy to discuss your proposed topic.

Once appointed, the Fellow will work with our Heritage Manager to create a more detailed research plan, and to decide which type of public engagement output will best fit their research topic. Public engagement outputs could include: school learning packs, school group activity, online exhibition, online educational resource, in-person exhibition, short film, walking tour.

Details here: https://www.pennineheritage.org.uk/british-society-for-the-history-of-science-public-engagement-fellow/

Anna Sparham has been appointed the National Trust's National Curator, Photography. She has been doing the role for five months on a temporary contract for maternity cover. This has now been made permanent. She takes over from the inaugural curator Catherine Troiano.

Anna was previously freelancing based in her home city of Birmingham where she helped establish the Argenta Gallery . Before that she was curator of photographs at the Museum of London from 2006-2019. She continues to be a co-director of the Developed in Birmingham CIC. 

See: https://annasparham.wordpress.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-sparham-b7041664/?originalSubdomain=uk

The National Stereoscopic Association's Sessions on the History of Stereoscopic Photography are a free conference-within-a-conference presents international scholarship on the history of stereoscopic photography. In 2022 the Sessions on the History of Stereoscopic Photography at the 48th Annual 3D-Con will feature the following presenters and topics:

• Arched Tops and Chamfered Corners. Mr Denis Pellerin, London Stereoscopic Company
• The Stereoscopic Picturesque. Dr. Bruce Graver, Providence College
• Drawing in 3D: The History and Techniques of Constructing Stereoscopic Illusions by Hand. Dr Rod Bantjes, St. Francis Xavier University
• "The Stereoscopic Photograph" and "The Traveller": What We Learn from Underwood & Underwood's Failed Magazine. Dr Leigh Gleason, UCR Arts
• Food as a Racialized Subject in the Nineteenth-Century Stereoview.  Dr Melody Davis, Russell Sage College
• Manuel Gonzales, Underwood’s Mexican Stereographer of the Congo. Dr Neal Sobania, Pacific Lutheran University
• Images of Transylvania from the 1910s: Two Amateur Stereo Photographers. Dr Zsuzsanna Szegedy-Maszák, Hungarian National Museum
• America in 1940 in 3D color: The Mysterious Collection of Clyde A. McCoy. Dr Michael A. Amundson, Northern Arizona University
• Virtual Public Space Contested - Will the plaza survive in VR? Dr Rebecca Hackemann, Kansas State University

3D-Con 2022 - 48th Annual Convention • August 1-8 • Hotel Murano • Tacoma, WA. 
The history sessions take place on 5 August 2022 in two sessions: 
Session 1 - 8:00-9:55 AM PDT (1600-1755 BST),  Session 2 — 10:15-12:20 AM PDT (1815-2020 BST)
Details: https://3d-con.com/history.php

This is event is live only, although registration online is closed, attendees can register in person. 

This post is an opportunity to join The National Archives for a one-year research fellowship in photography. The Fellow will conduct original research into our photography collections – one of the largest and most significant collections of photographs in the United Kingdom, which covers the historical timespan of the medium. They will work collaboratively across departments, engaging historical, conservation, and heritage science expertise to activate new, interdisciplinary insights into The National Archives’ photography collections.

The Fellow will be embedded in the Research and Academic Engagement team, and guided by and work alongside our Collection Care experts and Records Specialists to develop their project(s).

See more and apply here: https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1803269

This summer, as part of its 75th-anniversary celebrations and in partnership with the BFI and Rio Cinema, Magnum presents an interrogation of its photojournalistic archives via film in a series of screenings and discussions. 

Magnum Photos is hosting its first UK Film Festival: Refocusing the Lens: from the Centre to the Margins from 30 July 30–3 August at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, London. The festival presents an interrogation of Magnum’s 75-year archive through five film screenings and discussions, each zooming in on issues of ethics, underrepresentation, and positionality behind the lens.

Organised as part of BFI’s Film Feels Curious, a UK-wide cinema season, the programme explores photojournalism and the urge to document global issues through the lens of curiosity — conscious of the outrage, empathy, and moral compulsion that drives the profession, as well as the voyeuristic, exploitative, and detached aspects that can accompany its undertaking.

The festival showcases work by four Magnum photographers from four locations: Khalik Allah in the USA, Chris Steele-Perkins in East Africa, Susan Meiselas in Central America, and Patrick Zachmann in the Mediterranean. Each film will be shown alongside relevant works by a wide range of local filmmakers.

The festival ties into the agency’s 75th-anniversary celebrations — centred around the theme ‘In Dialogue’ — and delivers a programme that offers layered perspectives on the same events and locations in a manner that questions, rather than accepts, traditionally privileged gazes. Each screening will be followed by an audience discussion session, led by acclaimed thinkers and professionals across the cultural sphere such as Zoé Samudzi, Dr. Errol Francis, Onyeka Igwe, Jamie Davis, Taous R. Dahmani, Dr. Arthur Asseraf, and Ileana Selejan. Bayryam Bayryamali & Abiba Coulibaly, festival organisers, state: “In our first film festival in London, we wanted to offer audiences a peek into the diverse collection of work produced by Magnum photographers across various continents. By pairing each film with work produced by a local filmmaker, the programme aims to examine the complexities and challenges of representation, the
power of the camera, and il/legitimate agents writing, shaping and sharing histories.”

Find the full festival programme here. Tickets are now available to purchase on the Rio Cinema website.

The book is a developed history of the radiological sciences – covering the back-story to Röntgen’s discovery, the discovery itself and immediate reception the early days of radiology leading to classical radiology (the pre-digital world). The 1970s as the ‘golden decade’ of radiology will be covered in detail, with the development of CT, MRI and modern interventional radiology. It will appeal to interested members of the public, to those working in the field, and to historians of medicine and science.

Invisible Light. The Remarkable Story of Radiology
Adrian Thomas
CRC Press, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-367-34426-9 | £31.19
A 20% discount is available using the code FLE22 at checkout here

Whilst making the film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay, United Nations of Photography Founder and Curator Dr Grant Scott spoke at length with Sue Davies OBE the founder of The Photographer’s Gallery not only about her memories of Jay, but also about the founding of her gallery. In this edited audio from that telephone conversation Davies explains exactly how it came about and why she decided to establish her gallery for photography and photographers in 1971.

In this audio Sue explains how and why The Photographers' Gallery was founded: https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2022/07/21/audio-sue-davies-obe-explains-how-and-why-the-photographers-gallery-london-was-founded-in-1971/

Color Photography in the 19th Century and Early 20th Century: Sciences, Technologies, Empires is a new working group that has been established to propel a rising field of research: colour photography in the 19th and early 20th century in order to reconfigure, expand, and problematize its role in the history of the discipline and in the historical contexts out of which it emerged. Presentations within this working group center on the material and epistemological connections between colour technologies, empires, and visuality, as well as the interdisciplinary ties between photography, other media, and neighbouring disciplines.

The convenors are Janine Freeston and Dr Hanin Hannouch

 Membership is free and a monthly series of online meetings is in preparation. 

Register: https://www.chstm.org/content/color-photography-19th-century-and-early-20th-century-sciences-technologies-empires

Image: https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/autochromes-the-dawn-of-colour-photography/

For roughly 150 years, people have been accustomed to seeing photomechanical prints on a daily basis. Prints exist in a variety of milieus with multiple variations over time, use, and geography. Historic and contemporary examples are prevalent in museums, libraries, archives, and personal collections worldwide. Photomechanical prints were developed to fill many needs including practical and economical methods for mass reproduction, techniques to facilitate the simultaneous printing of images and text, increased image permanence, a perception of increased truthfulness and objectivity, and an autonomous means of artistic expression. They exist at the intersections of numerous disciplines: photography and printmaking, functional and artistic practices, the histories of photography and the graphic arts, and the specialties of paper and photograph conservation.

Proposals are welcome across disciplines and a broad range of subjects that reflect the diversity of the field. Practitioners and scholars at any stage of their career are welcome. Proposals may investigate the following questions as well as other topics:

• What were the desires driving the creation of photomechanical printing processes?
• What are the historic and contemporary contexts for their creation and use?
• What is their place in the history of printing or the history of books? 
• Who are the inventors? What is the early history?
• How have race and gender been represented in and affected by photomechanical print media?
• What impact do these categorizations have?
• Who takes care of these prints? How are they preserved?
• How have fine artists used photomechanical processes?
• How have views on value and collecting of photomechanical prints evolved over time?
• What are the approaches to cataloging, description, and terminology? 
• What can instrumental analysis, characterization, and data science tell us about these prints?  
• What printers are working with these processes today?
• How are these processes taught today? How is knowledge obtained and transferred?
• How are historic processes being adapted to contemporary needs? 
• How are lost processes revived and reconstructions made, and to what aim is this being done?
• What is the future of photomechanical printing?

Proposals should include a 500-word abstract and a 150-word biography. Presentations will be approximately 20 minutes in length and will be delivered in person in English. Speakers will be required to provide a recorded version of their talk after the symposium to include for a limited time in a virtual program for paid registrants.

A link to the proposal submission form is coming soon - check back at the beginning of August! The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2022. Notifications of proposal status will be sent via email in January 2023. Accepted speakers will be provided with complimentary symposium registration (registration to workshops and tours not included) and a travel stipend.

Email learning@culturalheritage.org with any questions.

This gathering will take place October 30 - November 3, 2023, and will consist of a three-day symposium, hosted by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., flanked by two days of optional hands-on workshops and tours of local collections. The program will provide an opportunity for conservators, curators, historians, scientists, collections managers, catalogers, archivists, librarians, educators, printmakers, artists, and collectors to convene and collaborate while exploring all aspects of photomechanical printing. The resulting advancement of our collective understanding of these ubiquitous but under-researched materials will allow for new interpretations and improved approaches to their collection, interpretation, preservation, treatment, and display.  

Details of the call and event can be found here: https://learning.culturalheritage.org/p/photomechanical#tab-product_tab_overview

The Photographers’ Gallery is the UK’s leading centre for the presentation and exploration of photography in all its forms and home to an international community of photographers. Founded in Covent Garden, London, in 1971, the Gallery has been instrumental in championing photography’s pivotal role in culture and society and securing its position as a leading art form, through an inspiring and diverse programme of exhibitions, talks, events, workshops, courses and other activities for anyone interested in photography and its place in the world.

We are now seeking an exceptional candidate to join us as our Director and lead the Gallery in its next chapter. Reporting to the Board of Trustees, the Director will be responsible for the strategic direction of the Gallery including the vision and practical delivery of its artistic programmes. The Director will lead and inspire our staff and volunteers, oversee the continued development of our successful commercial and fundraising activities, and champion the Gallery and the medium of photography in the UK and internationally.

The ideal candidate will bring nuanced knowledge and experience of photography as a medium, and an understanding of constantly evolving and emerging forms of photography in a digital world. They will have a balance of creative and strategic mindsets, experience of successfully engaging diverse audiences, and a deep commitment to the values and ethos of the Gallery. In addition to this, candidates should bring an international outlook and an understanding of public cultural organisations, both within the UK and globally.

The Photographers’ Gallery is passionate about the enormous benefits of a diverse organisation. We actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds with different experiences, skills and stories to join us and influence and develop our working practice. We are particularly keen to hear from global majority candidates, and candidates who self-identify as disabled.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to The Photographers’ Gallery on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference PABEKA. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon on Thursday 11th August 2022.

A rare - probably unique - British travelling photography studio, previously used by the photographers John and  Walter Pouncy of Dorchester from the 1860s is to be offered at auction on 4 and 5 August 2022. It is estimated at £8,000-12,000.

The studio was made for the Pouncy firm and travelled the county. Pulled by horses it offered a studio with glass roof, small waiting area, entry and exit doors and steps, and darkroom. It still retains original fittings for holding background rolls.

The studio is believed to be the only British example in existence. After it was sold by the Pouncy firm it was remained in use by a succession of photographers and was located in Swanage for many years. The current owner, also a photographer, purchased the studio and hoped to find a permanent home for it, while allowing it to travel and retaining its original and to continue to function as a studio. It is complete but needs some restoration and conservation work.  The studio is well documented with the original plans surviving.

John Pouncy is best known for his work uniting lithography with photography met which culminated in his publication in Dorsetshire Photographically Illustrated (1857) – the first English publication ever to feature photo lithographic illustrations.

Michael Pritchard writes: "I had the privilege of seeing the studio in the summer of 2021 and meeting its current owner. It is a remarkable survival. Entering felt like stepping back 130 years. Although the current owner's hope of restoring and retaining it as a travelling studio were not able to be realised, it has been lovingly looked after. It deserves a new home where it can be preserved and shown, ideally in Dorset, and be used as a studio, telling its remarkable story and that of the Pouncy business and nineteenth century photography."  

The auction is being held at Charterhouse, The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne Dorset although the studio remains onsite at Wareham from where it will need to be collected. Pending the oublication of the catalogue museums and prospective buyers should contact Charterhouse Auctions at The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne. T:  01935 812277 or e:  info@charterhouse-auction.com 

More information on the Pouncy studio can be seen here: https://www.opcdorset.org/fordingtondorset/Files2/JohnPouncy1818-1894.html

See: https://charterhouse-antiques.com/as-pretty-as-a-picture and a short film here: https://youtu.be/qX8nHuxHmts

The lot can be seen here: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/charterhouse-auctions/catalogue-id-cav10357/lot-71d1acab-5e68-4010-87f2-aee0011a89e4

Main photographs: © Michael Pritchard, 2021.  Historic photograph courtesy of Charterhouse Auctions

The Kraszna-Krausz Foundation has announced the shortlists and winners for the 2022 Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Image Book Awards. Both the winning and shortlisted titles have been chosen as exemplary demonstrations of originality and excellence in the fields of moving image and photography book publishing. The titles from these books explore a range of themes and address wide-ranging issues such as gender, race, radical politics, and diverse
perspectives on the history and production of filmmaking. Each prize category winner is awarded £5,000.

What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843-1999 sheds light on photobooks created by women from diverse backgrounds, and addresses the glaring gaps and omissions in current photobook history—in particular, the lack of access, support and funding for non-Western women and women of colour. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of classic bound books, portfolios, personal albums, unpublished books, zines and scrapbooks,
ranging from well-known publications to the more obscure.

Speaking about the winner of the Photography Book Award, judge Renée Mussai said: “Rigorously researched, generously illustrated, and ingeniously designed, this is an extraordinary publication which not only fills an essential gap and missing chapter in photographic scholarship, but importantly foregrounds the creative pursuits of a diverse
constituency of women, whose significant contributions to global photobook historiography still too often remains invisible.”

Published by The Whitney, The Films of Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné 1963-1965 focuses on Warhol’s film works from the years 1963-65 during a time where the renowned artist produced hundreds of film and video works - short and long, silent and sound, scripted and improvised. The book features over 100 individual works which are catalogued in detail and
combined with enlightening essays that cover Warhol’s influences, his experimentation with film, source material, working methods and technical innovations, as well as his engagement with the people he filmed and how they came to life on the screen.

Details: https://kraszna-krausz.org.uk/