Blogs

The British Library has published a guest blog titled Revisiting Early Photography: Ethics, Legal Constructs, and the Seligmans’ Legacy. It is written by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra, Adjunct Professor at UNIMAS, Institute of Borneo Studies, Malaysia, and Associate Academic, History of Art, University of Oxford. It is an abbreviated form of a presentation at workshop held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, The British Empire in the Art Gallery: Practises, Discourses and Publics, 27 September, 2024. 

The use of photography in anthropology has a complex history, particularly when it comes to representing indigenous communities through early ethnographic research. When viewing collections such as the early 20th-century images of Sri Lanka’s Vedda community captured by Charles and Brenda Seligman, it is crucial to evaluate them not just for their historical significance but also through the ethical and legal frameworks that apply today...

Read the blog here: https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2024/11/revisiting-early-photography-ethics-legal-constructs-and-the-seligmans-legacy.html

Image: ‘The Vedda country, view from Bendiyagalge rocks’. Photograph from C.G. and B.Z. Seligmann, The Veddas (1911). British Library, T 11173, facing title page.

Dave Shrimpton is a wet plate collodion photographer who uses vintage cameras to produce his art. He cites the work of Julia Margaret Cameron as his inspiration and says that upon viewing his first Cameron exhibition his “world changed for ever”.

This exhibition is entitled Searching for Alice and uses the image of Alice Liddell, photographed by and friend of Julia Margaret Cameron, as its point of departure. Being drawn into the world of Mrs Cameron through his own Muse, Catarina Correia, Dave’s work seeks to explore the results of the often unpredictable and unique wet collodion process.

He is thrilled to be displaying such a large body of his work in one place with many images not previously seen by a public audience. Dave will further follow in the creative footsteps of Mrs Cameron by photographing the current museum staff. The sitters for many of her iconic photographs were actually servants within the household staff at Dimbola. These priceless wet plates taken by Dave will form a further element to this already exciting and dynamic exhibition.

Dave Shrimpton: Searching for Alice
until 1 January 2025
Dimbola, Freshwater, Isle of Wight
See: https://dimbola.co.uk/event/dave-shrimpton-searching-for-alice/

The PhotoLondon resource - PhotoLondon.org.uk - which has been active for many years and hosted by the Museum of London is currently offline. The Museum has recently upgraded its website and may have impacted PhotoLondon. This has been raised with the Museum and is currently under investigation. Sadly, because of the way the site is constructed the underlying data is not visible through archive.org.   

Hopefully, the site will be online before too long.

Debates on forced migration often assume that one is either a refugee or a citizen. To put it more starkly, refugees supposedly want nothing more than to relinquish their refugeeness and become instead, citizen. Accordingly, photographic representations of the journey of transformation and self-reinvention, in emphasizing a trajectory from refugee to citizen, take for granted the power of the nation-state in defining citizenship. However,  migrant justice activists, Indigenous activist-scholars, and theorists whose protest against and refusal of 'border imperialism' are dislodging the concept of citizenship from the exclusive purview of the nation-state. More than a status dispensed by the state, citizenship is enacted.

This presentation considers the visual forms that such an action might take, especially in creating the possibility of 'refugee citizenship,' a concept that critic Donald C. Goellnicht invokes to denote alternative forms of citizenship that challenge nation-state frameworks. Through a focus on diverse forms of portraiture, I consider the ways that photographic practices constitute acts of refugee citizenship. 

Photographic Acts of Refugee Citizenship with Thy Phu
Friday, 6 December 2024, 1:00 PM  2:00 PM (EST); 1800-1900 (UTC)
See: https://www.byforcollective.com/events/thy-phu

The National Science and Media Museum will partly reopen to visitors on 8 January 2025 with a public programme and newly renovated foyer space, as well as returning favourites such as interactive gallery Wonderlab and the Kodak photography gallery, alongside Yorkshire’s biggest independent cinema. The new Sound and Vision galleries will open in summer 2025.

Ahead of the full reopening, the museum’s IMAX screen will welcome audiences back from 20 December 2024, with screenings of Mufasa: The Lion King across the festive period. 
The museum temporarily closed in June last year to undergo a once-in-a-generation transformation with huge changes through a £6 million capital project called ‘Sound and Vision’, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, the museum will have two new permanent galleries, a new passenger lift and improvements to the main entrance.

The museum will celebrate its reopening weekend with a special partnership with Aardman, featuring film screenings, model making workshops and more. The museum’s team of Explainers will also be delivering free family-friendly activities with live science shows and object handling. 

Visitors will be welcomed back into the museum’s brand-new foyer space, which has been updated to provide a more flexible and welcoming space for visitors and local communities to enjoy. The new foyer includes soft seating, a redesigned shop and the popular Media Café, as well as the installation of an additional passenger lift, allowing more visitors to move around the building with ease.

The museum will also open a new temporary exhibition, David Hockney: Pieced Together, on 15 January. The exhibition showcases Hockney’s video installation capturing Woldgate Woods in the Yorkshire countryside through the four seasons, with each screen showing a different perspective of the country lane. The exhibition also explores the artistic and technical parallels of Hockney’s early ‘joiner’ photocollages, two of which are part of the museum’s collection. One of the joiners on display shows the museum in its early days as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in 1985. 

Commenting the museum’s reopening, Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the National Science and Media Museum said: “We are delighted to be reopening the museum on 8 January and can’t wait to welcome visitors back into the building. With newly transformed spaces, improved accessibility and exciting additions to our public programme, it marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey for both the museum and our community. As the year unfolds, we will unveil more exciting improvements to the museum, culminating in the summer with the launch of our spectacular Sound and Vision galleries. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be reopening the museum with the backdrop of an amazing Bradford 2025 programme, making this a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”

Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund added: “It is incredibly exciting that audiences will be welcomed back into the National Science and Media Museum in January as their doors reopen. In 1995, the museum was one of the first transformational projects in Yorkshire that received funding from the Heritage Fund, and after 30 years we have supported the museum again with the new Sound and Vision Galleries. Showcasing key objects and stories from the museums world-class collection, the new galleries are due to open later in the year, ensuring that the museum will be a star attraction of Bradford City of Culture 2025.”

The early 2025 programme will also see the return of the museum’s annual Yorkshire Games Festival, taking place from 10–23 February, including half-term activities for all the family. The festival’s industry-led Game Talks will also take place across 12 and 13 February, featuring a unique programme of talks and workshops from talented videogame developers.

As part of the museum’s regeneration project, vintage arcade Games Lounge has been relocated and transformed into Power Up. Opening in March, Power Up is still the hands-on gaming experience that has grown to be a visitor favourite, but it provides a refreshed offer designed to engage visitors of all ages. It will include a BAFTA Young Game Designers section, where visitors are invited to play previous winners’ titles and learn about the next generation of game design, as well as an opportunity to discover more about the history of the arcade.

As part of the museum’s 2025 public programme, a new interactive and immersive installation by experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast in partnership with Bradford 2025 will open in April 2025. The installation will take visitors on a multimedia ride through time and space, exploring who we are and what makes us human. With Bradford running through its DNA, the experience has been inspired by Born in Bradford, a major research programme that has been tracking the lives of more than 40,000 people across the district since 2007.

The museum’s new Sound and Vision galleries will open in summer 2025, featuring permanent displays of the museum’s world-class collections of photography, film, television, gaming and sound technologies. The new galleries will take visitors on a journey through the explosion of media technologies, and their impact on our lives. The Sound and Vision Project is a £6m capital investment, and in addition to funding received from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project also has support from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Bradford Council and the Science Museum Group, which the National Science and Media Museum is a part of. 

If any of you are in the NW of England, I'll be offering a limited number of tintype portrait sessions at our Open Studios at Leigh Spinners Mill this Saturday. Or maybe just pop along and say Hello. The kettle is always on. Sesions available via Eventbrite.

See: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tintype-portraits-tickets-1082188959309?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&keep_tld=1

Thanks

Tony

The singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died 50 years ago today, was immortalised not only by his music.

Photographer Keith Morris (1938-2005) took many of the images inextricably linked with Nick and helped create his public persona.

Keith's work including two of his Nick Drake photographs feature in the National Portrait Gallery collection, London. 

My latest Pressphotoman blogpost is a longform piece about Keith and Nick's successful working relationshop.

Keith Morris (1938-2005)

Photo credit: Keith Morris, Hampstead Heath, London, 1995. Copyright: Author's collection.

Can anyone tell me the specific camera being used here? The date is around 1843. If the man at the back is holding a darkslide (and not just steadying the camera) then it appears to be a very large format.

Joe

The Royal Society is hosting a free research seminar titled Women of science in the circle of Sir John Frederick William Herschel on Friday, 22 November 2024. The seminar is chaired by Professor Kelley Wilder. Speakers are: Emily Winterburn Godmothers to live up to: John Herschel's choices for his daughters, Rose Teanby Enlightened Letters: Sir John Herschel and women in early photography, Carolin Lange On the nature of light and colours: Spectral experiments by Mary Somerville and Sir John Herschel and Louisiane Ferlier on Hidden figures: Ada Lovelace and John Herschel.

Women of science in the circle of Sir John Frederick William Herschel
Friday, 22 November 2024, 1430-1600
Hybrid and will be recorded
Free, but registration required
https://cassyni.com/events/HWpf9q27TCpnBFACEztMVo

Co-Creating Collections for Priority and Future Audiences: Socially Engaged Photography and Small to Medium Sized Public Organisations is a new CDA between the photography department at Birmingham City University and the Open Eye Gallery Liverpool with support from Coventry University.

The CDA is a unique opportunity for a practice-based researcher to work in the context of a live national partnership project supported by an internationally recognized, cross institutional supervisory team within the context of the UK’s leading socially engaged public photography programme. Based at the Open Eye Gallery, with access to two additional national collections housed at museums across Aberdeenshire local authority, Scotland and Armagh local authority, Northern Ireland, this CDA invites candidates to think through the challenges faced by small-to-medium art organisations in how they use and build meaningful and accessible collections through socially engaged processes.

We invite candidates to explore, test and develop new methods and strategies for creatively and critically responding to and expanding upon the indicative enquiry of how artists and curators may reactivate and develop collections for new and emerging communities within the context of a smallmedium sized organisation. Located within an interdisciplinary framework of social practice, photography, and archiving, it is expected that the successful candidate will be driven to develop new knowledge within the methodological and theoretical aspects of socially engaged photography, archival research and more broadly, museology. Applicants should have knowledge or a willingness to develop/acquire skills in these fields as well as autoethnographic approaches to fieldwork and sitewriting ethnographies through a method best suited to the candidate and environments, as well as typical methodological approaches to community-engagement, such as photovoice and photo/image elicitation. Findings and outcomes that could be realised are exhibition planning/delivery, community engagement strategies and/or archival practice.

Co-Creating Collections for Priority and Future Audiences: Socially Engaged Photography and Small to Medium Sized Public Organisations
Expression of interest deadline: 15 November | Applications deadline: 13 January 2024
Details: https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Co-Creating-Collections-for-Priority-and-Future-Audiences.pdf

The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship. Please share the announcement with any colleagues or students that might be interested.

The National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship is made possible by a gift from the National Stereoscopic Association (NSA) to support research within the Prints & Photographs Division holdings of stereoscopic photography and the unparalleled photographic history collections at the Library of Congress—including over 15 million photographs, rare publications, manuscript materials, historic newspapers, and extensive subscription database access.

Fellowships will be awarded annually to be used to cover travel to and from Washington, D.C., accommodations, and other research expenses to assist fellows in their ongoing scholarly research and writing projects on stereoscopic photography, or more broadly within the field of photographic history to the extent that research is connected in some manner to the Library's holdings on the format.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, independent scholars, creators, and other researchers with a need for Fellowship support are encouraged to apply. Individuals who are not U.S. residents but who otherwise meet the above qualifications may apply and be considered for a Fellowship, contingent upon visa eligibility.

In the interest of increasing awareness and extending documentation of Library of Congress collections, Fellows are required to make use of the Library's collections, be in residence at the Library during the award period, and share information derived from their research through publication in Stereo World, a public lecture, presentation at the following National Stereoscopic Association Convention, or other event, either during their residency or within six months of completing their research at the Library. Each Fellow must also notify the selection committee if their work results in formal publication and provide hard-copy or online access to the work.

To Apply

Information about applying for the fellowship is available at this link: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/national_stereoscopic.html

Completed applications are due on March 1st, 2025. The Fellowship must be completed between September 1st, 2025 and August 31st, 2026.

Questions should be addressed to:

Micah Messenheimer
Curator of Photography
they/them

stereofellow@loc.gov

(202) 707-0591

 Image: Charles Waldack, Out for the Last Time, c. 1866. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013645419/

This proposal is for a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD which will focus on the records in photographs and film held by Imperial War Museums (IWM) of Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK during the Second World War. It will open up new perspectives and information on this largely unexplored collection by looking at how and why these images and footage were commissioned, the subjects chosen, the intended audiences and messages. It will also investigate how they have been used more recently in developing understanding and making memory.

During the Second World War, 10,000 Black men and women from the Caribbean served in the UK - in the armed forces, industry, forestry or the Merchant Navy. The majority of these volunteers responded to British recruitment drives in the Caribbean, while some, particularly early in the war, made their own way to Britain to join the fight. Although the Colour Bar had been officially lifted in 1939, many of them would experience discrimination during the recruitment process or in the course of their service.

The experiences of these people varied across the different areas where they contributed to the war effort. Many Caribbean volunteers served in the Royal Air Force, whereas the Army proved far less receptive to Black men and women serving in its ranks. Those involved in industry and agriculture experienced racial discrimination from employers, trade unions and government officials. Although the Colonial Office was keen to encourage recruitment of Caribbean men and women, it was mostly an exercise in public relations and an attempt to quell any dissent to ensure that those who served in Britain would return home ‘convinced Ambassadors of Empire’.

The PhD project will focus on the visual record – photographs and film – held in IWM’s collection showing Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK. That record was commissioned largely (though not exclusively) by government departments, including the Colonial Office, the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Supply, or by branches of the armed forces. It formed part of a wider propaganda campaign that showed Britain’s empire pulling together in a joint struggle, overlooking differences of race and ethnicity.

Our understanding of this material is, however, very limited. There is clearly much to uncover and more nuanced stories to tell. This CDP PhD will ensure that we can address this issue and bring IWM collections into critical dialogue with other national and international collections (official and unofficial), perspectives and knowledge bases external to IWM. By
way of wider context, the PhD student might also look at the official visual record of volunteers serving in the Caribbean itself, as well as in other parts of the world.

Key research questions to be addressed include:

• How and why were the photographs and film commissioned and circulated?
• What subjects did the photographers and film-makers choose and how were those subjects represented?
• Who were the intended and actual audiences?
• Where do the tensions lie between the official narrative and the actual experience of Black men and women from the Caribbean serving in the UK
• How have histories been obscured or excluded through the colonial context in which they were produced?
• How has this visual record shaped meaning making for families and communities today?
• How have these images and film been used more widely, in museums, and in education (including at IWM)?

In addition to research at IWM, the student will be expected to engage with sources held at such archives as:

• the UK National Archives
• Black Cultural Archives
• University of the West Indies
• Royal Air Force Museum
• National Army Museum
• Royal Museums Greenwich

‘Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War
IWM co-supervisor: James Taylor, Principal Curator, Public History
Funded by AHRC
Read the full call here

Vivienne Gamble has been appointed director of Edinbrugh's Stills Centre for Photography. She will start in her new role in January 2025. She takes over from Ben Harmer who moved to the National galleries Scotland as senior curator (photography) in the summer.   

Gamble is the co-founder and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Peckham 24 festival of contemporary photography. Established in 2016, Peckham 24 takes place annually during Photo London Week. With a focus on supporting new talent and experimental artists working with photography, the festival creates a vibrant takeover of a number of warehouse and gallery spaces across Copeland Park in the heart of Peckham’s South London artistic scene.

From 2015-2023 she ran Seen Fifteen Gallery, also in Peckham. Seen Fifteen’s programme was dedicated to contemporary photography, and the most recent curatorial project, The Troubles Generation, considered the legacy and impact of the Northern Irish Troubles on artists who were brought up in the shadow of the conflict. Gamble also currently lectures in photography and exhibition practice as an Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts, London.

She said: "It will be an honour to lead Stills on to a new chapter in its illustrious history as a pioneering venue that has championed photography since 1977.  As Stills approaches its 50th anniversary, I am particularly excited about the opportunity this offers to celebrate everything the organisation has contributed whilst also working on innovative plans for the future role we can play in the photography scene in Scotland, the UK and internationally."

Stills board chair Lewis Blackwell said: "Vivienne stood out in a very strong field of applicants that came forward for the role and will allow us to continue to grow our reputation for being a major centre for photography in Scotland on a local, national and international stage. Her work in co-founding the Peckham24 photography festival, and then leading it to an international reputation over the past eight years, greatly impressed the interview panel. In the curatorial strengths and executional innovation, we see an approach that indicates Vivienne can be an excellent fit for the next stage of Stills' development. We are also keen to have her organisational and entrepreneurial abilities added into our team. To follow Ben Harman in the Director role, after he did so much to advance Stills over the past decade, will not be easy. We exist in very challenging times for the arts and funding. But we are confident that Vivienne can bring great strengths and fresh energy to Stills."

https://stills.org/

Photo Oxford Festival is returning in autumn 2025 with the theme of 'truth'. At a preview event Katy Barron, festival director, previewed three exhibitions from Jillian Edelstein, Yan Wang Preston and Edmund Clark. She also noted that the Bodleian Library would be hosting a retrospective exhibition of the Oxford-based photography Paddy Summerfield (1947-2024), curated by Alex Schneideman and Paddy's family. 

The festival receives no public money and is still seeking support for its programmes and community engagement activities.

Sign up for more information at the Photo Oxford website. 

Photo Oxford
25 October-16 November 2025
https://www.photooxford.org/

Image: (Right) Paul Bullivant, chair of trustees, and festival director, Katy Barron introduce Photo Oxford 2025. (Left) Edmund Clark introduces his Cosmopolemos project that will be shown in Oxford next year.

Michel Auer, one for the most significant collectors and dealers of cameras and photography and a historian and supporter of photography, has died aged 91 years. Auer will be best known by some for his books on cameras and, latterly, for his Foundation based in Hermance, Switzerland which exhibited photographs and cameras from his collection as well as having a public presence through exhibitions and public events.

Michel was born in Zurich in 1933. After school he completed an apprenticeship as an advertising photographer in Zurich. After returning from Swiss military service he created an advertising photography studio in Geneva in 1955. In 1958, he obtained a federal master's degree in photography.

In 1960, he created the Big laboratory in Geneva, specializing in large-size photo enlargements in black and white and colour which he ran until 1975. He gave up advertising photography in 1961 and devoted himself to collecting cameras and writing books on the subject where his own photography presented the cameras as beautiful objects in their own right. In the 1970s the market for photography was still evolving and Auer was able to acquire important cameras through auctions and especially through markets where rarities were unrecognised. He was also able to secure cameras directly from their manufacturers and he acquired all the spare parts and incomplete Compass cameras from Le Coultre in Switzerland.

 In 1976, he created a stand at the Pucres de Clignancourt, Paris, flea market with Michèle Ory specializing in cameras and photographs. He married Michèle in 1980 and the two formed a strong partnership united in their photography interests and activities.

Michel created three, possibly more, significant collections of cameras which formed the basis of other museums. In 1973 Auer sold his first collection to the Provinciaal Museum voor Fotografie in Antwerp museum, now known as FoMU. The collection focused on the development of cameras and the technical history of photography and included landmark cameras alongside rarities and key display pieces. Since then the FoMu collection has been supplemented by other collections, not least that of Agfa-Gevaert.

The second sale was in the early 1990s to the JCII Camera Museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum had a significant collection of Japanese products acquired as part of its own activities but was weak in Western cameras. Auer’s collection added significant cameras from the history of photography as well as expanded its breadth with cameras from the UK, US and Europe.

His third collection was his final personal collection and includes significant cameras as well as rarities. This now sits with his Foundation.

Michel’s first books were essentially catalogues of his collection(s) and most likely acted as a catalogue to raise awareness to support a sale.  The first were produced at a time when there were very few other books on the history of the camera for collectors. His first Collection Michel Auer appeared in 1972 and eventually ended up as three volumes. It formed a go-to catalogue for collectors and auction houses assisting with identification and dating at a time when there was limited reference material.

His 1975  Illustrated History of the Camera was the first coffee-table book of cameras, beautifully illustrated with Auer’s own photographs of cameras, and it set out a useful camera history describing many rarities from his collection. Michel also collaborated with another collector Eaton S Lothrop to produce a book on disguised cameras that was well illustrated and had a depth of research from Lothrop.  With Michèle he produced an important history of amateur cine cameras. Not all his books appeared in English but they all remained key references, although often not as well-known as they should have been, pre-internet.  

Later, as Auer focused on photography he and Ory produced in 1997 a CD-Rom based resource of biographical information of photographers based on the printed Encyclopaedia which had received a special commendation at the 1986 Kraszna-Krausz Awards. The which resource is now available online.

In 1984 the Auers opened a photography centre at the Grütli in Geneva and started holding exhibitions of photography. It later moved to the BAC contemporary art building and finally in March 2009 along with Michèle, Michel created a Foundation which allowed him to exhibit his collection of photographs as well as objects related to photography. It held regular exhibitions of photography, talks and had its own publication programme. A partnership with the city of Montpelier which might have provided a long-term home for the collection and foundation came to nothing.  The Auers’ collection now consists of a large collection of cameras, some 21,000 books and 50,000 images. As Etienne Dumont noted in his appreciation of Auer the future of the collection remains uncertain.  

Michel Auer was married to Françoise Guerin, whom he divorced in 1968, and then to Michèle Auer-Ory in 1980 until his death. He had three children with his first wife, Martine, Laurence and Georges Nicéphore.  

Michel died on 22 October 2024.

Principal publications

Collection Michel Auer (Editions Camera Obscura, 1972)
Catalogue Michel Auer, (Editions Camera Obscura, 1977)
The above were released together with a third volume as Le livre guide to des appareils photo anciens / The collectors guide to antique cameras (Editions Camera Obscura, 1990)
Histoire illustrée des appareils photographiques / The Illustrated History of the Camera (UK edition, Fountain Press,1975)
Kameras gestern und heute (1975)
L'Œil invisible: Les appareils photographiques d'espionnage also Die Geheimkameras (with Eaton S Lothrop, Editions EPA, 1978)
Histoire de la caméra ciné amateur (1979, with Michèle Ory (Les Editions de l'Amateur, Paris / Editions Big S.A, Geneva, 1979)
Encyclopédie internationale des photographes de 1839 à nos / Photographers Encyclopaedia International 1839 to the present (with Michèle Ory, Editions Camera Obscura, 1985)
150 ans d’appareils photographiques à travers la collection Michel Auer / 150 Years of Cameras through the Michel Auer Collection (Editions Camera Obscura, 1989)
Collection M+M Auer une histoire de la photographie (Editions M+M, 2003)
802 photobooks from the M+M Auer collection ((Editions M+M, 2007)
Weegee the Famous. Collection Michèle et Michel Auer (with Michèle Ory, Editions M+M, 2008)

See: http://www.auerphoto.com/ and https://www.bilan.ch/story/ed-michelauer-868874801675

Image: Michel Auer, self-portrait, 1985. Under a Creative Commons licence

The Queen’s second son, fifteen-year-old Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the first royal to tour to the colonies on this side of the globe, he steamed out from England on board HMS Euryalus, in 1860, bound for the Cape Colony in South Africa. This Royal Tour has a special significance for the State Library of New South Wales. Rare photographs of the tour were collected by a young navy Lieutenant, Arthur Onslow, who, while returning from Australia, passed through Cape Town after the Prince’s tour and his photographs are now held in the Library as part of the Macarthur family collections. In the image above we can see the young Prince (third from the right) with Governor Sir George Grey (fourth from the right) in outback South Africa. For more see https://wordpress.com/post/geoffbarker.wordpress.com/893

Bonhams auction of Books, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs includes several lots of photography interest including Peter Henry Emerson's Pictures of East Anglian Life (1888), estimated at £3000-4000, a presentation copy to the amateur photographer, historian and founder of the photographic record W.J. Harrison; a copy of Fred Judge's Camera Pictures of London at Night (1924), estimated at £600-800;and of special note is a lot of six albums from the Farquhar family. The albums include some 180 carte-de-visites of the 1860s (photographers including Camille Silvy), several portraits of houses associated with the family or that of the Nugents in the 60s, and 2 images of Crystal Palace by P.H. Delamotte. The later albums include a charming record in photography and watercolour of the childhood of two brothers, Harold and Rupert, usually attired in fancy dress (or in very early childhood in dresses).

The British Film Institute is seeking an Archives Assistant to join the BFI’s Special Collections team on a fixed term basis, undertaking general collections duties including retrieval, accessioning, basic cataloguing, preservation and digitisation, and to support colleagues in the provision of a vibrant research service. The Archives Assistant will also be responsible for responding to enquiries, and assisting researchers and visitors to the Archive. 

Key responsibilities include: 

• Support colleagues in care of the collection, carrying out basic preservation, appraisal and rehousing work. Training will be provided in key preservation skills
• Support colleagues in the acquisition and processing of new offers to the collection 
• Co-ordinate the movement and location of materials in store and between sites 
• Carry out general archive-based duties to support access to the archives, including provenance research, listings, and potentially basic cataloguing and written interpretation, if required 

We are looking for candidates who have: 

• Commitment to working in an archive, library or museum environment, with experience in either archival services or a customer-facing role  
• Computer literate with good knowledge of Microsoft Office 
• Attention to detail and the patience to carry out repetitive work to a consistently high standard 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to work well both individually and as part of a team 

A full list of responsibilities and minimum requirements can be found in the job description. 

A groundbreaking new tour tracing the footsteps of legendary 19th-century photographer John Thomson is set to launch this season. This unique journey offers photography enthusiasts, history buffs, and cultural explorers the chance to experience the people, landscapes, and traditions of China as Thomson did during his pioneering travels in the 1860s.

The John Thomson in China – A Photographic History tour takes travelers from the bustling streets of Guangzhou (Canton) to the imperial grandeur of Beijing (Peking), stopping along China’s historic coast to capture both timeless and modern scenes. Known for his remarkable documentation of the Far East, Thomson was one of the first Western photographers to record the diverse cultures of Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. His work laid the foundations of travel photography and social reportage, revolutionising the way people understood life across the world.

A Journey Through History and Photography

Led by Deborah Ireland, an esteemed photographic historian and authority on Thomson’s work, the tour offers an immersive, educational experience. Ireland, who has lectured extensively on Thomson and written on the travels of the famous explorer Isabella Bird, will provide in-depth commentary and insights throughout the journey. Participants will visit many of the same sites Thomson documented, with opportunities to compare his 19th-century photographs to the scenes as they exist today.

The tour will engage with local historical societies to give travelers a richer understanding of China’s society, architecture, and everyday life during the late Qing Dynasty — the time Thomson conducted his work. In Beijing and Shanghai, guests will have the opportunity to explore traditional districts, some of which Thomson photographed, and discover the blend of history and modernity that characterises these vibrant cities.

What to Expect on the Tour: 

Guided tours through Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, revisiting iconic locations Thomson photographed in the 1860s.

• Discussions on the impact of Thomson’s work on modern photography, travel, and journalism.
• Immersive experiences with local historians, ensuring a deep connection to China’s cultural and heritage.

Jon Baines, company founder and tour creator, commented: “John Thomson could be considered the godfather of travel photography. His work opened a window to a part of the world that was then largely unknown to Western audiences. He didn’t just capture the landscapes and architecture; he documented the spirit of the people — from emperors to everyday citizens. This tour is an extraordinary opportunity to walk in his footsteps, understand his vision, and see how much has changed — or remained the same — since the 19th century." He added, “Thomson taught photography at the Royal Geographical Society, of which he became a Life Fellow, and his work has stood the test of time.”

This tour is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for anyone interested in the convergence of history, culture, and photography. It promises not just an exploration of China’s visual history, but a deep dive into the evolving narrative of how photography has shaped our understanding of different cultures over time.

Tour Dates: 11 – 26 October 2025
For more information, please visit: www.jonbainestours.com/china 

About John Thomson
John Thomson (1837–1921) was a Scottish photographer, geographer, and traveler who was among the first to photograph the Far East. His work documenting the diverse cultures of Asia and the streets of London made him a trailblazer in both travel photography and social reportage, helping to lay the foundations of modern photojournalism.

About Deborah Ireland
Deborah Ireland is an accomplished photographic historian who has lectured widely on the work of John Thomson and the travels of Isabella Bird. She is known for her deep knowledge of 19th-century photography and her ability to bring history to life for modern audiences.