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British photographic history in the 1970s

Posted by Michael Pritchard on January 12, 2009 at 9:28

I would draw readers attention to a one day conference on British photographic history in the 1970s being held on 14 March in Birmingham. Speakers include Colin Ford, Jane Fletcher, Paul Hill, Peter James, Carolyn Bloore and others and promises to be a fascinating day. Full details are in the 'Events' section.

Visual Culture in Britain

Posted by Michael Pritchard on August 5, 2009 at 5:37

The publisher, Routledge, is delighted to announce that Volume 10, Issue 1 of Visual Culture in Britain is now available. This is the journal's first issue published by Routledge and to celebrate it is offering free online access to all articles in this issue for the remainder of 2009. Of particualr interest to readers of BPH is a paper by Venda Louise Pollock titled Dislocated Narratives and Sites of Memory: Amateur Photographic Surveys in Britain 1889–1897. The abstract reads: Prior to the formation of Sir Benjamin Stone's National Photographic Record Association (NPRA), a number of amateur photographic societies throughout Britain embarked on photographic surveys. The catalyst for these endeavours was 'Illustrated Boston', a set of slides visually describing the New England town sent from the Boston Photographic Society and premiered by the Liverpool Amateur Photographic Association in 1889. These slides were then shown in photographic societies throughout the United Kingdom. Although William Jerome Harrison had published erudite advice on how to carry out such a task, these formative surveys reveal a dislocation between ideal methodology and the realities of amateur surveying. This disjuncture has significant import for the representation of place and, drawing on the theories of Timothy Mitchell and Pierre Nora, this article examines the surveys as reflecting, and contributing to, particular social, aesthetic, political and institutional contexts integral to which was an oculo-centric culture of display founded on the primacy of visual knowledge and therein experience. It argues that the failure to capture the genius loci of place that Elizabeth Edwards has determined in the NPRA emerges from these early processes and their contexts and concludes by considering the impact of digitization on these surveys as images and material artefacts. Read all the articles for free from this issue here: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g911231917

Early Derbyshire stereoviews

Posted by John Bradley on January 26, 2010 at 12:37

A few days ago I had a phone call from a friend in another town. “Do you still collect those stereoscopic pictures?” he asked, “because there is a bundle of them in the local auction this morning”.With 15 minutes to go before the start of the auction, no on-line options, and only my friend’s comment - “they look pretty scruffy to me”, I faced a dilemma. I placed a blind telephone bid and yesterday received the lot – which indeed was very scruffy, for the winning price of £20. As I sorted through the pile of dirty and damaged cards, many of which turned out to be lithos, I began to feel that even at £20 this was not a great buy.Then I came across four cards – clearly very early and strikingly more interesting than their companions. On thin white card, with left and right images printed on a single piece of albumen paper. They showed two wonderful occupational scenes – a blacksmith and a knife grinder, a view of an un-named house and a picture of a horse drawn coach. As I studied these with the scanner it became clear that they were a coherent group – one teenage boy is seen in both the occupational views and the style of the others suggest they are by the same hand. However it was when I examined the coach that things became even more interesting. This turned out to be painted with the sign ‘Wirksworth and Derby’, suggesting this was the coach that travelled between these two towns. As an enthusiastic collector of Derbyshire images this was an unexpected bonus. The un-named house was then quickly identified as Lea Hurst, Florence Nightingale’s home a few miles from Wirksworth and, subject to further research, the two occupationals look likely to be in Wirksworth as well.So hiding away in an uninspiring bundle were four outstanding photographs from about 1857. How wonderful that they had survived all this time and have ended up, by great good fortune, with someone for whom early Derbyshire stereoviews are a particular interest! I’ve added scans of the four photographs to the ‘Photos’ section of this site.

St Andrews Photographic Collection looking for post-grad intern

Posted by Marc Boulay on June 5, 2009 at 16:40

Hello everyone,As a result of unfortunate circumstances we've lost our summer intern and are seeking a post graduate level student or recent graduate to work with our team in the Photographic Collection of the University of St Andrews library.This placement would begin in mid-July and last for 6-8 weeks. Candidates must have training or keen interest in working directly with photographic materials, and have in-depth knowledge of photographic history. The work would consist of preventive conservation, rehousing historic photographic material, participating in a negative freezing programme, conducting historic research for attribution and dating, as well as creating indices and finding aids for photographic collections. It will be a well rounded experience.Those interested in finding out more, please feel free to contact me directly.Many thanks!Marc

Unique local photographic archive preserved

Posted by Michael Pritchard on November 9, 2009 at 15:30

Campden & District Historical and Archæological Society has been award an Awards for All grant to bring to life the photographs of Jesse Taylor, the photographer in Chipping Campden from 1896 to 1938. Working in partnership with Gloucestershire Archives, CADHAS is conserving and scanning 1500, mainly half-plate, glass plates depicting of all aspects of life in the town and surrounding villages. Jesse Taylor was a typical high street photographer taking photographs of everything, from formal family groups, to informal shots of children at play, interiors of houses, exterior shots of well-known Cotswold buildings – and events of all kinds, from football matches to the visit of King Edward Vll in 1905 and Campden’s celebrations for the 1935 Jubilee. Taylor had a shop but seemingly no studio - all the photographs were taken elsewhere. Many of the photos can be matched with accounts in the local paper and with oral history recordings which were started in the 1980s. An exhibition is planned for 23-24 January 2010 in Chipping Campden Town Hall, where a selection of Taylor's photographs will be displayed alongside the results of the competition to bridge 'life today and life 100 yrs ago'. There will be biographical information about Jesse Taylor's life and family. See: www.chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk

V&A Photographs department update

Posted by Michael Pritchard on February 21, 2010 at 17:00

The latest V&A Photographs Section newsletter from Curator Ashley Givens includes details of new acquisitions, research, publication and exhibitions that the curatorial staff have been working on.

The annual re-display which opens on Friday, 14 May will present some of the new works and will focus on showcasing photographs from the Collection dating from the 1970s to today. The exhibition will be accompanied by a display titled The Other Britain Revisited: The New Society Collection of Photographs, 1972 to 1982. New Society, a publication of the 1960s and 1970s, aimed to further research in the burgeoning fields of sociology and social work. The display will include photographs by leading names in recent British photography, including Martin Parr, Daniel Meadows, Euan Duff and Brian Griffin. It will also feature issues of

New Society magazine alongside the prints to provide a sense of the photographs’ original context.

The V&A Photographs department, in collaboration with the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) has been awarded funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund to collect photographs related to the black British experience. The aim is both to collect the work of earlier documentary photographers active in the 1950s to 1980s not currently represented in the Collection, and to build upon the existing holdings of work by more recent practitioners. This funding will also facilitate an oral history archive and an exhibition to be held at BCA.

I have been actively involved in the art and science of photography since was in elementary school. Study at the college and post degree level allowed me to teach and appreciate the many ways to appro

Posted by Antiquarianphotographer on January 8, 2009 at 12:48

I have been actively involved in the art and science of photography since was in elementary school. Study at the college and post degree level allowed me to teach and appreciate the many ways to approach the subject. My blog will discuss the first processes used to capture images and the men and women who used these processes. I will share my recent learning experiences in words and of course, pictures. By sharing my experiences, I hope to inspire you to go beyond just taking pictures and venture into other ways to enjoy this art form.

V&A photography gallery re-display opens 30 April 2009

Posted by Michael Pritchard on April 23, 2009 at 19:30

The V&A will unveil a new display of works from its permanent collection of photographs in the Photography Gallery on 30 April. The re-hang will show 60 works including 20 new acquisitions of contemporary photography by artists such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane. A section of the new display will look at the first ever exhibiton of photographs held in a museum, which took place in 1858 at the then South Kensington Museum (now known as the V&A). On show will be the earliest known photograph of a photography exhibition next to three works that can be seen in the 1858 picture. There will also be a selection of photographs that were either included in the 1858 exhibtion or are variations of works that were. The works will be hung in a tightly packed arrangement to evoke the style of a 19th century installation. The rest of the gallery will tell the story of modern and contemporary photography from 1900 to today and will include works by well-known photographers such as Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Cecil Beaton, Robert Frank and Diane Arbus. These will appear alongside new acquisitions by internationally recognised artists such as Thomas Ruff, Wang Qingsong, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane and young British photographers like Sarah Pickering. The V&A began acquiring photographs in 1852 and is now the home of the national collection of the art of photography. The collection is one of the largest and most important in the world and is international in scope, ranging from the beginnings of photography to the present day. The current Photography Gallery opened in 2003 and is re-hung annually. To celebrate the re-hang, the V&A is dedicating a Friday Late event to photography. Taking place on 29 May 2009, Friday Late: Flash! will include talks by photographers such as Jem Southam and Sarah Pickering and behind-the-scenes tours of the V&A’s photography collection. Portrait studios for visitors to have their picture taken have been specially commissioned for the event.

Wilson Fellowship in Photographic History

Posted by Michael Pritchard on May 27, 2009 at 19:08

De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Wilson Fellowship for its new MA in Photographic History and Practice. The Fellowship offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA, and is open to all students UK, EU and International. To apply for the Wilson Fellowship, please submit a piece of recent writing on photographic history no longer than 10,000 words, in English, to the Admissions Committee. For applications to the MA, please contact Student Recruitment at the Faculty of Art and Design at artanddesign@dmu.ac.uk or apply online at ukpass.ac.uk. For questions about the MA programme or the Wilson Fellowship please contact Programme Leader, Dr Kelley Wilder at: kwilder@dmu.ac.uk. The MA in Photographic History and Practice is the first course of its kind in the UK. It lays the foundations for understanding the scope of photographic history and provides the tools to carry out the independent research in this larger context, working in particular from primary source material. In addition to our collaboration with the Wilson Centre for Photography Studies in London, we will work with the collections of the National Media Museum, Bradford, the Central Library, Birmingham, the British Library and private collections throughout Britain. Students handle photographic material, learn analogue photographic processes, write history from objects in collections, compare historical photographic movements, and debate the canon of photographic history. They also learn about digital preservation and access issues through practical design projects involving Website and database design. Research Methods are a core component, providing students with essential handling, writing, digitizing and presentation skills needed for MA and Research level work. Further modules will encourage independent thinking in theory and in history writing, introduce students to methodologies commonly encountered in photographic history, and set the students on a course for finding their own MA dissertation topic. Students receive expert advice on the thesis topic of their choosing, which is written in the summer months and submitted in September, one year after the course begins, in the case of full time study, or two years in the case of part-time. For further details on the course and application process, please download a course brochure from http://kmd.dmu.ac.uk/kmd_photohistory_page/HOPP.pdf.

Midley history of early photography due to close early 2010

Posted by Michael Pritchard on October 4, 2009 at 21:30

R. Derek Wood published a series of important and carefully researched papers between 1970 and 2008 on early photographic history. His interests lay mainly in the early pioneers of photography, with a focus on dioramas and early experiments between 1830 and 1850 including William Henry Fox Talbot and Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre and topics such as patents. His website http://www.midley.co.uk/ collated these papers and made them available, alongside unpublished correspondence and a few items that never reached printed publication. Sadly, his website is due to close early in 2010 and Wood is encouraging researchers to made a note of where the original papers were published. Much of the material is available as PDFs and purely for research purposes it may be worth taking a look at the site and making a copies of relevant material before it disappears. As Wood notes "Midley History of early Photography will be preserved online to some extent as it has been automatically archived at the 'Wayback Machine' at http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.midley.co.uk and (for individual files that might be missing from the chronological presentation of the whole site) at web.archive.org/*/www.midley.co.uk/* ). The earlier site (originally at www,midleykent.fsnet.co.uk from July 2001-Jan 2007) is also archived online at web.archive.org The author has also archived onto CD the full site as at 1 March 2009" The site is highly recommended. Visit while it remains.

NMeM job: Exhibitions Organiser

Posted by Michael Pritchard on March 5, 2010 at 7:00

The National Media Museum has six floors of free galleries, including two temporary spaces. You’ll help us fill them with inspiring exhibitions by leading project teams, liaising with stakeholders and managing budgets of up to £50,000. You will plan and oversee installations, and complete all relevant admin duties, from contracts and insurance to transportation, ensuring all exhibitions are delivered on time and to the highest standard.

Coming from a similar role in a museum or gallery, you’ll already have a good understanding of exhibition administration and delivery procedures, as well as sound knowledge of display techniques, including video and new media display technologies. You should have experience of managing projects, coordinating internal and external stakeholders and developing interpretation strategies too. If you can combine this with good communication, organisational and IT skills, you’ll help us show some wonderful work to visitors!

Award winning, visionary and truly unique, the National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

Contract:

Hours: Full Time
Salary: £21,900

Contract Type: fixed term until 31st March 2011

Closing date: 21 March 2010

More details here: http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/974202/exhibitions-organiser/?CMP=EMCJOBEML281&email=jobsbyemail&lijbeid=9948200

RPS Historical Group brochure

Posted by Michael Pritchard on November 9, 2009 at 15:00

A resurgent RPS Historical Group has launched a new brochure outlining the remit of the Group and highlighting its activities and aims, as well as emphasising its close links with the RPS Collection now located at the National Media Museum in Bradford. A pdf version of the brochure can be downloaded by clicking here, and there is more on the Group at: http://www.rps.org/group/historical. The Group publishes The PhotoHistorian and arranges meetings and visits to collections of interest in the UK and Europe.

ANTIQUARIAN PHOTOGRAPHER ~ 19TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES THROUGH WORDS AND PICTURES

Posted by Antiquarianphotographer on January 8, 2009 at 13:00

http://antiquarianphotographer.blogspot.com/ IS MY WEB PAGE. HOPE YOU WILL VISIT.

Darwin's Camera: Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution

Posted by Michael Wong on January 25, 2010 at 9:48

Darwin's Camera (Phillip Prodger; ISBN-10: 0195150317) tells the extraordinary story of how Charles Darwin changed the way pictures are seen and made.In his illustrated masterpiece, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1871), Darwin introduced the idea of using photographs to illustrate a scientific theory--his was the first photographically illustrated science book ever published. Using photographs to depict fleeting expressions of emotion--laughter, crying, anger, and so on--as they flit across a person's face, he managed to produce dramatic images at a time when photography was famously slow and awkward. The book describes how Darwin struggled to get the pictures he needed, scouring the galleries, bookshops, and photographic studios of London, looking for pictures to satisfy his demand for expressive imagery. He finally settled on one the giants of photographic history, the eccentric art photographer Oscar Rejlander, to make his pictures. It was a peculiar choice. Darwin was known for his meticulous science, while Rejlander was notorious for altering and manipulating photographs. Their remarkable collaboration is one of the astonishing revelations in Darwin's Camera .Darwin never studied art formally, but he was always interested in art and often drew on art knowledge as his work unfolded. He mingled with the artists on the voyage of HMS Beagle , he visited art museums to examine figures and animals in paintings, associated with artists, and read art history books. He befriended the celebrated animal painters Joseph Wolf and Briton Riviere, and accepted the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner as a trusted guide. He corresponded with legendary photographers Lewis Carroll, Julia Margaret Cameron, and G.-B. Duchenne de Boulogne, as well as many lesser lights. Darwin's Camera provides the first examination ever of these relationships and their effect on Darwin's work, and how Darwin, in turn, shaped the history of art.Features:* Unique approach to Darwin's work that examines one of the first photographically illustrated science books* Reveals previously unknown information about Darwin's interest in photography and art* Describes the rise of photographic objectivity--how photography became accepted as proof in scientific debate* Features reproductions of many photographs owned by Darwin and never before seen by the public

Roger Taylor awarded Washington DC professorship

Posted by Michael Pritchard on August 4, 2009 at 20:30

One of the world’s leading photographic history experts from De Montfort University (DMU) has been awarded a prestigious professorship from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., US. The National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) has awarded the 2010 Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professorship to Roger Taylor, Professor of Photographic History, and Senior Research Fellow at DMU in Leicester. His role as the Safra Visiting Professor will involve working with the Gallery to build close connections between the research of curatorial staff and that of visiting scholars to CASVA, whilst also undertaking his own independent research. Professor Taylor has chosen to use the professorship to undertake research into the memorably-named Linnaeus Tripe, a British photographer he came across when researching his Impressed by Light exhibition. He said: “It’s an unexpected privilege to be offered this professorship. I’ll be researching Tripe’s background in the Madras Infantry, and his innovative role as a documentary photographer. His large format pictures were mostly taken in Burmah and India during the 1850s and are wonderful, but there’s never been major exhibition dedicated solely to his work.” A recent national review of research in the UK by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) shows that DMU’s photographic history research is classified as ‘world leading and internationally excellent’. Gerard Moran, Dean of Faculty Art and Design, added: “It’s marvellous that Roger’s visiting professorship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC should come along to cement the truly international reputation of De Montfort University’s work in this way. We’re looking forward to the many mutual benefits that will emerge for all parties from this valuable association with the NGA.” Professor Taylor will spend four months at CASVA, beginning from 19 January to 19 May 2010, where he will also be conducting a seminar on the Gallery’s collections. CASVA at the National Gallery of Art, founded in 1979, is a research institute that fosters study of the production, use, and cultural meaning of art, artifacts, architecture, and urbanism, from prehistoric times to the present. The Center encourages a variety of approaches by historians, critics, and theorists of art, as well as by scholars in related disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. More information about CASVA is available at http://www.nga.gov/resources/casva.shtm

Captain Sweet (1825-1886)

Posted by Karen Magee on October 1, 2009 at 10:53

I am keen to hear from anyone who has encountered the South Australian photographer Captain Sweet, or any of his UK work. He is the subject of my PhD research and little is known about his early days in England, or what happened to the photographs and albums of views that were sent back to England from Australia (to World Fairs or to freinds and families of migrants).Cheers,Karencaptainsweet.com.au

NMeM praises Flickr Collaboration

Posted by Michael Pritchard on March 2, 2009 at 20:00

The National Media Museum has praised its collaboration with Flickr, the online photograph sharing website...Joanna Drag reported in the British Journal of Photography. The full article is available by clicking here. Part of the article is reproduced below: --- Initially started by the US Library of Congress and Flickr in January 2008, the project aims to give the public easier access to thousands of archived photographs while helping the library to categorise them through Flickr’s photo tagging system, in effect harnessing the power of social networks. The initiative was expanded to other institutions such as the National Media Museum in Bradford, who joined The Commons in August 2008. ‘Internally, we felt that the National Media Museum, with its web remit, needed to be in the vanguard of museums on the “social web”, and The Commons fulfilled this aim perfectly,’ says senior online marketing executive for the museum, Peer Lawther. ‘We didn’t want it to be a purely commercial or promotional opportunity but rather an opportunity for us to utilise the vast curatorial knowledge we hold and to use The Commons to show some of the breadth of our holdings.’ Since joining the project, the three initial groups of images made available online by the museum has received over 400,000 views. The groups consist of Peter Henry Emerson’s ‘Pictures from a life in Fields and Fen’ (1887), a selection of Kodak No.1 circular photos (c.1890) and a set of ‘Spirit’ photographs taken by William Hope (c.1920). ‘The Commons has confounded our expectations,’ says Lawther. ‘We’ve been featured on hundreds of blogs, “friended” thousands of fellow photographers and chatted with countless fans about our work. In showing discrete selections from our collection we’ve received a huge amount of goodwill from the community.’ To find photographs or to get more information visit flickr.com/commons

George Shadbolt honoured

Posted by Michael Pritchard on March 4, 2010 at 16:30

The life and work of a pioneering the nineteenth-century photographer and journal editor was commemorated at the end of February with a blue heritage plaque. George Shadbolt (1819-1901) is thought to be one of the first people to take a photograph through a microscope and recorded some of the earliest pictures of the Crouch End area, around his old home Cecile House, in
Crouch Hill. His home has since been turned into Kestrel House School which provides education for young people with autism.

Rosemary Wilman, of the Royal Photographic Society, and Keith Fawkes, of the Hornsey Historical Society, unveiled a blue plaque at the building and paid tribute to his contribution to the art. Mr Fawkes told the Haringey Independent: “He was a pioneer – a very important person to publicise locally. All these local people are very important. Crouch End was an interesting area then and these people become more important as the years go by. He was one of the pioneers of photography in Victorian times and he was extremely innovative.”

Around 150 years before digital photography revolutionised the process of taking pictures, Shadbolt pioneered early techniques, including methods of enlarging images. He was an early exponent of combination printing, the practice of combining two separate negatives to create a single image.

During an influential career he spent seven years editing what would later become the British Journal of Photography and was an early member of the Photographic Society of London.

The plaque is one of eight installed in honour of influential local figures as part a community scheme led by John Hajdu, of the Muswell Hill and Fortis Green
Association.

The Education of the Eye

Posted by Michael Pritchard on January 6, 2009 at 9:00

The education of the eye. History of the Royal Polytechnic Institution 1838-1881. Brenda Weeden Cambridge: Granta Editions, 2008. The Polytechnic Institution in London plays an important part in the early history of photography being the place where Richard Beard established his daguerreotype portrait studio in 1841. This was Europe's first commercial photographic studio. The Institution was one of a number of commercial enterprises presenting science to popular audiences and is now known as the University of Westminster, still occupying its original premises in Regent Street, London. This new book, which is one of a series telling the history of the Polytechnic and includes a chapter 'Photography at the Polytechnic'. It's involvement started with lectures and demonstrations soon after photography was announced and by October J. T. Cooper was delivering popular lectures in October 1839. William Henry Fox Talbot made early use of the Polytechnic's resources and licensed it to demonstrate his process. Europe's first photographic studio was built on the roof of the Polytechnic and opened on 23 March 1841 and was operated by Cooper and another chemist, John Goddard. The first Polytechnic photography school opened in Spring 1853. Many will recall learning photography at 'the Regent Street Poly' in the 1950s and 1960s. Although a general history the book it covers well the Polytechnic's involvement with popular science, photography and other optical media such as the magic lantern. It is written in a lively style and is well illustrated.

NMeM launches blog

Posted by Michael Pritchard on August 1, 2009 at 7:30

The National Media Museum in Bradford has launched a blog written by Museum staff. The blog takes a behind the scenes look at happenings within the Museum. Recent postings show the museum's offsite storage facility at Black Dyke Mills, a creative writing group at the museum and the Curator of Cinematography, Michael Harvey, being filmed for a Canadian TV documentary. Click here to view: http://nationalmediamuseum.blogspot.com/

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.