It really is a great museum, dedicated to photography and other forms of media. Best of all is the museum's Collection and Research Centre, called
Insight. Anybody can book time to research through the archives and there are guided tours, which is what we had.
Firstly we were shown a room full of filing cabinets and metal boxes, each organised by subject matter, from which we were given a brief photographic history of the
Daily Herald (pdf) newspaper, which has now become the present day
Sun newspaper. From there we were shown large archives of
different cameras, everything from William Fox Talbot's "Mousetrap" to the
original Olympus Pen to disposable Spice Girl cameras. There were also large rooms full of gizmos, gadgets and other equipment dedicated to photography, cinematography and new media.
From there we were shown to another, cooler room. In here was another photograph archive. There were
daguerreotype photographs, with their fantastic mirror polished surfaces and an early negative with prints made by
William Fox Talbot using his
calotype process. We were given a brief run through of this part of photographic history. It really was fascinating seeing these early photographs. We then went into a small gallery type room where large prints were on display including some by
Simon Norfolk and
Joel Meyerowitz. And there were also maquettes of photography books, one of which was
Martin Parr's Cost of Living. All utterly fascinating.
After a lunch break and a cup of tea, we had a lecture from photographer,
Simon Roberts. I was aware of Simon Roberts monographs,
Motherland and more recently
We English, which he spoke about in detail. Simon outlined his photographic career and discussed other aspects of photography, beginning by asking us to think about why we wanted to be photographers? What do we want to say with photography? He said that the most important thing he had learnt was ownership, keeping the copyright to his images.He also asked, whether we should be deleting our photos in this digital age? Simon didn't think so, we should keep everything. You never know when those photos may become of some use.
Simon outlined his previous work, including some engaging editorial photography. Simon said it was always important in these cases to know the subject, take quotes, have a background and produce text to go with the photos.
The Simon Roberts talk was a stream of consciousness that made absolute sense. He is obviously an intelligent and driven man. Which is why he has been able to produce the work he has achieved and talk about it so compellingly.
After this we walked a short distance to the
Impressions Gallery to see
Subterrania by
Fiona Crisp. These were images of underground worlds, large scale and hung at a certain height, it almost felt like you could walk into the picture, but not quite. The exhibition can be seen at the Impressions Gallery until 24th January 2010.
To round off the day I also picked up a copy of
Photoworks magazine and
Source Photographic Review. The latter having a write up about Fiona Crisp's Subterrania exhibition. It really was a fantastic day, from viewing the beginnings of modern photography, seeing the daguerreotypes and calotypes, all the way up to Simon Roberts We English. I certainly recommend anybody with an interest in photography go to the National Media Museum. There certainly was a lot to absorb and process on the coach home.
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