2024 AHFAP Membership Survey Results

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We are sorry to announce that another of our early members has sadly passed away.  

Geoff joined The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in 1957 from the Science Museum in London. He was the first professional photographer employed by RCAHMS and he was tasked with setting up a new department to provide a photographic service to staff within the organisation.

He carried out photography for the Inventory programme which recorded sites and monuments throughout Scotland on a county by county basis and resulted in a series of publications combining text, plans and, of course, photography. He started with a Gandolfi half-plate camera quickly moving on to a Sinar 5” x 4” and a Hasselblad 500CM outfit. 

As demand for photography increased, staff were recruited to carry out various duties including Threatened Buildings (a project run in conjunction with local authorities and The Town and Country Planning Act), aerial photography, copying of architectural plans and drawings and carved stone recording. This carved stone photography used a peripheral lighting technique, pioneered and developed by Geoff who adapted studio lighting techniques for use in the field with portable bulb flash equipment. This technique has been adopted by many photographers and is still used today with electronic flash replacing expendable flash bulbs.

Eventually, Geoff would manage a department of nine photographers and although his admin. duties increased, he was still able to pursue his true passion of taking photographs in the field and in the studio. Something he managed to do right up to his retirement and well beyond.

Geoff was an absolute gentleman who was greatly respected by all of his colleagues and he will be remembered fondly by all of those who worked with him and his photography will remain as a lasting legacy.

Stephen Wallace - who worked alongside Geoff for 15 years.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of our long serving members following a short and devastating illness.

Kenny was a highly talented photographer who performed with enthusiasm and dedication to achieve high standards, expected by the institution and clients he served.

He was Head of Photography at The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London for more than 20 years delivering a comprehensive photographic service with a small team of dedicated photographers.

During this time and whilst serving on AHFAP Committee he was a member of a UK delegation invited to attend an international conference in Beijing, China.

There he presented a paper on the complex photography of The Spanish Naval Ensign flown at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The logistical process to capture an image of the whole flag, measuring 15metres x 10metres was staged managed by Kenny in conjunction with the Conservation Departments and Technical Service Teams within the NMM. See his paper here in the AHFAP Journal 

Number 16 Spring 2006.

His energy and vision for an image was quite exceptional when it came to photographing events and people. He worked with both London Tate Galleries covering major events including Private Views of exhibition openings attended by members of the Royal family and celebrity VIP’s.

Where he really excelled was in his Wedding and Portraiture Photography.

His portfolio of images is outstanding both from a technical quality and of capturing the moment. I had the very great privilege and pleasure of being his ‘Assistant’ on a number of occasions at high profile weddings and at spectacular venues in Kent. Hever Castle was one of his most favourite venues. He explored the whole day to record the Brides very special day.

In 2009 he developed new skills and became a well-respected and experienced swim coach teaching young people and adults to swim both for leisure and fitness and more seriously for competition.

His personal fitness was important to him and he completed many challengesincluding Iron Man Venice in 2020. He was a keen motorcyclist and rode with the Harley Davidson Meridian Chapter Rides from Greenwich annually.

His images will continue to give pleasure and remind us of his enormous talent.

Our thoughts are with his wife Claire Louise Vernon and his son Charlie at this very sad time.

Ken Jackson – Honorary President

Registration for the second online 2and3D Photography 2022 conference has opened.  Join the Rijksmuseum for three successive Tuesdays:  24, 31 May and 7 June 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM (CEDT) / 9:30 AM to 12:00 AM (EDT).

Seize the opportunity to exchange ideas with experts and colleagues from all over the world.  Each conference day consists of four presentations and will be followed, after a short break, by a workshop or a roundtable discussion. If you’ve registered for the presentations, you’re free to join the extra sessions as well.   

There is a small fee for each conference day. 

You can register for one, two or all days here

My tenure as president of this association has only six months more to run and I feel I should revise, in the light of altered circumstances, what I wrote when I took up the post. For the benefit of the curious I retain the biographical details below, but some reflection is needed on our activities over the last eighteen months.

I had hoped to introduce a programme of educational exchange between members and our potential recruits: students at art schools and photographic colleges, and in branches of the cultural heritage sector.

This would have been prudent investment in the future of our profession by the only organisation in a position to offer it. Disappointingly, its development was prevented, almost from the outset, by the effects of something whose name does not need further repetition. Let us hope this ambition can be realised in the future and that it will become a permanent feature of the association’s calendar.

Whatever else we may or may not have done recently, we have all had the opportunity to examine critically what we do. It is worth considering from time to time the aims and principles we espouse, so I noted down on the back of an envelope:

What is the value of AHFAP?

The primary and probably most overlooked feature is that we exist at all, and pretty much uniquely at that. Many people have said to me privately, and it may as well be publicly, how grateful they are to have a club, or forum, in which to discuss and compare professional concerns. Many of us work in isolation and a sense of community is desirable to the point of necessity.

Our gradually increasing membership and its lowering age range is evidence of this, as is the willingness of people, once their arms are twisted, to contribute conference material.

The next most obviously useful feature is the correspondence on JISCmail, which inexplicably drops into my InBox just after midnight. Questions are asked, problems raised and, often enough, answered, solved. There is a free exchange of knowledge. Information is given periodically about conferences, webinars and the like. Jobs are advertised regularly. Equipment is offered for sale and free.

A lot of the above has flourished in the digital age. The website has been developed successfully, thanks originally to former chair Tony Harris, and to Claire Collins and Simon Barnes and now to Claire again and Dave Green too, becoming more lively and friendly. It is certainly a website to be proud of.

The annual conference, in whatever form it may be, is, of course, the association’s mainstay, its apparent raison d’être. Its social function is incalculable but, alas, we are barred from that for the time being. However, I don’t believe any members feel short-changed by what we did last year and it will inform what we do in the future, for the better, I am sure. We are evolving as opposed to ossifying.

A bit about myself

Unlike my predecessors, I have no photographic qualifications but I have survived, even prospered, in this profession. If I were starting out now, I would, quite rightly, get nowhere. I quake when I look at the jobs advertised on the website.

I was trained with some basic instructions (on a half-plate Cambo) by a photographer at Sotheby’s and from books and on projects with colleagues and friends. It is thanks to one of those friends that I joined the association. I became a member in 1995 and was elected to the committee in 1998.

Having retired from that role after twenty years, I was invited to return as president. Given the strictures within which we have all laboured during this period, I hope to have served, and still hope to serve, the association to the best of my ability.

Colin Maitland - May 2021

The Association of Photographers (AOP) has published some guidelines for Photographers and creatives when shooting during this pandemic. The guidelines are primarily aimed at Editorial and Advertising Photography shoots where they may be a large crew but it's worth checking out as there are some useful tips. There is also a lot of other information on their website about mental health and help with financial concerns. They are also currently offering free Access Membership. See https://www.the-aop.org/