For Professional Impact
For development of cultural heritage imaging and wider profession
Professional Impact
The Professional Impact Award recognises individuals whose work has significantly advanced professional practice, innovation, research or collaboration within the cultural heritage imaging sector.
With great pleasure, AHFAP recognises the following individuals for the exceptional professional impact:
Distinguished Leadership
With great pleasure, AHFAP recognises individuals who have demonstrated sustained and meaningful leadership through service, collaboration, initiative or influence, strengthening AHFAP, its membership or the wider professional community.
The following individuals are recognised:
Emerging Talent
For rising contributors and newer leaders. The Association recognises individuals whose significant contribution is relatively recent or sits within a less-visible expertise. Demonstrating initiative, innovation, professional engagement or potential to make a lasting contribution to AHFAP or the wider field.
With great pleasure, AHFAP recognises the following emerging leaders:
Lifetime Contribution
The Lifetime Contribution Recognition is AHFAP's highest honour. The recognition is rare and reserved for individuals whose exceptional and enduring contributions have had a profound and lasting impact on the Association, cultural heritage imaging or the wider professional community.
With great pleasure, AHFAP recognises the following individuals:
James Stevenson
James Stevenson began his career as a photographer in the horse racing industry and the National Health Service before entering the cultural heritage sector in 1985, when he joined the Photographic Studio at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. In 1993, he joined the V&A as Photographic Studio Manager.
During this period, photography was transitioning from a chemical to an electronic medium. This presented both interesting challenges and opportunities, particularly in adapting the studio’s image workflows and business processes to the changing technology.
From 2001 to 2012, James served as Chair of the AHFAP Committee. A highlight of his tenure was organising the first international conference for cultural heritage photographers, held in Brighton in 2011. He recalls being appointed an AHFAP Honorary Member around 2011.
Since retiring from full-time employment in 2013, James has worked alongside Ken Jackson, formerly Chief Photographer at the V&A, to establish and successfully manage CHD Ltd, a company specialising in the digitisation of fine art and cultural archives.
Ivor Kerslake
Ivor started his photography career in advertising before joining the British Museum in March 1981. In the space of a weekend, he went from photographing room sets on a Friday to photographing original Toulouse-Lautrec lithographs on the Monday.
His career at the British Museum gave him the privilege of working with some of the most remarkable objects made by humankind and travelling to locations around the world, from Russia to the USA, with Pompeii among the places visited along the way.
Ivor has been involved with AHFAP since its beginnings and has witnessed its transformation from a loose collective of London-based institutions into the international association it is today. During this time, he has served terms as both Membership Secretary and Treasurer.
David Lambert
Discovering his passion for photography at the age of 13 while at boarding school, Davind began his professional career in 1962, aged 16, working in a London photographic studio without formal college training. After four years as an assistant, he became a photographer at the Institute of Cancer Research before joining Tate Gallery in 1970, where he continued to work until 2019. Over nearly five decades photographing art, David developed a deep understanding of the relationship between photography and the visual arts, with this experience providing a lasting source of inspiration for his personal photographic practice.
He was also an active member of the AFHAP committee from its early days until 2015, contributing to the production of its publications and the planning of its conferences. Now aged 80, David continues to reflect on a career shaped by a lifelong commitment to photography and the documentation of art.
Colin Maitland
Colin worked for nearly 20 years in a West End gallery before becoming a freelance professional in the mid-1990s. Having discovered the association by chance, he joined and was soon co-opted onto its committee, eventually becoming president at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. His original presidential initiative was an educational scheme linking the association with art and technical colleges.
When the pandemic made this impossible, he instead drew on the breadth and diversity of the membership to explore the experiences of colleagues around the world, from Norway to California. The resulting reflections revealed a wide range of experiences, with resilience emerging as a consistent and enduring theme.
Kenneth Jackson
Born in Preston, Lancashire, Kenneth Jackson now lives in London. He became the youngest member of the Preston Photographic Society and was elected to its committee as a junior member around 1962.
Kenneth has worked professionally in photography for many years, including roles at the Ministry of Defence and the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he was appointed Chief Photographer. At the V&A, he played an instrumental role in developing robust new workflows for the Future Plan programme (1999–2018), led by Photographic Studio Manager James Stevenson.
Since 2013, Kenneth has been a Director of Cultural Heritage Digitisation Limited, which he established with his business partner, James Stevenson. He is committed to training and mentoring emerging photographers, having supported many who have gone on to work in museums. He continues this work at Cultural Heritage Digitisation, supporting recent graduates, photographers and emerging artists.
Ken has made significant contributions to AHFAP, serving on its committee from 1995 to 2005, as Minutes Secretary from 2001 to 2005, and as Honorary President from 2021 to 2024. He hosted AHFAP conferences at the V&A in 1994, 2000 and 2004, and hosted and sponsored a conference at Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral, Victoria, in 2011. He was awarded Honorary Membership around 2015.
David Clarke
Born in Hope Street, Liverpool, David studied for two years at Wigan School of Art before completing a BA (Hons) in Illustrative Photography at Manchester Metropolitan University. He began his professional career as a photographer at the British Museum, where he spent four years, before joining Tate, where over a 20-year tenure he progressed from photographer to Senior Photographer and Head of Department. He was responsible for photographic staff and operations across all four Tate sites, overseeing the transition from film to digital photography, including the digitisation of Tate’s collection of 60,000–70,000 photographic images of artworks.
In the two years preceding retirement, he also served as an international courier, transporting artworks on loan between Tate and museums and galleries worldwide.
Throughout his career, David has promoted international collaboration between photographic organisations, particularly across Europe, the USA, China and the Netherlands. Since retiring, he has continued his involvement in international photography as an assessor and judge for the International Photography Awards (IPA) in the USA and other international competitions, alongside supporting local heritage initiatives, including a campaign to install commemorative blue plaques.
Richard Everett
Richard Everett’s 40-year career in photography began in medical photography before moving into the cultural heritage sector, with roles at the British Library and Christie’s Auctioneers.
He spent 35 years at Wellcome Collection, rising to the position of Head of Department, while also serving as Chair of AHFAP from 2016 to 2020.
Richard is now Head of Collections Photography at Genus and serves on the Board of Directors for the Museum of the Broads in Norfolk.
In 2021, Richard was awarded Honorary Membership of AHFAP by the then Chair, Kira Zumkley.