Presidential Address

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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

FORMAT23 invites diverse and imaginative proposals from photographers, curators, artists and collectives that represent the state of photography as it is today. The selection panel is eager to see your views, imaginations and stories of this world and what will come next; what is important; what has gone unseen and what are we yet to discover? There are no limits....  More information is available on the FORMAT website here  

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

The fifth Historic Photographer of the Year Awards launches for entries on 14th July 2021 and is open to amateur and professional photographers around the world.

Following the great success of last year’s awards, Historic Photographer of the Year celebrates the very best historic places and cultural sites across the globe, from the most famous national treasures to the most obscure hidden gems. With varying restrictions in place across the globe, rather than asking entrants to head out and explore, Award organisers are instead seeking entries already captured and are keen to discover the very best images that reside in photographers’ archives.

Judging all entries will be a panel of experts including broadcaster and historian Dan Snow of History Hit TV, CEO of Niantic Inc and co-founder of Google Earth John Hanke, Director of Regions for Historic England Claudia Kenyatta, VP of Programming at Sky HISTORY Dan Korn, award winning heritage photographer Matt Emmett, author and leading historic digital colourist Marina Amaral, and Chair of The Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography Kira Zumkley.

This year’s Awards include several specialist categories focusing on crucial periods and regions of history, including the Historic England category and the Where History Happened category in association with Sky HISTORY.

Matt Emmett, crowned overall winner of the 2017 awards and who has since collaborated with Heritage Open Days as an official photographer said: “With photographers combing through their archives, last year saw a fantastic array of entries covering everything from ancient Roman cities to Victorian piers and picturesque medieval churches. We’re now laying down the gauntlet for this year’s Awards to challenge entrants to match and even better those astonishing images. Historic Photographer of the Year shines a light on the history that exists all around us, opening our eyes to the wonders that sit on our doorstep and we want people to tell the story of the these fascinating landmarks through their sensational photography.”

Entries will be judged on originality, composition and technical proficiency alongside the story behind the submission and its historical impact. By taking part, entrants will get the chance to win an array of prizes including a special behind-the-scenes heritage experience from Historic England.

Official partners for 2021 include History Hit TV, a multi-channel history network led by historian and broadcaster Dan Snow – dedicated to bringing you the most extraordinary, dramatic, important and fascinating stories of our shared past; leading broadcaster Sky HISTORY; the Association For Historical And Fine Art Photography; and Historic England, the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s spectacular historic environment, from beaches to battlefields to parks and pie shops.

For full details and to enter visit: www.historicphotographeroftheyear.com

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/

Please feel free to let us know if you come across anything that you feel would be of interest to our membership. Just drop the webteam a line here

Museums and Heritage Advisor - Could hand sanitiser damage museum collections? https://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/news/could-using-hand-sanitiser-jeopardise-museum-collections/