Heritage Photography Autumn 2009

Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

Incorporated by Royal Charter

HERITAGE. PHOTOGRAPHY

Dore Abbey, Herefordshire: The Ambulatory See page 3 Kallitype by Ken Keen FRPS

The 1628 carved staircase at Godinton House See page 2 R. Keith Evans FRPS

AUTUMN 2009

Archaeology & Heritage Group Chairman R. Keith Evans FRPS 7 Grassy Lane Sevenoaks Kent TN13 1PN Tel 01732 743943 Secretary Jim Tonks ARPS Earlton 174 Chairborough Road High Wycombe Bucks HP12 3HW Treasurer Ernie Gates 4 Pine Dean Great Bookham Leatherhead Surrey KT23 4BT Webmaster Dr Mike Sasse Publications Committee R. Keith Evans Eric Houlder LRPS (Archaeology Editor) Garry Bisshopp LRPS Gwil Owen ARPS Dr Mike Sasse

PERSPECTIVE Just ten years ago, in an issue of this journal , my predecessor as chairman, Ken Keen, expressed his concern that the A & H Group was fostering an intere st almost exclusively in black-and-white pictures of churches and other architectural subjects.

Since that time , as evidenced in this current issue (and in our 52-page book Heritage Photography published in December 2007), I am delighted to see the very wide range of subject matter and styles of our members' work. Our most recent exhibition , too - the next will be in the summer of 2010 - displayed a wide variety of topic s, mostly as colour print s often originated in digital form.

Regular readers will notice that this issue of our Group journal is well illustrated in colour and covers a variety of themes. My thanks go to their authors, and in tum may I invit e contributions for our next and subsequent issues. It is you r journ al, so let members see and read about your photographic interests. Militaria, for example, and our maritime and aviation heritage come to mind. Just phone or drop me a line to let me know your suggestions for an article - and, incidentall y, your practical ideas for future visits or events.

2009 ha s been a good year for our programme of visits. I recall in particular the excellent day we spent photographing the interior and estate of a notable 15th -century manor, Godinton House (see cover picture) ; and Dr Mike Sasse reminds me of two equally enjoyable days at Aylesford Priory , and in the village of Cranbrook, with its mediaeval church and preserved windmill.

'C ranbrook', he writes, ' is an attractive small town in the Kentish Weald, with many tile-hung and white weatherboarded hou ses lining the road from the church up to the white smock mill, a prominent landmark built in 1832. All six floors are accessible, and the y display original and contemporary equipment relating to the entire milling process. St Dunstan 's church, mainly l 4 th - 16th century, has a large vaulted porch , Perpendicular Gothic arcade and windows, an interesting baptiste ry and, nearby, the restored mediaeval Church House.

'Ay lesford Priory, which we visited in August, was founded for Carmelite friars in 1242; following the dissolution of the monasteries, the site passed through a succession of owners until in 1949 it was reacquired by the Carmelites. Today it is a centre of prayer and a place of peace, retreat and pilgrimage, still housing a small community of friars. Again there was much to photograph - a mediaeval gatehouse, the Prior's and Pilgrims' Halls, and the modern chapels forming the shrine area ' .

By the time you read this, we shall have spent a morning photographing the 14th -century manor of lghtham Mote, and have held our Autumn Conference.

On a separate sheet you will find our Pro gramme for the first half of 2010 - so book early. I shall look forward to meeting you.

R. Keith Evans, Chairman.

Published by the Archaeolo gy & Herita ge Group of The Royal Photographic Society, October 2009 Copyright in all text and photographs is held by the credi ted authors, or as otherwise stated.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher.

ISSN No. 0-904495-00-0

Weatherboarded houses and the Union Windmill at Cranbrook, Kwnt, photographed by Dr Mike Sasse.

2

From medium to large format and beyond

• • •

Ken Keen FRPS, whose work has appeared worldwide in books and exhibitions, describes the path that has led him to mastery of church photography using historical printmaking processes.

Thirteen years ago, I was taking mainly pictorial photographs using a medium-format camera, a 6 x 6cm Hasselblad. My aim in those days was to produce black-and-white prints for club competitions and for various exhibitions around the world.

I suppose it was inevitable that success with this competitive approach would eventually make this kind of photography less appealing and less challenging - at least for me. I thought that if I were to join the 'Alternative Process Workshop' run by Terry King, I might find ways of gaining more pleasure and satisfaction from my lifelong interest in photography.

So in 1996 I enrolled at Twickenham College for a yearlong course entitled 'From Wedgwood to Bromoil'. After only a short time it became clear that my whole approach to photography was about to change dramatically. The criteria for club competitions appeared to be predominantly technical rather than aesthetic. Any suggestion of history or mystery in a picture was not likely to be appreciated .

Working with alternative (historical) processes and largeformat cameras very much enhances one's ability to make pictures . It is, I think, to do with the control that the handson approach requires , where the technique, while important, serves as just the foundation for picture making. I remember a quote by Paul Caponigro, who said that 'in order to be a good photographer you need to work more on your emotions than you do on your technique'. I do believe this to be true.

Thinking ahead to the final result The considered approach that large-format photography demands gves one the time and opportunity to think more deeply not only about how to compose the picture and to expose the film, but also about how the print will eventually be produced by using one of these alternative processes .

Ansel Adams referred to this as pre-visualisation. Considering these things made me aware that my photography still needed something more.

I had thought that my Hasselblad was the best camera for producing good technique . But then Terry King introduced me to the joys of contact printing from large negatives. He explained that his own conversion to large format had come with an MPP, and that he had then added a 10x8 to his armoury .

Seeing cyanotype, salt and platinum contact prints inspired me. Their range of tones and colours were so special that I bought my own 10x8 inch Gandolfi camera. That I was mixing my own solutions and coating my own fine watercolour papers led to a feeling that my prints were themselves art objects. .._ This feeling itself led to more careful consideration of subject matter. I found that the ancient and redundant

HERITAGEPHOTOGRAPHY

'The Great Hill of Steps', leading to the Chapter House in Wells Cathedral, Somerset.

Taken on I/ford FP4 film in a 10 x 8 inch Gandolfi camera with 150mm lens. Cyanotype-Rex print

churches that are maintained by The Churches Conservation Trust give an undisturbed opportunity for a slow and considered approach. Awareness of the history of the buildings and careful judgment of the lighting enabled me to communicate not only their mystery but also their romance.

My latest acquisition is a 12x5 inch Canham panoramic camera . The availability of 12x5 film, Ilford FP4+ and HP5+, is not a problem.

So the story continues to this day ...

For more information, contact Ken Keen by telephone or e-mail: Tel (01753) 886036; e-mail ken.keen.333@btinternet.com.

3

Artefact p in the di Clive Tanner FRPS describes a curr items held in an important mus Early in 2002 there began a cooperative project between Maidstone Museum and members of Maidstone Camera Club to create a database of several collections of glass -plate negatives held by the Museum, and to mount an exhibition of a representative sample of the images. About 1,000 plates were scanned, and from the viewable files two hundred were selected for printing for the exhibition. Most of the plates had suffered neglect or damage , so some cleaning of the scanned . images was undertaken to remove scratches , fungus , mildew depredation and the like without altering the basic image .

These files were then printed via inkjet printer and mounted for the exhibition.

Visitor numbers showed that this exhibition was one of the most successful the Museum had put on, and was the forerunner for several more; indeed a follow-up exhibition from the glass-plate collection is planned for the opening of the Museum Extension Building during the third quarter of 2011.

As a project separate from camera club involvement, three of us were invited to record a large part of the Museum 's permanent collection for its database and website.

During the 19th and early 20 th centuries several benefactors donated collections of art, artefacts and natural -history samples, and together with examples of local history these form the nucleus of the museum's collection. Probably the most extensive section is the collection of Japanese Art and Artefacts. Currently space precludes a truly representative showing of the collection, but the new wing will have a gallery devoted to it.

Above: Full-size suit of decorative armour, early 19th century.

Below, left: porcelain teapot, decorated for export; right: 19th century carved ivory netsuke, 35111111 tall.

4

Photographic practicalities The nature of the artefacts and museum viewing requirements meant that a variety of photographic technique s were called upon, and it quickly became evident that some new equipment was needed. Much use was made of a copy stand,

1otography ~ital age t project to record several thousand m collection in Maidstone, Kent. initially lit with tungsten but later with flash in softboxes.

Then a desktop light tent was acquired for small objects, and later again a much larger version (2m cube) was found necessary.

We standardised on Canon SD cameras, with 50 and 100mm macro lenses, occasionally using perspective control lenses but essentially trying to keep things simple. From the start we shot Raw files tethered to the computer and have found Adobe Lightroom to be almost indispensable. We have learnt much as the project progressed, to the extent that we have reshot a significant proportion of our pictures in the light of expenence .

Many of the artefacts are small and to show all the detail careful lighting is absolutely essential; thank goodness I remembered once being told , in answer to a question about lighting - " if you can define what you wish to show clearly, then lighting almost settles itself ', and this from a true master of museum photography technique. We have made narrow snoots, used pieces of polystyrene, small mirrors and even black card. Digital cameras , reasonable computer equipment and a good monitor have made the project much easier for us than it would have been only 20 years ago - can you imagine how much film and Polaroid material would have been used?

We have also benefited greatly from the help and sound advice we have received from acknowledged experts , and here I would like to thank A & H Group members Brian Tremaine and Gwil Owen for their initial input, and Simon Lace (Museum Director), Fiona Woolley (Keeper of Fine Art), and Giles Guthrie (Keeper of Human History), who have wholeheartedly supported the entire project.

A small exhibition of thirty of our pictures will be on display this autumn before the museum redevelopment starts. The prints will also be available for showing in other museums and galleries.

Above: an iron tsuba (sword guard) with gilding, 75mm diameter. ¡ Below: Inlaid lid of a lacquer box, 150mm long.

All photographs by Clive Tq,nner FRPS. Š Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery, reproduced by permission of Archival Images Ltd.

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

5

Revisiting an Egyptian time capsule 27°.40.38.130 north by 30°.54.16.723 west... "and there was darkness".

Tel el Amarna is the city of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. It was founded about 1347BC, grew and flourished for some 20 years, was abandoned, and now is a time capsule both of Akhenaten's time and of a century of archaeology.

Gwil Owen ARPS describes and illustrates recent discoveries there.

Tel el Amarna , midway between Cairo and Luxor, covers an area of some 5km by 10. Archeologists have dug there for over 100 years, so it will surprise no one that the current practitioners often find themselves excavating their predecessors' work.

This is of course a good thing. A century ago technology was limited and much excavated material was discarded as being of little use.

Nowadays science can provoke questions about the past which were unthought of then ; past plans and waste dumps are being revisited with fresh expectations.

Aerial photography, allied with modern GPS equipment, has been able to pinpoint many of these dumps, and to relate them to the buildings from which the material came. One project has focused on the numerous cattle bones from the larger of the two temples in the city. From another came a beautifully made faience nose from a statue of the pharaoh.

Above: The Amarna site seen from the north cliffs. The North Dig House is at centre left.

A tethered balloon in operation photographing the grain silos near the South Dig House.

6

A home dating from 1300 BC To accommodate expedition staff on site, two of the original houses in the city have been used for living and working space. Just imagine living in a three and a half thousand year

old house! Currently one in the south suburbs is occupied, replacing one at the north end, which was used in the 1920s and 1930s. From the air the structures within the estate surrounding the southern house can be seen clearly - indeed the site as a whole is an aerial photographer's paradise. At the north-eastern corner of the house is a cluster of round grain silos, recently excavated , in which was found a large collection of pottery deliberately reburied as being of little use once it had been recorded, but now a vital part of the pottery archive.

There is interest, too, in learning about our archaeological predecessors.

The northern dig house was used for many years after the First World War, and life there is described in the book Nefertiti Lived Here by Mary Chubb.

Though she refers to the photography done there - mentioning a darkroom it is disappointing that few practical aspects of the work are dealt with, even though we know that more than 1000 half-plate glass negatives were processed on site over the years.

Again aerial images have shed light on what went on. The area around the house was surveyed as part of a project on Akhenaten's planning of the city, and the arrangement of the

Right: The South Dig House.

Below: Remains of afaience nose from a statue of Akhenaten.

The North Dig House, and a close-up showing (A) the darkroom light-trap entrance dating from the 1920s.

house was duly noted as being typical for the period.

Except for one room with a strange double doorway, and a very narrow one at that. It doesn 't conform to ancient practice, but any old-ish photographer will immediately recognise a darkroom light-trap entrance. For those not of a certain age, this is a zig-zag of three walls, usually painted black, allowing easy access without complex light trapping around a door.

So now we know exactly where the darkroom was, and that the room was fitted out to the then best practice.

What a lesson for all of us who work in the field.

For more information on Amarna see www.amarnaproject.com.

See also 'Nefertiti Lived Here ' by Mary Chubb ISBN 1-901965-01-5.

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

7

The Art Deco buildings of London The 2003 Art Deco exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum led to a project

by Garry Bisshopp LRPS to photograph London's many remaining Art Deco buildings.

Left: The Carreras cigarette factory building in Camden Town. The black cats were a memorable trademark.

Art Deco is a style of the 1920s and '30s influenced by the Paris Exhibition of 1925. Architects and designers utilised the new materials of the time - plastics, chrome, aluminium and incorporated the styles of Ancient Egypt (following the discovery of Tutenkhamun's tomb in 1922), Aztec and Mayan culture, and the geometrics of Cubism. It was an age of speed and streamlining, and architecture embodied light and space, clean lines, curves and patterns .

Britain, and especially London, has some outstanding examples of Art Deco buildings: the best-known are the Dorchester and Savoy hotels, the Shell-Mex building on the Strand, Selfridges department store and the BBC building in Langham Place. Out on the western approaches are the former Hoover, Firestone and Gillette factories, all fortunately preserved.

Many buildings are not open to the public, but the various types of exterior ornament can readily be seen and photographed . A notable example of the Egyptian style is the Carreras Cigarette factory, now Greater London House in Hampstead Road, Camden Town. Stripped of its decoration to become an office block in the 1960s, it was restored in 1999 to its original exterior, with 8ft-high black cats outside the main entrance and colourful palm trees on the pillars.

Colour it black ...

Another of my favourites is the National Radiator Company's Ideal House (now Palladian House) on the corner of Argyll Street and Great Marlborough Street.

This 1929 building is clad in black marble, and the doorways, windows and frieze are decorated with bronze and enamel carried out by craftsmen of the

Below: London's Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane.

Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts. It is now an office block, with Caffe Nero occupying the showroom area on the ground floor.

London Open House Weekend in mid-September each year gives an opportunity to visit the Daily Express building in Fleet Street, now offices of Goldman Sachs. Built in 1930-32, the exterior is covered in black Vitrolight, with clear glass and chrome strips.

The lobby has two plaster reliefs of 'Empire' by Eric Aumonier , and the ceiling displays much silver and gilt and a silvered pendant lamp. The public can gain access to the lobby during this special weekend , and it is usually busy with photographers and others enjoying the remarkable decor.

Remember the bronze uplighters on the escalators in London Underground stations? Most have been removed and replaced by overhead lighting, but the original installations can still be seen at St John 's Wood on the Jubilee Line and Southgate on the Piccadilly.

London Underground has recently introduced a licence scheme for photographer s; non-professional permits cost £30 for a month and should satisfy any zealous security staff. rllfl;i, ..,,,

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A useful website, suggesting a walking route and describing the buildings, is: www.london-footprints.co.uk/ artdecobldgs.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Away-day to Arras Infra-red colour aerial photography The early English manor house To be published in March 2010 8

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Printed by Lakeside Printing Ltd, Sevenoaks , Kent