{"id":404,"date":"2008-09-17T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T14:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/?p=404"},"modified":"2008-09-18T18:43:42","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T18:43:42","slug":"knight-of-the-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/09\/17\/knight-of-the-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"KNIGHT OF THE CAMERA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve just received details of an exhibition of photographs by Sir Benjamin Stone which are going on display in\u00c2\u00a0Centenary Square,\u00c2\u00a0Birmingham, from\u00c2\u00a020th September &#8211; 30 October 2008.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Knight of the Camera&#8217; marks the first major display of images by the renowned\u00c2\u00a0Victorian amateur photographer, Sir Benjamin Stone, in his home town of\u00c2\u00a0Birmingham for almost a century. It follows on from\u00c2\u00a0the exhibition and publication project <a title=\"A Record of England by Sir Benjamin Stone\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Record-England-Benjamin-Photographic-Association\/dp\/1904587372\" target=\"_blank\">A Record of England: Sir\u00c2\u00a0Benjamin Stone and the National Photographic Record Association<\/a> which was shown at the V&amp;A in 2006 (more information below).<\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ecard.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ecard1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-416\" title=\"ecard1\" src=\"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ecard1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ecard1.jpg 567w, https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ecard1-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The exhibition is being organised by\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Benjamin Stone Collection, Birmingham Library\" href=\"http:\/\/www.birmingham.gov.uk\/benjaminstone.bcc\" target=\"_blank\">Birmingham Library<\/a>, where Stone&#8217;s archive is held, and will include over\u00c2\u00a0100 of his most iconic images -\u00c2\u00a0from Parliament, customs and festivals and others such as his previously unseen photographs\u00c2\u00a0of the Franco-British Exhibition in London, 1908. Interestingly the exhibition will also\u00c2\u00a0include a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLegacy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 section revealing the influence of Stone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work\u00c2\u00a0on subsequent generations of British photographers such as <a title=\"Homer Sykes' website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.homersykes.com \" target=\"_blank\">Homer Sykes<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Daniel Meadows' Photo Bus project\" href=\"http:\/\/www.photobus.co.uk\/index.php?id=6\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Meadows<\/a> and <a title=\"Anna Fox's website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.annafox.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Anna Fox<\/a>. It&#8217;s being curated by Pete James who is head of Photographs at Birmingham\u00c2\u00a0Central Library and has undertaken extensive research on Stone&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0collection for many years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A Record of England: Sir\u00c2\u00a0Benjamin Stone and the National Photographic Record Association,\u00c2\u00a01897 -1910\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-405\" title=\"51gepnabqol_ss500_\" src=\"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/51gepnabqol_ss500_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/51gepnabqol_ss500_.jpg 567w, https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/51gepnabqol_ss500_-300x258.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In July 1897, in a flourish of publicity, Sir Benjamin Stone &#8211; Birmingham industrialist, Member of Parliament and passionate, almost obsessive collector, announced the formation of the National Photographic Record Association. Its prime objective was to make a record of England for future generations, to foster &#8220;a national pride in the historical associations of the country, or neighbourhood, in family traditions, or in personal associations.&#8221; Over the next 13 years, Stone and his amateur supporters deposited their photographs at the British Museum. In 2000, these were moved to the V&amp;A. This book examines Stone&#8217;s central role in the project and presents over 100 of his photographs, many of which have never been published before. It also charts the history of the NPRA and points to its legacies within photography.<\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-409\" title=\"29744-large\" src=\"http:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/29744-large.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/29744-large.jpg 567w, https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/29744-large-300x235.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ripon Pageant. Guild of Woolcombers Group. Ripon, Yorkshire, England 1906\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a9 Sir Benjamin Stone, V&amp;A<\/p>\n<p>The NPRA was part of a much wider photographic survey movement at the end of the 19th century, covering British archaeology, geology and ethnography. The idea of photographic surveys survives to this day, operating at many levels, from local camera clubs and community projects to the National Monuments Record. While there are strong elements of nostalgia in the NPRA,\u00c2\u00a0 it was also dynamic as our Victorian ancestors, like us, used photography to project what they valued about their past into the future.<\/p>\n<p>You can see a selection of images from the V&amp;A exhibition <a title=\"V&amp;A exhibition\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vam.ac.uk\/collections\/photography\/past_exhns\/stone\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can read a biography of Stone\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Sir Benjamin Stone biography\" href=\"http:\/\/www.birmingham.gov.uk\/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=90628&amp;CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&amp;MENU_ID=14555\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve just received details of an exhibition of photographs by Sir Benjamin Stone which are going on display in\u00c2\u00a0Centenary Square,\u00c2\u00a0Birmingham, from\u00c2\u00a020th September &#8211; 30 October 2008. &#8216;Knight of the Camera&#8217; marks the first major display of images by the renowned\u00c2\u00a0Victorian amateur photographer, Sir Benjamin Stone, in his home town of\u00c2\u00a0Birmingham for almost a century. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[17,36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/we-english.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}