Amateurs and Artists: Early Photography and Plymouth

This exhibition, drawn from our permanent human history collections, is on display at the Museum from 9 April to 30 July 2011.

Schools

Our Learning Team converted our Learning Centre into a camera obscura for visiting schools and groups. This involves making a room dark apart from a very small hole to let in light. It uses the same technology as early cameras, so it was a great opportunity to discover the basics of photography, and to allow children and parents to experience a darkroom in action. Photos of the project can be found on our Flickr page.

Further and higher education

'Artists and Amateurs: Early Photography and Plymouth' attracted a visit from Plymouth College of Art’s ND Photography course, who were interested in the pioneering work of photographers in the city, in particular the portrait photography that took place in studios on Union Street.

Activities and events

We also used 'Artists and Amateurs: Early Photography and Plymouth' as a basis for some of our lunchtime talks and family workshops. A photo montage workshop attracted a large number of visitors, and also led to a small off-shoot workshop of pinhole photography. Our visitors were invited to take our cameras around the gallery and take a photo of whatever caught their eye. This also allowed them to see a dark room in action, and experience the excitement of photographs being developed. Photos from the workshop can be viewed on Flickr.

A spin off from these events is the installation of a number of pinhole cameras on rooftops across the city – Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Smeaton’s Tower, and the University of Plymouth’s Davy Building to capture long exposure photographs called ‘solargraphs’. These photographs capture the sun’s path on photographic paper over a few months. These photos will be available to view soon.