Photograph Centre

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This article shall talk about my visit to the brand new photograph center in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It will explain the history of photography and its importance in the modern world.

I have always had an interest in photographs, which started because my Uncle was a photographer. He taught me that capturing of the light was an art in itself and that it was important to look at the composition of the photo as well as its subject(s).

The Victoria and Albert Museum has a vast collection of photographs, which makes my time there even more exciting. In fact, the Victoria and Albert museum has always listed photography as one of their key interests, and in 1851 this museum gained the accolade of being one of the first museums to collect and catalog photographs. The Museum has even got photographs of the Crystal palace exhibition from 1851 which you can see in there brand new photograph center.

The V&A's new photograph centre was opened in 2018 by the Duchess of Cambridge, who herself is an avid photographer. When I last went to the photograph centre it was to show around an old friend, called Alice. Before Alice arrive I had been working on my third shift in the Victoria and Albert museum and I had been quietly reading up on the history of photography.

Cameras have always held a deep interest since I was very young, and I have always maintained that life should be captured and recorded. I think that it is such great therapy to look back on one's life while looking at photos. If one has a memory blank of one's life, a photo can mean you can remember what your life was about. Photos can capture important parts of people's lives. They can send messages to other people. That is in part why Facebook became so successful, because they realised that photos were a great way of showing off. By having social media, photos and cameras have never been so important to a modern way of life.

The very first photo was of Nicephore Niepce taking a picture of his family home in 1826. Since 1826 the camera has evolved and adapted in so many ways that I doubt Nicephore Niepce would recognise the camera from our phones.

There is a lot to take in when one is thinking about the photograph, apart from it capturing the light one also has to think about the social political and cultural elements. A photograph sends a message and the photographer is the one responsible for taking it. The cultural importance of the photographs were as important as the actual photograph.

In the photograph centre, one of the main items for show is a beautiful old Kodak camera. Each time I am there I wonder how many photos of interesting people it must have taken before it retired to this brand new photograph centre. The Kodak camera was first built in 1975; it weighed 8 pounds and was one of the first to film in black and white. When one thinks that one can take coloured photos on our small phone, we have certainly come a very long way since the first Kodak camera. The Kodak camera was a success as it was the first of its kind. The Kodak camera became an important factor for filming. As photos became more important so did filming. The Kodak became the link for having a developed film crew.

I have also just bought a book in the Victoria and Albert museum bookshop about the History of Photos. I hope to do many more posts about photos and how it affects us in the modern world especially in the online world. I think that now that people are obsessed with photos, myself included, one must be made aware of this and learn to develop coping strategies. The online community loves photos and I wished that when I was in the photograph centre they told us more examples on how to limit our time connected to the online world and use photos for just our own peace of mind.

Photos are good and bad for the human mind, but having them on our phones can be bad for mental health. When I am having lunch or just looking around me on the bus, everyone is on their phone. People can become obsessed with photos on social media especially when the focus in on how one looks. Many use photos to show off their status, or to hide their insecurities by showing what a great time they are having.

It's in this facet that Facebook was very clever; t it gave us one of the first tools to be able to show off our lives. Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook is like a online public square; everything is out in the ope; there are no secrets with Facebook. This is relevant to the aspect of photos because people my age do not understand the addiction of social media.

I believe sincerely that this addiction is worse than eating sugar. I think that one of the main dangers of social media and being addicted to Facebook is that one can feel very sad or depressed looking at everyone else having a good time as they mostly just download their annoying holiday pictures.

What I do is not use my phone apart from emergencies otherwise I am always just admiring myself. To quote Dorian Gray its the image of an image in this inglorious world.

In 1826 the first successful photograph was ever created by Nicephore Niepce, and therefore the French can lay claim to the invention of the photograph. In French the word 'graph' means capturing the light. People used to sit for hours for a oil painting so are we more vain? I think that we sadly are, as I know that I spend hours on social media.

Cameras and photos have been an important part of the V&A Museum as the are a unique documentation of time passing. In their collection they have over 800,000 photographs. The photos that belong to the museum can be used by other museums. For example, in the Art and Design museum in High Street Kensington, they had a Stanley Kubrick exhibition, and the photos of that exhibition were on loan by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is very proud of its brand new photograph center. It was opened only last year so it still has a few phases lefts before its fully developed. It still has to create its very own dark room and to start doing photography courses. The photograph center can be found on level three, right next to the brand new jewellery gallery that's just been opened. I think it's definitely worth a visit if you have come very far. When I volunteer in the museum a lot of the visiters do not even realise there is a third floor in the museum, so I take them to the photograph center as a treat. The photograph center in the Museum is state of the art and hopefully the visitor develops an interest in photos after.

We have had many famous photographers that create a small part of the photograph center. I admire many of these icons, such as Sir Elton John who is a amatuer photographer. He has donated all of his collection to the museum while donating money to help kick start the centre. The museum also has patrons like Mary McCartney, who loves photos, and you can actually see some of her photos at the photograph center.

I would definitely recommend the brand new photograph centre in the Victoria and Albert museum. I believe that it links into art photos and into human life. Humans have always enjoyed art and this is the next stage. Photos can capture the light and the moment of a party. Photos can carry several different messages and have political power.

My job as a writer and a historian is that I document the world so that in eons away people can then understand the past. Photos and my camera are an important tool in achieving this aim.