Inspired by…Photography

This year’s Inspired By… competition is up and running, with a great display on show in the Sackler Centre showing artists’ and designers work which has been inspired by the V&A’s collections. To tie in with the exhibition, this weekend we put on a range of talks, workshops and open studios offering visitors a chance to get creative.

The V&A’s collection of photography contains works from the very origins of the medium, right through to photographers working today. Anyone can access the collection at our Prints and Drawings Study Room, where works from the archive can be ordered for viewing. There is no better way to experience the works of greats like Ansel Adams, David Bailey and Henri Cartier – Bresson, and I thoroughly recommend it!

In the Sackler Centre’s Digital Studio we opened our doors to give free workshops in digital photography techniques. Visitors were invited to borrow a camera, head out into the galleries and be inspired by the architecture of the museum and its collections. On return to the studio they could then use Photoshop or Pixlr-o-Matic to manipulate the images and recreate the effects of film cameras, complete with their flaws and unique aesthetics.

Some people can find the clarity of digital photography to be its downfall. In creating the most perfect ways of capturing an image, the photograph has lost some of the elements which make them tactile, magical and give them a sense of uniqueness. Looking back through the V&A’s photographs, we tried to emulate some of the lesser used analogue photography techniques which have fallen by the wayside in the digital revolution, such as pinhole photography and silver gelatin prints.

Some stunning photographs were created during the day and then printed out to take home…