Photography: researching its history, processes, and photographers: Websites

Founded in Florence in 1852, Fratelli Alinari is the oldest firm in the world working in the field of photography, the image and communication. The Alinari website includes the Alinari Archive, with 200,000+ pictures, and the Education section with 100,000+ photographs available. Register for a free account to search these resources.

"An award-winning Virtual Museum dedicated to educating, informing, and sharing great photographs with millions of Internet visitors world-wide. Exhibitions are drawn from the Museum's Collection, started by Wm. B. Becker more than 35 years ago. The Collection includes five thousand individual images, from the earliest daguerreotype portraits to the work of Ansel Adams." Messy, fun, informative website is a portal to a wealth of interesting online exhibits and images and information about photographs and photography.

Established in 1973 as a place where photographers could exhibit their work and learn about the best in current practice, both nationally and internationally, ACP stages exhibitions that play an important role in identifying and promoting major artists of Australian photography, offers public programs such as artist talks, panel discussions, informal slide nights, public master classes and guided tours, and publishes Photofile, an influential journal that reflects the shifting forms and contexts of photography.

The former Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography was absorbed by the National Gallery of Canada to form the CPI, which houses one of the world's most comprehensive collections of photographs and related materials, representing the entire history of the medium.

"The Center for Creative Photography is an archive and research center located on the University of Arizona campus. It retains the archives of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Garry Winogrand, Harry Callahan, and other great twentieth-century photographers." (quoted from website)

The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot Project has prepared a comprehensive edition of the nearly 10,000 letters to and from Talbot, 1800-1877, the Wiltshire polymath best known for his invention of photography. Draft transcriptions of nearly all the letters were posted by September 2003 and these are now being further annotated and edited. Letters are fully searchable and transcriptions and originals can be viewed.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's "photography outpost in cyberspace," with online exhibitions and links to further resources.

"The Lumière Institute is located on the site where the Cinematographe and the Autochromes were invented. Its mission, as entrusted by Louis Lumière’s heirs, is to promote this heritage and bring it to the attention of the whole world.
The Lumière Institute joined forces with the Rhône Regional Authorities to design this exhibition as a way of paying tribute to the first-ever colour photographs in the department where they were invented." (quoted from website)

A great resource for quick biographies and sometimes hard-to- find images of photographers.

"The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is the only museum in the Midwest with an exclusive commitment to the medium of photography. By presenting projects and exhibitions that embrace a wide range of contemporary aesthetics and technologies, the Museum strives to communicate the value and significance of photographic images as expressions of human thought, imagination, and creativity." (quoted from website)

The Museum includes film, radio, television, and photography.

"One of the first museums to recognize photography as a legitimate art form, SFMOMA has been collecting and exhibiting photographs since 1935. Tracing the development of the medium from its invention in the 1830s to the present day, our photography collection comprises more than 14,000 pictures and is particularly well regarded for its concentrations of photographs related to California and the West, the European Avant-Garde, and American Modernism." (quote from website)

"Presenting the art and science of albumen printing, this site brings together 19th Century technical instruction, contemporary research, an online forum for conservation treatment and a wealth of images." (quoted from website)

Aperture Foundation is a non-profit foundation that promotes photography.

"The Canon Camera Museum is a virtual facility presenting a wealth of information on Canon cameras." (quote from website)

Archive of Photographers provides a "virtual showroom for the works of distinguished photographers in Germany." The database includes almost two million images from 89 institutions that include photographs, paintings, graphics, maps, and architectural drawings. Searches can be filtered by photographer, date, subject, place, and other parameters. Collections can be browsed by photographer and collection.

"A sophisticated resource that presents a unique, object-based approach for the identification and characterization of prints and photographs;' allows the user to identify, study, and compare traits of pre-photographic, photographic, photomechanical, and digital processes.

Page on the Snugg company's website offers a concise and interesting overview/history of photography and the camera. Short sections are followed by links to further information: websites, PDFs, articles. Thanks to Matt and Adam for suggesting this resource!

Lists various websites pertaining to photography organized by categories, e.g. Photography history, Photographers, Techniques and materials

Includes over listing for over 450 websites pertaining to photography. "In January 2010, the website "ipl2: information you can trust" was launched, merging the collections of resources from the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII) websites. The site is hosted by Drexel University's College of Information Science & Technology, and a consortium of colleges and universities ... .(quoted from website)

U.S. survey course on the Web published online June 2003; available on History Matters website.

This site includes history of photography; photographers A-Z; photo gallery, a photography history timeline.

Well-designed, encouraging website with a few good tips for the beginning nature photographer. Thanks to Kathleen and Stephanie for this link!

Site includes a gallery, visual server, USA photo guide.

A web-based platform for organizing, searching, and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information.

"This is a research database containing individual records for over 20 000 photographic exhibits drawn from forty exhibition catalogues published between 1839 - 1865. It was created by Roger Taylor and originally published under the same title in book form by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2002." (quoted from website). Site also includes a glossary of processing terms.

Site includes photographers searchable by individual states in the U.S.; information on photography resources, supplies, equipment, specialty services.

"SF Camerawork is a nonprofit organization that encourages emerging and mid-career artists to explore new directions in photography and related media." (quote from website)

"Using the power of photography to promote global awareness. SocialDocumentary.net is a website for photographers, NGOs, editors, journalists, lovers of photography ... . Launched in October 2008, SocialDocumentary.net (SDN) today has hundreds of compelling online exhibits by photographers from all corners of the globe documenting issues ... ." (quoted from website)

Provides lists and links to websites on photography