Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair

The National Portrait Gallery is holding an exhibition of photographs of Marilyn Monroe. Photographs and magazine covers from 1947 to 1962 celebrate the transformation of the world’s most popular pin-up to acclaimed actress, highlighting the British photographers and personalities who admired her and worked with her.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE

29 September 2012 – 24 March 2013 The exhibition is free and in room 33

© Ed Pfizenmaier

Edith Sitwell and Marilyn Monroe, 1953 Photograph by George Silk/LIFE – © Time Inc

© Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London

© Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s London

See more of the NPG Monroe archive here

Cecil Beaton Theatre of War

An exhibition of photographs by Cecil Beaton at the Imperial War Museum

For much of his career, Cecil Beaton worked as a photographer, cartoonist and writer for Vogue, one of the world’s leading fashion and lifestyle magazines. His relationship with the magazine was strained at times but his contributions were always eye-catching and memorable. During the Second World War, Beaton juggled his role as an official war photographer with his work for Vogue.

Starts 6 September 2012 Ends 1 January 2013

Admission Adult £8, Concessions (student, senior) £6, Children (aged 15 and under) Free. Friends of IWM go free.

There is a review of the exhibition here

There is a book from the exhibition get details here

1000 photography links, tutorials, photographers, new camera reviews – posts

Would you believe that in the last 20 months we have made 1,000 posts about photography, wow seems like it was only a few weeks ago we dipped our toes into the world of blogging. Urged on by our favourite music blogger The Recommender to get stuck in, to share our knowledge and passion about photography; to spread the word and to bring the best photographs, photographers, tutorials, camera reviews, information about exhibitions and the wonder of the world of photography to those who care, you. Since October 2010 we have had over 120,000 views, our highest day was 957, I guess we must be doing something right some of the time.

©Steve McCurry – this is probably The Great Steve’s most famous picture but you should go and see his other work start here

We have had a look at our stats and rather encouragingly find that there is as much interest from you in the fantastic photographers we have brought to your attention as there is in cameras and tutorials. A good healthy mix we think.

Here is a list of the top 12 posts the highest has got over 6,000 views

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/top-10-compact-cameras-2011/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/light-painting/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/photographer-nan-goldins-best-shots-from-the-guardian/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/duane-michals-sequences/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/best-superzoom-bridge-cameras-2011/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/15-digital-point-and-shoot-cameras-used-by-pro-photographers/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/nikon-d800-review/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/cecil-beaton-photographer/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/steve-mccurry-london-exhibition-07092011-24092011/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/20-free-photography-ebooks/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/9-crazy-cross-eye-3d-photography-images-and-how-to-make-them/

https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/google-photography-prize-winner-viktor-johansson/

The top aggregated photographer, that is the most views across all the posts we have made is Steve McCurry this link should get you to all the articles where we have mentioned Steve

The interesting thing we have found is how many of you are interested in the less obvious photographers, Duane Michals comes top for visits to a single post, Cecil Beaton, Nan Goldin and Dorothea Lange all feature heavily, I am sure you never thought you would see those 4 names in the same sentence.

Top camera before and after it’s release was the Nikon D800

The most viewed tutorial was on Light Painting

Our most favourite sources for finding the best photography on the web, and in no particular order are:

Lightstalking, fantastic for tutorials, tips, ideas, features

Digital-Photo-School similar to Lightstalking and also from Australia

Cambridge In Colour for the most sophisticated and intelligent tutorials

The Denver Post for some of the best photojournalism around

The Atlantic, same as The Denver Post, fantastic images from around the world

The British Journal of Photography, just the most complete magazine for photographers

The Pixelated Image blog, David DuChemin is just the man, what a photographer an eye with soul

Photo Tuts for Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials

DP Review, where you find out about cameras, the best review site

Steve’s Digicams, as DP Review a great place to find out about cameras

Tripwire Magazine, we like this for general articles on photography

Magnum, the world’s most famous photo agency, we love this bit Magnum In Motion

Photography Served, a place for finding new photographers with great work

Photography Now, such a beautiful site showcasing the works of the masters of photography

There are undoubtedly lots more we could include here but if you are a regular to our site you will know who we love as inspiration and as a source of great articles.

We have had such great response to the articles we post, the sharing is the thing, finding what is wonderful and putting it out there. We greatly appreciate hearing from you and would welcome more ‘finds’ from you, would consider articles or portfolios you may wish to share with the thousands of like minded people we reach. Here is to the next 1000 posts

Keith Barnes, Oxford School of Photography

Cecil Beaton – photographer

Cecil Beaton, the world famous fashion and portrait photographer who died 21 years ago today left a huge and varied body of work. His work was regularly featured Vogue and Vanity Fair and his trademark theatrical style of photography is still copied today. This brief biography from the NPG explains his career

“Photographer and designer. Born in Hampstead, Beaton’s career as a portrait photographer took off after meeting the Sitwells in 1926. His photographs of them led to his employment with Vogue magazine in London and New York. During the war he worked for the Ministry of Information, recording the war in Britain, the Middle and Far East. After the war he developed as a designer for stage, film, ballet and opera, working with Noel Coward and others. His most famous production was My Fair Lady (1956), the musical based on Shaw’s Pygmalion. He was awarded two Oscars for the film version in 1965.”

This full article from The Telegraph has more information