Team members including Mallory and Sherpas at a rest stop on Everest. Photograph by Captain John Noel, 1922 (RGS-IBG S0001176)
Our current exhibition, Lights and Shadows, is on display in the Pavilion until Friday 10 December.
Documenting and observing the world through photography has been a focus of the Society’s own work since the 1880s, when John Thomson was appointed as the Society’s official ‘Instructor of Photography’. A pioneer in his craft, Thomson referred to photography as "the absolute lights and shadows of all things seen and that are of value in expanding our knowledge of the world in which we live".
This exhibition presents an introduction to the Society’s photographic collection within its wider holding of over 500,000 images, featuring works by Gertrude Bell, Frank Hurley, Carleton Watkins, Isabella Bird, Sarat Chandra Das and Eric Newby. From an early original daguerreotype of Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot to a remarkable aerial image of 1960s Abu Dhabi and iconic photographic ‘firsts’, the exhibition spans over a century of documentary photography, with contemporary relevance for research and enquiry.
All images featured in the exhibition can be purchased from the RGS Print Store.
Lights and Shadows is available to view in our Pavilion until Friday 10 December.
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