Stills is a centre for photography based in the heart Edinburgh. Our purpose is to be local valued and internationally recognised for the advancement, understanding, practice and enjoyment of photography. As well as a gallery, we provide photography production facilities, equipment and courses and we run extensive education programmes for young people. Stills is a registered charity that was established in 1977 by photographers wanting to build upon the historical importance of Edinburgh as a place where 19th Century developments in photography were pioneered. Over the years, our critically acclaimed exhibition programme has included presentations of work by major artists and photographers including: Anna Atkins, Lewis Baltz, Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Martha Rosler, Sebastião Salgado, Jo Spence, John Stezaker, Paul Strand and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Street Level provides inspiring encounters in photography for all; a place that is embedded locally and connected internationally; a creative setting to make, engage with, and buy photography. 2014 marked its 25th year.
Street Level is a gallery and an open access photographic production facility committed to quality and equality across activity. We provide a high quality artistic programme in the city of Glasgow that is challenging and accessible, local and international, diverse and highly individual. Our programme’s reach is also extended through a growing partnership network of local, regional and national venues that we provide exhibitions for. We also devise and deliver education and outreach projects, which forge paths for lifelong learning and increase access to the arts for all who want to participate.
The photography collection of the National Galleries of Scotland was established in 1984 and presently contains over 50,000 works, including the largest collection of Hill and Adamson photographs anywhere in the world. We continue to collect and research photography from the 1840s to the present day, with a particular interest in Scottish work, alongside a remit to also collect photographs by international makers. Photography is regularly displayed throughout the National Galleries of Scotland sites, in addition to a dedicated programme of photography exhibitions located in the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
The University of Glasgow has extensive collections of photographs and books about photography, illustrating developments from the earliest images by William Henry Fox Talbot onwards. Of international importance are nearly 500 calotype negatives by the partnership of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, active in the 1840s. We hold fascinating examples of professional and amateur work which give insights into aspects of Victorian and Edwardian life. Our business archive collections include industrial works photography used for commercial purposes, from the laying of keels in Clyde shipyards to the finishing shop of Templeton's carpets. Significant collections of photographs are also found in the archives of University of Glasgow Professors and artists including Jessie M King, James Paterson and James McNeill Whistler.
www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections
The University of St Andrews is home to the largest photographic collection in Scotland, comprising over one million photographs including some of the nation’s earliest surviving prints, albums, and negatives. St Andrews is where Scotland’s earliest photographers pioneered the medium's potential as an art, science, and commercial craft which documents both the physical and cultural transformation of Scotland from the 1840s to the present day.
The Library’s Special Collections Division continues actively to expand its collection to redefine and strengthen its holdings in social documentary, topographic and vernacular photography by contemporary and twentieth century photographers. This world-class collection is accessible to all for research and discovery both in-person and through its dedicated website.
University of St Andrews Library Photographic Collection
Perth Museum & Art Gallery, operated by Culture Perth & Kinross, is fortunate in having an extensive photographic collection which has been Recognised by Scottish Government as nationally significant. Material ranges from early calotypes produced by Perth born artist D O Hill right up to recently acquired works by contemporary photographers. Perth Museum & Art Gallery regularly shows photography drawn from both its own collections and touring shows. This varied exhibition programme is complemented by talks and workshops aimed at sustaining and developing new audiences for photography. Culture Perth & Kinross is committed to developing its photographic offering in the future including the creation of an exciting new photography space in the refurbished Perth Gallery – one of a number of capital projects underway to achieve the cultural transformation of the city.
The National Trust for Scotland has a historic photography collection of c.50,000 works, ranging from mid nineteenth-century daguerreotypes to cameras from the 1990s. As well as a wide selection of country house photo albums, social history photographs and camera equipment, the Trust holds the significant photographic collections of folklorist Margaret Fay Shaw and Glasgow Boy E. A. Hornel. Current work on the collection is funded by the Morton Charitable Trust and includes extensive digitisation and documentation, talks, symposiums, exhibitions and other activities that are increasing the accessibility of our collections for everyone.