Science and Media Museum

The Science and Media Museum is currently closed for refurbishment and should be open again for  Bradford City of Culture 2025.

Fifty Years of Doctor Who Fans

The National Media Museum in Bradford is currently running an exhibition celebrating fifty years of Doctor Who fans (running till 14th Feb 2014).  I was a fan myself back in the distant past but never collected memorabilia, many people did though, and this exhibition is a collection of souvenirs loaned to the museum by members of the public.  The Cyberman outfit brought back memories for me, memories from the 1960's and an army of Cybermen invaders emerging from the London Underground, not really all that scary by todays standards but scary enough back then.  Looking back at the pictures though, late at night, my mind did begin to wander a little.  Could that suit contain a real Cyberman and could there be a plot to take over the world using the Media Museum as the Cyberman headquarters.......and where is the Doctor when you really need him?

Save Our Media Museum

This picture was taken on June 8th, at the beginning of a campaign by local politicians, councillors and our local newspaper to save the National Media Museum from closure.  Funding for a group of museums  including the Media Museum is to be reduced and one of the establishments in the group may therefore  have to close, possibly the Media Museum here in Bradford.  Back in early June actor John Hurt and Monty Python star Terry Jones were speaking out in support of the museum.  Since then a growing number of celebrities and politicians have added their names to the campaign, the latest being American film director Martin Scorsese.

How do you see yourself?

  This is one of the interactive displays at the National Media Museum.  I'm not really quite sure what point the display is trying to convey, in one picture I'm nearer the camera, and in the other I'm slightly further away and at a slightly different angle, puzzling really.  I think I look a bit like a ghost in both pictures though, so if you visit the museum and see a strange apparition (with a camera), it could be me!

Welcome To The National Media Museum

The National Media Museum is probably an easier name to remember than The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, its former name.  The museum houses a large Imax cinema and two smaller cinemas, two exhibition galleries, a whole downstairs floor on the history of photography and historic cameras, a gallery on the history of television, and more recent exhibits on computer gaming and the internet, so the current name is probably more apt than the former name.  The picture shows the balconies overlooking the foyer area of the museum.

Concave Mirror

This gallery in the National Media Museum has various types of lenses which were used in early photography and cinema on display. The photograph is actually the reflection in a large concave mirror of the gallery, that's me in the picture, I couldn't take the shot without my own reflection appearing in it.

Through The Round Window

This picture shows the domes of the Alhambra Theatre and the Odeon Cinema and was taken through one of the 'portholes' in the Camera Lucida sulpture which stands in front of the National Media Museum.

Camera Lucida - Tim Head

This sculpture stands in front of the National Media Museum in the centre of Bradford and is by artist Tim Head. It was commissioned by the museum with support from Bradford Metropolitan Council and the Yorkshire Arts Association. I find this sculpture quite difficult to photograph, this is probably my best effort so far. I don't usually mess about with the colours but I have tinted the picture blue and darkened the corners a little on this occasion.

National Media Museum

I used to walk past this building on my way to school, it always seemed to be windy here, even on a day when it wasn't particularly windy, maybe that's why entry to the museum is through those little airlocks protruding from the glass frontage. The museum is well worth a visit if you are in the area, it contains an Imax cinema, displays of photographic equipment, galleries and various interactive exhibits.

The Lives Of Great Photographers

     This exhibition is currently running at the National Media Museum and consists of a collection of some of the most memorable images in the history of photography. Twenty two photographers are featured, from FoxTalbot and Daguerre at the beginning of photography almost up to the present day with the landscapes of Fay Godwin.  Well worth a visit if you are in the area.