What We Chose to Show
The Camera Club Journal Covers 1940s–2010s
What We Chose to Show is an exhibition exploring seven decades of photographic history through the covers of the Camera Club Journal, from the 1940s to the 2010s. Drawn from the Club’s own archive, the exhibition examines how photographers have used this platform to reflect changing social realities, artistic priorities, and technological developments
Rather than presenting a comprehensive survey, the exhibition focuses on a carefully selected group of covers: the images we chose to show. These covers reveal what the Camera Club valued at different moments in time: from post-war industry and street photography to fashion, wildlife, sport, portraiture, still life, and studio work among other styles. Together, they trace shifting ideas about what photography could be, who it was for, and how it should look.
At the heart of the exhibition is the act of selection itself. One of the most striking moments in the Journal’s history is the infamous “X” cover of April 1958, produced when no suitable photographs were submitted by members. In the Journal, the editors explained that the blank cover was intended to highlight the need for members to document club life and contribute images for publication. What began as an absence became a call to action; and today stands as a powerful reminder that photographic history is shaped as much by participation and circumstance as by artistic ambition.
Founded in 1885, The Camera Club has long been a meeting place for professional and amateur photographers. Its Journal functions as a living archive, recording not only photographic trends but also the values, debates, humour, and working practices of its members. Across the decades represented here, visitors will encounter images shaped by post-war optimism, mid-century glamour, emerging youth culture, technological change, and later digital and conceptual experimentation.
This exhibition forms part of the Club’s ongoing commitment to presenting one exhibition each year drawn from its own photographic collection. By returning to the archive and re-presenting it in a contemporary context, What We Chose to Show invites visitors to reflect on how photographic taste evolves and how a community constructs its own visual history.
The exhibition is curated by Gabe Simon and Dr Monica A. Walker.
Special thanks are due to Rod Tidnam, Felix Hall-Close, and Steve Wilbur, who worked behind the scenes to photograph and print the final selection of images for display.
Please, join us for the Open View on 19 February at 7 PM.