Agrupaciò Fotogràfica de Catalunya BRIEF HISTORY

L'Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya, was born spontaneously when a group of photography enthusiasts met by chance at a public event. A conversation about cameras led to the idea of posting ads in newspapers addressed to other photography amateurs setting a meeting which was attended by roughly thirty people.

This Organization was set up in June 1923 but a place to meet was lacking. The owner of a bar at 21 Aribau Street offered them a very small room which was subsequently used as an auditorium, meeting room, exhibition room, and screening room. The number of members kept growing and the premises were too small so a bigger place was needed. Luckily, in November 1924, a society with survival problems rented 14 Duc de la Victòria Street -where we are still located - and later on l'AFC expanded acquiring the two first floors, which we still keep.

Names like Pla Janini, Claudi Carbonell, Català Pic, Otto Lloyd, Agustí Centelles, Antoni Campañà, Salvador Lluch, and Joan Porqueras, were, among others, members of this first period. In the sixties, l'AFC was one of the most important societies with members such as Xavier Miserachs, Francesc Català Roca, Pere Català Roca, Joan Fontcuberta, Oriol Maspons, Joan Colom, Francesc P. de Ponti, Antoni Crous, Antoni Palau, Carles Roca, Jordi Gumí, Josep Closa, Rosa Szücs de Truñó, and Carme Garcia de Ferrando, among others. Two of these members, Pere Català i Roca and Joan Colom Altemir, have been awarded with the National Photography Prize, one of the most prestigious Prizes for any photographer.

In 1978, the Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya Museum was created and today the archives include more than 25,000 glass stereoscopic negatives of Barcelona, Catalunya, Espanya, Europa, their people, customs and social events.

Our photography archives have collected the work of some of the great artists of their time. They include the work of Claudi Carbonell, Joan Porqueras, Joaquim Pla Janini, Antoni Crous, Antoni Campañà, Francesc de P. Ponti, Antoni Palau, Francesc Català Roca, Salvador Lluch, Bru Argemí, Joan Colom, Carles Roca, Rosa Szücs, Carme Garcia de Ferrando, and Pere Martínez Carrión.

An impressive collection of historical objects related to photography are on permanent exhibition. A few of the notable objects include wooden cameras, expandable cameras and contemporary cameras. Also on view are cinema projectors, cinema cameras, and Taxi-Phots.

L'AFC objective is the promotion and popularization of all aspects of photography. To achieve this objective, l'AFC organizes contests, exhibitions, and courses. There are also b/w and colour laboratories, a photographic set, audiovisual and cinema equipment and a digital room at our disposal. Moreover, we enjoy one of Spain's best libraries on photography housing a large volume of timeless books related to the art of light. Many experts and photography specialists have used our library for their work, even people from USA, Holland and Italy have researched here.

In spite of the fact that our Organization lives only on members fees and doesn't receive any subsidy or extraordinary contribution, we have created digital facilities which gives our current and future members interested in the digital world a complement to our Organization's former facilities.