The Royal Photographic Society will be delving through the past 170 years of photography with the launch of a series of events over the spring and summer.

Titled The Real Thing? - Staging, Manipulation and Photographic Truth, the series will focus on all images manipulated, collaged or purely staged throughout photography’s history; a wide-scope indeed. So far announced are a day of talks from contemporary photographers, including Mitra Tabrizian discussing her work such as Surveillance (1989) at the University of Westminster on 25 April. Also The National Media Museum in Bradford will hold events on 11 July.

Historical perspectives along with the contemporary will be analysed, such as the hot topic of how new technologies are used in relation to photojournalism. By combining these issues with historical practice, the lectures by the RPS hope “to explore the enduring relevance of staged photography and the consequences of its myths, metaphors, facts and fictions.” If that’s whetted your appetite, tickets for the lecture are available now.