Edinburgh animator brings vintage photographs to life

Edinburgh animator brings vintage photographs to life in incredible new videos

Digitising old photographs to include colourisation, 3D effects and even animation seems to be the "in" thing at the moment judging by this latest article - the second to feature on this blog in recent months following a similar project in Coventry as reported here.

John Knox House, Edinburgh, c.1865
source - Wikimedia Commons

This time we find ourselves in Edinburgh, where a local film and animation enthusiast has used his skills in 3D and visual effects to bring images of Auld Reekie from across the decades to life.  With support and encouragement from a local history Facebook page, and inspired by the same Youtube videographer I mentioned in the Coventry article who upscales century-old footage of New York, Paris and elsewhere, Scottish filmmaker Steven Jefferies has taken still photographs of his home city from the 1950s all the way back to the 1870s and turned them into moving pictures using modern digital techniques.

Leith Pier, Edinburgh, 1870
source - Monovisions

The result is quite remarkable, blurring the lines between static photography and moving images - in the case of the latter quite a valuable addition inasmuch as it provides quasi cine-footage of the 1870s, a time before such technology existed, thereby adding a new level of immediacy and familiarity to otherwise motionless images.

Edinburgh, c.1870s
source - Monovisions

The footage seems to have gone down well with the people of Edinburgh, as well it should, giving a new lease of life and fresh perspective to these old photos, preserving their memories in a new and exciting way - a way that might hopefully engage with the younger generation, perhaps even encourage some to take a further interest in their local history and - who knows? - maybe pursue a career in [digital] photographic conservation.

The Cowgate arch of George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, 1860
source - Monovisions

In the meantime I congratulate Mr Jefferies on his Living Pictures Project and - as with the Coventry Rebuilt initiative - add my voice to those who have expressed the hope that it is something that will continue to grow (with the assistance of the Lost Edinburgh Facebook page) into a valuable historical asset for the local community.

French man develops 120-year-old photos he finds in time capsule

French man develops 120-year-old photos he finds in time capsule

An article that combines two of this blog's bread-and-butter stories now - the discovery of a century-old time capsule and the use of a period method to reconstruct an aspect of the past.

In this instance the hidden box was found in the family home of French photographer and video-maker Mathieu Stern and which somewhat serendipitiously contained several glass negative photographic plates.  Inspired by these previously-unseen slides M. Stern has made full use of his photographic know-how to recreate the images therein using a traditional 19th century process called Cyanotype, to produce a couple of charming pictures that offer a literal snapshot into a little piece of 1900s life.

source - Mathieu Stern

The life was that of a little girl (age unknown) who, judging by what is shown in the accompanying video, clearly took the concept of a time capsule to heart by including all sorts of ephemera from the turn of the last century such as paper cutouts, a coin/medal, pillbox, nib pen and sea shell - not forgetting the aforementioned glass plates.  The contents of the charming little box - which is equally as beautiful - offer a fascinating glimpse into the existence of a young child at the beginning of the 20th century.  Clearly all these things were of great importance to this young girl that she kept them so safe and in such good condition; just as obvious is the emotional attachment of the photographs' subject matter - her pet cats and dog.

source - Mathieu Stern

As M. Stern and others commentators have stated, these images are a wonderful reminder that pets - and especially cats - have been an integral part of [young] people's lives for centuries and the concept of capturing their likenesses for posterity is nothing new - only the medium and devices used have changed in the last 120 years.  One has to wonder if historians in 2140 will be able to look back at images taken on iPhones and the like with quite the same degree of appreciation as us looking at this girl's efforts (or will things get increasingly worse in the next 120 years...?).

In any event M. Stern is to be applauded for preserving these delightful photos and their lovely subjects for posterity while using a photographic technique appropriate to the time and one that would not have been unknown to the original photographer when she took these remarkably contemporary pictures of her beloved companions.  One hope that he will cherish not only the pictures but also the other contents and that this particular time capsule will not be forgotten for another century.

Coventry man brings to life old photos to 'give them a home'

Coventry man brings to life old photos to 'give them a home'

Lost photographs and discarded picture albums have been a recurring theme on this blog over the years - from photos of a still under construction Tower Bridge being found in a skip, 5,000 First World War photos rescued from rubbish dumps, to rare images of the British Raj from over one hundred years ago turning up in a shoe box.  On each occasion we have marvelled at the wonderful glimpse into the past these eleventh-hour rediscoveries have afforded us while at the same time lamenting the fact that they have been so undervalued as to have been left forgotten for decades or more, often to the point of their near-destruction.

This latest article is no exception and once again it is thanks to the efforts of one collector that a number of old photographs - primarily picture postcards of his home town of Coventry and studio portraits of its inhabitants - have been saved for posterity.  Peter Knight's attitude towards preserving these "forgotten faces" is one that we can well appreciate - the thought that they might represent all that is left of a person's life, that they are the last surviving visual documentation of their existence and the travesty that would result if they were just left to gather dust (or worse).



What gives this story added inspiration is that Mr Knight has been able to use modern technology to restore the images to a startling degree of freshness, colourising them and in some cases even employing the much talked-of computer trickery that is "deep fake" to slightly animate the photos.  While I am not convinced about the latter technique, the colourisation does go some way to adding to the immediacy of the pictures, to reinvigorating the subject and, indeed, bringing them back to life.  Mr Knight's idea of incorporating these photographs into a virtual online world of an historical Coventry is also an intriguing project and one that I hope succeeds.



There has been some degree of backlash from certain quarters recently regarding how far "restoration" of old photographs and cine-footage should go following the colourisation, addition of sound effects and 4K HD & frame rate upscaling applied to the famous Lumière brothers' 1896 film L'Arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat and other late 19th-/ early 20th-century footage on YouTube.  As a student of history I can well understand the disquiet that is felt at the perhaps unnecessary meddling with things that were products of their time and should be understood and appreciated as such but equally I can appreciate the thinking behind it and in particular the benefits to the originals and their history that may result.  For example, is Peter Jackson's recent excellent WW1 film They Shall Not Grow Old just "showmanship" or a legitimate attempt to modernise important historical footage for a new, 21st century audience?  As I have said we as lovers of times gone by can appreciate black & white pictures and films as windows to the past but to many [young] people it is as alien and as relevant as another planet - noiseless, colourless, oddly-dressed people long since dead.  If adding colour, realistic movement and other modern technological features can help get new generations more interested and perhaps lead them back to the unadulterated original, with a better understanding and appreciation of what it represents, it might well help to avoid further examples of photographic abandonment like those mentioned and ensure the endurance of classic early cinema and historic photographs such as those saved from oblivion by the likes of Peter Knight and others.

***What do you think?  Can film or photographs ever be over-restored?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.***

Bertie in the Middle East: online showing for first royal tour photographs

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Bertie in the Middle East: online showing for first royal tour photographs

Museums, art galleries, heritage sites and the like are regrettably having a tough time of things at the moment, with lock-down having seriously impacted many excellent institutions.  Despite this risk to their very existence the vast majority seem to have stepped up to the crease with remarkable initiative, with some superb online curatorial videos and similar displays available on YouTube and the like.  The exhibition mentioned in this article, although photographic rather than audiovisual in nature, is no less fascinating featuring as it does the first photographic record of a royal tour of the Middle East.

This was Edward, the Prince of Wales' (later to become King Edward VII) 1862 trip to Greece, the then Ottoman Empire, the Holy Land and finally to Egypt - partly designed to bolster Britain's relations with those countries and but also it seems to deflect attention from one of Bertie's many flings with a female member of the British theatre scene(!).  In a very modern and what would nowadays be called a "damage-limitation exercise", the experienced and highly-respected photographer Francis Bedford was sent along as one of the party to document the tour in the new medium of photography.

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Now thanks to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts the photos from that tour are available to view online as part of its Sights of Wonder exhibition.  Originally intended to be a physical display at the Institute's Birmingham location it has been swiftly and expertly switched to a web-based digital exhibit and jolly well done it is too.  Not only does it showcase Bedford's remarkable pictures of historic sites that had previously only been seen (if at all) as paintings or drawings, but it also includes excerpts from Edward's personal diary and contemporary news reports - all of which add to the overall fascination immeasurably.

Everyone involved is worthy of congratulation on creating such an interesting and absorbing exhibit during these difficult times and I'm particularly pleased to note the involvement of some University of Birmingham history students - I hope this will benefit and inspire them to future endeavours in preserving these important aspects of our history.  In the meantime although it is heartening to see how well some museums are adapting to the ongoing situation there are of course many that are still closed and facing an uncertain future.  I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how important it is that we support those institutions that are struggling through these hard times, if only by visiting them again when circumstances are such that they are able to reopen.

Photo of last wartime raid discovered

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Photo of last wartime raid discovered 

With the 70th anniversary of VE Day still fresh in our minds from a fortnight ago (did anyone see the celebrations on the B.B.C. and particularly the veterans' march past the Prince of Wales - what about that old boy at the end who insisted on getting out of his wheelchair to shake hands with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?!  What a chap!), it's easy to forget that the war was still raging in Europe almost right up until the moment of surrender on the 7th May.

View image | gettyimages.com

Photograph discovered of 'last RAF bomb dropped on Germany'

This fact has been brought home again recently thanks in part to the discovery of a previously unseen photograph showing preparations for an RAF bombing raid on the German port of Kiel, with the date (written on the bomb, no less!) of the 2nd May 1945 - only 5 days before Germany's unconditional surrender.  Even more interestingly, this raid - by de Havilland Mosquitoes of 608 Squadron, based at Downham Market in Norfolk - has been confirmed as the last hostile operation undertaken by Bomber Command in the Second World War, so this photograph is most definitely an important historical document of the very last days of the conflict.



It was a fitting closure to aerial operations in the Second World War that Kiel was chosen as the target for this final raid (as it was feared that the remnants of the German Navy would make a last-minute dash for Norway, then still in Axis hands, from the town's large sea port) as it was also one of the very first targets to be bombed by the RAF back in September 1939 (as immortalised in the 1939 British propaganda film The Lion Has Wings, starring Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson - from which the above clip is taken).

As is the way with newly-discovered photographs we marvel at the snapshot in time that they provide, which in this case is heightened by the knowledge that it was taken less than a week away from one of the defining events of the 20th century - the end of one of the world's bloodiest and all-encompassing wars.  An otherwise everyday wartime activity is thrown into stark relief by the fact that it turned out to be the last such action of the war and one wonders about the awareness of the men in the photo - what were their hopes and feelings on that last raid; did they know it would all be over in a matter of days?  We'll likely never know the answer to that question now since the original owner, pictured in the photo, passed away in 1979 (having, like so many of his generation, never talked about his experiences) but nevertheless it's welcome news that an historically-important image has been found and saved for the nation, fittingly in this the 70th anniversary year of the war's end.

Dustman saves 5,000 rare First World War photos from rubbish dumps

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Dustman saves 5,000 rare First World War photos from rubbish dumps

As if to prove the point in my previous post regarding the treatment historical documents are sometimes subjected to, the way they are often rediscovered and saved from the brink of destruction, this post features the story of over 5,000 photographs of the First World War that were rescued over the course of 30 years by a Sussex dustman.

Bob Smethurst's wonderful attitude towards these incredible records of a past conflict is only tempered somewhat by the thought of how little they must have been valued by others and how many more fascinating documents were not saved from the incinerator in all those years.  It's desperately sad to think of a family cold-bloodily disposing of an individual's life history, not stopping to think that it in fact contributes to the history of our whole society.

Thankfully these days more and more people are thinking like Mr Smethurst, as his comment about the increased value of the photos suggests!  Whether that is merely due to the centenary of the First World War, or other factors as well, I wouldn't like to guess (although I certainly hope it's more than that).  I do get the feeling that people are becoming more suitably reverential about our past - but of course it has always been so for us nostalgists!

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Former dustman's salvaged WW1 archive

Even so there is still far too much evidence of a disregard for historical items and records such as photographs or letters, not just in Britain but elsewhere.  How many times have we seen and commented on stories such as this, of treasure troves being found in skips and the like?  I would hope that things will be better for Second World War veterans and not, as Mr Smethurst thinks, the same again but the evidence is sadly still there.  In my own [fairly recent] experience it was seeing the little bungalow - unchanged for 60 years and complete with 1950s MG saloon still parked outside - the home of an elderly local lady, who had either died or moved into care, stripped of its contents (piled up in the front garden) and eventually demolished to make way for 4 houses.  I've said before that I'm all for progress, but not at the expense of our history.

In this happy case however a huge number of important photographs and records of the First World War have been saved for future generations.  I would like to think that any museum would give their eye teeth to have them in their collection, especially in this centenary year, but either way their future safety seems assured.  I hope that whatever Mr Smethurst decides to do with them they will continue to be highly valued and once again it begs the question "what else is still out there?"

Knit for Britain from Above

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Knit for Britain from Above 

Returning to another series of articles that previously appeared on Eclectic Ephemera you may recall the posts from 2011 and 2012 about the creation of the wonderful online history resource Britain From Above, which aims to catalogue and digitise over 90,000 aerial photographs of Britain taken between 1919 and 1953.  By the sounds of things the project is going well and all 95,000 images should be available at the end of the 4-year project, in 2014.  It really is a fascinating site and I urge you all to check it out if you haven't already.

Now I see that the Britain From Above people have this week started a jolly little wheeze that should appeal to the [many] knitters who I know make up my readership.  I have to say I didn't realise that it was World-Wide Knit In Public Week (I have to admit I sometimes think these things are thought up on the spur of the moment by people with a vested interest and too much time on their hands - I mean, National Sausage Week, really?!) but hurrah nonetheless.  Although I'm sure those of you who do knit do so in public any day of the year here's an opportunity to have a bit of fun and get a bit involved in the Britain From Above project.

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The team behind the site invite you to knit an aeroplane (they even helpfully provide a pattern if you don't have one of your own) and then, finding an historic aerial photo of an area near you, take a snap of your knitted aircraft in the same spot and post it on the website.  It sounds like a splendid way to get out and about and, as the site says, "showcase your knitting skills and find out more about the history of the place you live in".  Not to mention raising the profile of the Britain From Above project a notch or two in a wonderfully clever way.

So how about it, then?  Any knitting-wizards out there fancy knocking up a little flying machine and maybe taking a pic or two?  If anyone does have a go, do let me know on here!

World War I photos found inside antique camera

Photo courtesty of Anton Orlov @ The Photo Palace

World War I photos found inside antique camera

As the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War moves ever closer (a fact I still struggle to fully comprehend, cf. this earlier post) we will doubtless start to see many stories and articles commemorating the centenary.  Will we see one as fresh and remarkable as this, though?

Over the course of this blog we have seen photographs discovered in shoe boxes, in rubbish skips and in long-forgotten archives.  Now we can add an antique camera itself to that list, as this story of another blogger's discovery tells.

If I understand it correctly the glass-plate negatives found inside this 100-year old camera, picked up at an American antique shop, had previously been processed (otherwise we would not have been able to see them today) but then kept in the camera - where for all we know they may have remained ever since.  Certainly this must be the first time they have been seen for decades - maybe even the first time by people other than the original photographer.  We may never know who took them, or precisely when and where in France they were, but the fact that they have survived all these years is welcome enough news.

Photo courtesy of Anton Orlov @ The Photo Palace

Whatever the history of these pictures they couldn't have ended up in better hands. Photographer Anton Orlov, on whose blog The Photo Palace you can see the full selection of images (as well as some equally fascinating and perhaps even more historically important shots of the same vintage taken in Russia, China and Japan), is clearly a big fan of old-fashioned analogue photography. So much so, in fact, that he has purchased an old yellow school bus with the aim of touring America as a sort of mobile museum/dark room - not only exhibiting the pictures and cameras but also giving talks and running workshops on the early techniques that were used, in the hope of ensuring that knowledge of and interest in non-digital print photography is not lost but rather encouraged. 

Both these and the Eastern photos must surely rank among the top exhibits and I wish Mr Orlov every success in seeing through his endeavour to make them a part of his educational and inspirational scheme.

How Pinteresting!

Some of my more eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a little (and I mean little) bit of a tidy up on Eclectic Ephemera this past week.  In reality all I've done is move a few things from here to there - much like I do when tidying up my flat, if I'm honest!  There is one new addition though, almost hidden away on the right column... that's right, I am now on Pinterest!

I can't quite remember now why I suddenly decided to sign up; I suppose I was finding more and more interesting pictures and the urge to share them when it was not always conducive to do so on this blog.  As a chap for whom "social media" means reading a newspaper in a public place Pinterest had never really been on my scope, I had a vague awareness of it but nothing more.  I still wasn't quite sure what it entailed when I joined it but I have come to the swift conclusion that it is the perfect complement to this blog and a mine of beautiful, interesting images.  I'm beginning to wonder how I ever got by without it!

Do please go on over and have a look and if you like what you see, let me know!  I've already found a few fellow bloggers' boards and am very definitely hooked.

Pip-pip! (or should that be Pin-Pin!).

Legacy of brand eponym Mercédès Jellinek in the Daimler archive

The recently-discovered and only known picture of Mercédès Jellinek at the wheel of a Mercedes, 1906
Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives.

Legacy of brand eponym Mercédès Jellinek in the Daimler archive

Girls' names have often been used as appellations for motor cars, with Elise, Giulietta, Clio and Megane just some of the more recent examples.  However this custom can in fact be traced back to the very dawn of the motor car thanks to an associate of the de facto "fathers" of the automobile Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.



This associate was Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek who, like many wealthy men at the turn of the last century, took an instant liking to the new-fangled motorised carriage.  He became one of the top customers for both Daimler and Benz (at that time still separate companies), eventually becoming a salesman of sorts by recommending the cars of both manufacturers to his equally rich friends.  He also entered his cars in the motor races of the time and was by all accounts a huge influence on Daimler's and Benz's designs and motorsport entries.

If there was one thing Emil Jellinek loved more than his cars, though, it was his daughter Mercédès Adrienne Manuela Ramona Jellinek who was born in Vienna in 1889.  His adoration of her was clearly evident - among other things naming one of his boats after her and unveiling a large picture of her at the 1902 Paris Automobile Exhibition.

It is thanks to this devotion on the part of Emil Jellinek that the car which today sports a three-pointed star on its nose is called a Mercedes, for in 1899 he named his Daimler "Phoenix" 28hp race car just that and later in April 1900 convinced Daimler boss Wilhelm Maybach (Gottlieb Daimler having passed away in March of that year) that the next Daimler model should officially be titled "Mercedes".  When Daimler and Benz finally merged in 1926 it was agreed that, although the company's official name would be Daimler-Benz (and indeed today is Daimler AG) the Mercedes prefix would be kept - giving rise to the now famous Mercedes-Benz.

Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives

Mercedes Jellinek herself was never very interested in cars but was no stranger to scandal.  In 1909 she married the Austrian Baron Karl Schlosser (seen with her in this photo, left, believed to have been taken during their honeymoon in Nice) and had two children but by 1918 they were penniless and forced to beg in the streets.  It was then that Mercédès left the Baron Schlosser and married Baron Rudolf von Weigl, a struggling sculptor.  Little more of her life was known, and she tragically died in Vienna in 1929 at the age of 39 from bone cancer.

The lady with the green eyes

Now the Mercedes-Benz Archives are naturally a-twitter following the donation, from the godchild of her son Hans-Peter Schlosser, of 3 albums-worth of photographs and documents detailing Mercédès Jellinek's life, as well as the formative years of the company we know today.  Although details are thin on the ground it would seem as though papers including her birth certificate, plus other documents detailing previously unknown facts such as her eye- and hair-colour, are included in this discovery.  Perhaps far and away the best part, though, is the 300-odd photographs showing scenes from her life.  This is all the more remarkable considering that until now only one photo of Mercédès Jellinek was thought to exist, showing her as a little girl around the turn of the century.

Mercédès Jellinek (left).  Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives.

It seems odd that so little was known about this important period of an international company's history, if not the life of one of its most influential people. Once the Mercedes-Benz Archives have gone through this treasure-trove of material, however, I feel sure we shall be hearing more about Mercédès Jellinek and the early years of the car company to which she gave her name.

A one horsepower Mercédès(!).  Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Classic Archive.

Vintage aerial photography of Britain

Aerofilms Ltd. DH60 Moth at Hendon, 1928.  Image courtesy of Britain from Above.

Yet more archival material now available online - aren't we being wonderfully spoilt of late?!

Britain from Above: English Heritage unveils thousands of fascinating aerial images

Last year I blogged about the beginnings of English Heritage's latest project Britain from Above which, as the name suggests, features several thousand images of Britain taken from the air.  Interesting enough, but the clincher is the fact that these photographs were taken between 1919 and 1953.  Now the dedicated website is live and you can see parts of the British Isles from the air in a totally new and different way - in the past!

What Britain used to look like from the air

Just one year after the end of the First World War and only 16 years after the first powered flight, pilots Francis Lewis Wills and Claude Grahame-White founded Aerofilms Ltd. and took to the skies to photograph the United Kingdom from a never-before-seen vantage point - the air.  It is simply fascinating to see locations - areas one can be familiar with today - looking so very different during the 1920s and '30s, in their first appearance from an aerial platform.  Already I've found images of local places, such as my local railway station, that give a glorious insight into the life of the area during the first half of the 20th Century. 

Wickford railway station - from where for 10 years I commuted to London - in 1928.
Image courtesy of Britain from Above.

Early aerial photos of the UK go online

Truly this is a remarkable resource and one I feel sure I shall continue to delve into for a long time to come.  There really is something for every amateur (and, dare I say, professional) historian here - I can almost guarantee that there will be at least one picture of a place near you - and things aren't finished yet as barely 20% of the 95,000 images in the 1919-53 collection have been digitised so far.  Over the course of the next four years English Heritage aim to turn the project into one of the premier sources of early British aerial photography, and I for one can't wait!

Southend seafront, Marine Gardens, pier entrance, Palace Hotel and the High Street, 1920.
Image courtesy of Britain from Above.

Vintage aerial photography of Britain

We can help in the creation of this ultimate collection too by sharing memories and knowledge of locations, many photos of which have little or no information attached to them.  One can sign up for free, join groups, annotate pictures and even download them!  This is one of the most magnificent archives I've come across in recent years, deserves to flourish and is possible thanks to Heritage Lottery and other private donations for which we should be inordinately grateful.  Happy browsing!

Photos of life in the British Raj in India are found in a shoe box

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Raj pictures found in shoe box at Edinburgh national collection

Another shoe-box full of never-before-seen historic photographs!  Where are they all coming from?  And why aren't we finding them?!

This time the welcome find consists of 178 - yes, one hundred and seventy-eight - negatives untouched for almost 100 years and detailing life in India during the time of the British Raj.  Featuring myriad images of British diplomats and grand occasions such as the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1912, the collection also includes many fascinating scenes of local life and people going about their business.  Some of the pictures hardly look a century old.

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Photos of life in the British Raj in India are found in a shoe box

Surprisingly little is known about a lot of the photos and even less about the photographer so it is hoped that the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland can, with the help of photography experts, historians and members of the public, find out a great deal more about these wonderful images and who took them.

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Described as a "treasure trove", they certainly are that and more.  An amazing set of photographs that provide a remarkable insight into British and Indian way of life in the Raj one hundred years ago, with luck the RCAHMS will put them on display and made available to the public.  Already all 178 images have found their way on to the Commission's digital archive and many are available to view online now.  Another set of rare images to immerse myself in?  Yes please!

Never-before-seen vintage photos of New York City hit the Internet

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Never-before-seen vintage photos of New York City hit the Internet

More historic photographs now, this time made available by the New York City Municipal Archives, consisting of over 800,000 images of the Big Apple taken over the course of one hundred years from the 1880s to the 1980s.  All sorts of things are represented from the magnificent to the macabre and the collection looks to be of great interest to history buffs like us.

Historic New York

This selection of shots is just a small part of the New York Department of Records' 2.2 million images taken down the decades (and it makes you wonder how many millions of photographs are lying unseen in government archives around the world) but it's enough to be going on with for now at least and plans are well under way to put more images online in time.

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As with all the best vintage pictures scenes of long-forgotten people, incidents and locations are contained within many of the images, giving a glimpse into the past of a great city.  The NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery is yet another welcome addition to the growing ranks of Internet-accessible historic photography and I look forward to browsing through its many thousands of images.

Photographs of Tower Bridge being constructed are found in a skip

Images courtesy of Wikipædia

Photographs of Tower Bridge being constructed are found in a skip

A fantastic find here as previously unseen pictures of the iconic Tower Bridge in the very early stages of its construction are revealed, after laying undiscovered in a London flat for years - including at one point being consigned to a skip!

Some of these photos must date from close to the beginning of the bridge's creation in 1886, as quite apart from the basic amount of progress visible in some of them, according to the accompanying report the "most recent" ones date from 1892 - two years before completion!

It always amazes me how such historically important documents can be lost and even disposed of without a second thought, let alone dismissed - particularly by those who should know better.  More fool that Tower Bridge Museum worker who indifferently claimed "we've got enough of those photographs already"!  How many of us have come into possession of - have saved - really old items that people were going to throw out as rubbish?  I know I have!  Well done to this caretaker, whoever he is, and to City of Westminster tour guide Peter Berthoud, for saving a record of the construction of a beautiful landmark structure and a piece of British history.

Tower Bridge, with its 19th Century Gothic stonework and unique design, has long been one of my favourite London landmarks.  Crossing it is always a thrilling experience and to see it or approach it both up close and from a distance is one of the greatest delights of working in the City.  I'm overjoyed to see these new photos detailing its creation, which was in itself an engineering marvel, and I'm sure they will now take pride of place in a London museum.

Britain from the air in times gone by

Britain from the air in times gone by

A splendid series of images from The Daily Telegraph now, which highlights a project currently under way at English Heritage to digitise their extensive collection of pre-war aerial photographs - part of the Aerofilms Collection.

As you will see, these fantastic snap-shots show British landmarks and countryside from a then-new vantage point - with many aspects that today seem somehow familiar and yet at the same time have changed enormously.  In some of them we can see the beginnings of the sprawling urbanisation that is more and more prevalent nowadays and for perhaps the first time we can appreciate on a larger scale just how fresh, open and unspoilt some places once were.  Indeed one of the secondary aims of this Britain From Above project is to observe and compare building expansion and how it affects and has affected the natural surroundings over the decades.

For us it gives us the opportunity to pore over some wonderful vintage pictures, with the promise of yet more to come - 95,000 by 2014! - and think back to those pioneers of flight who instigated the idea and how amazing it must have been for people, like those in the above clip, to fly over places they had only ever seen before from ground level.  These photographs truly did (and do) give a whole new perspective on the British Isles of the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Ford launches website devoted to historical photographs, offers them for sale

Ford launches website devoted to historical photographs, offers them for sale

Throughout the long history of the motor car one name has been been at the forefront almost since its invention - Ford (although we could all just as easily be driving around in "Wintons" if Henry Ford's main competitor in those early days had kept pace!). Still going strong over 100 years on and with innumerable feathers in its cap such as the GT40 Le Mans winner, not to mention the 15-million-seller Model T, Ford's place in automotive history is assured. And what a history it is!

Now it is possible to view (and to own) images of that 108-year history as Ford moves to put its entire collection of images into digital format. Not just historic photographs but also advertisements, dealer literature and the like. Basically every illustration of the Ford motor car; a catalogue of over 1 million pictures. So far only a tiny proportion - 5,000 - have been digitised, with another 5,000 to follow by the end of the year but the scope of this thing is enormous. Not to mention the cultural significance of many of the items and the importance of preserving them for future generations, which is why the creation of this resource is laudable.

The book The Ford Century is a great chronicle of the first 100 years of this company and contains a great many of the pictures that can now also be found on the new website Ford Images. I highly recommend the book if you wish to discover the story behind this ubiquitous company and I'm off now to have a look around this new website.

Toot-toot!

Rare photographs of comedian Stan Laurel are auctioned

Rare photographs of comedian Stan Laurel are auctioned

I make no secret of my love for the films of Laurel & Hardy, so it was with great interest that I read about this discovery of some very early photographs of Stan Laurel (some of which can be seen here).

A few are very much in the vein of private family photographs, with some even showing him as a young boy playing and acting with his siblings, when he was still just little Arthur Stanley Jefferson. (He would later go on to be billed as "Stan Jefferson" when touring with Fred Karno's outfit in 1910s America but, a very superstitious man, he disliked the fact that it was 13 letters in length. It was his first wife, Mae Dahlberg, who suggested the name "Laurel", having seen a picture of Caesar wearing a laurel wreath).

Stan's parents were well known in local showbiz circles, with his father running a number of theatres and his mother performing in variety acts, so it should come as no surprise to see him catch the acting bug so early. And generations of comedy fans worldwide are glad he did!

Other photos in this collection include impromptu photos of Stan and Oliver Hardy clowning about on set and in publicity shots, many of which have never been seen before. This fact and the continued appreciation of their work by people the world over should ensure that these photographs fetch a tidy sum and end up in the hands of an appreciative collector who will preserve them for years to come.