The Photographers' History of Photography
Photo Histories
The history men: Helmut Gernsheim and Nicéphore Niépce
Born one hundred and fifty years apart the achievements of the struggling landowner and inventor Nicéphore Niépce and the groundbreaking photo historian Helmut Gernsheim were inextricably linked when Gernsheim rediscovered Niépce’s long-lost first photograph in a trunk. Graham Harrison looks at the exploits of the photographer turned historian and of the brilliant, but ill-fated, Frenchman who Gernsheim proved was the true inventor of photography.
The Light Shone and Was Spent: Robert Howlett and the Power of Photography
Within a year of producing one of the greatest portraits of the nineteenth century photographer Robert Howlett lay dying in his Kensington lodgings. Finding the history books wanting, David White argues it’s time to reassess the importance of the Victorian with the modern eye.
John Angerson's English Journey
Published in 1934, J.B. Priestley’s English Journey became one of the most influential books in the nation’s response to the Great Depression. When photographer John Angerson retraced the writer’s footsteps three quarters of a century later he found a changed landscape, but one in which Priestley’s observations, and the observations of some great British photographers remain as pertinent as ever, writes Graham Harrison.
The Life and Times of Albert Hardy (1913 -1995)
Bert Hardy was the star troubleshooting photojournalist on Picture Post, Britain’s most influential picture magazine. But a story he shot in 1950 during the Korean war seemingly precipitated its decline and fall. On the seventieth anniversary of the launch of the mass-market weekly Graham Harrison turns back the pages of photographic history and looks forward to a reassessment of Hardy’s career.
Farewell To Greatness
Prestige for a new magazine, opportunities for two young photographers, and the reputation of National Geographic were at stake
during the media coverage of Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Graham Harrison looks back. Black and white photographs David Hurn.
Working with Don
Whilst covering the 1988 US presidential elections for The Independent Brian Harris found his visual style changed after teaming up with rival press photographer Don McPhee of The Guardian.
