Sunday, September 30, 2018

Jessie Casson's photography shows Kiwi teens then, and now

Emma Page Sep 30 2018

Jessie Casson

In 2004, photographer Jessie Casson was travelling the world and taking portrait shots of teenagers she randomly met. New Zealand was supposed to be a stopover, but she stayed. Almost 15 years (and three kids) later, she's still here, the teenagers she shot are adults and she's made a documentary about them.

On a Thursday evening earlier this month, photographer Jessie Casson held an informal launch party for her new documentary What Becomes of Me at the open plan office space she shares with fellow creatives in Auckland's Grey Lynn. We meet there early on the morning of the party, the white-walled space productively humming.

She makes us tea in the communal kitchen, giving the almond milk from the fridge a sniff before pouring it into the mugs. She is talking about buying bubbles for tonight's party, a celebration with friends and family that she is playfully calling "an almost red carpet event".

Her three children – Dylan, Otis and Iris aged 12, 8 and 6 respectively – are coming. They have all been intrigued by the project – Otis asked about it every night before bed.

"Alice was a really sweet, quite
naive girl with lots of ambition.
She hoped to run and own
dairy farms. I met her in
Glenorchy at a bar and
arranged to photograph her at
dawn the next day. I would
never have imagined that she’d
get into heroin. In fact, she was
already into heroin at this
point, at 18. She was trying to
get off, that’s why she was in
Glenorchy." — Jessie Casson

"Alice was a really sweet, quite naive girl with lots of ambition. She hoped to run and own dairy farms. I met her in Glenorchy at a bar and arranged to photograph her at dawn the next day. I would never have imagined that she’d get into heroin. In fact, she was already into heroin at this point, at 18. She was trying to get off, that’s why she was in Glenorchy."

"You kind of want to celebrate and share these things with your family," she says, her subtle English accent rounding out the vowels.

"Because they don't happen very often."

READ MORE:
* Film photography makes a comeback
* Photographer's secrets to a successful life behind the lens
* The best of nature from Niwa's photographers

Casson is known for her distinct dynamic and honest portrait style. Her work, colourful and compelling, appears in publications around the globe and her portfolio is an album of some of our most well-known faces including Sir Ed, Karen Walker, Anika Moa and Buck Shelford. A portrait, she says, is all about relationship and she always wants to hear people's stories.

"Alice has had a huge
amount thrown at her over the
past 15 years. A drug addiction,
breast cancer at 27. She has a
10-year-old son who lives with
her half the time. I could have
made the whole doco about
her. She’s phenomenal." — Jessie Casson

"Alice has had a huge amount thrown at her over the past 15 years. A drug addiction, breast cancer at 27. She has a 10-year-old son who lives with her half the time. I could have made the whole doco about her. She’s phenomenal."

"If the person doesn't feel comfortable and is not willing to give you themselves, then it's not going to be a good shot."

This kind of rapport is the backbone of What Becomes of Me, a short and moving documentary, made in association with The Wireless and freely available to view online. For just over nine minutes, the camera follows Casson as she tracks down and reconnects with four New Zealanders she photographed nearly 15 years ago while holidaying in Aotearoa.

It was 2004, Casson was 27 years old and partway through a year-long, round-the-world honeymoon with her husband, Matt Hockey. The four documentary subjects – Alice, John, Matt, and Shane – were freshfaced teenagers she had randomly met. Casson had an established and burgeoning photography career in London and was using the backpacking trip as a vehicle for a personal series she named The Teenage Project. While travelling, through North, Central and South America from Mexico down to Argentina and then on to New Zealand, she would spot young people of interest, approach them and ask to take their picture. It was, she says, like going hunting.

"It felt like hunting… I would say to Matt, 'We probably should go and shoot a teenager.' We'd just walk around and see someone and I'd go, 'I reckon they might be quite good'."

"It must have been a Sunday. John was 19 and he was standing outside a church in
Ponsonby. He wanted to be a minister – that was his dream." — Jessie Casson

"It must have been a Sunday. John was 19 and he was standing outside a church in Ponsonby. He wanted to be a minister – that was his dream."

Her opening line?

"I've got a slightly strange request."

Intrigued and perhaps disarmed by her open, honest manner, everyone she asked said yes – the four New Zealanders and 29 other young people dotted across the Americas. What followed was an intense interaction usually lasting no longer than an hour. Casson, who can speak and understand basic Spanish, would ask the teenager a set of nine questions, always the same ones, delving into their future hopes and dreams – "big life-changing questions which young people are much better at answering than adults".

"When I came back to try and
find John again, all I had was the church. I sent the reverend there a photograph and he
said, ‘Yes, he still comes to church with his family.’ John has three children now. He’s had a
very serious accident where he fell off the back of a truck – he had a 50 per cent chance
of survival. He feels very lucky to still be alive." — Jessie Casson

"When I came back to try and find John again, all I had was the church. I sent the reverend there a photograph and he said, ‘Yes, he still comes to church with his family.’ John has three children now. He’s had a very serious accident where he fell off the back of a truck – he had a 50 per cent chance of survival. He feels very lucky to still be alive."

She recorded their answers on a dictaphone, later transcribing the answers by hand, answers she still has safely stored in her home office alongside the negatives of the portraits she shot on her hefty Hasselblad, medium-format camera. It was before the digital revolution and the heavy camera needed a tripod and lighting gear. She got 12 shots per roll of film and only ever shot two rolls per person. Each shot counted. She would then befriend fellow British tourists, and if she trusted them, give them the film, the only copy of her work, to take back to the UK, where it went to a lab for developing.

"I didn't see the pictures until eight months later," she explains.

"All of them at once. That's like Christmas."

"I met Shane on Waipu Cove beach. We were stopping at a campground and he was fishing on
the beach. (He still remembers that he didn’t catch anything.) He was 18. He admitted that he
was stoned when I first met him." — Jessie Casson

"I met Shane on Waipu Cove beach. We were stopping at a campground and he was fishing on the beach. (He still remembers that he didn’t catch anything.) He was 18. He admitted that he was stoned when I first met him."

Now, nearly a decade and a half later, the resulting doco where she meets the four New Zealand subjects again and – literally dusting off the Hasselblad – retakes their portrait, is a moving reflection on how youthful aspirations survive the often perilous journey into adulthood. The still images are spectacular: two side-by-side photographs, encapsulating a then and now moment, taken on the same camera in the same style with only the march of time between them.

The documentary has been well received and next year Casson plans to repeat the process, only on a much grander scale. In September 2019, she will pack up the Hasselblad and along with Matt and the kids board a plane to Mexico where they will spend four months retracing their 15-year-old steps in search of the 29 teenagers, all now in their 30s. So far she has tracked down five of them.

"I always said, 'We'll go back and find these people'."

Jessie Casson

"Shane also revealed that he was stoned during the second shoot,15 years later, in Whangarei. He seems like someone still waiting to find his way.”

Adventurous and always ready with a self-made project, Casson is not so intrepid that she can completely override the internal voices of doubt, the "what if this happens" on repeat, related to taking young children on such a trip.

"There is part of me that is terrified," she admits.

But she believes the memories and the experience will make it worthwhile.

"And the other voice in my head goes, 'It will be fine, it will be absolutely fine.'"

Jessie Casson

“Matt was skateboarding in Wanaka. When I met him 15 years later he had a photo of me and Matt (my husband) that he’d taken himself."

Casson grew up in North East England "in the middle of nowhere". Her mother was a yoga teacher, her father a consultant and an enthusiastic amateur photographer who had a darkroom. Casson got her first pinhole camera when she was 9. She loved it immediately. There was no television in the house, play was outside and they ate a vegetarian diet. She felt different to everyone else.

"I do wonder if having to find a way to deal with difference is what gives me the strength to go out and just pursue my own ideas regardless. If I believe in it, then it's going to work."

She laughs, letting the next sentence hang happily incomplete in the air: "Sometimes they don't work but…"

Jessie Casson

"Matt's led quite a privileged life and he recognises that. He’s had emotional and financial support which maybe some of the others haven’t. He’s a pilot who flies for Air New Zealand; he’s married. I think his journey has been less rebellious than I thought it would be.”

These days Auckland is home. She never did complete that round-the-world honeymoon. The plan stalled in New Zealand back in 2004 when the newlyweds fell for both the landscape – "the South Island is like Scotland on steroids" – and the friendly, open people who inhabit it. They bought a car for $500, drove around, liked what they saw, applied for residency and, helped along by the fact that Hockey, a commercial leasing agent, worked in an occupation that featured on the skill shortage list, got it and never left.

"We weren't ready to go home", says Casson.

"We wanted to carry on our adventure and the more I live here the more I think we've hit the jackpot."

Saturday, September 29, 2018

These Amazing Photos, On Display At The Freer/Sackler, Tell The Story Of A Dramatic Century In Japan

by Pat Padua in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 28, 2018 11:53 am

fullscreen

"Yokosuka, Kanagawa" by Tomatsu Shomei (Image courtesy of Freer/Sackler)

The period from around 1860-1960 was pivotal in Japan's history; it was a time of civil war, new technology and the influence of Western values, a major earthquake, and nuclear devastation. The effect of this volatile timeline can be seen gradually, but dramatically, in the photography and prints created during that era, in a pair of exhibitions at the Freer/Sackler galleries.
For Japan Modern: Photography from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection, Carol Huh, associate curator of contemporary Asian art at the Freer/Sackler, chose some 80 images from a collection of 400 photos acquired in late 2017. These selections are a concise and eye-opening crash course in the development of Japanese photography.
Katz and Huyck's love of photography comes from their shared cinematic sensibilities. The two co-wrote the screenplay for American Graffiti with George Lucas and directed the low-budget horror film Messiah of Evil. In Views of Japan, their book about their collection, they write about visiting director Akira Kurosawa on the set of his late-career film Kagemusha: "Passing through shabby industrial towns, we wondered how Kurosawa could shoot a 16th century samurai epic in what resembled a dreary day in Jersey City."
That tension between the traditional landscape and drab modernity fueled their eye as collectors. Assembled chronologically, the exhibit begins with soft-focus landscapes that reflect a perhaps deceptively smooth transition from conventional, traditional Japanese art.
But with the advent of vest-pocket cameras and the growth of camera clubs in turn-of-the-20th century Japan, the visual aesthetic developed into a raw documentary form that chronicled the horrors of Nagasaki. By the 1950s, street photographers such as Tomatsu Shomei observed the increasing influence of the West.
Huh notes that the Katz and Huyck collection features images of iconic Mount Fuji that are a far cry from the way it's traditionally presented. This symbol of Japan appears several times—and in very different iterations—across the two companion exhibitions in the galleries. The images serve as a good jumping off point for exploring traditional Japanese printmaking, the rise of photography, and the sometimes conflicted relationship between the two.
Two smaller galleries house the exhibition, Japan Modern: Prints in the Age of Photography. While works in this collection may seem closer to the traditional pictorial works we are accustomed to from Japan, these artists were also responding to technology and photography. For example, Kawase Hasui's 1926 print "Shin-Ohashi" recalls Edward Steichen's 1904 image of New York's Flatiron Building.
Frank Feltens, the Japan Foundation assistant curator of Japanese art, remarks that the Washington area is a particularly apt location in which to explore the relationship between Japan and the West. It was from ports in Norfolk, Virginia, that Commodore Matthew Perry set sail, bound for Edo Bay in 1853 to persuade the Japanese government into opening their ports for international trade, "which played its part in instigating Japan's modernity," says Feltens.
Photography ultimately put an end to the nation's print industry. But as Feltens explains, Japanese print artists took one of two paths in their attempt to keep the medium alive. Much as Washington's souvenir vendors cater to the local tourist trade, some Japanese print makers leaned into a romanticized vision of their nation that was marketed for visitors from the West. On the other hand, artists embraced what Feltens calls an "artistic immediacy," working from design to inking to printing on boldly colored and increasingly abstract compositions that were a stark departure from traditional printmaking.
The conflict between tradition and modernity is one of the great themes of art in any medium. Through photography and print-making, these two exhibits scratch the surface of a fraught cultural divide—with beautiful and enduring results.
Japan Modern: Photography from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection and Japan Modern: Prints in the Age of Photography are on view from September 29, 2018-January 21, 2019 at the Freer/Sackler.

Never had it so good: Film printing in the digital age

Friday, September 28, 2018

Just When you Thought You'd Never See Film Again, Kodak Pulls a Fast One

Analog camera photography is making a comeback. — AFP Relaxnews

Photographers and filmmakers everywhere rejoice! Kodak's EKTACHROME Film line, the "choice for generations of filmmakers", is making a comeback.

On Sept 25 Eastman Kodak Company and Kodak Alaris announced that the KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100 and the KODAK EKTACHROME 7294 Color Reversal Film in the Super 8 format, 2 of Kodak's most beloved film fan favs, are being resurrected.

As of this week, the EKTACHROME Film E100 is already on its way to distributors and stock house dealers across the world. The EKTACHROME 7294 Color Reversal Film will be available starting Oct 1 and even more products within the line in the 16mm format are coming over the next couple months. Fans of old-school film are already tweeting their excitement.

The success of the KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX P3200 Film – which was re-released in March of this year – inspired the companies to continue making retro into reality. The well-received large-grained, black and white finish led to the classic EKTACHROME resurrection, whose beta test images on social media are already flourishing – and winning contests.

According to Kodak, both these EKTACHROME films "are daylight balances colour positive films, featuring clean, vibrant colours, a neutral tone scale, and extremely fine grain" that flatter a variety of subjects from nature and landscapes to fashion and product photography.

Film is being warmly welcomed back into the world by seasoned professionals and amateur hobbyists alike. In the generation of social media and digital imaging, the popularity of film is unexpected, nostalgic, and captures what could be considered a more authentic beauty. – AFP Relaxnews

Thursday, September 27, 2018

HISTORY-MAKER: Frank B. Jones

BORN: Mar. 26, 1914 | DIED: Feb. 20, 1975

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Frank Jones may be Forsyth County’s most prolific “author. ”

By the time he was hired as a photographer for the Winston-Salem Journal at the tender age of 23, he’d been working with cameras and developing his own film for 10 years. When he passed away, he willed his extensive collection of pictures to the Wachovia Historical Society so the community could enjoy them. The collection, which filled more than 100 boxes, contains not only his own work but images he gathered by other photographers—all of which help document the life and growth of Winston-Salem.

As the only child of salesman Frank Jones, Sr. and Carrie Keith, Franklin B. Jones, Jr., was born in his grandparents’ house on Brookstown Avenue.

Throughout his life, Jones never lived more than a few miles from the place he was born. He graduated from Reynolds High School in 1932 and worked at Barber Photo Supply until being hired by the Winston-Salem Journal and its sister paper, The Twin City Sentinel. In addition to taking
photos for the papers, Jones also penned a column called “Through the Lens,” which highlighted news related to photography and film. He spent the rest of his life working at the newspaper, passing at the age of 60 while on the job.

Jones didn’t just take pictures, he shared his experiences and knowledge with others liberally. He formed Winston-Salem’s first camera club in 1938 and later taught classes related to the profession and techniques. When the U.S. entered WWII, the military took full advantage of his camera skills, appointing him as a photographer with the Navy and asking him to make combat-training films.

Jones was acutely aware of the role photographs play in documenting the history of an area. He aggressively sought images that would tell the stories of his hometown—both the “important” and the mundane—and he never left home without at least one camera at hand. After his death, the Wachovia Historical Society placed his lifetime collection on permanent loan with the Forsyth County Library, where it’s now archived and displayed. Many of the collection’s 16,000 images can be viewed by visiting DigitalForsyth.or

By Kate Rauhauser Smith

The Biggest Camera News from the World’s Biggest Photography Show (So Far)

September 26, 2018 Tech : Cameras By Tucker Bowe

Year in and year out, the photo industry’s biggest trade show is Photokina. It annually takes place in Cologne, Germany, and it’s basically like CES but just focused solely on photography. Pretty much all the big camera companies have presences there, and this year’s show – running from September 26 to 29 – is no different. Since it’s taking place in Europe, you can be forgiven if you’re in the States and a little behind the news cycle. Here’s a quick primer to get you caught up to speed.

Ricoh GR III

Ricoh officially announced that it was developing the next-generation of its GRII camera, which many photographers have had a soft spot for for years. The new and upcoming Ricoh GRIII APS-C camera will have a 24-megapixel image sensor, which is a significantly higher resolution than the GII’s 16-megapixel image sensor. The overall design of the GRIII won’t look that much different than its predecessor, but it’ll have a three-inch LCD touchscreen and feature a USB-C port for faster video output.

Learn More: Here

Panasonic’s First Full-Frame Mirrorless Cameras, the Lumix S1 and S1R

Panasonic announced its first full-frame mirrorless cameras – the 47-megapixel Lumix S1 and 24-megapixel S1R – to rival Nikon’s Z6/Z7, Canon’s EOS R and, of course, Sony’s a7III and a7RIII. The Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R will be unique, howeverm because they’ll use Leica’s full-frame-L mount SL system. Essentially, they’ll be able to utilize Leica’s pretty robust offerings of SL lenses and adapters that are already available. As for the actual cameras, the Lumix S1 is the high-end option while the S1R is the less pricey alternative. And aside from having the same lens mounting system, the two cameras share a lot of other features, including built-in image stabilization, high-resolution electronic viewfinder and a three-axis tilt LCD screen. Both cameras will be perfectly adept at video, too, able to film 4K at 60fps, 10-bit 4:2:2 video. The Lumix S1 with its larger, high-resolution sensor will be a more enticing – and expensive – option for serious photography. The cameras are expected to be released “sometime in 2019.”

Learn More: Here

Kodak Ektachrome is Now Shipping

Back in 2017, Kodak announced it was going to bring back its Ektachrome color reversal film back – and over a year later, it’s finally happening. Kodak revealed this week that its Ektachrome will start shipping distributors soon. For analog photographers, the Ektachrome Film E100 (initially in 135/36x) will be available almost immediately, while Ektachrome 7294 for Super 8 movie film will be available in October. Kodak also stated that film for its “Ektachrome products in the 16mm format will follow later this year.”

Learn More: Here

Sigma Announces Five New Lenses

Sigma already announced five new lenses at Photokina. There most significant is probably the Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM, which is a behemoth for sports photographers; it’s actually the world’s first 10x optical telephoto zoom lens with a tele end of 600mm. Then there’s its large-aperture telephoto zoom lens, the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM, that’s designed for sports photography. There are two art lenses: the Sigma 28mm f/1.4 DG HSM, which is a wide-angle prime lens, and the Sigma 40mm f/1.4 DG HSM, which is a low-light lens with maximum aperture. And finally there’s its portrait lens, the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN, that specializes in bokeh and taking super sharp photos.

Learn More: Here

Fujifilm GFX 50R

The Fujifilm GFX 50R is a rangefinder-style, medium format mirrorless camera with a 50-megapixel image senor. It’s pretty exciting camera as it essentially takes what is best from the GFX 50S and packs it into smaller (albeit, no much) and more affordable camera – after some first impressions, The Verge‘s Vlad Savov called it the “biggest and baddest street camera yet.”

Learn More: Here

Leica S3, Its New 64MP Medium-Format DSLR

Leica has unveiled the successor to its S2 medium-format DSLR – the new S3. It has a huge 64-megapixel sensor, compared to the S2’s 37-megapixel senor, and will ultize Leica’s S lens system. Additionally, the new S3 will feature 3fps burst shooting and it’ll be able to shoot 4K video.

Lewis Khan photographs a lesser-known side of London

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Fujifilm’s Instax Square SQ20 can print photos and shoot video

Yeah, why not?

By Jacob Kastrenakes

Fujifilm is introducing its second hybrid instant camera, and it comes with a feature that might sound very out of place on its Instax line: video recording. The new model, the Instax Square SQ20, is able to capture video clips of up to 15 seconds. While you’re able to store those on an SD card, that isn’t really the point. Instead, the SQ20 uses those video clips to create new photo effects, which you can then edit and print out directly from the camera.

The SQ20’s “motion mode” will let you scrub through a video to find the frame you think is best, and then print that exact moment. Another option will create a fake long exposure, blurring the motion captured in the video. There’s also, uh, a fake 35mm film strip border that can be applied to pictures captured in this mode.

Those are largely the only new features here. Unfortunately, the camera also includes a downgrade: a smaller sensor, from 1/4-inch on the SQ10 to 1/5-inch on the SQ20. The lens seems to be the same, with an f/2.4 aperture, but the smaller sensor means it’s not capturing as wide a field of view as before, going from a 28.5mm equivalent to 33.4mm.

Fujifilm is playing into that a bit, though, by adding a digital zoom function, letting you punch in by 4x. It’s the first zoom feature ever to make it onto an Instax camera, though all but one of the others weren’t digital.

Otherwise, this is very much the same camera as the SQ10, which was announced in April last year. It’s essentially a point-and-shoot digital camera with a photo printer built-in, allowing you some of the benefits of both approaches. There’s the immediate printing, but you also aren’t stuck printing out a bad shot if you missed your moment.

My colleague Sean O’Kane said there were things to like about the SQ10 when he reviewed it last year, but he ultimately said the camera wouldn’t be as fun or useful as it could be without any wireless technology to get its photos over to your phone. The SQ20 doesn’t change that; it just gives you another way to capture what you’re seeing.

The camera will go on sale on October 20th. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. The SQ10 initially launched for $280, but it’s now available for under $200. You’ll also need to buy plenty of square instant film packs, which cost $15 for 10 sheets.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

What is a Rangefinder Camera?

by Harry Guinness

If you’ve spent any time reading about photography, you’ve probably come across reverential mentions of Leica cameras and other “rangefinders” used by a lot of great street photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson in the mid-20th century. I know I was confused when I first heard about them since they aren’t really around anymore, so here’s what they are.

The Original Mirrorless Cameras

Rangefinders are the original mirrorless cameras. They were popular with street photographers because they were a lot smaller and more unobtrusive than the bulky film SLR cameras available at the time. They used the same 35mm film as SLRs, but they had a different focusing method that didn’t need a mirror.
RELATED: What Are Mirrorless Cameras, and Are They Better than Normal DSLRs?
You probably have a rough idea how SLRs work if you’ve ever picked one up, but here’s a refresher. To manually focus an SLR (or DSLR), you look through the viewfinder. Light enters through the lens, and the camera’s mirror system reflects it into your eye. You then adjust the focus of the lens until everything is sharp. When you press the shutter button, the mirror lifts up, and the light hits the film instead, taking a picture. What you saw through the lens is pretty much exactly the picture you get.
Rangefinders use a different focusing method called, appropriately enough, a rangefinder. Instead of looking directly through the lens via a mirror, a rangefinder’s viewfinder is an entirely separate visual system mounted as close as possible to the lens. It shows two overlapping images of the subject. By aligning the images, the distance—or range—to the subject can be calculated (thanks to the parallax effect) and you can focus the lens.

The image on the left shows the view through a rangefinder when it’s out of focus. The image on the right shows the view through a rangefinder when it’s in focus.

The earliest rangefinder cameras required the photographer to focus the lens and find the range as two separate actions, but most of the popular models used by the likes of Cartier-Bresson paired the lens focus to the rangefinder mechanism.
One big problem with rangefinders is that what the photographer saw when they looked through the viewfinder didn’t exactly match the final photo because they were separate systems—it’s the same effect you get from a disposable camera. This didn’t really matter for street photography where size and portability were vital, but for other fields of photography, it was an insurmountable drawback.
This drawback, along with the fact that zoom lenses and telephoto lenses are next to impossible to design for a rangefinder camera, meant that they never really had a chance against SLRs and later DSLRs.
Leica—the manufacturer of the most famous and prestigious rangefinders—sells an insanely expensive digital rangefinder, but they’re the only one. It’s a beautiful camera and an excellent piece of technology, but there’s a reason that professional photographers don’t use it day to day.

Mirrorless cameras, however, are the spiritual successors to rangefinders. They have the same size and weight advantages over DSLRs but overcome the drawbacks of rangefinders with electronic viewfinders and live view screens.

Women Built London’s Waterloo Bridge, But It Took These Photos to Prove It

Uncovering evidence of a long-forgotten history.

by Anika Burgess

September 21, 2018

For more than half a century, it was just a rumor. As London’s river boat pilots passed by Waterloo Bridge (“The Ladies’ Bridge,” as some of them called it) they’d tell a story about the women who had built the bridge during World War II. But the idea that women had been largely involved in building Waterloo Bridge wasn’t included in any official history of the structure, or detailed in any records. During the new bridge’s opening ceremony, on December 10, 1945, then-Deputy Prime Minister Herbert Morrison had declared that “the men that built Waterloo Bridge are fortunate men.” It wasn’t until 2015 that the hard work of these women could be confirmed, by the historian Christine Wall, thanks to a series of photographs she found.

Eight years prior to her discovery, Wall had collaborated with the filmmaker Karen Livesey on a documentary called The Ladies Bridge. It explores the stories of women working on Waterloo Bridge and records first-hand the experiences of a variety of wartime workers who were women. “There was jobs galore. There was absolutely jobs galore. You could go anywhere,” recounts one woman in the film.

But as Wall notes in the film, despite well-documented accounts of women working in munitions factories, or on the railway, stories of women who worked in construction during the war are quite rare. According to Wall, nearly 25,000 women were working in the British construction industry by 1944. (Some things don’t change: she also notes that wartime women construction workers were paid far less money than their male counterparts). Wall did manage to find photographs in the Imperial War Museum’s archive of women construction workers during the war —but nothing relating to the bridge.

Rebuilding Waterloo Bridge was a crucial project. The first Waterloo Bridge opened in 1817, but in 1923, London County Council realized the bridge had structural problems and, two years later, added a temporary framework. Eventually, the government decided it was best to tear the whole thing down and replace it, a process that began in 1934. By the time war broke out in 1939, 500 men were reportedly working on the bridge; by 1941, that number had dropped to 50. And so, as with other wartime labor shortages, the contractor, Peter Lind & Company, drafted in women to do the work. According to the U.K.-based Women’s Engineering Society, around 350 women worked on Waterloo Bridge.

Peter Lind & Company was liquidated in the 1980s, and the firm’s employment records have long since vanished. But Betty Lind Jaeger, the daughter of Peter Lind, did emerge during Wall’s research. In the documentary, she recounts visiting the bridge and seeing women construction workers. Still, Wall needed irrefutable evidence.

And in 2015, she finally found it, while searching online in the Bradford Museum of Film and Television archives. It was a series of photographs, taken in 1944 by a photographer for The Daily Herald newspaper, that show women welders dismantling the old Waterloo Bridge. Because of Wall’s discovery, Historic England, the British government’s official historic preservation body, finally incorporated this history into its record of the bridge as a heritage site.

Acetylene welders dismantling the old Waterloo Bridge, 1944.

A welder, identified as "Dorothy," at work.

Wedding Photographers Share Their Favorite Black and White Photo Moments

Jenna Milliner-Waddell

Updated on September 22, 2018

Recreate these timeless shots on your big day.

Laurken Kendall

As you start to look into wedding photographers, it’s important to land on one whose style matches your vision. That includes their style of photography, what kind of shots they typically take, and even editing in black and white.

Black and white wedding photos are a beautiful addition to your wedding album. Photographer Abby Jiu says by eliminating color as a distraction, black and white photos make it easier to hone in on the details. They can add a regal and timeless touch to your photos that you will cherish for years to come.

“To us, some photos just are black and white photos,” says Dana Curran of Henry + Mac. “There is such a timelessness to black and white, it makes us all think of our grandparents or being grandparents ourselves. You can really focus in on the moment—either small and emotional or a sweeping grand gesture.”

While all of your wedding photos are sure to be stunning—you’re in them after all!—there are a few shots that will look particularly powerful in black and white. "Essentially, it's the emotional moments that are most powerful as black and white," says photographer Sarah Falugo. Falugo has shot entire weddings in black and white at a client’s request, but on a shot by shot basis, she reminds couples that the final finish of the image is up to the photographer.

“Ask for examples of full weddings and you'll see which kind of images are usually black and white and in which percentages,” Falugo suggests. “If you had something different in mind then ideally this should be discussed before you book them or prior to the wedding.”

Before your big day, and even before you book your photographer, discuss what mix of black and white photos you’d love to see in the monochromatic hue. We talked to 7 photographers to find out which wedding day moments are their favorite to see in black and white.

See more: 36 Important Questions To Ask Your Wedding Photographer

##A Classic Portrait
“I tend to like the images that tell a story, action, photojournalist shots—walking down the aisle, the [first kiss](https://www.brides.com/gallery/international-kissing-day-romantic-wedding-kisses), a classic portrait, fun moment, cutting the cake, a first dance—anything but a colorful detail will create an amazing timeless image a la Cartier Bresson," says [Sylvie Gil](https://www.sylviegilphotography.com/){: rel=nofollow}. — A Classic Portrait

“I tend to like the images that tell a story, action, photojournalist shots—walking down the aisle, the first kiss, a classic portrait, fun moment, cutting the cake, a first dance—anything but a colorful detail will create an amazing timeless image a la Cartier Bresson," says Sylvie Gil.

##Quiet and Calm Moments
“For me, I'll choose black/white for quiet and calm moments like right before the bride walks down the aisle or for certain portraits. I also like to do some black/white high energy photos like on the dance floor with guests or towards the end of the wedding with just the couple," says [Chi-Chi Ari](https://chichiarilove.com/){: rel=nofollow}. — Quiet and Calm Moments

“For me, I'll choose black/white for quiet and calm moments like right before the bride walks down the aisle or for certain portraits. I also like to do some black/white high energy photos like on the dance floor with guests or towards the end of the wedding with just the couple," says Chi-Chi Ari.

##Bridal Suite Shots
“I shoot in all film and I would say that I shoot about 60 percent Color and 40 percent black and white film on a wedding day. I want my couples to have a good balance of both. There are certain moments in weddings that are my go-to for black and white film. The [bride getting ready](https://www.brides.com/gallery/bridal-suite-essentials-from-etsy), groomsmen portraits, first dance, cake cutting and portraits of the bride and groom. Black and white film captures these timeless moments," says [Lacie Hansen](https://laciehansen.com/){: rel=nofollow}. — Bridal Suite Shots

“I shoot in all film and I would say that I shoot about 60 percent Color and 40 percent black and white film on a wedding day. I want my couples to have a good balance of both. There are certain moments in weddings that are my go-to for black and white film. The bride getting ready, groomsmen portraits, first dance, cake cutting and portraits of the bride and groom. Black and white film captures these timeless moments," says Lacie Hansen.

Sarah Falugo

Ceremony Exit

"The iconic shot of bride and groom walking back down the aisle is my all time favorite. There's something really great about stripping away the excess distractions which helps to accentuate the most important features of the frame and draw the eye exactly to where it needs to be," says Sarah Falugo.

DarrylT

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Jessie Casson's photography shows Kiwi teens then, and now

Saturday, September 29, 2018

These Amazing Photos, On Display At The Freer/Sackler, Tell The Story Of A Dramatic Century In Japan

Never had it so good: Film printing in the digital age

Friday, September 28, 2018

Just When you Thought You'd Never See Film Again, Kodak Pulls a Fast One

Thursday, September 27, 2018

HISTORY-MAKER: Frank B. Jones

BORN: Mar. 26, 1914 | DIED: Feb. 20, 1975

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Frank Jones may be Forsyth County’s most prolific “author. ”