Portrait of a Town
In 1951 David M. Smith founded the Photo-News Service, a family-run press agency and photo studio that was at the heart of Berwick life for over sixty-five years.
When the business moved to 17 Bridge Street, the premises that became known as ‘the Photo Centre’, commercial photography took on a greater importance with a well equipped studio above the shop. David and his staff photographers, including his son Ian who joined in 1965, captured every newsworthy event in the area and recorded many family occasions, marking milestones in the lives of several generations of townspeople.
From David’s first freelance photograph to Ian’s final assignment, every negative to every photograph was kept, numbered, catalogued and stored in the bright yellow Kodak boxes that lined the walls of the Photo Centre. Berwick Record Office (BRO) purchased this collection of three million glass plate and film negatives in September 2012, when Ian and his wife Ellen retired and closed the business.
This exhibition is drawn from the Photo Centre negative archive and offers a glimpse into this huge collection. The exhibition focusses on the individuals captured in the archive be they at work, at play or in the studio. This follows David Smith’s own philosophy that ‘faces were what were required to sell papers’.
On display are new silver gelatine and giclée prints made from the original negatives. The business catalogues do not credit individual photographers (they were kept by date and subject), but several of the Photo Centre’s photographers, including Denis Straughan, Dennis Hay, Stuart Rennie and Eddie Sanderson, went on to make names for themselves elsewhere.
Portrait of a Town has been commissioned by Berwick Visual Arts and Northumberland Archives and curated by Cameron Robertson. It has been supported by the Friends of Berwick & District Museum and Archives and the Community Foundation