Spotlight Photos Ltd. – “Walking pictures” in Derby

I’ve been corresponding recently with Simon Robinson, who got in touch regarding an article that I wrote about sidewalk or street photographers in March last year.

Simon is working on a book devoted to “walking pictures,” a style or specialization of street photography which flourished from the 1920s until the 1950s, and then largely disappeared during the 1960s.  An introduction to the book project is provided at Easy on the Eye Books, as well as information about a potential museum exhibition at an East Coast resort.

Much of the collection that he has assembled was purchased at fairs, and identification of or background to the subjects has usually been lost.  He is therefore welcoming contributions of material which has something of a story attached for possible inclusion in the book.  Some of the images collected and donated so far are shared in Simon’s Flickr Photostream.

Charles Vincent Payne
Postcard format "walking picture" taken c.1932
Image © and collection of Brett Payne 

If you have any photographs in your collection that you think may be of interest, and that you would like to share, please do get in touch with Simon.  I have sent him several for consideration, some of which I posted in my previous article.  The unusual example illustrated above, however, is one of my great-grandfather Charles Vincent Payne (1868-1941) that I unearthed more recently from my family collection.

George Raymond Meadows (1914-2000)
with “Walkie” camera at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Image © and courtesy of Gail Godfrey

According to Paul Godfrey, who has an excellent web site devoted to seaside photography, this type of “walkie” was produced using converted Royal Navy 35mm cine cameras from the First World War, such as that being operated by his father-in-law George Meadows at Great Yarmouth, shown above, some time between 1946 and 1953.  In this case, the strip of three shots were printed in postcard format with the sprocket perforations showing, although Paul notes that other operators, such as Barker’s of Great Yarmouth, tended to mask them off.

Reverse of Postcard format "walking picture," c.1930s
Spotlight Photos Ltd. Regd. No. 728037
Image © and collection of Brett Payne 

The reverse shows that it was taken by Spotlight Photos Ltd.  A location is not given, but Simon directed me to two very similar images, also by Spotlight, from the Derby Museum & Art Gallery reproduced on Picture the Past, for which the locations are identified.  Both were taken in Derby, close to St. Peter’s Bridge, the point at which the Corn Market, Albert Street, St Peter’s Street and Victoria Street all meet.

 
“Mum in St Peter’s Street,” Derby (A) 
Taken by Spotlight Photos Ltd, July 1929
Image © Derby Museum & Art Gallery & courtesy of Picture the Past

Although captioned “Mum in St Peter’s Street,” the first was actually taken in the Corn Market, facing north, with the subject walking south towards the Victoria Street intersection.

Corn Market, from St Peter’s Bridge, Derby 
taken by W.W. Winter Ltd., c.1928
Image © W.W. Winter Ltd. 

This exact location can be accurately pinpointed since the jeweller’s shop of H. Samuels is clearly visible on the far right, also captured (below the clock) in this c.1928 view of the same street, taken by W.W. Winter Ltd.

 
Unidentified subjects, St Peter’s Street, Derby (B) 
Taken by Spotlight Photos Ltd
Image © Derby Museum & Art Gallery & courtesy of Picture the Past

The second example includes several people, but focuses on a man with hat, cane and plus-fours, and with an eye on the camera, striding purposefully southwards down St Peter’s Street, at the junction with Albert Street.  There is also a woman, possibly pregnant, carrying a shopping bag, waiting to cross the road and, in the background, a Trent bus going past.

Corn Market, from St Peter’s Bridge
by W.W. Winter Ltd., c.1925
Image © W.W. Winter Ltd. 

Again, it can be accurately located from a sign on a storefront, in this case Jefferson’s, a firm of drapers located on the corner of the Corn Market and Albert Street.  The c.1925 view by Winter shown above provides a view of Jefferson’s slightly to the left of that seen in the Spotlight walkie, and includes a view down the Corn Market, with H. Samuels’ trademark clock just visible in the background.

Junction of Corn Market, Albert Street, St. Peter’s Street & Victoria Street, Derby, with Spotlight photo locations (A & B)

The locations of the camera, buildings used for identification (green) and fields of view (pink) for these two photographs are shown on the street map above (clicking the image will bring up a larger view).

Charles Vincent Payne (C)
Detail of "walking picture," Victoria Street, Derby 
Image © and collection of Brett Payne

Nigel Aspdin, with his excellent knowledge of historical and present day Derby, didn’t take long to come up with a precise location for the walkie of my great-grandfather.  He is walking in a south-easterly direction along Victoria Street, on the pavement in front of the Post Office Hotel, the characteristic entrance to which can be seen on the right of both the walkie and the c.1926 view below by W.W. Winter Ltd.

  Victoria Street & Wardwick, Derby
by W.W. Winter Ltd., c.1926
Image © W.W. Winter Ltd. 

In the background of the walkie it is possible to make out the awnings and shop windows on the ground floor of the Refuge Assurance Company building, and behind that the Mechanics’ Institiute, both of which are on Wardwick and shown in the image above, although the former are slightly obscured by the tram shelter in the middle of Victoria Street.

  Flooded Wardwick and a Trent bus, Derby 
by F.W. Scarratt, 22 May 1932 

Careful examination of the walkie also shows two signboards protruding from the Mechanics’ Institute building, somewhere just above head height.  Nigel found an accurately dated postcard by Frank Scarratt recording the memorable effects of the May 1932 flooding in the Wardwick, and this, too, shows the protruding signboards which were not present in the earlier (c.1926) photo.

Junction of Wardwick & Victoria Street, Derby,
with Spotlight photo location (C) 

It is therefore possible to reconstruct the exact location of the walkie, using the Post Office Hotel, Refuge Assurance building and Mechanics’ Institute as markers.  Again, the area marked in pink is the approximate field of view seen in the photograph.

A view of Victoria Street & Wardwick, 18 July 2010
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin

A present day view of the same scene, as shown in this photograph by Nigel Aspdin, has the same buildings by and large, albeit with somewhat different shop fronts.

Spotlight Photo Ltd. walking photo locations in Derby
c.1928-1932

As the plan above demonstrates, all three of the Spotlight walkies were taken with 150 metres of each other.  Until we have a larger range of examples to work with, we can’t assume that the photographer only worked in this small area, but it was, and still is, a busy part of town.  The negative numbers are not very easy to decipher with certainty, but if my interpretation is correct, then they were taken in the order B (#3936), A (#7350), C(#9978).

If any readers have street photographs – or walking pictures – by Spotlight Studios Ltd., I would be keen to hear from you, particularly if the photos are identifiable as having been taken in Derby.

Acknowledgements

Low resolution images from the two volumes of The Winter’s Collection have been reproduced with the kind permission of W.W. Winter Ltd.  High quality reproductions of these and many other historic images are available from W.W. Winter Ltd.

Many thanks to Simon Robinson and Paul Godfrey for so readily sharing information about street photographers and material from their collections, and to Nigel Aspdin for his detective work and photography around Derby.

References

Anon (n.d.) Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Derby (North) 1899, Derbyshire Sheet 50.9 (orig. OS Sheet L.9), Newcastle upon Tyne: Alan Godfrey Maps.

Anon (n.d.) Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Derby (South) 1899, Derbyshire Sheet 50.13 (orig. OS Sheet L.13), Newcastle upon Tyne: Alan Godfrey Maps.

Craven, Maxwell (ed.) (1992) The Winter’s Collection of Derby, Derby: Breedon Books, 208pp.

Craven, Maxwell (ed.) (1996) The Winter’s Collection of Derby, Volume Two, Derby: Breedon Books, 192pp.

Scarratt, Francis William & Jewell, Rod (1995) Yesterday’s Derby and Its Districts: Through the Lens of F.W. Scarratt, Derby: Breedon Books, 208pp.