Photopress theme wordpress8/1/2023 Several index volumes in the collection are the keys to identifying the negatives. This means that many that have survived date from March 1958 onwards, although there are some exceptions. Unfortunately when Photopress moved from the fourth floor of 26 East Parade, they abandoned over 4,000 glass plate negatives as they were thought too heavy to be worth moving. The surviving records of Photopress are around 150,000 film and glass plate negatives from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Jimmie also photographed many weddings and private parties, and provided a passport photograph service. Other areas of employment include the universities, schools, politicians and celebrities, the courts and Leeds television companies ABC, Yorkshire Television and the BBC. They employed Photopress to photograph sites for prospective petrol stations in the 1950s when a major programme of expansion was underway, and followed this up with pictures of the garages that they had purchased or built on the sites. (later Texaco) and National Benzole (later Shell-Mex and BP). Some of their biggest employers were the petrol companies Regent Oil Co. Work also came from local businesses to record their openings, new products, window displays, exhibitions, properties and social events. Jimmie enjoyed press-work the most as a sports fanatic as he was able to capture many football, rugby and cricket matches. The picture editor of the Yorkshire Evening News would often give work to Jimmie in an emergency or when he needed a second photographer at football matches. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Jimmie associated with many press photographers who worked in Leeds and nearly all the major national newspapers had a locally-based photographer and journalist. Most of the work done by Photopress was commercial and jobs came from friends and acquaintances. The new building was well-situated next door to national newspaper offices, the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Sunday Express, and opposite the News of the World, and also close to Leeds Train Station. Photopress was based at 26 East Parade from 1949 until 1960 when they moved to 16 New Station Street. During the War, Jimmie’s photography skills were recognised and he went to the Royal Naval Photographic School at Portsmouth in 1941, and then to the Fleet Air Arm Photographic School at Ford where he gained more expertise, particularly in aerial photography.Īfter the War, Jimmie parted ways with Bob Ledbetter and began his own business. In around 1938, Jimmie was then made a partner in Bob’s firm. Bob took Jimmie on as a trainee so he was able to gain experience in a wide range of photography and Jimmie also took a course in Professional and Pure Photography at Leeds College of Technology from 1935 to 1936. He was introduced to Bob Ledbetter, an older professional photographer who ran a wedding business alongside a press agency. On leaving Leeds Modern School in 1928, Jimmie didn’t have a very clear idea what he wanted to do. Photopress Leeds Ltd was a commercial photographer’s company run by James ‘Jimmie’ Waite, a professional photographer from Leeds. As the last theme for Explore Your Archives Week is ‘Watch This Space’, it seemed a great opportunity to share a project that I have been working on at WYAS Leeds with our Photopress (Leeds) collection (WYL5000).
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