The River Thames at Bankside opposite St Pauls in 1960

Artist Andrew Logan at his show in Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1976

Improvised bottle windbreaks in fields near Arrieta, Lanzarote in 1981

For the last couple of years I have been living my life all over again - well some of the best bits anyway - scanning black and white pictures from my early days. It has been an intriguing exercise, not only revisiting the events, places, people, things, ideas, interests, that came my way but finding out about myself. For the whole forty years I was a photographer I always had a strong suspicion I was getting away with it, that one day I would be found out, that each job would be my last.

Now I can see why people kept using me. I have insatiable curiosity, particularly about people (some friends suggest nosiness) so really I was using them to find out what went on in the world, how people lived and worked. Like me, the pictures are very simple and direct, say what they are intended to say. And that is what the clients liked about them. And, since I started Collections, and did most of the editing for the first few years, all Collections pictures tend to be like that, whoever took them.

Now the time has come to look after Number One (my website file number is 001) and put up my own pictures. Most of my working life was in industry in a bewildering variety of mighty factories where people made things like computer chips, supertankers, cars, steel, sausages, chocolate, paint, glass, textiles, bridges, or institutions where people learned things, did time, enjoyed themselves, shopped, and so on. I loved doing it but unfortunately most of this material has vanished, having been handed over to the client, used and then forgotten. Still there are some on-line. Put in WORK.

I shot black and white pictures for myself all the while. In the sixties I got into the ‘folk’ scene. With Topic and Transatlantic Records I was involved, in one way or another, with about 100 record sleeves and inadvertently produced at the same time a portrait of the Sixties Folk Revival. There are 1007 pictures on-line featuring around 150 singers and musicians, most of them in black and white. Put in FOLK MUSIC.

At the same time I started photographing traditional customs, which were more visually interesting. Indeed I became so intrigued that I eventually I covered around 200 of them. There are 1682 of my pictures on line - about half in black and white, which I insist are the best! There are also a good selection of old illustrations and I have also encouraged our contributors to cover such things (in colour) so our score to date is in the region of 350 customs. You could put in CUSTOMS but that would yield 2527 hits, which might possibly be too many. If you know the type of event put in DANCE, PLAY, GAME, DOLE or something like that, or the place, or the month, or the specific event and CUSTOM. For a full list of customs covered click here.

Like any photographer about town I did my share of portraits - not formal, heaven forbid, but very, very informal. Actors, musicians, folk singers, politicians, artists, writers, craftsmen. There are about 150, the majority in black and white, all dated, and a few by other contributors. Click here for a full list of PORTRAITS.

Finally there is a substantial number of black and white pictures online for reasons of History or Art, nothing to do with the specialist collections above. It is not clear when ‘history’ begins, perhaps last week, though happily publishing convention has it in black and white. It is fifty years since I started and some of our contributors go back even further. London starts at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and carries on spasmodically until the nineties, not just buildings but people and fashions and events as well.

On the ‘Art’ side it is a mixed bag, involving several photographers. You will have to key in BLACK AND WHITE and look for yourself! And there is FAY GODWIN as well, of course...