THE GEORGE WILSON COLLECTION
George Wilson, an early graduate of Newport, spent two seasons in the early 1980s as a bingo caller in Cain’s Amusements on the seafront at Herne Bay, Kent. Whilst there he documented the often hidden activities, cultures and communities in this typical British arcade. George’s extraordinary collection is currently informing researchers into hitherto overlooked arcade cultures.
EARLY SEASIDE PHOTOGRAPHY
These seaside portraits are some of the earliest photographs made on the beach. Trading photographers were derivatively and often unfairly known as ‘smudges and dodgers’, inferring dishonesty. From the 1850s onwards they competed fiercely for business, selling these affordable images-while-you-wait to the mass of seaside visitors.
WALKIES
During the holiday season, commercial seaside photographers would work the coast, making and selling thousands of postcard-sized images of promenading holidaymakers and beachgoers. These modest photographs, commonly named ‘Walkies’, were an important means of recording trips to the seaside, particularly in an era when many families did not have their own camera.
THE SUNBEAM COLLECTION
For much of the twentieth century, the Sunbeam Photographic Company represented and reflected British seaside culture. As a photographic company it documented on a vast scale, life on the UK’s south east coast and specifically that of the Isle of Thanet. Sunbeam was one of the largest commercial photographic companies in the country, and whilst perhaps best known for their Walkies pictures, this was far from their sole genre. Sunbeam captured civic, ceremonial and political events; numerous idealised promotional tourist images; landscapes and townscapes; broad commercial work; school photography and even eccentric animal portraiture.
THE DREAMLAND COLLECTION
In partnership with the Dreamland Trust, Thanet District Council and a number of private collections, SEAS Photography now houses a number of historic images from the Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate. Photographs within the archive date from the 1920s through to the ‘80s and a small selection can be viewed here.
