7. Geoff Charles

Geoff Charles
(1909 - 2002)

Another one of my favourite photographers from the Diffusion Festival was the documentary works of Geoff Charles. This particular exhibition, of his work, was part of a series of exhibitions which specifically showed Geoff Charles' vast collection in order to "mine his photographic works".

"Geoff Charles' contribution to Welsh photography is unique. His approach is characterized by both an innate talent and an empathy for his subjects." 

Geoff Charles was a recognised photojournalist through from the 1930's to the 1970's and was one of the only recognised in Welsh-speaking Wales for most of that time. 

'British Legion Carnival in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant' May 24th, 1956

Geoff Charles was born in Brymbo, Wrexham of North Wales in 1909. He began studying a Diploma in Journalism in the University of London, which he gained a first class honours in completion in 1928. He worked for several publications including the Western Mail, Mountain Ash and Aberdare Express, Surrey Advertiser and also the Wrexham Star. The main Wrexham Star is the main paper he worked for, in which he reported on the Gresford Colliery Disaster, in which he managed to gain some access and specialist information which allowed a special edition of the paper. It was while working at the Wrexham Star that Geoff Charles purchased his first camera VPK Thorton Pickard, with Glass Plates. 

In 1936 the Wrexham Star was taken over and changed to The Wrexham Advertiser, which is when Geoff met managing director Rowland Thomas and he was made manager of the photographic section.

'Rhayader Carnival', August 19th 1939

Shortly afterwards Geoff Charles moved to Newton to manage the 'Montgomeryshire Express' where he met John Robert Williams who he went on to work with for 'Y Cymro'. The work of the pair together soon surpassed any other work of any photojournalist in Wales.

"Over this period his work recorded far more than events and personalities; piece by piece, photo by photo a vanished way of life is revelaed: witness the farmhands living in the 'lloft stabl', the postman delivering letters on horseback or the old quarryman demonstrating the car gwyllt."

I do believe that Geoff Charles is one of my favourite documentary photographers. His almost endless collection of images makes a most interesting observation of Welsh History in the North of Wales, mainly. It almost documents the innocence of the country even at the time of the war. He doesn't document the 'panic', he documented how everyone worked together at such a terrible time. He documented times of joy, carnivals and festivals, where people enjoy and have a good time, pulling together, and sports teams etc.

General events which, above all, highlight the work of the community. He didn't look for the tragedies, or the disasters. This is what I like about Geoff Charles' approach to Documentary Photography. This is something which might be considered to be missed in today's photographic documentary work. 

'Women collecting cockles in Penclawdd, Glamorgan, August 10th, 1951'

Much to my surprise, as I am aware that Geoff Charles was more of a North Wales based photographer, I found a photograph of a cockle picker from Penclawdd. It's a very sweet photograph of, perhaps, an older, female cockle picker. It is interesting to look at this photograph, you can see the equipment that they used over 60 years ago, plus the donkey in the image also shows how much things have changed. It is a simple photograph but does also give some context to the history behind cockle picking. Geoff Charles stays fairly at distance from his subjects in most of his images, which is useful, but it also leads me to think more about getting closer to my subjects.

Bibliography
- http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=geoffcharles
- http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/story/310-geoff-charles-photojournalist
- http://myglyw.org.uk/index.php?id=4332
- http://www.flickr.com/photos//llgc