Adrian Gee—1960s England & Scotland Contax Photography

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

A search of RFF for "Adrian Gee" didn't return any hits. Having just found his portfolio on Flickr I wanted to share a link.

Adrian has shared many black and white images by him of life in 1960s England and Scotland recorded with a Contax rangefinder and Zeiss 5cm Tessar f/3.5. Not only is his work a fascinating glimpse back in time, he has a good eye. Some gorgeous composition.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31319546@N08/page1/
Edit:
I've been in contact with Adrian. He has indeed made many images on film himself, notably Kodachrome, but he has informed me that the wonderful black and white images he's been uploading to Flickr were made by his late father. Hence his inability in some cases to be more specific about locations or other information.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks for the intro to Adrian Gee. Plenty of historic shots from the 60s. Adrian sure has a bunch of cameras.

 

[Archiver]

How good are these images! Funny how a lot of people are taking very similar pictures now, decades and decades later.

 

[davidswiss]

Some great pictures, the Winter ones make me remember that time as cold, damp and black and white.

 

[raydm6]

Those are wonderful! Thanks very much for the link.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Cool old times photos. Good find.

 

[Guest]

The lack of humanity and automobiles back then is striking. Pity that locations have not been mentioned, I remember many from back when I lived there. But sadly that England has long gone, it is nothing like that anymore, the last thirty years have turned it upside down.

 

[Erik van Straten]

The lack of humanity and automobiles back then is striking. Pity that locations have not been mentioned, I remember many from back when I lived there. But sadly that England has long gone, it is nothing like that anymore, the last thirty years have turned it upside down.

I'm afraid this is true.


Erik.

 

[John Bragg]

Thanks for sharing these. A few are taken in Cornwall. I recognise the beginning of the famous Minack Theatre and fishing boats with Penzance registration.

 

[p.giannakis]

The lack of humanity and automobiles back then is striking. Pity that locations have not been mentioned, I remember many from back when I lived there. But sadly that England has long gone, it is nothing like that anymore, the last thirty years have turned it upside down.

The UK I first met through the issues of Practical Photography I was buying in the 90s was long gone in 2006 when I moved to UK.

Regarding Adrian, I have been following his work although I don't spend much time on Flickr anymore.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Another world, and I dare say a more interesting one. No doubt England has suffered the same onslaught of standardized corporate mass culture as America. Those of us old enough to remember a world without McDonald's and Walmart will recognize that world in these pictures.
And also, as an aside, it's wonderful to see such striking work done with the such minimal equipment. It gives me pause to ponder my GAS-induced collection of Too Much Stuff!