{"id":3656,"date":"2022-11-28T10:21:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T10:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningspaces.dundee.ac.uk\/dundeeuniculture\/?p=3656"},"modified":"2025-09-15T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:46:45","slug":"lives-through-the-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/lives-through-the-lens\/","title":{"rendered":"Lives through the lens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Low <\/span>collection <\/span>was<\/span> recently<\/span> gifted to the University <\/span>Archive<\/span> by photo-journalist Alex Low<\/span>. This is the third blog exploring this fascinating collection which <\/span>comprises <\/span>records of not just the Low family, but also of eight other families<\/span> connected to the Lows through marriage. <\/span>We<\/span> received th<\/span>e <\/span>collection, partly bec<\/span>ause the<\/span> Lows and <\/span>the <\/span>Halleys<\/span> originated from Kirriemuir, Dundee and <\/span><\/span>Lundie<\/span> & Fowlis<\/span>, but also because we <\/span>hold other<\/span> significant <\/span><\/span>photographic collections<\/span><\/span><\/a>. <\/span>It seems fitting therefore that today\u2019s <\/span>blog explores the photographs in the collection.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Alex Low<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The<\/span> Low family seemed to embrace photograph<\/span>y early<\/span>, and the<\/span> collection holds sev<\/span>e<\/span>ral <\/span>d<\/span>aguerreotypes<\/span> and<\/span> ambrotype<\/span>s<\/span> (collodi<\/span>o<\/span>n positives)<\/span>\u00a0dating from the <\/span>1840s and <\/span>1860s.<\/span> As expected<\/span>,<\/span> these <\/span>tiny, framed<\/span> photographs <\/span>are portraits of family members<\/span>, such as the one featured of <\/span>Harriet Mary Low<\/span>, taken <\/span>around 1862<\/span> in Mexico <\/span>where she was born<\/span>. <\/span>Harriet <\/span>died <\/span>in childbirth <\/span>in India, aged just 26, but <\/span>surviving photographs of her <\/span>demonstrate the technological move<\/span>s<\/span> from <\/span>daguerreotypes<\/span> through <\/span>to photographic prints, <\/span>cabinet <\/span>and<\/span> photocards<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Formal
Daguerreotype of Harriet Mary Low, c 1862<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Postcard
Photo postcard of Harriet\u2019s wedding day, 1884<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The problem with p<\/span>hotographs <\/span>is that often we don\u2019t know who <\/span>or where the subjects are<\/span>. F<\/span>ortunately for us, most of the <\/span>photographs in <\/span>the collection<\/span> are titled, <\/span>done <\/span>at the time,<\/span> or <\/span>more recently <\/span>through Alex Low\u2019s research into the families<\/span>.<\/span> So<\/span> we can often <\/span>trace<\/span> a life from birth, through school<\/span> and across<\/span> adulthood,<\/span> gaining insights into relationships<\/span>.<\/span> For instance, <\/span>photographs of Annie Low<\/span> (1865-<\/span>1946)<\/span> include <\/span>formal portraits<\/span>, <\/span>informal<\/span> ones with her children<\/span> and their nanny<\/span>, <\/span>with <\/span>her mother<\/span>, <\/span>sisters in law and <\/span>her friends<\/span>,<\/span> later ones with her grandchildre<\/span>n<\/span>, and even one of her and AG Low\u2019s first home.<\/span> Apart from sho<\/span>w<\/span>ing changing fashions o<\/span>ver the decades, t<\/span>he<\/span>se<\/span> photographs tell us that the family <\/span>always had<\/span> a dog<\/span>,<\/span> could afford to keep at least <\/span>one servant <\/span>and a carriage, <\/span>that her sons went to boarding school<\/span>, <\/span>and <\/span>that <\/span>in her later years<\/span> she travelled <\/span>to Egypt<\/span> with her husband<\/span>. <\/span>Other records in the collection confirm or clarify <\/span>the tenor of<\/span> Annie<\/span>\u2019s life,<\/span> but t<\/span>hese small <\/span>visual <\/span>indicators <\/span>are <\/span>the very <\/span>powerful.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Woman
Annie and her new baby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We know that <\/span>AG Low <\/span>was a keen amateur <\/span>photographer<\/span> and had his own darkroom<\/span>, so it\u2019s unsurprising that <\/span>there\u2019s a huge selection of photographs charting the lives of his <\/span>family<\/span>. <\/span>There\u2019s<\/span> even a <\/span>photo of Annie<\/span> which seems to have been taken <\/span>soon after the birth of <\/span>Gerald.<\/span> Certainly, the technology <\/span>helped<\/span>, enabling a move from the studio to the home. <\/span>Kodak had introduced <\/span>an<\/span> easy-to-use box camera by the 1880s and by the turn of the century <\/span>the<\/span> Box Brownie<\/span> was hugely popular<\/span>,<\/span> especially as they also produced<\/span> a home developing machine, as well as a folding pocket camera designed to take postcard sized prints<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG passed his enthusiasm to his sons, especially to AH Low, who was entering photographic competitions while at school. AH Low<\/span> introduced the basic techniques to his own son, Alex Low, making use of over 20 cameras, some inherited from his own father <\/span>as well as<\/span> their own darkroom. <\/span>Unsurprisingly perhaps, <\/span>Alex grew up to be a successful <\/span>photo-journalist<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"People
Club Meditarranee Sicily, 1958<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Old
Crofter men of Islay, 1959<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alex <\/span>started his career <\/span>aged 10, <\/span>with <\/span>his photographs appear<\/span>ing<\/span> in the local newspaper. He developed his skills while doing National Service, then travelled around the UK and Europe building his portfolio. By 1960 he was a staff photographer with the Pictorial Press Agency, <\/span>which specialised in photos of Hollywood films and their stars. Alex was introduced to one of the founders of <\/span>photo-journalism<\/span>, Simon Guttman, with whom he worked for two years. A<\/span>fter a brief stint with the BBC, <\/span>Alex was then <\/span>invited to be the first picture editor and only staff photographer for a <\/span>brand <\/span>new<\/span> colour supplement, the ‘Weekend Telegraph’<\/span>, an exciting and daunting challenge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Policemen
Arrest at Ban the Bomb march, 1960<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Group
Group in Soho, 1960s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the 1960s and early \u201870s, Alex worked on major picture stories in many parts of the world, <\/span>alongside pictures of fashion, food and people.<\/span> His assignments included<\/span> the Isle of Wight pop festival, Californian hippy communes, Club M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e, and the drug problem in Hong Kong. As picture editor, Alex was also responsible for organising coverage of Winston Churchill\u2019s state funeral, a massive undertaking done in just five days.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the field, Alex covered stories such as the war between India and Pakistan in 1965, at one point being \u2018jumped on\u2019 by guards after taking photographs of tanks that Pakistan had denied having. He then had to flee the country when the government demanded he hand over his film. Despite escaping and freighting his films back to London, the story never appeared as a ceasefire was agreed. Learning from this experience he avoided the Americans confiscating film he\u2019d taken on assignment in Thailand, substituting the exposed film with blank rolls before having to surrender his cameras. The story, about Chinese military activity around Chieng Kong, was obviously a sensitive one for the USA who returned his cameras but continued to watch and follow Alex during his trip.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chinese
Chinese Nationalist Army General, Thailand, 1967<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Chinese
Secret Chinese Army Camp in north-west Thailand, 1967<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For one story<\/span>, <\/span>\u2018<\/span>Ruins of Empire\u2019, Alex travelled 8,000 miles in 6 weeks<\/span>, by road, <\/span>rail<\/span> and air, <\/span>right across India and Pakistan, <\/span>photographing places and people left over from <\/span>British rule. <\/span>He also covered <\/span>the famine in Bihar, taking <\/span>sacks of rice with him which he distributed<\/span>, feeling <\/span>that <\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span>it was such a tiny drop in the ocean of starving people that I felt it was almost an insult, a pointless gesture’.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

By 1980, Alex had retired from photojournalism. Perhaps he\u2019d tired of dodging danger and leaving his family for weeks on end. But we\u2019ll soon find out, as Alex is sending us instalments of his biography which are being added to the collection.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Low family collection is a rich and varied one. The material offers insights about eight families and the times in which they lived. We can learn about their childhoods, their working and leisure lives, their problems, joys, and their family relationships. It is an extraordinary intimate record of over two centuries and well worth exploring.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Search the <\/span>Alex Low collection<\/span><\/a> for more descriptions of photographs and Alex\u2019s assignments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Although working in colour for the <\/span>Weekend Telegraph<\/span><\/i> and other publications, Alex always preferred monochrome as making a more striking image, hence his examples are featured here in black & white.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Low collection was recently gifted to the University Archive by photo-journalist Alex Low. This is the third blog exploring this fascinating collection which comprises records of not just the Low family, but also of eight other families connected to the Lows through marriage. We received the collection, partly because the Lows and the Halleys […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":550,"featured_media":3658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","category-photography"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/550"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6211,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656\/revisions\/6211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}