Cambridge Photographers

The photographers covered in the main listing on the site (Around 1060 individuals and firms) are those whose names you are most likely to find on family or local photographs. These were mainly professional photographers or individuals wholly or partially making a living from photography. Use the alphabetical surname listing above or the "Cambridgeshire Photographers by Location" link in the left sidebar to search. Around 25 percent of these entries are illustrated with examples of the photographer's work.

If you cannot find a named photographer in the main listing mentioned above, there are a number of other lists on the site where you may find less well known individual local photographers. These are:

A supplementary list of around 150 other, mainly amateur, photographers recorded in the Southern part of the County by Mike Petty. These are mainly those with material deposited in the Cambridgeshire Collection, and mainly contributors to a Cambridge Antiquarian Society local photographic recording project from the first quarter of the 20th Century. There is a paper by Mike Petty describing the Survey here. Also a short guide to the negatives from the Survey held in the Cambridgeshire Collection.
A list of real photograph postcard publishers whose work is known to have included Cambridgeshire subjects. This currently runs to around 70 publishers, but there are many more to be discovered.
In the section of the site on the history of local photographic societies we have added a listing of about 1000 photographers who were members of the Cambridge and District Photographic Society between 1902 and 1939 compiled from their membership records and minutes.
We have also added a list of Developing & Printing works - photographic processors in the County (around 50 in total) operating between 1960 and 2000 whose details you may find on negative or print wallets with photographs taken by your ancestors.

The period covered by this site is from the 1840s to the year 2000, by which point digital photography was starting to have a major impact on the profession. A number of the photographers listed here are still alive and a few are still in business. If you, or your current or past firm, feature on the site, or you think you should be listed here, we would be delighted to hear from you. We are always willing to add your personal recollections to the site to bring to life the bare bones of the entries.

The geographic area covered by the site is the present day county of Cambridgeshire. Occasionally, where we have stumbled across photographers operating on the county boundary, we have been a little flexible about exactly where that county boundary lies, and have included a few strays from nearby.

The criteria for inclusion in all of these lists are that the names listed might be encountered in family photographs or photographs used by local historians.

These pages combine research from:

local trade directories,
information from Local Studies Libraries and Record Offices
survivals of local Cambridgeshire photographs
traditional family history resources.
personal recollections of a few individuals with experience in the photographic profession.

Work on this site commenced in late 2014 and the site is still very much work in progress with additions /corrections made most days.

If you spot errors or have information about any Cambridgeshire Photographers, or examples of their work which you are willing to share, please contact webmaster@fadingimages.uk

Unusual sized carte de visite of an unknown lady cyclist - photographer unknown

Unknown lady with bicycle, photographer unknown, c.1890s.

Photographers are listed alphabetically by surname on the following pages.

www.FadingImages.uk is a non-commercial web site for local and family historians, listing photographers in Cambridgeshire 1840-2000
This page was last modified: 01 October 2021, 08:40

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