Additional information
| Weight | 0.65 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 24.50 × 17.50 × 1.50 cm |
MINER WITH A CAMERA, THE by Clive Benney
£15.00
The fascinating story of Sammy Solway, a miner from St Agnes who bought a postcard camera in 1906 to make a little extra money. For 6 years he photographed events, people and views in the St Agnes, Mithian, Trevellas and Perranporth area. Here are hundreds of photographs, most of them previously unpublished.
Published by Wheal Hawke Publications.
216 pages, illustrations.
ISBN 978-0-9550510-6-7
1 in stock
1 review for MINER WITH A CAMERA, THE by Clive Benney
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Terry Knight –
From Old Cornwall / Kernow Goth, vol 16, no 5, Spring 2024.
Clive Benney is a formidable parish chronicler for whom St Agnes is the abiding passion. His latest book, The Miner with a Camera tells the story of Sammy Solway, a man who strove all his life to earn enough to keep his family. He had a myriad of occupations and he was an enterprising man who, like Benney, had a desire to capture life around him. He acquired a camera and Benney recounts the brief but highly productive career which supplemented his incomes from mining and farming.
Benney is a postcard collector, and he has a collection of Sam Solway’s cards, which capture events, changes, landscapes and activities all around the parish. He was a good photographer who seems to have had the knack of getting a lot of people to stand still, which, with an excellent camera, has left us with clear, high-resolution images, well composed, well-lit and well processed.
It is an exceptional record, much of which illustrates Clive Benney’s engaging and well-researched narrative. The book reclaims a talented photographer from obscurity, and does so in a way which tells us the key events of Sam’s life, gives us insights into his character and achievements, and adds occasional warm observations from relatives and neighbours, whilst also recording aspects of St Agnes life and social history – no mean feat!
Why did Sam Solway stop photography in 1912-13? Possibly, other tasks were consuming time, but Clive Benney describes the arrival of Truro photographer, E C Argall, who set up a St Agnes branch in 1912. Argall’s cards very likely created competition which took the edge off Sam’s profits, which may also have deterred his enthusiasm.
At £15 this book is very well produced (not a typo in it!), photographic reproduction is exemplary and it is on good paper. Some part of proceeds from the book are to be shared with the excellent St Agnes Museum, where visitors can see Sam Solway’s postcard camera, loaned by his Great Grand-Daughter. Unfortunately, Solway’s glass-plate negatives no longer exist, but his postcards can still be found, and will repay the searching.
Bert Biscoe / Vyajor Gans Geryow