Fishermen to Kings: The Forgotten Photographs of Olive Edis

The great. You head. Rankin is one of the world's most exceptional

portrait photographers. This work is stylish and contemporary. But studio

photography is not new. Back in the early lead a handful of woman took

to the cameras and against the expectations of the genders became

accomplished photographers. One room with good at it, that while and high

society courted her. Olive Edis. Was one of a very small group of... And

she had a special skill and empathy. The face is an index of the

character and the photograph, if you like to peruse it that way, is the

x-ray of the soul. She would have had to learn to deal with people who

perhaps were less inclined to accept her as a photographer or

professional as a woman. The range of people that she photographed were

politicians, four prime ministers of England, Kings. There is a

similarity with what Rankin does today and what Olive Edis did over a

century ago. This is his quest to discover the comparisons. And to

discover why such a loss to genius of photography has not had the

recognition she deserves. He will meet the people who work hard to

keep her name alive and to understand how skilful she was he

will get to grips with the camera that has not been used for over 50

years. The work of the great photographers

in recent history is exhibited here at London's National Portrait

Gallery. It's the first place for Rankin to visit in his search for

Olive Edis's pictures. He's meeting associate creator of photography. To

find out if her contribution to the medium is acknowledged in the

collection. This gallery is photography gallery at the moment

called a century photography and it's from 1840-1940 and all the many

key works from that period. Olive Edis is offered here. She is

represented by this copy of one of her wonderful autochromes, early

colour photography. Gorgeous. This is a project offers sister. -- this

is a portrait of her sister. Her work is exceptional. Really

beautiful, this example. Do you have more? Yes, many hundreds. Are they?

In the basement archive, the Galilee technician has laid out examples of

Olive's work that they look after. The thing that I am struck by is how

for that period is seen to be very relaxed pictures, they are not as

formal as other pictures from the period. Was that her style? She

always used natural light and she photographed people either in their

homes or in the studio. And it is, this fascination with faces. Who

they are as people and that is very, very unusual. You forget society was

broken down into classes at this point and actually communication

between classes with formal. She seems to have taken a massive

leveller, camera, everybody is placed at the same level.

Absolutely. A photographer's interest comes from anything and

anybody regardless of status. And their face. Greenbank and a civil

democratising thing that the camera has. -- and it's a democratising

thing. It would have been for the first time a democratising thing and

she embraces that. The first woman doctor, the first woman MP and the

future king. In a way, you wouldn't do because shisha announces everyone

and fits them in such a way that you get something off the personality

rather than profession. -- because shisha on ices everyone. That's

brilliant, look at that. He is the future king and look at him, he

looks like a really likeable bloke. Merely a few years after running

black and white photography, Olive is experimenting with autochromes.

This is the first commercially available cover process. The way

they achieve the cover is by dyeing potato starch. This is how colour

negative works. Actually, digital as well. I don't understand the starch

thing. Can you explain that? The particles that make up the starch,

act as a transparent, colour separation filter. It's like a

chemical reaction from the light? Yes. How do you view them? Do this

thing that she made herself. That is mental. That is magic. If you are to

really look like magic. -- it literally looks like magic. They are

incredibly three-dimensional. You almost feel like you can and touch.

She was an inspiration in a time for woman. Reporters of influential

people do little to shed light on who she was. -- her portraits of

influential people. We are not sure who this person is but it was

bequeathed to us as the unknown woman. Almost like love. Nobody

knows the story behind Olive as much as they probably should. One is not

truly a photographer and this one's work shows what is inside the sister

as well as what is outside. All of those born in 1876 in London. Her

father was an eminent gynaecologist and her mother 's side has evidence

that the are connections with significant members of society.

Family holidays bring Olive to Norfolk resort. She is inspired by

her private's friends at a young age. -- her parents' friends. During

our family holidays in Sheringham, she stayed with her great-uncle. She

would have seen with the photographs that he made. Photography for Olive

is to become more than just a passing fascination when a family

events take a tragic turn. Her father died unexpectedly and it's

true the family into trauma. It shows something of Olive's character

that they foraged on as a unit. I listening that she chose after the

death of her father was photography. -- only thing that she chose. My

very first attempt at a portrait, which turned my fate in 1900. Olive

and her sister joined forces to set up a photographic studio in

Sheringham. They worked together for several years until her sister

married. They photographed together and of each other. There are

photographs of many relatives. I've a member my aunt Olive as a

photographer. She was working with my mother. I used to go to

Sheringham as a holiday when I was about eight or nine. And Olive

always wanted to take my photograph. Rankin meets Sheringham residents.

She is a writer who has researched Olive's Slingsby become. This is the

site of all of's first studio. This is achieved. It didn't always look

like this. It was a wooden shed to begin with. It would comply with the

bylaws so they took it down. It must have caused a furore eyebrows. To

woman. Despite his initial setback, Olive endured herself to the locals

quickly. I certainly got the impression that everybody in

Sheringham new my aunt. She seemed to talk to everybody and know

everything. She was always on the go. She was a dynamo. She was a very

accomplished businesswoman and you see that in the branding that she

created for her business, the Key Largo. You get the sense of the

businesswoman who knows how to further her career. Olive becomes

talk of the term, earning sufficient money running a student in London.

-- of running a studio in London. She doesn't forgot her ties in

Norfolk. Most are from money came in from the more well off clients. That

enabled her to photograph local subjects like the local fishermen.

She invited them into the studio and would give them free prints. For one

Sheringham man her photographs hold a special place in his family's

history. This was my great grandfather. He ran a small fish

shop and he was a character. When people came to his fish shop and

said, Mr Johnson, I believe there is a part of the crab we should eat,

and he said yes, deadly poison, deadly poison. He popped it in his

mouth and ate at two thereof. Olive showed a different side of them. She

took them into the studio and got intimate portraits. One of the great

strengths was to be able to get such candid pictures. It was a complex

diet that they wanted to do this. -- it was a compliment to her. She

could have remained a top society photographer but she chose to

photograph fishermen as well. Olive's portraits of the fishermen

shows that she is able to express herself more artistically for the

first time. She portrays people as they are rabid than what they do. --

rather than what they do. Suffragettes sit for her but she

does not commit to their political cause. For her, photography is

paramount. She receives the highest accolade ever given to a woman at

the time. Even as the world is plunged into war, her potential is

not doomed. Her star rises in prices during the war. -- prices and

prices. She gets a commission to photograph the interior of Downing

Street. It culminates with her being approached by the National War

Museum, which would later be the imperial war Museum. Originally, the

brief was to photograph woman from Britain and other nationalities

moving the war but the war was over before she was able to work there.

What she was able to photograph was the aftermath of war.

We have a copy of the diary that Olive kept while she was travelling

around Europe in 1919. Several passages detailed meeting gruff

military commanders that make it clear that she -- that they think a

woman's place is not on the battle ground photographing people. The

driving force is Lady Florence Mono. -- Florence Bormann. The holder of

this pass is expressly warned that under no circumstances is the camera

or any other photographic apparat is to be brought into the zone of the

armies. I signed it forever and took the risk. -- signed it however. She

was given good access to women in senior and ordinarily position. Also

behind the scenes, says it would and -- it wouldn't occur to a meal

photographer to photograph. For example, the hairdressers that the

woman used on the Western front, the only one of its kind, Olive

photographed it. Sometimes her... Some of the

photographs are not precisely sharp and some are blurred. She was a

studio portrait photographer. This was not her natural environment to

work in. I propose, said Lady Norman, that we photographed the

canteen first and then have tea afterwards. To this superhuman

suggestion I did my best to rise but I did not enjoy it. I think it

tested her dutiful and considering all of those circumstances I think

she did a superb job. -- it tested her to the full. She journeys across

Canada next, taking shots of the Pacific Railroad for advertising.

Reputation is sealed and back on the royal appointments keep coming.

Despite the unrivalled position she has reached, personal fulfilment has

eluded her. Things are set to change in 1928. Oliver was 52 when she

married her husband Edwin Galsworthy. She was later marrying.

Was a few years older than her. We were clearly devoted to. There is

some suggestion that he represents the father figure that she lost when

she was very young. Perhaps after she met him she did less

professional work. With photographic work declaiming,

she is happy to heal people less fortunate than ourselves. She very

kindly allowed others to stay with her during the summer. I was

absolutely fascinated. She had these wonderful cameras and explain to me

how they worked. I watched her developing photographs. I had no

idea of our importance source significance. After 20 years of

marriage, Edwin died at the age of 86 in 1947. They mainly of this

perfect manager keeps minicity, even happy. Her portrait stable is

becoming dated, getting left behind by new techniques. She upon her

entrepreneurial exports -- resources. Rankin is about to find

out that she phoned each surprisingly new way of working.

This is examples of later work. She revisited some of her previous work,

going back 20 years with the local fishermen. She decided that by

capturing the original image, she could turn them into oil paintings.

This is quite a unique reinvention. For me, the photographs beneath a

report out the most interesting. Definitely, this women had their

real gift for challenging what people thought of her and her work.

To be doing this into her 70s. That is fascinating. One day, and

aspiring photographer called Cyril Nunn visited her. She was too busy

and turned him away, but he started working later as the general

handyman. I am sure he was claiming the techniques that Olive had used.

He was a tremendous benefit to all in later years. They became very

close. As for health field, she became more and more dependent on

several. I am going to ask you to act as an executor to Ray will. You

will be a beneficiary. I have had to submit to the examination of

specialists. The heart man discovered something else wrong

yesterday. In 1955, and the age of 17, Olive died. She is buried

alongside Edwin and her mother in a grave in sharing certain symmetry.

-- sharing. But would it be possible that her immense contribution to

photography date with her? The visit the house that all the moves to

after her marriage. He is a booted the famed a final twist in her

story. She left Cyril Nunn all for equipment. He bought the house. It

has been left just as it was when it was last used. So, by this point,

several had become a photographer? Yes, it was difficult rain. He was

the photographer in the area. So, basically, she taught him everything

she knew? Absolutely. Evidence that Olive 's legacy was not forgotten

came courtesy of a local historian. I was talking to a person who had

the collection of photographs taken by all. I was not allowed to see it.

That was a strong feature about Cyril Nunn. Nobody was allowed to

see the collection. He said he had it stored. He said he had some in

the studio, some in the attic. I became very concerned that a big

collection would get damaged by the likes of temperature only years.

However, the came a time when I got a call and he said to me, I think it

is about time the collection was sold. Could you do that? I said they

would be deleted. It took several carloads. I took everything back

even to this very room. I catalogued every single thing. The model did

not know about Olive. -- what you want.

The biggest recipient of the collection was the museum. We get a

phone: 2007 are offering this part of her collection. The really

directly to what they do. They are exceptional. Absolutely exceptional.

Is that one of the cameras? That is one of the cameras that she used.

Could they have a go with it? If I wear my gloves? Yes. I was laughing

because I had the overwhelming temptation to see normal! You should

probably see that. It is a bit praise position. I promise you I

will handle it as carefully as possible. Having been given a chance

to use the camera, that is one problem he had not accounted for. I

have been asked to try and make some commerce plates to replicate what

all those dead. That is a bit of an issue with the materials that she

used. I have been making some plates from scratch. Whether we will work

or not is a bit of an unknown. Fingers crossed. We have only got

four to play with. Take the lens cap. We have got a stop watch. We

are probably looking at an exposure time of between 10-15 seconds. No

pressure! See, two, one. One elephant, to elephant, see elephant.

I got up to eight elephants. That is a lot of elephants. With the former

studio prepared for use once more, Lord of the Rings Stargardt Hill has

arrived. -- they Hill. You have to do remain fairly stable.

This makes my job seem very easy. It was the moment of truth. Wish me

luck. Ready? We will do some more elephants. One elephant, to

elephants, three elephants, for elephants. I did not even look at

you! I am really nervous. The four

negatives have been processed and much to his relief, there is an

image on each one. At least they came out. I am very happy about

that. It was no time to make a print. Let me hold it. While! That

is literally like going back in time. That is incredible. My

reputation was on the wane. Apart from a stress, I enjoy being able to

handle a camera of that age and quality and to see how she worked.

To experience that first hand was really exciting. I am very excited

to see the pictures. It was a really. Very fascinating. I think

the extraordinary thing about all of was that no photographer photographs

such a range of society in the Rishi did. Men dominated society. The work

that Olive did was fairly sophisticated and very much at the

cutting edge of what photography was at that time. To see something so

magical draw me in remains me just why I love photography. -- remains

me. Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

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