©Alec Manning / Byford
PATIENCE - Alec Manning
From Friday 16th February until Wednesday 18th April 2018
From Friday 16th February until Wednesday 18th April 2018
We now live in an impatient world, where the technology of the Snapchat age has accelerated the pace of life and our communication with one another.
Billions of images are altered, cropped, distorted, and disposed of in the blink of an eye — then sent, deleted, or shared in the most casual and disposable of ways. This can diminish their impact and influence.
Perhaps, subconsciously, we no longer take enough time to truly appreciate the beauty of what has been framed?
However, the power of images — and the skill of capturing beauty, particularly in people — is at the heart of how this exhibition came into being.
Back in 1999, while walking along Drummond Road in Skegness, I was drawn to an original black-and-white photograph of a beautiful woman entitled Patience, displayed in a junk shop window.
The image, along with several hundred negatives, photographs, photographic equipment, and personal items, was being sold as part of a house clearance following the death of Alec Manning.
As a photographer myself, I realised that many of the images were not only beautiful works of art, but also important social and historical documents that deserved to be preserved. I was horrified to learn that the collection would have been thrown away had no interest been shown.
Cataloguing the collection — more than a thousand black-and-white negatives (all shot on 120mm film) — and digitally scanning and printing them without the use of a darkroom was, and still is, an arduous task.
What you see on display here represents only a fraction of the collection, with an emphasis on people rather than recognisable Skegness landmarks.
Most of the images have never been seen before today, with only a handful ever printed for exhibitions during the 1950s.
Despite appeals in the local press, I know little about Alec, other than that he was born in Nottingham on August 7, 1914 — just days after the outbreak of the First World War.
He served as an airman in the RAF (No. 957144) from August 1940 until October 1945. After his release, it is believed he ran an insurance business at 21 Algitha Road, Skegness. He passed away in 1998, aged 84.
I never met Alec, and I couldn’t even tell you what he looked like — but I can tell you that he shared my passion for photographing people. After discovering Patience, I wanted to know more about both the woman in the image and the man behind the camera.
Clearly, Alec’s work required patience. He took the time to reflect and to capture the most innocent of images — often un-staged — which are frequently the most beautiful. His photographs show great skill, artistry, thought, timing, and flair.
Captured by the beholder: Alec Manning. Please enjoy these photos — almost lost forever.
John Byford
Curator and passionate photographer
Curator and passionate photographer