I work as art photographer in the analog format with an old Rolleiflex. My works circle around portrait, travel and documentary photography.
THE LONDONDERRY ALBUM: DEPICTS THE STORY AND IMAGES TAKEN BY THERESA LONDONDERRY AND HER SON LORD REGINALD VANE-TEMPEST STEWART. ALL THOSE WERE DISCOVERED IN THE DARKROOM THAT LAY HIDDEN FOR 70 YEARS! THE COLLECTION IS REMARKABLE, BOTH FOR ITS EXTENT AND ITS QUALITY. THIS ALBUM IS A COLLECTION OF THEM, UNRETOUCHED AND REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL GLASS PLATES.
WHERE IT BEGAN…
“My first experience of photography was as a 6 year old boy visiting my ancestor, Reginald’s darkroom in the family home at Wynyard in County Durham.
This was a complete Victorian darkroom with 5x4 and 10x8 glass plate cameras with all the porcelain developing trays and chemicals laid out on shelves like a candy store. I was hooked immediately and have never been without a camera ever since from my first Olympus to the cameras I use now - A Rolleiflex, white face 80mm 2.8 & Canon 5d mark 4.”
THE ORIGINAL VICTORIAN DARKROOM, DISCOVERED IN THE 1970ies
“I was taught photography by Jock Drewitt, a RAF photographer during the war, he helped me with taking photographs, developing and printing. From then on I worked as a wedding, party and events photographer. However I prefer to shoot with film in natural light and now concentrate on portraiture and travel.
I have used a huge variety of cameras over the last 30 years from the little Rollei 35mm se, Leica O series to the Mamiya Universal Press, but I am always drawn to the Rolleiflex and its incredible design and beauty. The one I use was left to me by my father, a great photographer himself, and so the tradition continues through the family.”
SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ALBUM…
ABOVE: THERESA AND REGINALD / BELOW: REGINALD HELMSLEY, LORD LONDONDERRY AND THE PRINCE OF WALES
THERESA, MARCHIONESS OF LONDONDERRY.
YOUNG LORD REGINALD. HE WAS A SICKLY CHILD AND DIED BEFORE HE WAS TWENTY. HE LEFT BEHIND A FASCINATING RECORD OF TEH ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE AT ITS ZENITH.
CHARLES, HELEN AND REGINALD IN SPORTING GARB. Photgraph taken by Theresa in c 1890
CHARLES, HELEN AND REGINALD WITH ‘LINA’. Photgraph taken by Theresa in c 1890
GROUP OF CHILDREN: REGINALD IS IN THE BACK LEFT. TAKEN BY HIS MOTHER THERESA, ca. 1890. ON THE RIGHT THE ENTRANCE OF WYNYARD.
HELEN, REGINALD, CHARLES AND A FRIEND ON THE LAKE AT WYNYARD. Photograph taken by Theresa c 1890.
BICYCLING WAS THE RAGE IN THE 90s: THIS GROUP SHOWS - (from left) LORD CASTLEREAGH, FRÄULEIN STURMFELS, LADY HELEN IN THE CENTRE, HER FATHER NEXT TO HER, REGINALD, AND MR. APPERLEY THE PRIVATE SECRETARY. Photograph taken by Theresa c 1892-3
LADY HELEN IN FANCYDRESS, TAKEN IN C. 1890
LORD HERBERT VANE TEMPEST AND HIS SISTER ALINE ASTRIDE ONE OF THE LIONS ON THE LION BRIDGE AT WYNYARD. HERBERT WAS THE SECOND SON OF THE 5th MARQUESS AND ALINE THE ONLY DAUGTHER, WHO LATER MARRIED LORD ALLENDALE. Photograph taken in the early 1960s.
GROUP POSED PROBABLY AFTER A REVIEW OF THE LOCAL MILITIA. (Back row): LORD CASTLEREAGH (left), ADOLPHUS VANE TEMPEST NEXT TO HIM. (front row): LORD HERBERT VANE TEMPEST (left), LADY HELEN STEWART, 6th MARQUESS, LORD HENRY VANE TEMPEST (right). Photograph by Reginald or Theresa.
SPARRING GROUP POSED WITH THE 6th MARQUESS AS REFEREE IN THE MIDDLE. THE CONTESTANT ON THE LEFT IS THE HON. HARRY WHITE. Photograph by Reginald c 1890.
GROUP OUTSIDE A MINE IN SEAHAM. THE 8th MARQUESS IS SECOND FROM LEFT.
HENRY, 5th MARQUESS. Photograph taken in the early 1860s.
LORD REGINALD RECUPERATING FROM ONE OF HIS MANY BOUTS OF ILLNESS. PHOTOGRAPH BY THERESA AT MOUNTSTEWART IN THE EARLY 1890S.
CHARLES AND REGINALD SPARRING WITH A FRIEND OR COUSIN. Photograph by Theresa c 1890.
POSED PHOTGRAPH OF A FREQUENT HOUSE-GUEST, TAKEN BY REGINALD OR THERESA IN THE CONSERVATORY AT WYNYARD, C. 1890.
A MACHINE FOR DETERMINING OR ADJUSTING THE GAUGE OF RAILWAY LINES, PHOTGRAPHED ON THE STRETCH OF LINE BETWEEN SEAHAM AND SUNDERLAND. TAKEN BY REGINALD, WHO WAS A RAILWAY ENTHUSIAST.
GROUP ON THE SEAHAM/SUNDERLAND RAILWAY LINE. Photograph by Reginald c 1890
RING-A-RING-OF-ROSES (OR SO IT WOULD SEEM) IN THE GROUNDS OF MOUNTSTEWART c 1890. Photograph by Reginald or Theresa.
NOT THE LAUNDRY BUT THE DAIRY. SHOWING DAIRY-MAIDS CHURNING BUTTER. Photographed at Wynyard by Reginald c 1890.