John Wood (1854 - 1915) - Selected Images in Colour


Notable Resident - John Wood

John Wood (Photographic Pioneer)

One of the most exciting and remarkable photographic finds of recent years was made in, of all places, a Borders garden shed. Comprising a massive accumulation of glass negatives, it's the work of John Wood, a photographer whose studies of village life at the turn of the century sparkle with a quality rarely seen.

It's a find which has enthralled everyone who has seen prints taken from Wood's negatives. In the short time since their discovery, several Scottish museums as well as one south of the Border have shown interest.

The unique collection came to light in May 1983, when Coldingham garage owner Bob Thomson and his 10-year-old son, Roy, were on the hunt for material to use in a school project Roy was tackling. He was researching early 20th century life in the Berwickshire coastal village. Bob, a keen amateur photographer, had copied and enlarged a couple of old postcards he'd been given and was told that a local man, Jimmy Brown, might have some more. As it turned out he didn't, but 85-year-old Jimmy, a retired market gardener, told Bob there was something in his potting shed which might be of interest and which he was welcome to have. That "something" turned out to be two boxes full of sadly neglected half-plate glass negatives, thickly coated with decades of grime, dust, leaves and goodness knows what else.

This is a quick look at a dozen or so images that have bee colourised with varying degrees of success depending on the quality of the original.

You will see an example of a colourised image with its original below.

You can view the dozen or so images via the Gallery or just click View the Images

033 Anchor Inn approx 1910
033c Anchor Inn approx 1910 colourised

You can view the dozen or so images via the Gallery or just click View the Images

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