Bert Hardy - PHOTO TALK
2007 interview by Martin Reed and Sheila Hardy, Charles Keeble.
Sheila Hardy: Preserving the Legacy of Bert Hardy and Grove Hardy
In 2007, as the long-running photographic lab Grove Hardy prepared to close after nearly fifty years in business, Martin Reed—owner of photographic supplier Silverprint—recorded a rare and insightful interview with Sheila Hardy, widow of Picture Post photographer Bert Hardy. Joined by his wife Janice and Grove Hardy’s last printer, Charles Keeble, Martin captured a vital piece of photographic history as the lab faced closure following Keeble’s retirement.
Grove Hardy had been a cornerstone of London’s post-war photo scene, founded in the late 1950s by Bert Hardy and master printer Gerry Grove. This interview offers a unique glimpse into the legacy of both the lab and the Hardy archive. The recording was passed to me in 2024 by photographer Geoff Howard, a long-time Grove Hardy customer, who had originally received it from Martin Reed in 2008. It remains a valuable document of a time, a place, and the quiet winding-down of a great photographic institution.
Bert Hardy
The late Bert Hardy was a London-born photographer Bert Hardy (1913-1995, UK) was a seminal English documentary and press photographer known for his work as chief photographer for Picture Post magazine. Born into a working class family in Blackfriars, Hardy worked his way up from a lab assistant to become a photographer. His street photography, most famously a photo of two boys off on a lark in Gorbals, reflects his sincere interest in people’s lives. On assignment he travelled widely as a photojournalist and captured significant events and personalities of the day. Three of his photographs were part of Edward Steichen’s ground-breaking exhibition The Family of Man at MoMA in 1955. Today his work is part of major UK and International collections. (Source: The Photographer Gallery)
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