Secret snapper’s hidden archive
Fifty years on, lensman reveals street-life frames for the first time
Aremarkable hidden archive of photos capturing street life in Scotland will finally go on display 50 years after they were taken.
Robert Blomfield, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month, moved from Leeds to Edinburgh to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1956, when he was 18.
He pursued his passion for photography and, over the next decade, spent his free time capturing life on the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The amateur photographer used a pair of Nikon F SLRs, shot mainly in black and white and did his own developing and printing in a makeshift darkroom set up in his student halls.
But a subsequent career in medicine took Robert to Newcastle, London and Wales, and saw his striking images stored away in cardboard boxes, unseen for decades beyond close friends and family.
“There weren’t many people doing street photography in Edinburgh then,” said Robert’s son Ed.
“His photos are like a time capsule and also have warmth and sometimes humour to them.
“He was torn over pursuing medicine or photography for a while but felt a genuine calling to medicine.”
A stroke forced Robert to retire and put down his camera in 1999.
He still lives in his house in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where he moved with wife Jane and three sons, William, Edward and George, in 1985.
Ten years ago, Jane, who passed away in 2011, started the huge task of cataloguing and digitising her husband’s photos, which number in the thousands.
Robert’s sons and his brother Johnny later continued the project and in November, the City Art Centre in Edinburgh will host the first exhibition of his work.
“My mum always thought these pictures were special and wanted to get some recognition for them,” said Ed.
“Dad’s really chuffed about the exhibition and looking forward to going back to Edinburgh.”
The family is looking into ways to fund a photobook to accompany the exhibition.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair with limited use of his left side, Robert still takes photos when he can.
Here, he describes some of his favourite photos.