WHEN Sydney Smith started work as a delivery boy at the Pickering Co-op, his manager showed him how to make a pinhole camera.
From that moment, Smith was smitten by photography and for most of his life he could be seen whizzing around Ryedale in his trusty three-wheeled Morgan sports car to record a way of life that was fast becoming obsolete.
In 1900, he developed a photography business in a small wooden shed in Park Street and, after marrying Maud 12 years later, moved to a former coffee shop in the Market Place where he built a studio and shop.
Today there are thousands of examples of his work at the Beck Isle Museum in Pickering and curator Gordon Clitheroe says the collection of early 20th century pictures are of international importance.
Among his favourites are the fine study of an itinerant musician and the atmospheric picture of a man collecting water in Castle Street Pickering.
“He was a bit like Kate Adie, always turning up to record disasters. But he also photographed everyday things, like harvesting and carnivals. I like his portraits and the ones of people at work, they bring the pictures to life.”
Smith’s legacy is a fascinating social history of a bygone era. But, at the time, his main concern was taking pictures to sell in his shop for half a crown.
“It’s remarkable that he took such brilliant pictures because his eyesight was so bad. But he would set his camera up and with a little magnifying glass hanging from a piece of string round his neck, checked he had the focus spot on.”
Smith worked with Maud, who, Mr Clitheroe says, was given the mundane assignments as well as processing the maestro’s negatives.
But as Smith’s eyesight deteriorated, Maud began to drive him to assignments. And she must have had the patience of a saint.
“He was a perfectionist and went 11 times to get the picture of sheep being herded at Saltersgate.
“Maud once told me he used to shout ‘stop the car, stop the car’.” She knew he’d spotted a photo and would wait hours for him, doing her knitting or reading a book until he had finished.
Smith was always prepared. He had a home-made boat at the ready to capture floods and even snowdrifts made him a picture.
Technique aside, his biggest talent was getting the best out of people. Telling them exactly what he wanted them to do and, if he wasn’t satisfied, doing it again and again until he was.
The retired quarryman at Newbridge is a good example. Taken early in the day with shafts of sunlight pouring through the trees, the exposure is perfect.
It wouldn’t be easy, even with today’s advanced digital cameras.
“He was so clever with shading and backlight and to think he could get a perfect picture with a camera like that is amazing really.”
Mr Mackley herding his sheep near the Hole of Horcum
Mr Robinson and his men harvesting at Locton
Gordon Clitheroe with some of his favourite pictures by Sydney Smith at Beck Isle Museum
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