STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
LEAVES WONDERFUL LEGACY
G'day folks,
When Dylan Scalet inherited a collection of photos from his grandfather
Jack Sharp, he wasn’t exactly thrilled. In fact, it was only during the
Covid-19 lockdown that he got around to digitalizing the film, and he was in
for a surprise! What he found was a treasure trove. The incredible photos of
Sharp vividly depict the street life of Europe, more than half a century ago.
Scalet, who was born after his grandfather had passed away, felt like the
process of going through the photos was also a process of getting to know the
man who took them. Jack Sharp was a British engineer by trade, working in
Geneva, Switzerland. In his free time, however, he was a street photographer
and a talented one at that. These images were all taken between 1950-1970.
Scalet was told that his grandfather fully embraced everything he took an
interest in. When he started photography, he researched a lot, understood the
mechanics of the camera, how to catch the perfect lighting, and the science of
the darkroom.
The photos were taken everywhere around Switzerland, but mostly in Geneva,
Lausanne, and the western regions. As for the camera, it was an Agfa Super
Silette Apotar 45mm f/1:3.5 and an Asahi Pentax K Auto-Takumar 55mm f/1.8,
according to Scalet. The excitement about the revelation and the desire to
share his Grandfather’s work comes from the fact that the photographs are
really something special. "As I had come to learn about the great
photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Vivian Maier, I simply could not
believe the images I was seeing as I dived into the archive. I knew instantly
that these photos were special. Not just because they were my grandfather’s,
but because I was able to recognize the beauty of these photographs
objectively. I knew that it was going to be a lot of work, but getting this out
seemed like the right thing to do,” Scalet said.
Clancy's comment: Brilliant memories. Well done, Jack.
I'm ...
A brilliant time capsule of life frozen in the moment.
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