Camera on the Clyde
By Ann Glen and Bruce PeterPublished by Ferry PublicationsEmail: sales@gazellebooks.co.ukHardback, 120 paqesPrice: £18.00
Ernest Glen, who was born in 1896 and lived to 1986, was a life-long ship enthusiast and photographer, beginning both hobbies as a youngster in the 1900s. His legacy is a vast collection of remarkable negatives and colour slides spanning nearly 80 years, from Edwardian pleasure steamers to modern car ferries.
Until now, these have remained unpublished. In this new book, his daughter, Ann Glen, and his grandson, Bruce Peter, have selected well over 200 of his photographs of steamers and ferries on the River Clyde and in the Western Isles.
The son of a prosperous Glasgow grocer, Ernest Glen first sailed from Glasgow up the Clyde when it was at its peak as a port, with numerous steamers and large sailing ships tied up along its quaywalls, in its docks, and at buoys in the centre of the channel. He could soon distinguish the vessels of various shipping lines by their funnel colours and characteristic outlines. By the time he was given his first camera, a Box Brownie, at the age of 12, he was ready to photograph the river’s ships, and his earliest images include photos of the Cunard liner Aquitania under build at John Brown’s shipyard.
Blown up and buried alive in the trenches at Arras in 1917, he survived, and during his recovery in hospital was given a reflex camera as a 21st birthday present. Completing a university degree in Engineering, he was appointed to the Clyde Navigation Trust in 1926, where his first job was as resident engineer during the building of the King George V Dock, at the time the biggest dock in Scotland.
The site of the Dock was well positioned to view the Clyde and the ships sailing upon it. It was also strategically well placed to view the launching of ships at a time when a fifth of the world’s shipping was launched in and around Glasgow. Being a Clyde Trust man gave him a passport to travel upon the river and begin building the collection of images sampled in this book.
Beginning with his early black and white images, the book progresses chronologically with well captioned photos until the post-World War 2 era delineates his transition to colour photography. Ernest Glen has an excellent eye as a photographer and this varied selection serves as a fitting tribute to the man’s remarkable life as well as his work.
