Alfred Buckham

Alfred George Buckham
Born(1879-11-06)6 November 1879
London, England
Died21 September 1956(1956-09-21) (aged 76)
Occupationaerial photography
"Aerial View of Edinburgh" by Buckham, c. 1920
Camera Craft Magazine Cover April 1937. Cover photo "The Terror of the Desert" by Buckham

Alfred George Buckham (6 November 1879 – 21 September 1956) was a British photographer who specialised in aerial photography.[1]

Career

Buckham was born in London in 1879. He began his career in photography in 1905 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a reconnaissance photographer in 1917. He became the first head of aerial reconnaissance for the Royal Navy in the First World War and later a captain in the Royal Naval Air Service.[2]

Buckham was involved in nine crashes, eight of which saw him relatively unscathed. After the ninth, however, he had to have a tracheotomy and breathed through a small pipe in his neck for the rest of his life. Despite this, he carried on his aerial photography career, often in very perilous conditions. He felt the best shots were made standing up, writing "If one's right leg is tied to the seat with a scarf or a piece of rope, it is possible to work in perfect security".[citation needed] He was discharged at the end of 1918 as one hundred per cent disabled and was described as being 'unable to speak'.[3]

He joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1913 and gained his Fellowship the same year.[4] and published in the Society's Photographic Journal. He was also a member of a number of a number of other photography organisations including the Borough Polytechnic Photographic Society where he was secretary and also lectured on photography[5] and the Society of Night Photographers and participated in its exhibition of 1912.[6] He was also active in the RPS's Affiliation scheme for photographic societies and was elected as an executive committee member in 1911.[7]

During his lifetime he also exhibited his work widely in photographic society exhibitions including that of the Royal Photographic Society.[8] He also exhibited his aerial photographs at the Camera Club in 1929.[9] His photography was shown in an exhibition of aerial photographs held by Rice and Harper Ltd in their Armstrong-Siddeley showrooms in Guildford in 1934.[3]

Buckham spoke at the National Smoke Abatement Society in 1935 where he discussed the effect of smoke on aviation and its impact on his aerial photography. [10]

Legacy

Buckham's photography is held in various collections including the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Photographic Society Collection, and others. His work has been widely exhibited, including in the Royal Photographic Society exhibition Photogenic [11] and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's The Fine Art of Photography in 2002.[12] Buckham will be the subject of a solo exhibition 2025 at the Scottish NPG[13]

Death

Buckham died in 1956, aged 76. He left a widow, Grace Marianne, and a son.[14]

Bibliography

  • A Vision of Flight: The Aerial Photography of Alfred G. Buckham. Stroud, UK: The History Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7524-4430-7.

References

  1. ^ "Alfred G Buckham aerial photos", The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  2. ^ 'Obituary. Alfred G. Buckham.' The Photographic Journal, April 1957, 71.
  3. ^ a b Aerial Photography. Interesting exhibition at Guildford, The Surrey Advertiser, 9 June 1934, 1.
  4. ^ Membership records of the Royal Photographic Society.
  5. ^ 'Borough Polytechnic Photographic Society', British Journal of Photography, 3 December 1909, 935.
  6. ^ 'Night Photographs at the "Amateur Photographer" Offices', British Journal of Photography, 12 January 1912, 28-29.
  7. ^ 'The Affiliation of Photographic Societies. The Annual general Meeting of Delegates', The Photographic Journal, March 1911, 144-151.
  8. ^ 'Records for Buckham', Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870-1915. Accessed 26 October 2024.
  9. ^ 'Aerial Photography', British Journal of Photography, 1 November 1929, 658.
  10. ^ 'Airmen's view of the smoke nuisance', The Guardian, 31 May 1935, 13. Buckham's comments were extensively reported and he described having worked in thirty-four countries.
  11. ^ 'Octagone', British Journal of Photography, 11 October 2000, 10-13.
  12. ^ 'The Fine Art', British Journal of Photography, 9 January 2002, 7.
  13. ^ 'Exhibition: Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer / Edinburgh, from 18 October 2025'. Accessed 26 October 2024.
  14. ^ 'Deaths. Buckham, Alfred', The Daily Telegraph, 25 September 1956, 24.