An Interpretation

Photographs from the Heart
by Lawrence Herzog

Hubert Hollingworth was among the first in the world to take aerial pictures but he is best remembered for his images of common people that captured the very essence of life. From 1924 until his retirement in 1976, Hollingworth chronicled the life of Edmonton with an eye for a captivating image guided by his heart.

Then, his work not yet complete, he began working at the City Archives - copying images, many of them from his lifetime behind the lens. And he gave slide shows to groups like the Society for the Retired and Semi-Retired, regaling gatherings with anecdotes about camera gear that didn't work, reluctant subjects and the whims of weather and light.

Sorting through the collection at the city archives, Hollingworth's love for the common man shines through. "That was his greatest strength, I think," offers city archivist Bruce Ibsen. "He didn't take images of grand events or important people as much as somebody just doing their job. He felt that was important and he was right."

By all accounts, the craft came to Hollingworth naturally. His grandfather had operated a photo studio in England in the late 1800s. Hubert was born in Lloydminster in 1912, the son of Barr Colonists. At the tender age of 12, he came to Edmonton to apprentice with Bell Studios and lived in the blue collar neighbourhood of Beverly. While still in his teens, he took to the air with bush pilot friend Wilfrid "Wop" May, leaning out the open cockpit of a Tiger Moth biplane, clicking away, the wind tearing through his fine blond hair.

"The Hollingworth collection gives us images of Edmonton that we just wouldn't have otherwise," Ibsen reflects. "We have people coming in here all the time that find the image they need - taken by Hubert Hollingworth. It's a great tribute to the man and to his legacy."

A short biography accompanying a binder of his images at the city archives offers that "a reflection of his unpretentious nature and style is captured in his photographs. We can view a rural, more relaxed Edmonton in his work; an Edmonton that would occasionally be jolted out of its somnolence by events of an internal nature - like a fire, or by external realities like May Day parades and demonstrations."

In later life, when Hubert would give slide shows, he would often refer to our city as "Good old Edmonton," Ibsen recalls. "He loved parades, he loved living in Edmonton, he loved telling people about it. He had a real sense of history and a real appreciation of history." Hollingworth died of a heart attack in 1988 at age 75.

The man is gone but his legacy is reaching new eyes - the greatest tribute a photographer could ask.