Down the Bay,
Picture Post, Humanist Photography and Images of 1950s Cardiff.

by Glenn Jordan
Photographs by Bert Hardy

Paperback £10

Book description

In 20th century Britain no documentary photographer’s images were more seen – and loved – than those of Picture Post photographer Bert Hardy. His images are both powerful and tender, brilliant and empathetic. Although he often dealt with serious topics – poverty, war, racism, Belsen – his photographs are always concerned with the human side of the story. Perhaps that is why we find them so irresistible.

“ Well, that’s how it was. He’s captured the reality of how we lived.
He’s done a marvellous job…”
Clara May Graham

Who is British? What is the nature of British society? What is at stake in the ways we see racial and cultural difference?
This is a book about Cardiff in the mid-20th century – about a community called “Tiger Bay” and its relation to the rest of Cardiff and the larger British society. It is also a book about Bert Hardy, Picture Post and documentary humanist photography. Although the book features images taken more than fifty years ago, the topics considered in these pages have contemporary resonance.