James Allan Cash
An Ordinary Day
James Allan Cash (1902-1974) was a British photographer who specialised in travel and documentaries. In the 1950s he travelled to Mallorca, and from his fleeting visit to the island there remain a few photographs that portray an ordinary day in the life of the people of Palma in that day and age. Images with the sole pretension of documenting what the photographer’s eye is seeing at that particular moment. Therein lies their charm.
photography James Allan Cash
Cash, born in Cheshire, England, trained as a radio engineer and moved to Canada in 1923 to work for the Northern Electric Company. There he discovered his interest in photography, and in 1929 he decided to follow his passion and make a living as a freelance photographer.
Back in Europe, Cash travelled to several eastern countries in the 1930s, accompanied by his Leica camera. Along the way he met Betty, also a photographer, whom he married in 1939.
The couple settled in London, where Cash founded the Hampstead Photographic Society. During the Second World War he served in the British Army as an official war photographer, stationed in the Middle East.
After the end of the conflict, he turned to photographing historic buildings and landscapes in the UK and Ireland. His work demonstrates his ability to document everyday life and cultures from all around the world.
Between 1950 and 1960 Cash took thousands of black-and-white photographs using a large-format Rolleiflex camera. He eventually became a member of the Royal Photographic Society and the British Institute of Photography.
In the 1950s, James Allan Cash travelled to Mallorca, portraying in his everyday style scenes of the residents of Palma and Mallorca of that day and age - scenes which today help nourish our memories of the island.
--------
Read this article in full in IN PALMA 82. And if you like, subscribe to IN PALMA for 1 year and get the next 4 issues of the magazine delivered to your home.
