Humphrey Spender on the art of photographing discreetly

'The great objective was usually to avoid suspicion, because people looking suspicious are people looking unnatural. For example, I remember a favourite trick, when using a rangefinder to establish accurate focus, was to turn at right angles to the subject of the photograph and to do my focussing on an object a similar distance away: having done that, I would swing round and take my shot very quickly. Another technique was to do a continuous pan, starting from a point exactly opposite the subject and then continuing the swing right round: nobody quite knew what you were up to - you were simply experimenting with your camera. Then there was the obvious technique of concealing the camera, hung from your neck by a piece of string, and allowing the lens to emerge from a very shabby raincoat, or similar garment. In order to work the camera I had a hole in my right-hand pocket- or there may have been a hole in both pockets, I can't remember. It was a very obvious disguise.'

Humphrey Spender interviewed by Jeremy Mulford in 1981, printed in 'Worktown People' by Humphrey Spender
 

Some holiday dreams from 1937

These are responses to a competition advertised in the local paper in 1937, which asked for correspondents to describe how they would spend their ideal holiday. The responses were collected for a  Masss Observation book on holidays, as yet not produced. Documents from the past are innately poignant;even the the idiosyncracies of the typewriter used to transcribe these letters adds a filter of pathos. The letters written by, and the information gathered from the mill workers of Bolton repeatedly express the simple desire to holiday in a quiet place, away from the sound of the mill machinery. They also talk frequently about the worry of the holiday, knowing that when you return to work that you and your family will have to manage for a week with no pay at all. The Mass Observers specifically asked the people of Bolton if they could imagine a time when they would receive pay for their holiday week: most people answered that it was inconceivable.