ABSTRACT
William Friese-Greene’s early career was that of a successful portrait photographer with a provincial petit bourgeois background. Backed by studios which he opened in various towns in the south of the country, he came to London in 1885 and opened a fashionable studio in New Bond Street which he shared with Esme Collings, who later became known as one of the so-called Brighton School of early film makers (a term introduced by the French film historian Sadoul). Others in this loose-knit group included G.A.Smith, a keen astronomer and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; James Williamson, a chemist; and Alfred Darling, a technician who supplied these two with equipment and went to work with the firm of Wrench in 1897. It was entirely natural that film drew in men from such technically related trades, easily able to adapt their skills to the needs of cinematography. At the same time, along with figures like the precision instrument maker R.W.Paul and his associate Acres, another professional photographer, these men form a distinct petit bourgeois layer among the film pioneers, and should be distinguished from those of more popular origins like the fairground showmen.
