Thursday 8 March 2012

Iconic photo of Ena Sharples

This photo of Ena Sharples, photographed by John C Madden, 1968,  looking over the late 60s industrial landscape of Manchester/Salford (Weatherfield) is iconic. It was noted in a tweet earlier today via writer Mark Gatiss
("Retweeted" several times over) that it's one of the greatest photographs of an English actor. There was a link to this article on the BBC site about Northern Drama as the television show, Waterloo Road is about to move even further north to a Scottish location next year.

This photo is hanging in the ITV Granada studio offices in Manchester and also appeared on the back or inside cover of one of the older books written about Corrie (It's on the back cover of Harry Kershaw's "The Street Where I Live").

Over on the photo site, Flickr, I'd seen the photo posted and there were people wondering where the picture was taken. There seems to be a consensus that the building below the smokestack was the old Hyde Brewery and the apartment block in the Moss Side area of Manchester. You can follow the discussion here.

I might almost agree with the person that suggested it was two different photos put together because of the exposure on Ms. Carson being so clear. It could very well have been two photos taken with exposure on her and then on the background and fudged in the darkroom or it could have had the exposure alone adjusted in the darkroom. No Photoshop in 1961!

It truly is a classic photo. Click on the photo for a larger version and any other information you can add about the location would be appreciated.

There's also a blog post about it on Back on the Street, here.

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