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Albert William Thomas Hardy (19 May 1913 – 3 July 1995) was an English documentary and press photographer known for his work published in the Picture Post magazine between 1941 and 1957.
Hardy was self-taught and used a Leica Camera—unconventional gear for press photographers of the era—but went on to become the Posts Chief Photographer, after he earned his first photographer credit for his 1 February 1941 photo-essay about Blitz-stressed fire-fighters.
Hardy served as a war photographer in the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) from 1942 until 1946: he took part in the D-Day landings in June 1944; covered the liberation of Paris; the allied advance across the Rhine; and was one of the first photographers to enter the liberated Belsen to record the suffering there. He also saved some Russians slaves from a fire set by German police in the city of Osnabrück, before photographing the aftermath.
Near the end of World War II, Hardy went to Asia, where he became Lord Mountbatten's personal photographer.
He later went on to cover the Korean War along with journalist James Cameron for Picture Post, reporting on atrocities committed by Syngman Rhee's police under the United Nations flag at Pusan in 1950, and later on that war's turning point, the Battle of Inchon, photojournalism for which he won the Missouri Pictures of the Year Award,David J Marcou (2013) Crucial collaborations : contexts, departures, arrivals in the first UN-fought war (Korea) via the courageous coverages and shining deeds of Picture Post's Bert Hardy and James Cameron, and some superb UN troops, La Crosse, Wis. "obtaining pictures of the landing at Inchon as, unlike other members of the press, Hardy could shoot 1/15 sec at fl.5 with his Leica miniature".
One of his most famous, and Hardy long claimed his favorite, photo, shows two young boys off on a lark in Gorbals, an image which has come to represent Hardy's keenest documentary skill. He said he liked it so much because it represented his own rough-and-tumble upbringing, with Glasgow's Gorbals very much resembling London's Elephant & Castle District. Hardy himself was photographed many times, including during the war; three very good photo-portraits of him are currently in the Photographs Collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Having written an article for amateur photographers suggesting that you didn't need an expensive camera to take good pictures, Hardy staged a carefully posed photograph of two young women sitting on railings above a breezy Blackpool promenade using a Box Brownie in 1951, a photograph which has since become an iconic image of post-war Britain. Mystery of the Blackpool Belles finally rings true. Telegraph. Retrieved on 28 July 2016.
Just before Picture Post closed, Hardy took 15 photos of the Queen's entrance at the Palais Garnier on 8 April 1957, which were assembled as a photo-montage by the magazine's technicians. It was one of the most challenging photo-montages ever created, because there were a sizeable live crowd, guards, and other dignitaries, in front of his camera." Operatic Entrance", by David J. Marcou, Smithsonian, March 2007, pp. 16–18. After leaving Picture Post Hardy became one of the most successful advertising photographers until his retirement in 1964 to his farm in Oxted.
His second wife, Sheila, was a photo researcher for Picture Post and still holds the copyright to his private collection of photos; Getty Images holds the copyright to his Picture Post works.
A memorial plaque honouring him is in the journalists' church, St Bride's, Fleet Street, London.
In October 2008, London Borough of Southwark unveiled a Blue Plaque on Bert Hardy's family home at The Priory, Webber Street, Southwark. The plaque was erected following a popular vote.John Prendergast (17 October 2008) BIG FAMILY TURNOUT FOR THE SNAPPER WHO DOCUMENTED THE ELEPHANT. southwarkweekender.co.uk
Hardy's second wife, Sheila, was a photo researcher for Picture Post and she held the copyright to his private collection of photos; Getty Images holds the copyright to his Picture Post works.
Following Shelia's death in 2021 his collection has passed to The Bert Hardy Estate. Much of the material relating to his career has also been compiled into the Bert Hardy archive now held by the Journalism School at the University of Cardiff.
A retrospective exhibition of Hardy's work was held at The Photographers' Gallery in 2024. Reporting on the exhibition, Big Issue commented that Hardy had "captured a side of Britain lost to time".
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