Shine a light on the employees behind the scenes and bring your company to life

There’s a tiny exhibition I stumbled upon this week at London's National Portrait Gallery - portraits of people that worked at the legendary film manufacturer, Ilford - that caught my eye.

Each photograph is a story about people who worked there. It’s storytelling at its basic-best: portraits of employees together with their recollections of working there.

What makes a company is its people after all. Shining a light on the employees behind the scenes brings the company to life. And putting the focus on backroom staff makes the invisible visible.

I first came across Ilford over forty years ago when I opened a box of their photographic paper in my school darkroom at photography club. Still using the same 35mm camera all these years later, I choose Ilford for B&W film. But I admit I didn’t know much about the company or its history.

The portrait and story of Mary Davis, a secretary who worked at Ilford 1959-1976 was one of my favourites:

“We got discounts on the camera and films and when you got them processed. So, you got to love photography, and I still love it now.”

Mary was a secretary in the department that helped amateur photographers. She later became a personal secretary in the accounts department, marking up payments, typing cheques and filing customer statements. Along with her friend Brenda Payton, she was a member of the Ilford Limited Music Society.

What are the stories YOUR company can tell about its backroom employees, past and present?!

---

Portraits by Eddie Otchere in association with The People Powered project, a community education programme in the London Borough of Redbridge.

On display at the National Portrait Gallery London