Colin Smith FRPS
1937 - 2011
Colin suffered a very serious heart attack at the beginning of September. He then suffered further complications
sadly he passed away at 01.00 am on November 13th of this year.
Colin was born in the village of Coppull, near Chorley, and lived in the area for the whole of his life. It was
in the countryside around the village that he became interested in the natural world. Colin was just 13 years
old when he extracted his first camera from a relative’s bin! On leaving school he was called up for National
Service and he found himself in an RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit in Malta. This experience was to have
profound consequences.
Firstly, he received a thorough training in photography. Much of his work was in processing and printing aerial
photographs but he was also known to fly over Malta with a 5” x 4” camera ‘armed’ with aerial film.
On being de-mobbed, he attended Loughborough College, where he was awarded a teaching diploma. He then
spent the whole of his working life teaching in Chorley; not only his chosen subject CDT but also introducing an
O level course in Photography. After many years of teaching Colin took advantage of a very generous offer
of early retirement and obtained much more freedom to pursue his interests.
Colin decided to use his photographic skills to record Natural History. He joined the Royal Photographic
Society in 1973 and achieved the Associateship the same year, followed by the Fellowship in 1990. He also
developed an interest in AV. Using his practical skills he made a sliding shutter device produce ‘fade in/ fade out’
special effects and used a tape recorder to provide a musical accompaniment to the commentarywhich he had
tailored to his audience. The whole operation was purely manual and should not have worked; but thanks to
Colin’s ingenuity it did! The only snag was that two people were actually required; but Colin was fortunate to
enlist the help of fellow teacher John Walsh. Their shows became immensely popular in the North West
amongst Photographic and Natural History Societies, Women’s Institutes and indeed any group requiring an
evening’s entertainment illustrated by good Natural History photography. So many people benefited from Colin’s
talents. The DIY equipment was replaced after many years by a Royale projector; and more recently, by a digital
projector.
Colin was himself a member of many Photographic and Natural History Bodies during his lifetime. He was a
member of the 35 Postal Club and attended their annual convention as late as September 2011. He was
also a member of the Nature Photographers’ Portfolio slide folio for many years - until he ran out of slides! With
six other people he set up Chorley Natural History Society in 1979 and was their Programme Secretary right up
to his death. He and his wife Joan were also members of Bolton RSPB and both of these societies enjoyed his
lectures which, naturally, were given free.
It is therefore surprising that for most of the period during which he was a very active photographer, he was
not actually a member of any local photographic society! However, this was to change in 1990, when he finally
joined a local club known as ‘Wigan 10’. He now had an outlet for this side of his work. He soon found himself
on the list of judges for both the L&CPU and the PAGB and was much in demand to judge at all levels from club
to international exhibitions.
Colin supported all the activities of Wigan 10 and contributed to the success of the Society. Colin enjoyed the
excitement when Wigan 10 won the inaugural FIAP Clubs’ World Cup in 2007 and he travelled to the
presentation in Paris. He was L&CPU ‘Photographer of the Year’ on several occasions and was placed on their
roll of honour in 2004. He was also a member of the PAGB judging teams which award PAGB distinctions. He
advised many people on their RPS distinctions applications and recently became a mentor for the L&CPU
Mentoring Scheme to help prospective PAGB distinctions applicants. Alongside the many hours that he dedicated
to helping others, he continued to enjoy his own success in national and international exhibitions.
Colin will be remembered for his sense of humour, kindness, modesty, love of nature and his fantastic photographic
skills. He will be greatly missed.
