Just over one year ago, amateur photographer Jos Treen dusted off old negatives taken of 1970s Glasgow, that had spent the last forty years hidden away in his attic.
The mesmerising snapshots, now drenched in nostalgia, came from a period in his life when he was a young man on the dole, wandering the streets of Glasgow, and armed with his camera.
"We are off to Maryhill Rd today. The 1st pic is where I used to sign on every two weeks in 1978 - I had to walk, not arrive in a Merc!" — Jos Treen (@JonathanTreen) April 9, 2020
Fast-forward to 2020 and Jos, 66, a man with a life-long passion for photography, is sharing his almost-forgotten photographs with the world for the first time - to great acclaim on social media - and finding that Twitter can be a force for good in bringing people together.
“They were stuck away in a loft until late 2019”, Jos explained, “when I decided to sort of get back into photography again.
“So I searched for them, dragged them out, and tried to remember where they were taken.”
"Glasgow 77/88 - Back to Queens Dock, the Clyde and some ships." — Jos Treen (@JonathanTreen) April 8, 2020
Luckily, the negatives were still in very good condition, which left Jos wondering what he should now do with them - eventually opting to tentatively join the Twittersphere.
“I just thought I'll put a couple of pictures out there, and see how it goes. But I had no plan, and zero expectation really, because I had no following on Twitter, and nobody knew my name”, he explained.
But as Jos, now based in Manchester, began to share more and more snaps from his 1978 photo-journey through Glasgow, intrigue surrounding the photographs, and subsequently his Twitter following, grew.
"Glasgow 77/78 rescans. After walking through the tunnel. A couple of things in Govan. A faded British Rail sign for the Govan Coal Terminus against a new Hornby model train advert. A bit of local humour - coffin shape lying across the health warning! Then back through the tunnel" — Jos Treen (@JonathanTreen) April 17, 2020
And people remarked that Mr Treen’s approach to Twitter was different from the norm.
“I was using it to engage that base around the photography,” Jos said. “I wasn't having a political rants, I wasn't making comments about this, that or next thing, it was all around the photography, and the stories.”
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He added: “There were a number of cases where people would come back and say, ‘Oh, I remember walking down that street with my grandad; I used to hold his hand, and we used to go to that bakers, or we used to go to that green grocers’…
“And after forty years, I was prone to making mistakes so people would correct me saying, ‘That's not Sauchiehall street, that's Renfield Street, you've got it wrong.’”
"Glasgow 77/78 rescans. Back to the West End and need you help with locations. 1st looking down on Gt. Western or Byres Rd? The 2nd the Wet Window in the West any ideas on the location of the window? The 3rd & 4th - even I can remember!" — Jos Treen (@JonathanTreen) May 4, 2020
Soon after Jos had accrued more than 4,000 followers on Twitter and was interacting with people from across the globe.
John Ward, 57, was all the way on the other side of the Atlantic when he caught a glimpse of his grandparents Elizabeth and Philip Ward, walking down George Street in Glasgow, thanks to a random retweet that redirected to Mr Treen’s Twitter page.
In an instant, John, who now lives in Vancouver, Canada, was transported back to Glasgow, his childhood memories, and found himself pondering the likely objective of his grandparent’s outing that day, as well as the lives they led more generally.
“I thought at the time my Gran's jacket looked familiar and then when I zoomed in that was when I realised it was them”, he explained. “I have no idea where they are going although for both of them to have been out together it must have been relatively important.
“It was quite surreal to see them in the photo. You never expect to see someone you know in a random photo never mind family members, who never really ventured out together in the first place.”
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He then decided to let Jos know that he had snapped his grandparents, and furnished him with details that would add proverbial colour to the black-and-white shots and help with the labelling process.
John’s Gran was a sewing machinist and worked down in the Glasgow Cross area, his Granda would have been a utility company lighting inspector at the time, after working in a carpet factory and serving in the Royal Navy during the WWII.
The pair lived on Longstone road in Cranhill, and Philip sadly died a few years after the photo was taken in July 1980. Elizabeth lived until she was 92, passing away in September 2010.
He added: “Jos's photos are fantastic as are the old Glasgow photos of a number of people on Twitter - there is nothing better than looking through old nostalgic photographs, and it's even better if you can relate to them like I did.”
Jos, who was delighted to have helped John get that connection and picture, added: “And so you may have to hunt for it, but Twitter can be a force for good.”
An exhibition of Jos Treen's work is planned for June 2021 at Maryhill Burgh Halls, Glasgow.
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