It was at this contest that I first met Ann Sidney, who went on to become Miss World!
But things were not going so well for the magazine. One day, I got a call from the editor. "Howard, you are a luxury I can no longer afford," he said. “Go out and get yourself a job. When I've got more money, I might take you back”
So, it was back to office work. But at least I now had a few contacts. I continued to photograph Ann Sidney, and she was the subject of my first cover success with Amateur Photographer.
However, when Ann won the Miss World title, I lost my model. But quite a lot of my work had been published by now and was getting known. I actually had girls coming and asking me to photograph them!
By today’s standard, my photography sessions with Ann Sidney would hardly qualify for the glamour label, there were no topless shots. But a new model agency opened in Bournemouth and I hired two or three of the girls, submitting the pictures to magazines such as Parade.
Then I started having some success with Spick, Span and Beautiful Britons publications. I received commissions from them nearly every week - the old stockings and suspender stuff mostly.
Every commission came with a shooting script. This was fine to a point, though it became a bit of a bore after a while.
But the shooting sessions could always be relied on to liven up the area. I remember one where I was photographing a local beauty queen riding a bike.
The first part went as planned. I put a small stone down on the road so that there was something for me to focus the camera on. Then I told her to ride slowly by with her right foot on the handle bars and the left foot down on the pedals. She had to show her briefs, you see. And as she passed over the small stone, I pressed the shutter release to capture the picture.
Then we came to the last shot, where it had to look as if she had fallen off the bike. She sat on the road and I lowered the bike on top of her. She lay spread-eagled, showing all she had got. And just as I was about to take a picture, a tractor and trailer with a load of hay came around the corner of the country lane. So, I had to lift the bike up and drag her to her feet. We stood there on the side of the road while he drove past very slowly, staring at us as if we were something off another planet - he just could not believe what he had seen.
He kept looking and looking - until he drove straight into a ditch - tractor, trailer, hay and all!
I put the girl back on the ground, took the final picture and then cleared off home as quickly as possible.
Originally, very few of these magazines featured nude or topless models. It was mostly glimpses of underwear, which quickened the pulses of purchasers.
Then a new type of magazine started to appear - and the girls they featured were definitely not wearing briefs and bra. Or much else!
Some of the magazines I was working for felt they had to offer their customers a little more, but I decided I did not want to get involved some of the requests were bordering on pornography and I did not want my girls getting into that kind of work.
Ken Howard Page
