A fascinating record

My interest in photography lead me inextricably to an article in the newspaper Información about the Darblade family.

In 1867, the Darblade family left the town of Agen in south west France bound for Murcia. The eldest child fell ill with typhoid and they were advised to stop in Torrevieja whilst he recovered. Having set up camp in the town, they opened a photographic studio, possibly the only one in the Alicante and Murcia provinces.

They started taking pictures using a 18 x 24 plate camera, recording the fishing port and the people of Torrevieja. As their fame spread, so people came to have their pictures taken by the French photographer.

Albert, who had recovered from his illness, followed his father into the business and when Jean died during the Spanish Civil War, he took over. In all three generations of the family worked as photographers in Torrevieja chronicling the life and development of the town. The name still lives on with the firm Darblade-Conesa.  

It would be nice to think that my photographs of events in Bigastro might eventually serve a similar purpose. Who knows, in 100 years or maybe less, people will look back to the record I have made of the town with the same fascination that we have for the Darblade pictures.