In pictures: The man charting the 60 year evolution of a Scottish city through a lens

Behind a lens for more than 60 years, Alex Coupar saw the people of his changing city closer than most.

Now nearly 92, photo journalist Mr Coupar has opened a major exhibition of his work at Dundee University, which now holds the Alex Coupar Collection.

Woman with a newspaper in Ward Rd Reading Room, 1960s. | Alex Coupar

Mr Coupar started off as a trainee in the processing lab at DC Thomson in the early 1950s and then moved into photojournalism with his job charting a city in flux and and the lives of those who called it home.

For the photographer, who went on to set up Spanphoto, one of Scotland’s major photo agencies, it was, admittedly, an emotional moment to see the timeline of his life’s work on the walls before him as he entered the show, called Coupar’s Camera.

Models from a Dundee department store photographed in the bus queue outside by Alex Coupar in 1957. | Alex Coupar

“It has taken me back a bit,” he said. “I attended the preview on Friday and going in and seeing it rather shook me.”

When he set out as a photojournalist, the jute industry was still in full swing in Dundee, employers such as NCR and Timex offered jobs to working people and DC Thomson employed some 4,000 staff. Department stores lined the city centre. Mr Coupar had a regular assignment photographing the models for a regular fashion show in one of the shops. Instead of shooting the models inside, he put them in the bus queue outside.

He described Dundonians as “friendly people, a bit like Glasgow.”

“There has always been a humourous side to Dundonians,” he said.

On witnessing the changes that the city has been through, Mr Coupar added: “Nowhere stays the same and a lot of Dundee has changed for the better, but not always.”

The decades of his working life spanned the development of the city as well as the onset of technology. During his career, he never used a mobile phone.

Alan Cumming as Phil McCann in ‘The Slab Boys’, 1987. | Alex Coupar

At Spanphoto, clients included companies such as William Low Supermarkets and Valentine’s Cards, both Dundee companies which were sold in the 1990s.

“I wouldn’t like to be working now, I don’t know where I would get the work,” he said.

He also spent 30 years photographing shows at Dundee Rep, and never missed a production during that time.

Images are now on show at the University of Dundee’s Lamb Gallery.

“It is much better than I thought it would be,” he said.

Photographer Alex Coupar | Alex Coupar

Senior archivist Jan Merchant said the university was “proud” to show more than 100 photographs from the Alex Coupar Collection.

Basket weaver William Duncan of St Monans, taken around 1967. | Alex Coupar

Dr Merchant said: “Alex’s body of work is extensive and varied, having worked as a photojournalist with The Courier and other DC Thomson publications. He then established Spanphoto which became one of Scotland’s leading photographic studios.

“We are proud to exhibit this selection of over 100 images from the collection, reflecting his work with clients such as the Harbour Trust, Dundee Rep Theatre and other local organisations.

Ringmaker on Perth Road, Dundee, circa 1960. | Alex Coupar

“The exhibition also highlights Alex’s interest in people and the connection he makes with them through his photography.”

Coupar’s Camera can be seen in the University’s Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, Nethergate, from Saturday 10 August until Saturday 2 November. The exhibition is open daily from Monday-Saturday with entry free for all.