From humble beginnings in Anyards Road in 1968, Dawson Strange Photography was a feature of Cobham’s landscape, providing professional photography services and processing and printing facilities.

Within a few years, the company boasted an impressive list of blue chip organisations utilising its creative skills.

It also covered thousands of weddings and tens of thousands of portrait sessions.

When the business started, glass plates which had been in use for over a hundred years were still in common use.

Throughout the years, almost through accident, the company collected a social history of the village and was an intriguing and unique record of the life in a disparate community such as Cobham.

When the business closed, the majority of images sadly found their way to the great landfill darkroom in the sky. But those of a truly village nature were retained and have now been compiled into a hard back book called Cobham’s Strange Photography.

With words and captions by the company’s principal photographer, Eric Strange, the book is a collection of people, places and oddities which have been captured by the Dawson Strange Photographers over the years.

Mr Strange said: “It would have been such a shame if these particular images had not been saved. We all feel that in a small way, it is our legacy to the people and businesses of Cobham through which we derived our living for so long.”

Cobham’s Strange Photography is available from Cobham Book Shop and Mr Strange will be present from 9.30am to noon on Saturday, October 13, to sign copies.