Amberside Collection
The AmberSide Collection is a vast body of documentary photography and film dedicated to preserving the working-class experience. Featuring over 20,000 photographs and 100 films, it captures social and industrial life in the North East of England and beyond, with contributions from both local and internationally renowned photographers and filmmakers.
Founded in 1968 by Murray Martin, the Amber Film & Photography Collective set out to create a lasting record of working-class culture. The collection includes works documenting key aspects of everyday life, social struggles, and industrial change. It also features historic projects such as The Building of the Tyne Bridge and the photography of Jimmy Forsyth.
Side’s values are rooted in a concern for working-class, marginalised, or threatened lives and landscapes, both in the UK and abroad. Housed at Side and safeguarded by the AmberSide Trust, the collection remains a vital cultural resource, ensuring that the social history of the North East and wider working-class communities is preserved for future generations.
Steel Works
Julian Germain
Photographic
A photographic reflection on the town of Consett, ten years after its steelworks closed, exploring memory, identity and post-industrial transformation.
Step by Step
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
Photographic
Photographed in the 1980s, Step by Step is Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s portrait of mother and daughter relationships and female community within a North Shields dancing school.
Survival Programmes
Exit Photography Group | Chris Steele-Perkins | Paul Trevor | Nicholas Battye
Photographic
A collaborative photographic study of Britain’s inner cities between 1974 and 1979, documenting everyday life during a period of economic and social upheaval.
Surviving on Darlington's Shop Floors
Richard Grassick
Photographic
A 1980/81 documentary series exploring factory work in Darlington, using photographs and text to reflect on labour and representation at the start of industrial decline.
T Dan Smith (1987)
Amber Films
Film and Video
Leader of Newcastle City Council, 1958 - 1965, T Dan Smith was a controversial politician. This docu-drama film takes an experimental structure to deal with the uncertainty of the evidence around his conviction for corruption in 1974.
T Dan Smith Archive I
Various
Photographic
Photographs from the personal archive of T Dan Smith, Newcastle’s radical post-war council leader, documenting his political life, ambitions for the region and legacy of contested redevelopment.
T Dan Smith Archive II
Various
Photographic
Photographs from the personal archive of T Dan Smith, Newcastle’s radical post-war council leader, documenting his political life, ambitions for the region and legacy of contested redevelopment.
T Dan Smith Archive: Slides
T Dan Smith
Photographic
Colour slides taken by T Dan Smith in 1962/63 capturing Newcastle’s redevelopment and May Day parade, offering a personal visual record of his transformative leadership of the city.
Visual Culture
Slide sets of original photography & copied imagery, an extraordinary library originally developed in the 1970s & 80s for higher education: a rich and surprising celebration of C19th & C20th iconography.
Licensing & Usage Requests
Photographic exhibitions, videos, clips, trailers and each month's featured film are free. For personal use Amber's feature dramas, feature documentaries and film shorts are available as pay per view. See details of our Educational Screening Licence or contact us.