Profiles

The Abraham brothers have left the Lake District with a unique collection of photographs recording places, people and their climbing exploits from the turn of the 20th Century.

George and Ashley Abraham were fearless climbers who, dressed in tweeds and hob-nail boots, would climb the cliffs and crags of Lakeland, always accompanied by their trusty plate camera.

Re-creating one of the Abraham brothers

The brothers, despite being family, were also good friends who for many years ran a photography business in Keswick. Their shop is still in Keswick, but is now the famous George Fisher outdoor store.

The Lake District photographs which were taken by the brothers are still much-loved today; by climbers who see and appreciate the difficulty of the climbs and by those who just like the quality of the landscape photography.

In these days of digital photography it's quite easy to add or remove elements from a photograph, but even some 100 years ago, the Abrahams were doing similar things with their images. They would have their nieces laying out of shot, holding up flowers to decorate the edges of the photograph, or have them chase cattle into the edges of the lakes to improve the composition of the photo.

One of the brothers' best known images features a climb of Napes Needle and Steve persuaded members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club to recreate the picture. To make it even more interesting, the club members dressed in period clothes too - Harris tweed, shirts, ties and flat caps.

You can find out more on the Abraham brothers - and Steve's attempt to recreate one of their most iconic images - by watching Inside Out, just click the link below.