WGPhoto - A brief History....Walter Gardiner began his studio in Worthing in 1894 with his wife Annie. They had taken over another Worthing portrait Studio - Patterson, Pett who had been trading in Worthing since 1882, they in turn had taken over a studio Russell and Son (1880 - 1882) and whose clients had included successful local businessmen as well as  titled families. Walter handed the business on to his son William Gardiner in the 1930's who moved the business towards wedding and portrait photography and print processing. William in turn handed over control to his son Derek Gardiner fbipp. in the 1960's. Derek, spotting the growth of industry and commerce in the area diversified from weddings and portraits to concentrate on commercial advertising photography.  When Derek retired in the mid 1990's the succession of trading continued when present day owner Michael Hemsley fbipp (who had joined WGP in 1981) took on the responsibility of steering a path for the firm through some rapidly changing technologies.

Whilst updating the company image for the 21st century the new name of WGPhoto was also adopted and now free of a fixed studio location the business catchment has widened from it's original roots on the south coast to serve customers throughout the UK!. Copyright ownership of the Archive is now held jointly between Mike Hemsley and West Sussex County Library Services.Click Walter Gardiner portrait to order prints.