Photo archive feature
↑ Daily Mirror photographer Bela Zola won 1st prize in the Features category of the World Press Photo Contest 1956 with his image of the Teddy boys singing in church
In the first of a new photo feature series called ‘Behind the Lens’, Mirrorpix have focused on award-winning Daily Mirror photographer Bela Zola.
Zola was a dark room assistant for James Jarche before the Second World War and during the conflict he worked with the Army photographic unit in the Western Desert.
Joining the Daily Mirror in 1945 shortly after WWII, Bela, like all Mirror photographers, was expected to cover anything and everything the news agenda threw at him.
His mornings could be spent in the studio shooting for a fashion feature, in the afternoon photographing any number of newsworthy London-based events, and in the evening he could be found at film premières or social events capturing the great and the good for the next day’s paper.
↑The Beatles pictured at the London residence of “Daily Mirror” show biz journalist, Donald Zec, 9 September 1963, as part of an early “Mirror” feature on the Beatles.
Zola’s talent for a good image was recognized by the newspaper’s management and in the early 1950s the Daily Mirror gave him a page called “Life in the Mirror.” He captured the rise of the Beatles, the tragic results of the mudslide at Aberfan, the great train robbery, the anti Vietnam War demonstrations in London and the Profumo affair.
Bela’s career with the Daily Mirror finally came to an end in 1975, when he retired after 30 years service.
View and license Bela Zola images here
More Mirrorpix on PAN
• Uploaded: 5000 newly scanned images at Mirrorpix
• View: Mirrorpix – Portfolio V – stories of newspaper photography
• View all Mirrorpix articles on PAN