heritage
Between glamourous photo-shoots, Jim has flurries of activity on the discovergibraltar site
Dr. Cooper of Operation Tracer with Jim Crone on his visit to Gibraltar last October
fashion images courtesy www.jimcronephotography.com
“My opportunity to get into the world of fashion photography was quite accidental really,” he explained. “I knew the hairdresser downstairs by sight, but we’d never actually met until one day he called up to my studio to see if I could help him out. “It turned out he wanted to enter the UK Cut & Blow-Dry championships, which is based on photography of his creations and he had the opportunity of a model who was convalescing with a broken leg at her home in Belfast too — would I be interested in doing the shoot?” Jim took on the job without realising this was a moment which would change his life. “He presented the shots at the awards and I was quite surprised that he actually won! And from that, there were questions raised as to who had handled the shoot.” Jim’s portfolio now regularly includes names such as Wella, Swarskov and L’Orielle and just a quick peak at his website shows the incredible skill he’s achieved in the hair, beauty and fashion industry. Between the routines of glamorous photoshoots, Jim has sporadic flurries of activity on the discovergibraltar.com site and updates can usually be found on a monthly basis. And as the site has grown, so has its following. One of Jim’s favourite recollections is when Dr. Cooper visited Gibraltar as probably the last survivor of Operation Tracer. “I received an email one day from a lady who explained that her father, who had never talked about the war and was getting on in age was starting to mumble things about an ‘Operation Tracker’ in Gibraltar. I made some enquiries and it turned out to be the well known ‘Operation Tracer’ or ‘Stay Behind Cave’ designed during the Second World War in case Hitler managed to take the Rock. “Martin Nuza of Gold Production Studios was key in arranging the visit in October of last year which was quite an historic occasion and it gave me great satisfaction to have been involved.” But there’s no point us telling the full story here, you can read it along with literally hundreds of other articles of interest on the site along with many photos depicting the Rock from here back into history. n www.discovergibraltar.com www.jimcronephotography.com www.gibraltarstockphotos.com www.panoscene.com
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2009
69