ALBERT COOPER 26 MEDIA DIARIES

THE ALBERT COOPER

Albert Cooper's life in photography begun when he was 14, now at 86 he can still be seen regularly taking a quick snap or cheering on Squires Gate. Albert's currently on his 15th year at the Gate and begun when Matthew started playing for the junior side. For the last 2 years Matthew Alberts grandson has been archiving Alberts work. He is continuously curating the work into The Albert Cooper Collection which can be found on Instagram. Additionally the Albert Cooper Collection is being created into a virtual reality gallery, the 1st of which has been visited by around 1000 people. Matthew is currently working on the 2nd gallery, focusing on Albert's time photographing Manchester United. The 1st gallery holds over 100 of Albert's images. Since its creation the gallery has been used to show students at UCLAN university the possibilities that VR can offer within business. The class even had students in China watching students in the classroom actively using the VR headset and walking around Alberts Gallery, the joys of modern tech. Both the virtual reality design and Albert's content were greatly received. Over the last few months Albert and Matthew have donated several prints to local causes. The 1st print was of Tiger Woods, which was donated to Lytham Golf Academy, where Albert regularly took Matthew during childhood days out. The 2nd print was of Diego Maradona and it was donated to an annual fund raising event at Blackpool Football club hosted by Squires Gate.

THE ALBERT COOPER COLLECTION // ROB MASON & JOSHUA BANNISTER

“Having spent my life in a dream job covering football at every level, I felt like I have come home to a family when I s t a r t e d s u p p o r t i n g Squires Gate”

Albert Cooper

COLLECTION

The 3rd print was of Muhammad Ali and it was donated to a local boxing gym, Evolve Boxing. Matthews motivation behind the project was to have Albert’s work online as a lot of it wasn’t digitised, and for albert to live on through his work for generations to experience. The project has been met with wide viewership and support. Matthew plans to continue his hard work and have multiple galleries within different virtual realms where people can get to know more about his Grandad Albert, and his life's work.

About Albert

Albert Cooper was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, 13th April 1936. Having bought a photo printing kit with his paper round money, aged 13, his journey into the world of photography began. Taking pictures of family, friends, views and events, Albert eventually found his niche in sports photography, although loved and practiced many disciplines. His career spanned some 40 years and covered football, golf, rugby, cricket, boxing, athletics, horse Racing, TT motorcycle racing, Olympic games, world cups and European cups. Over the years Albert has captured many iconic images that have travelled around the world.