A01=Carla-Jean Stokes
Author_Carla-Jean Stokes
Battle of Vimy Ridge
battles
Canadian battles
Canadian history
Canadian Records Office
Canadian war photography
Canadian War Records Office
Category=AJF
Category=NHWR5
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
film photography
film photos
First World War
First World War photographs
framing
Grafton Galleries
history of photography
Manipulated pictures
military history
never before seen works
official photographer
photography
sensational
staging
technical choices
visual representations
war photography
wartime
William Ivor Castle
world war I
WWI
Product details
- ISBN 9781771126984
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 07 Oct 2025
- Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
- Publication City/Country: CA
- Product Form: Hardback
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The Taking of Vimy Ridge explores the life and works of William Ivor Castle, a Canadian official First World War photographer known for staging and manipulating his photographs.
Castle shot more than 1000 photographs during his time as official photographer attached to the Canadian Corps, and his iconic (though sometimes manipulated) scenes of war created a sensation at London’s Grafton Galleries during the war. But the remainder of his wartime oeuvre, and Castle himself, are less well-remembered today.
The Taking of Vimy Ridge analyzes the unique relationship between Castle and the Canadian War Records Office and distinguishes several of Castle’s never-before-identified manipulated works as he attempted to illustrate the Battle of Vimy Ridge—one of Canada’s most mythologized First World War battles—to audiences around the world.
Drawing from Canadian and British archival records, as well as Castle’s complete body of work from the Battle of Vimy Ridge, this richly illustrated book offers a much more expansive understanding of Castle's contribution to both war photography and our understanding of portrayals of the First World War, including a close interpretation of the technical choices he made in framing his images, and the context in which this oeuvre developed.
Castle shot more than 1000 photographs during his time as official photographer attached to the Canadian Corps, and his iconic (though sometimes manipulated) scenes of war created a sensation at London’s Grafton Galleries during the war. But the remainder of his wartime oeuvre, and Castle himself, are less well-remembered today.
The Taking of Vimy Ridge analyzes the unique relationship between Castle and the Canadian War Records Office and distinguishes several of Castle’s never-before-identified manipulated works as he attempted to illustrate the Battle of Vimy Ridge—one of Canada’s most mythologized First World War battles—to audiences around the world.
Drawing from Canadian and British archival records, as well as Castle’s complete body of work from the Battle of Vimy Ridge, this richly illustrated book offers a much more expansive understanding of Castle's contribution to both war photography and our understanding of portrayals of the First World War, including a close interpretation of the technical choices he made in framing his images, and the context in which this oeuvre developed.
Carla-Jean Stokes is an historian of war photography, specializing in the history of Canadian and British official war photographs, as well as the preservation of photographic objects in private and public collections. She works as a curator in the heritage sector, and lives in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.
