The first time I posted about Brett Jordan’s photos of Kuwait was over 10 years ago when he started scanning and sharing the photos on his Flickr account. Since then he’s added more photos to the collection and I’ve posted about them a number of times with the last time being back in 2013. As of now, he has over 300 beautiful high-resolution photos of Kuwait on his account, all taken back in the early 60s.
I got in touch with Brett recently to find out more about the photos that have been circulating social media accounts and WhatsApp groups in Kuwait for a decade now. Turns out Brett’s collection of photos were actually taken by his parents who were both English and were working for an American oil company in the late 50s and early 60s. Brett’s dad was a refrigeration engineer and after Brett’s mum gave birth to him, they left Kuwait in the early 60s and moved back to the UK. But while in Kuwait his parents were part of a lively expat community that enjoyed a lot of partying, amateur dramatics, and drinking. His mum always speaks fondly of her time in Kuwait with the only ‘blot’ being a serious car accident when his dad drove into a huge pothole during a sandstorm.
I asked Brett if he still had more photos so he called up his mum and according to her she has more slides up in her loft. So he’s going to look for them the next time he visits her and hopefully scan those as well. For now, check out all the photos he’s scanned so far by clicking here.
Update: Brett has gone ahead and grouped up the Kuwait photos into one album so I’ve updated the link to reflect the change.
11 replies on “Brett Jordan’s Photos of Kuwait (1961)”
They Look so lovely! Thank you for sharing! Such a vast difference between 60 years!
My father will be so happy
Will revisit his childhood today
Life was so simple back then. If only some of those old buildings were saved, that El Camino, wow!
Yeah I’m not generally a fan of American cars but that El Camino in yellow is super hot.
What’s the blue/grey pickup truck in the main pic? It’s not a VW?
Morris J2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Commercial_J2
The beach was so clean.
Ask him to PLEASE turn this into a coffee table book. I would buy it in a heartbeat. Love love LOVED browsing through these rare photos.
My dad and mom will love these…. Dad’s from Pakistan and mom from India and they met in Kuwait in the early 70s and married and have been here ever since.
Unfortunately they are now being asked to leave, as dad is not a university graduate…..
@Mark… you are doing a great service to Kuwait and the community as a whole….. these are priceless gems that you are collecting for all those who loved living in Kuwait….. Keep up the good work.
thanks!
Nostalgic, Simplistic devices back then yet soulful pictures, each one telling a story of the past. Love the color schema and tonal range of this pictures, Simply awesome.
Thanks Mark for bring it up.