James Barnor (Hon. FRPS,OV) is a revered Ghanaian photographer whose career spans over six decades. His street and studio photography captures societies in transition during the 1950s and 1960s—Ghana on the brink of independence and London evolving into a multicultural metropolis. Frederick Seton James Barnor was born in Accra, in what was then the Gold Coast, West Africa. Giving an insight on how he came to choose his career, he said: “Photography was in my family. My two uncles were photographers. My cousin was a photographer, and I found out later when I got into it that another cousin was also a photographer
Barnor was Ghana’s first full-time newspaper photographer and introduced color processing in the 1970s. Inspired by his family’s involvement in photography, he established the Ever Young Studio in 1953.
Moving to England in 1959, Barnor studied at Medway College of Art and worked as a fashion photographer. After a decade, he returned to Ghana, setting up the country’s first color processing facilities.
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In 1994, he returned to London, where his work gained renewed recognition through various exhibitions. Rediscovered in 2007, Barnor’s work has been celebrated in numerous exhibitions worldwide, and a monograph of his work, “James Barnor: Ever Young,” was published in 2015.
Barnor founded the James Barnor Foundation to promote education, preserve African cultures, and highlight African talents. His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Order of the Volta and an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.
His legacy continues to inspire and educate future generations about the power of photography in documenting cultural and societal transformations.
Source: Accra Street Journal
Last Updated on October 9, 2025 by Samuel Kwame Boadu
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Samuel Kwame Boadu is a Ghanaian media entrepreneur and storyteller with a passion for amplifying urban voices and uncovering everyday truths. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Accra Street Journal, a dynamic digital platform dedicated to capturing the pulse of Ghana’s capital—its people, culture, challenges, business, sports and innovations.
