Capturing the soul of old Newfoundland, ‘In the Sunny Long Ago.’

Newfoundland and Labrador’s soul is anchored in its outports—remote fishing villages tucked into secluded bays and rugged coves. These communities are more than geographic points on the map—they were lifelines of tradition, hardship, and resilience. Each outport evolved with its unique rhythm, accent, and story, shaped by the isolation and beauty of the coastline. Along with weathered wharves and salt-stung air, it's here that the province’s cultural heartbeat took root. 

Though many outports have changed or faded with time, the legacy of their close-knit spirit, creativity, and endurance lives on—in music and stories and photograph album books like those of John W. Doyle’s, In the Sunny Long Ago.

On June 13, 2025, Flanker Press published the photo album book, which features 300 stunning photographs gathered in outport communities and extracted from his father’s films between 1938 to 1955. 

At first glance, it's a captivating book that is hard to put down. The book visually demonstrates that the root of Newfoundland’s cultural identity is located in small fishing villages, proving that even the most remote places can shine with lasting influence and pride.

John said even though he grew up in St.John’s, his appreciation for outport life originated from the stories his father told him about his travels to outport communities. The fact that his father recorded some of those interactions on colour film, kind of happened by accident. He was just recording outport life as it happened, as he thought it should be told. The ironic thing was it was the first time outport Newfoundland life was captured on colour film. At the time it was an innovative first but one of many involving his father, Gerald S. Doyle. He was man with vision.

“He had a movie camera. In those days, in the pre-1960 era, there was no colour film. There was snapshot photography, but no colour film photography. He was shooting a motion picture film in colour, for the first time in those communities.”

John’s father's company, Gerald S. Doyle Ltd., distributed pharmaceutical and household products, including cod liver oil, during that time, which he manufactured and bottled. He also sold patent medicines like Doctor Chase’s and Vicks Vapo Rub.

From a traditional marketing perspective, the only way to market a product is to meet people in person and build relationships. John said one of his fathers favourite mantras was "a product well advertised is half sold"

John explained that his father was a strong believer in developing personable contact with people. He was initially from Kings Cove, but travelled from St. John’s to different island regions every summer to promote products to sell. One summer, he visited East Coast communities; the following year, he visited South Coast communities.

“He would meet with shopkeepers, show them the latest products, and then take their order. He would also hand out candies and souvenirs to kids who quickly gathered when they knew he was visiting their community.”

Timeline to Publication

The book is categorized into eight chapters, from themes about children and shopkeepers to chapters about daily life during that era. John's sister, Marjorie, a writer, inspired him to create the photo album book. She assisted by writing the introduction and helping him piece it together. The inspiration for the book originated in 2006, when she helped produce a CBC documentary based on her father's outport films called"Regarding Our Father." 

John said the documentary contained approximately twenty minutes of footage. The interesting thing about the documentary was the positive feedback from viewers, who were capitivated by the beauty of how outport Newfoundland was captured during that era. 

“He wasn’t a professional photographer. So, he didn’t set up a tripod and spend an hour getting a shot lined up. He was standing on a boat deck with a camera.”

Converting film into photographs

Before digital technology, movies were captured on narrow celluloid strips, often 16 millimetres wide, about a thumb's width. 

Traditionally, each film frame contains about 16 tiny images, or frames, which create the illusion of motion when played in rapid sequence. Because these frames were so small, traditional attempts to extract individual images often resulted in blurry, low-quality photographs. 

With the technological advances of laser scanning, digitizing each tiny frame with remarkable clarity is now possible. High-resolution scans can be printed at snapshot size—around four by six inches—with surprising sharpness and vibrant colour. 

After originally trying to extract the photos from his fathers films himself and not getting the results he wanted he researched and sought out professionals to do the work for him.

In 2018, he took his father’s films to Frame Discreet, a Toronto-based company specializing in film scanning, restoration, and cinematography services. Not knowing what to expect at first, the fine detail of the companies photo extraction from his fathers films inspired him to think about the possibility of creating a photo albumn book.

“I approached Jerry Cranford from Flanker Press, and right away, they were interested and quick to see the possibilities of it.”

The Daunting Task of Selecting Photos

The biggest challenge was selecting the 650,000 photos from the 12 hours of extracted movie film his dad recorded. 

“I had to go through all of them and pick out the most interesting photos, where, you know, you could see people the sharpest, where people were looking at the camera, or something interesting was happening and then organizing them into a book.”

Authentic. Uplifting. Timeless

John said that compared to the stereotypical way photos of outport Newfoundland are captured, his father's photos show a different perspective on life in the outports—a happier, more prosperous time. 

“It’s lovely to capture the outports when they were thriving. In 1940, during the war period, Newfoundland experienced prosperity that many people forget. Then, with confederation, the baby bonus and similar items started to be distributed, the outports still functioned as they were. People lived by the sea, they had gardens, and grew their food. Life was good."

John said that sometimes the hardships of outport life was often overemphazed over the good times.  

“I think sometimes there was a lot of misinformation about the desperate conditions in the outports during that era. And I don’t mean to question them. If you look at the public record, there’s no question about it. It was rough, but that’s only part of the story. The other part is what you see in these photos.”

First Radio Advertisements in NL

If each picture means a thousand words, as the saying goes, the stories and events happening around the time Doyle’s father filmed the outports could almost make a second book. 

Besides being the first person to capture the outports in colour film, he was also the first person to popularize radio community news and advertizing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Radio, as you know, started to spread in the 1920s. And in 1933, the government established a station called VONF, which I believe was called the Voice of Newfoundland. A powerful station in St. John’s that could be heard across the island and parts of Labrador.”

John's father sponsored the main radio newscast, which became known as the Gerald S. Doyle News Bulletin. 

The bulletin aired on VONF radio in 1932 and became a beloved source of community news, weather, shipping schedules, and personal messages. Doyle said his father used it to connect with Newfoundlanders, promote his products, and preserve local culture. 

“My father put out the word that he would broadcast any message sent to him, so people would get themselves to the nearest telegraph office and send the telegram to a journalist and then to St. John’s. And then that evening, the message was sent to the person. The message didn’t just go, of course, to the person it was addressed to. It went to everyone who was listening in Newfoundland.”

John said that when his father returned from his trip every summer, he would also write a report and publish it in the Daily News, usually around October, with a headline that read 'Businessman Returns from Summer Cruise.' 

Along with the ads, Doyle's father was also the first to collect and publish folk songs in books. He would distribute these books for free with the ads.”

His Family Legacy

For John, family members, friends, and his business associates, Gerald S. Doyle's legacy is not only captured in the broadcasts, publications or photographs he left behind, but in the rhythms and voices of a province that he united and celebrated. His work stitched communities across the province, commodifying commerce into culture and encouraging preservation. Even as the technology has progressed, the spirit of his mission—to save Newfoundland's stories and keep them shared—remains, like the echoes of an old radio broadcast carried on air.

When readers view these photos, they stroll again in the footsteps and memories of the people and places he captured. He did not merely see captured moments, but the rhythm of a people told through a lens in a rarely seen way. 

If you're interested in a copy of In the Sunny Long Ago: A Photo Album of Old Newfoundland by John W. Doyle, there are a couple of options: The paperback edition is available on Amazon Canada for about CAD $24.95. You can also purchase it from the publisher, Flanker Press, which costs $26.00. Indigo is another option, as the book is available online and in select locations.