Ken Russell's iconic photographs of London's Teddy girls discovered 50 years later

In February, Oxford's North Wall Arts Centre brings together for the first time photographs of teddy girls (and boys), taken by ground-breaking film director Ken Russell. Before becoming famous as a director of films such as Women in Love, Tommy and The Devils, Russell worked as a freelance photographer, and began taking photographs in 1951, aged 23.

Although these are among the first images to capture fledgling youth culture in London, they remained unseen for five decades, and were only rediscovered in an archive in 2005. The exhibition, which also marks the 10th anniversary of The North Wall Arts Centre, runs from 1-18 February.

Ken Russell has been described by film critic Mark Kermode as "someone who thought with his eyes"; Russell himself called his photographs his "still films". The images, all taken in 1955, are exceptional as they feature mostly girls, often staring directly and defiantly at the camera. As Russell said: "No one paid much attention to the teddy girls before I did them, though there was plenty on teddy boys. They were tough, these kids; they'd been born in the war years…they knew their worth. They just wore what they wore."

The teddy girls and boys are photographed on London streets, at funfairs, at stage doors, leaning on graffiti-covered brick walls, on derelict East End bomb sites and outside the Seven Feathers Club where they did the popular Ted dance, The Creep. Several of the images feature a strikingly contemporary looking 14 year old Jean Rayner: "she had attitude by the truckload", said Russell.

Born in 1927, in Southampton, Russell was the eldest of two sons of Ethel and Henry, a shoe shop owner. His childhood was often difficult, leading Russell to spend much of his time at the cinema. He cited the films Die Nibelungen and The Secret of the Loch as significant early influences.

Educated at private schools in Walthamstow and Pangbourne College, he later studied photography at Walthamstow Technical College (now part of the University of East London). Although he initially dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer, he joined the Royal Air Force and the British Merchant Navy as a teenager. It was only in 1954 that he began working as a freelance photographer, focusing on local interest stories.

His series on Teddy Girls was published in Picture Post the following year, and he continued in freelance documentary photography until 1959. During this time, he directed short films such as Peepshow (1956) and Lourdes (1959). His critically acclaimed short Amelia and the Angel that same year eventually led to a job at the BBC, setting the stage for his future success in filmmaking.