Guyanian apprentices with their teacher, Port Mourant, Guyana, 1958.

The students in this photograph were apprenticed to Bookers Brothers, McConnell & Company which had a major influence on the economic life of Guyana and the Caribbean, until these countries gained their independence from Britain in the 1960s. The company developed from a 19th century family-owned sugar trader and producer to a vast multi-national with a wide range of busineses employing thousands of people. Not only did the company own all of the sugar plantations in Guyana but it also led the import and export of all goods with a fleet of its own ships. The elegant Bookers Universal Store complex in Georgetown was a model of colonial achievement. Photographed by Walter Nurnberg who transformed industrial and commercial photography after WWII using film studio lighting techniques.