Alfred Seaman and the PCUK

THE BIRMINGHAM CONVENTION.

 

As we all along surmised, the Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom at Birmingham has proved highly successful.

 

 

From first to last the greatest enthusiasm has prevailed and the keenest  interest has been displayed  in its proceedings.The opening meeting was so well attended as to tax the capacity of the spacious Masonic Hall to the uttermost. The Mayor of Birmingham was felt to have done a kindly and graceful act in so thoroughly identifying himself with the photographers in assembly  convened.    The Birmingham Photographic Society gladly made such admirable preparations and arrangements as to justify most amply the feeling universally entertained, that the visitors were under deep obligations to them for the numberless little things which, taken as a whole, conduced so greatly to their comfort and the success of the meeting. The papers which were read, and which will be found in our issues of last week, the present, and the following week, were on topics of everyday interest, and in several instances elicited animated discussions.

 

The excursions during the day were, in most cases, numerously attended, and many hundreds of negatives were obtained on these occasions.

Emphatically was the dinner a great affair, both in the numbers present and otherwise. It was graced by the presence of the Mayor and the veteran Dr. Hill Norris, who sat one on each side of the Chairman.

 

At the business meeting, held on Saturday forenoon and very numerously attended, the rules drafted by the Council were discussed, and, after some slight alterations, unanimously adopted. From these we are glad to perceive that the low rate of annual subscription (five shillings) originally fixed by the organizers, has been retained, although some had previously thought that, owing to the possible great expenses, the Convention might, with advantage, have assimilated the subscription to that of the British Association. But the British Association system of electing a president each year, who shall not be eligible for immediate re-election, has been most wisely adopted. The rules, indeed, have been drafted with great care, and with special reference to the future well-being of the Convention. Like a piece of well-made machinery, although there may be a modicum, of friction discovered when having them at first applied, yet will the smoothness consequent upon time inevitably follow. With the exception of the business meeting, and the subsequent adjournment to the quadrangle of Queen's College, where the members, and among them the Mayor, were photographed in a group, all the meetings were graced by the presence of ladies.  A pleasant feature at one of the- evening meetings arose on the occasion of the Chairman, Rev. F. J. Perry, F.R.S., Professor at Stonyhurst College, stopping a gap that intervened between the reading of the last of several papers that evening and the moment when the darkness should be sufficiently pronounced to enable Mr. Bothamley to proceed with his discourse on orthochromatic photography, in which the lantern was necessary for projecting illustrative slides on the screen.Professor Perry, by request, gave an impromptu address on the present state of the application of photography to astronomy in general, and to recording the positions of the less visible stars in particular. The evident mastery of his subject, the grace and fluency of his diction, the appositeness of his metaphors, and the practical relation of the subject given to photographers, charmed beyond measure, and when the increasing darkness brought his eloquent discourse to a close, many could have wished that the sun had delayed for a time his descent below the horizon, notwithstanding the treat they knew was in store when the darkening shades of evening would bring Mr. Bothamley on to the platform.

 

The Convention of 1889 will be held in London, under the presidency of Mr. Andrew Pringle, of Bexley Heath.

 

It has been felt that it would—again borrowing an idea from the British Association—be desirable if the place of meeting could be forecast for two years in advance. A considerable number of members having, at an informal gathering, expressed themselves in favour of Chester, Mr. G. Watmough Webster, who was present, replied to a question relative to the accommodation for public meetings likely to be obtained in that city, by assuring them that the large literary and scientific association there, which fostered many branches of technological science, had premises of the most ample nature which he felt quite sure would be placed at the disposal of the Convention, who would receive a warm, welcome in Chester. We have since received a note from Mr. Webster, who says that since his return home he has had an interview with the secretary of that institute, who quite endorses all that he (Mr. Webster) said in Birmingham. The eligibility of this as a place of meeting will be discussed in Council and at the next meeting in London.

 

Already are some of the local members of Council considering the best means of rendering the London meeting next year as successful proportionately as those already held. In Derby only a few weeks' notice was given the photographers there of the intention of holding a convention, and yet it proved successful to an extent which delighted every one. The Glasgow brethren having longer notice, a larger local basis of action, and a prospect of greater numerical strength, performed such wonders in the way of making provision for the members.

 

 

THE   BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

No. 1474.    VOL. XXXV AUGUST 3^rd 1888.