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Photographs |
This is my photography page: a showcase for some of my favourite pictures, plus notes on cameras and techniques, memorable pictures, professional photographers I have known, and living with a camera in the pre-digital black-and-white years. |
I remember using these magnificent creations of polished mahogany and brass with leather bellows, although they were on the verge of extinction when I started work. They used glass plates loaded individually into light-tight slides in a total darkness and exposure was by taking the lens cap off . . . and on again after a 'guestimated' number of seconds, depending on the lighting conditions. All functions were manual and focussing was via a ground-glass screen, with the photographer's head under a black blanket but there were some extra functions not seen on most of today's cameras, such as 'rising front' and 'tilting back' enabling perfect control of perspective and depth of field. This fine example was owned by Mr C J Emeny who ran a successful business in Felixstowe, Suffolk, and won national and international prizes for his work. ©Arthur Loosley/Felixstowe Museum.
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This was the studio operated by Mr Emeny on Felixstowe beach, where it attracted custom from visitors to this popular resort. A smaller camera is seen on its tripod, complete with focussing blanket. He also had a regular studio in the town. Another interesting item here is the 'Penny Farthing' bicycle - more accurately a 'Two-penny Farthing' tricycle because it has two large wheels instead of the usual one. ©Felixstowe Museum. |
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An all-time favourite is my pre-war Leica with f/3.5 Elmar lens lens. Considered the 'Rolls-Royce' of cameras, it is still operating sweetly after 70 years.
In the days of black-and white photography, before digital cameras took so much of the fun out of it, photographers spent more time handling chemicals in the dark than clicking in the sunshine. It was an absorbing hobby for young and old alike but sadly, as with so many other activities, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I have just come across one of my articles in 1980 for The British Journal of Photography in response to a radio phone-in answering listeners' questions about darkroom procedures. Some of the replies were so inadequate that I felt moved to complain to the BBC about the dangers these 'experts' were wishing upon young children whose parents were prepared to buy the chemicals and let them have a go. It spawned an interesting debate, and my illustration caused a few laughs and some anger, but it's history now that the image processing is done instantly in the camera and enhanced on the computer without the need for chemicals. 
