Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

'tm AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER EDITOR F.J. MORTIMER CONSULTING EDITOR R.CHILD BAYLEY WEDNESDAY, January 4Th, 1933. <S^ CINEMATOGRAPHER INCORPORATING "THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHER" "FOCUS" "THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS" &l "PHOTOGRAPHY" Suhscripiion Rat«s. United Kingdom ^nadat^^ Other G>un/rifs/^/Sppr ann. post /nt pu6//{^frs IhrsetJiouse TuPor Strfei £ondon.£C4 Copyright — Registered as a Newspaper for transmission in the U.K. WITH this, the first issue of The Amateur Photographer and Cinematographer for 1933, we wish every reader of the paper a happy and prosperous New Year. We also take advantage of the opportunity to thank the great number of readers in all parts of the world — many unknown to us personally — who have sent Christ¬ mas and New Year greetings. We were glad to note that photography entered so largely in the preparation of quantities of these greeting cards, some reaching a very high standard of pictorial merit. We greatly ap¬ preciate the kindly feelings both towards the Editor and the paper that were indicated, and heartily reciprocate the sentiments that were expressed. May 1933 be a record and successful year for photographers in general and for readers of “ The A.P.” in particular. Facts and Formulae. The instalment of “ Facts and Formulae ” in our issue of December 28th brought this series to a close. It has been very popular, and it is possible that the notes will be revised, classified and published in book form. Commencing with our next issue we contemplate another series on somewhat similar lines. Instead of miscellaneous and un¬ related paragraphs appearing to¬ gether we propose to group facts, hints and formulae relating to some specific branch of work, such as lantern-slide making, gaslight print¬ ing, enlarging and so on. These paragraphs wiU not form complete articles on the subjects dealt with, but will provide useful information which may be adopted by beginners and practised workers in any branch, according to their particular methods and requirements. A Circus Snapshot. With the aid of the hypersensitive pan¬ chromatic plates and films that are now available, any amateur with a lens of large aperture can secure striking and novel snapshots at the Circus at Olympia during the performance. VoL. LXXV. No. 2304. A Mere Detail. An amusing story of the late Chapman Jones was told by Mr. F. F. Renwick when delivering the Chapman Jones memorial lecture just before Christmas. Chapman Jones, who was a most conscientious teacher and chief, once had a laboratory assistant who was very diligent and obedient, but lacking in initiative. One day the assistant was instructed to print some nega¬ tives on to gaslight paper, and, knowing the type of mind with which he had to deal. Chapman Jones took the trouble to specify the procedure in every detail. A schedule of operations was worked out, wherein the distance of the frames from the light, the exact candle-power of the illuminant, and the exposure to the fraction of a second were aU set down. What is more, they were all most rigorously observed by the assistant. But, as often happens when instructions are specific, the assistant assumed that in regard to things not specified the fullest liberty could be taken. The results were not consistently satisfactory, and it was discovered that the assistant had not been told which way the printing-frame should face, and, supposing this to be of no con¬ sequence, had exposed some of the frames with their backs to the light. Professorships in Photography. It is rather strange that, with the multiplicity of subjects at our universities, there should be no professorship in photography. In London University, for example, there are professorial chairs in town planning, aviation, inter¬ national relations, statistics, Chinese, education, highway engineering, die¬ tetics, Dutch history, banking, plant physiology, phonetics, Russian , I 5