Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

Ihi AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER p 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER o October 18th, 1933 Methods and Ideals of well-known Pictorial Workers. From information communicated to our Special Representative. BEFORE I joined the Hanley P.S., my camera, which was a V.P.K. with fixed-focus lens, chiefly came into use on holidays. The usual groups and places visited were taken, not with any intention of making pictures, but just as records. The advantages of a camera club are many ; you meet other members interested in the same hobby, who are only too willing to solve any difficulties you may have ; there are outings during the summer months when much ex¬ perience is gained ; and during the winter sessions the lectures and demonstrations are a very great help, and it is not long Potter’s Entrance before you are attempting picture-making yourself. Later on, having taken The Amateur Photographer for a number of years, I began to send my attempts to the competitions, and the criticisms accompanying the returned prints pointed out my mistakes, and so I progressed. “ My camera at the present time is a ^-plate ThorntonPickard reflex, with a 6-in. Dallmeyer Pentac lens, the full aperture is used only for indoor portraiture, when two Nitraphot lamps and i/ioth of a second come in very useful, using Ilford S.G. panchromatic plates. These (with an Alpha filter when required) I invariably use, and they are developed with Rytol by time and temperature in total darkness, two plates at a time, in a half¬ plate dish, which is kept covered. " Enlargements are made on Kodak ' Royal ’ bromide, either white or cream, whichever seems to suit the subject. The medium grade is right for my negatives. I use M.Q. as the de¬ veloper. When the print is dry it is rubbed over with two parts of turpentine to one each of mastic varnish and linseed oil. It is then rubbed with a dry cloth, and any shadows which require strength¬ ening are treated by rubbing in oil paint. All spotting is done with the same medium. “ Sunshine effects enter largely into my pictures. Sunlight seems to transform even commonplace subjects, and ordinary street scenes can become pictures. When you live in a town it is not always convenient to go wandering off into the country, and I take a great deal of pleasure in trying to find some street scene which will make a picture. " ' Potter’s Entrance ’ was given i/25th of a second at f/4 on an Ilford S.G. plate. This could have done with a longer exposure, as the archway was very dark : but as there was a man in it who was carrying clay up the steps I should have got considerable movement unless I had asked him to stand still. This never seems to turn out the same as when figures are snapped without their knowledge. “ ' The Sun Struggles Through ’ was also given i/zjth of a second, but at f/5.6, and was taken at eleven o’clock in the morning. I believe that at the time there was a slight mist,* but what the sun is really trying to penetrate is just smoke. The wind must have been in the wrong direction. As I was coming up this particular street I was struck by the effect of the sun shining through this haze, and the two people just stopped to have a chat, which gave me my opportunity. On the other side of the road, directly facing, is a church, but it is hardly discernible. “ I always visit the same place many times, as the lighting effects are continually changing, and what you may miss one day you may see another.” By Henrv T olclier. 355 16