Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1934)

June 20th, 1934 I The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER Ip 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER a IRTHDAY GREETINGS A selection from the many letters of congratulation received from prominent people in the Photographic Industry. “ For any publication to reach its fiftieth birthday is an achievement worthy of note, but for a photo¬ graphic journal it is an occasion calling for the heartiest congratulations, which we herewith tender to The Amateur Photographer and to its Editor. Photography, even in its earliest stages, is not yet a century old, and it seems difficult to believe that it was sufficiently practised by amateurs fifty years ago to make it worth while to introduce a journal specially devoted to that hobby, particularly bearing in mind the cumbersome nature of the apparatus then in use. My Company is, as you know, this year celebrating' the centenary of the business established on the same site in High Holbom by my grandfather in 1834, and has been closely associated with the many develop¬ ments in photography since the introduction by 'Claude t and Houghton of Daguerreotvpy in about 1840, up to the present stage of what I might perhaps be per¬ mitted to describe, from an amateur point of view, as ‘ the Midget Age.* “ I therefore feel that my Company can claim a special privilege in congratulating The Amateur Photographer upon its undoubted assistance in en¬ couraging the practice of photography both by the ‘serious worker’ and the ‘snapshotter’ in the past, and also in wishing you continuing success in the future.” E. W. Houghten. _ (Ensign, Ltd.) “ In offering The Amateur Photographer congratula¬ tions on the fiftieth anniversary one cannot but recall during these fifty years the number of publications that have been issued more or less in competition and in nearly every instance have ceased to exist or have been absorbed by ‘ The A.P.’ The reason for this has been that ‘ The A.P.* has in every' way filled the need and supplied most excellently the advice and information so useful to the amateur photographer. Proof beyond question that 1 The A.P.’ is ever reaching new readers is the wonderful response that is obtained by advertising in its columns. “ So long as ‘ The A.P.’ is conducted so admirably in every way as at present one can only heartily wish that it will celebrate many more jubilees.” E. H. Lancaster. (J. Lancaster & Son, Ltd.) “ In common with all its readers and advertisers, I heartily congratulate The Amateur Photographer on the completion of fifty y'ears of publication. “ A glance through the files of the journal shows the excellent manner in which The Amateur Photographer has recorded the progress of photography during those years, and how faithfully it has served the amateur. “ I wish The Amateur Photographer a long and useful life.” T. Midgley Illingworth. _ (Ilford Ltd.) “ May one, himself approaching fifty years’ service in the photographic trade, offer his hearty congratula¬ tions to you and your journal on your Jubilee ? 44 During those fifty years your journal has been the friend of all and the enemy of none ; has been counsellor and leader of countless amateur photo¬ graphers. and has consistently advanced both the art and the technique of photography. ‘‘ Unlike an individual, a journal such as yours may reasonably hope for a centenary as well as a jubilee. In warmly congratulating you on the one, may I, somewhat in advance, give you anticipatory best wishes for the other ! ” ' Gerald M. Bishop. “ Heartiest congratulations on completion of fifty years’ useful and loyal work for photography ; it is a notable achievement w’hich any paper would be proud to have attained. " The year 1884 showed the early enthusiasm for the * dry plate,’ and started the manufacture of amateur apparatus which was till then restricted to the pro¬ fessional. Fallowfield’s Annual of that year contained details of ‘ special portable dry-plate cameras,’ and the names of early plate-makers would certainly frighten, by their numbers, the workers of to-day. Edwards, Nelson, Swan, Paget, Wratten, Fry, Marion, Britannia, Thoma's, Gray’s, Bennett’s, Cox’s, Kennetts, Archer, Freeman, Matthews, Rouch’s, Verel, England’s. “ Wishing continued prosperity to your paper.” F. Duncan Hindley. (Jonathan Fallowfield, Ltd.) ” Two important events in the story of amateur photography occurred together fifty years ago — The Amateur Photographer began its excellent work for photography in general and the amateur in particular, and, in the same year, George Eastman took out the patent for his first roll film. From that date amateur photography has gone from strength to strength fostered and guided by able writers in the pages of * The A.P.’, which we hasten to congratulate on the occasion of its Jubilee.” Kodak, Ltd. “To go back fifty years in amateur photography from the chemical point of view is to go back a very long way. Your paper has indeed seen a most amazing development in amateur photography, and there is no doubt whatever that the art and the hobby of photography owes ‘ The A.P.’ a great debt of gratitude for all the nurture and the guidance that through these fifty years it has, week by week, so wisely and so pleasantly imparted to such a host of amateurs. “ The Amateur Photographer has always expounded the fascination of this hobby, and it has inspired many a beginner first to discover in, and then to express through, the medium of photography the joy of the artist ; it is because I am confident that the paper will continue to do this that I feel it can again lead us out to put amateur photography back into the proud position of one of our most popular national hobbies. " I am glad to have this opportunity of expressing appreciation of the important and splendid work of your paper throughout these eventful fifty years of photography, and I most heartily wish continued success and ever-widening circulation to 4 The A.P.’.” E. Bernard Cook. (Johnson & Sons, Ltd.) 44 We gladly take this opportunity of wishing pros¬ perity and long life to The Amateur Photographer. We do this all the more heartily because, so to speak, we and The Amateur Photographer were boys together, watching the early growth of the photographic in¬ dustry ; and we were boys of nearly the same age, since our own Jubilee will be taking place three years hence. “It was within a very few years from the birth of The Amateur Photographer that the first anastigmat lenses began to replace the old type of rapid rectilinear. What will our latest developments look like fifty years from now, when described in The Amateur Photo¬ grapher of that day ?— as we hope and believe they will be. So here’s to long life and prosperity.” J. Ronald Taylor. (Taylor, Taylor & Hobson, Ltd.) “ I would like, on behalf of Wallace Heaton, Ltd., and the City Sale & Exchange (1929), Ltd., to convey to you my hearty congratulations on the Jubilee of your paper and to express my best wishes for the future of same. 44 I have supported The Amateur Photographer for many years, because I felt that it tries to give its readers exactly what they require and, from the advertising point of view, is a most excellent medium. 44 I have always found that anyone in command, whether on the Editorial or Advertising side, was most helpful, to say nothing of your compositors who must have been worried to death by our copy. 44 With renewed wishes for your continued success.” Wallace Heaton. 44 On the Jubilee of The Amateur Photographer I should like to offer you and your Staff my very hearty congratulations on the completion of this fifty years’ publication of your very excellent and high-class photographic journal. 44 The Amateur has always appealed to me as a paper that has catered for the best type of amateur photo¬ graphy, and while encouraging the beginner, always shows the best and most artistic photographs that are being produced. 44 1 would wish The A mateur many years of continued success and service to photography.” A. Gray Pickard. (Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) 44 Congratulations on reaching fifty years of publica¬ tion. It is a wonderful achievement. When one compares photography of fifty years ago and photo 546 * graphv to-day, one begins to realise what a transforma¬ tion half a century can perform. 44 Then, photography was experimented with by the few, to-day it is enjoyed by the many, and I think the vast army of amateur photographers are grateful to The Amateur Photographer for the part it has so well and consistently played in the advancement of photo¬ graphy and amateur cinematography. 44 My wishes are for continued prosperity in the good times which I am sure lie ahead of us.” E. E. Lamb. (Bell & Howell Company, Ltd.) 44 May I congratulate all concerned upon the com¬ pletion of 50 years of publication of The Amateur Photographer. It is said that comparisons are odious, but nevertheless I should be doing your journal less than justice if I did not say that I regard it as the amateur photographic journal. 4 The A.P.’ always contains something interesting to every possessor of a camera. It maintains a dignity without pomposity, and has kept pace with the times. Perhaps most important of all from an advertiser’s point of view is the fact that 4 The A.P.’ provides the most suitable medium I know of for advertising the world’s best cameras.” R. E. Peeling. (Zeiss Ikon, Ltd.) 44 Allow me to offer my hearty congratulations to all interested in the production of The Amateur Photogra¬ pher on the occasion of the completion of a half-century of service to the photographic industry ; it is a very apt illustration of the survival of the fittest. “ Having been in the photographic trade myself for over forty years, I have had ample opportunity of judging of the real value of a publication of this class in propagating the information necessary to the amateur photographer of all grades. 44 To the Trade itself it has proved its value as an advertising medium of constantly increasing impor¬ tance, as tne field of the photographic hobby enlarged. 44 The Amateur Photographer having now added a special section for cine photography will, I feel sure, continue to add to its indispensability to all classes of users of photographic apparatus, and can look forward with confidence to a further half-century of usefulness to all interested in the hobby of amateur photography.” J. E. Hodd. (Westminster Photographic Exchange, Ltd.) 44 Fifty years of publication — or, in other words, fifty years of service to the photographer, both profes¬ sional and amateur, and in these latter years, to the cinematographer. 44 Surely it is a record of which The Amateur Photo¬ grapher and Cinematographer may be justly proud, especially when one considers that the publication has been maintained throughout practically all the phases, developments and advances of photography and cine¬ matography. 44 When one realises the tremendous changes and advances that have been made in all types of apparatus during the past ten years, they will appreciate the still greater services The Amateur Photographer and Cinematographer has rendered in bringing to the notice of all users, and discussing for their.benetit, the advances that have been made. “ This service, accorded without any favour, is surely the reason why The Amateur Photographer and Cinematographer maintains its popularity, and justifies your pride in this special Jubilee Number. 44 May you continue your good services to all photo¬ graphers is the wish of C. Dowers.” (Pathescope, Ltd.) 44 Congratulations to The Amateur Photographer on its fiftieth year of publication. It has seen many changes since its first beginning, and I have no doubt that it will live to see in the future even more revolu¬ tionary ones than in the past. 44 Photography, although it has changed its form so much in the last few years, is more flourishing than ever, and that The Amateur Photographer will still be the guide and friend of all who practise the magic art of 44 pinning a shadow to a wall ” is the earnest wish of Will R. Rose.” 44 In celebrating the Jubilee of The Amateur Photo¬ grapher I should like to add my very hearty con¬ gratulations on such a long sphere of usefulness. I can only claim association with it for about one-fifth of that fifty years, during which it has on many occasions helped me considerably in many endeavours. I should like to extend to the journal and to its Editor best wishes for a continuation of success.” H. T. Balleny. (Criterion Plates, Papers, Films, Ltd.) A further selection of congratulatory mes¬ sages will be found in the later pages of this issue. 20