(Page
Three)
Life
in Canada and his slides showed us some of the magical Lake & Mountain
scenery on his travels. His trecks through mountains in the snow and
bright sunlight were very colourful on Ektachrome film. From Glacial,
frozen scenes to simmering heat of summer the slides were most enjoyable.
Next followed
some slides from Bill Reid taken during a visit to Michigan, U.S.A. back
last October. These were mainly from a bulk roll of Konicachrome and
:processed with a Barfen kit. The others were from a bulk length of
Agfachrome 200 asa purchased in Michigan and processed with a Photoworld
Economy kit.
Among the
highlights were slides taken at Detroit, Chicago and into Canada at
Windsor Ontario and Sault St. Marie in the North. The Greenfield Village
and Ford Motor Musiums in Detroit where along with a massive collection of
‘Ford’ vehicles, planes, boats & trains, the Village museum
contained original famous buildings rebuilt and in their working order in
a sight surrounded by a standard gauge Steam railway, The Wright
Brother’s Father’s bicycle shop where they first ventured into flying
machines. Thomas Edison’s workshops where he stated that he would
produce one new invention a week. One small building showed where they
hand-made the light bulbs and this was light by one of these lamps. It
wasn’t much brighter than a standard candle, but for that period it must
have seemed like a miracle. Outside stood one of the original Steam
Generators used to light up a whole town.
With the
Autumn colours at their maximum and some bright weather it was very
colourful. The conclusion was views, from the Seer’s Tower in Chicago,
which at 1,707ft is the highest building in the world. An express lift
takes you at 15mph to the viewing platform at 1,454ft and here you have
the most panoramic views across 4 States and Lake Michigan which appears
more like the sea than a fresh water lake. Certainly an experience to
remember.
A second
interval followed with some refreshments supplied by Bill’s family and
members could mix and chat and~ view the excellent Cibachrome prints by
Margary Meadows. Our thanks to Alan Panes of the Didcot camera Club who
supplied the print stand which set off Margary’s prints very well. Kevin
Craske of T.F. M. and his wife seemed to be kept busy- with their ‘Sales
Stall’ with film, chemicals, slide frames and many items for processing.
Tony Chuter of
Area 18 had a demonstration of his home-made pH meter arid which he has
kindly offered to build for CRC members who are interested. This meter has
to be seen to be believed as it is extremely professional looking. Further
information will be found in the Newsletter.
After the
interval, when, I’m sure some new friendships had been struck up, we had
the welcome presentation of Bill Crumplin’s Wide-screen transparencies.
Bill hasn’t got the other projector repaired to show this in 3-D, But
what a show in Wall-to-Wall panoramic vistas of his holiday in Europe and
around his home ground at Surrey.
Bill uses a
Russian ‘Horizont’ (two for 3-D) camera with a lens that rotates to
expose the film over an area equal to 3 x 35mm and his home-built
projector (s), spreads this over the 20.odd ft. screen.
This was
followed by Bill’s 35mm 3-D slides and I don’t think I stretch things
when I add that this went on and on with everyone still wanting more.
There’s no doubt that 3-D slides take some beating for putting you into
the scene. Flowers in bloom, branches sticking in your eye, Foreign market
places with goods you almost could buy on the spot, to countryside views.
So real, in fact, that I could swear I saw a young lady in a state of
undress a couple of times. But probably was just the realism of the
presentation?
Bill hopes to
get his second projector ready- for next year, and show his wide-screen
3-ID which I am sure is well worth looking forward to. He hopes to fit a
lamp a good 5 times stronger than the present one, but as Bill stated this
may require the need for a ‘Water-cooled’ screen.
And so after a
most enjoyable day which started around 11am and finished by 8pm with the
final clearing up, we would like to thank you all for coming along and
especially those who put on a programme of slides. The Didcot meetings are
proving to be most successful. It could only get better by the inclusion
of more members attending and showing their work. Hope to see more of you
next year.