FOLLOWING IN FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS

By Pauline Calvert (Area 4)

I have been interested in photography and developing films for some time and about 10 years ago I attended a night class at a Middlesbrough school run by Cecil Jones for developing and printing black and white photographs. I never had much success with B&W as I couldn`t get the blacks black or the whites white. Now I tend to concentrate on the colour slides.

I often used to help Dad with the processing of films and it was very much a family production line in chopping up the films and mounting them into frames. The rest of the family all like taking photos and it seemed such a shame when Dad died that we had all the equipment yet we didn`t know how to use it correctly. It was then that I set about in earnest to learn how to develope the films.

I have only ever used the boxes of chemicals from the local camera shop as I don`t have the time to weigh out the different ingredients. The first films I developed were of the horses, house and gardens, easy to replace should disaster strike. By better luck than judgement they all turned out. However the real challenge came when I had to process Mum`s holiday photos from trips to Egypt and Marrocco. Fortunately once again no problems. What a boost this was to my confidence, I was convinced I was now an expert!

I was brought back down to earth when Mum returned from America. I was again in charge of developing the films. This time 3 films emerged from the tank completely black. I couldn`t understand why. I was sure I had done things in exactly the same way. Could I have used the chemicals in the wrong order? This was hardly possible with only three baths of solutions. I finally plucked up courage to tell Mum that her snaps were ruined, only to be told that she thought she could remember having some problems with some films in loading them into the camera and winding them on. Could this have anything to do with it, she asks sheepishly? Yes! and the text books confirmed it by the way in which the leader and edges of the film had developed.

Last year came my biggest test to date. Mum was off to Kenya and wanted lots of film just in case there were some animals to be see. I thought I had better order 30 metres of film, having in the past only bought 10 metres at a time. I didn`t realise how large a roll of 30 metres was till I was trying to load it into the carrier and began to panic in case it wouldn`t fit. I eventually managed and ended up with 29 films @ 24 exposures, 14 of which travelled to Kenya and back and all were developed successfully to reveal Elephants, Giraffs and Zebras and then more Elephants, Giraffs and Zebras!

During the winter I spent some time printing some of the better slides using the Ilford Cibachrome A packs. The results have been pleasing but I still need much more practice.

I have now been in the CR Club for 18 months, meeting regularly at Dave Morrell`s house in Middlesbrough. Unfortunately there are only a few members, perhaps a good job or we wouldn`t all fit in the darkroom! I am looking forward to the Club starting up again after the Summer break to meet friends who are always ready with help and advice, and if I can do it I`m sure others can.

The late, Cecil Jones was a CRC member and Area Leader, going back to the earliest days of the Club and, the late, Peter Calvert took over from Cecil. Both served the Club and the members of Area 4, admirably and I am sure are still well remembered and missed by those who who knew them, and their families.

Ed.