QUO VADIS
By Henrey Jenner (Area 20)
During the late 1960`s reasonably inexpensive film and kits for Colour Transparencies were appearing on the market. At that time there was a newspaper "Photo News Weekly" which was short on adverts but full of information for the D.I.Y. photographer. It had a very lively bunch of contributors. One of whom was Fred Harvey, who with others founded the C.R.50 Club. Sponsorship was obtained from 3M who were the distributors of Ferrania film.
The first CR50 Newsletter was dated January 1972. By April Fred was being inundated with sackfull of mail and the Jan. 73 Letter says that the Membership exceeded 900 mark and was world wide.
In April `74 there were rumours of a new film on the way. Ill health forced Fred Harvey to retire from office. He became the Club President and continued to maintain an interest in the Club until his death.
The first C.R.C. Newsletter appeared in April 1976. This followed a referendum of which 5 - 2 were in favour of surrendering 3M sponsorship. Out of a total of 1176 papers which were sent out 625 votes were cast.
A new Constitution was drafted which lifted all form of restrictions on the use of film and embraced all forms and methods of processing. (At that time only Chemical processing was envisaged.
Kodak introduced the E6 process in October 1977 and most film manufacturers quickly followed suit. In January 1978 the Club had 600 members.
In the following 15 or so years what has happened? Has processing become so easy, so mundane that there is no challenge left? If you can consistently produce the perfect slide then tell us how you do it. To produce a good slide itself is not enough it must be presented in some form or another. Traditionally this has been done by projection but a number of people are putting their slides onto V.H.S. accompanied with sound as members who attended a recent A.G.M. will verify. It could be argued that the use of Electronic means is not photography, however Artists once argued that the use of a camera was not Art.
What do you think? If you cannot manage to get along to the A.G.M. to tell us, then drop a line to Bill. After all, Communication without Dialogue is impossible. What is the matter with us all, if we cannot talk to each other?
Quo Vadis ?
Its up to you.