Sunday 3 August 2008

Golden Oldies



Towards the Future ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
At the Window ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
Gathering the Crop ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
My Father ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
Seashore, Copyright ⓒ 2008 Cate McRae; All Rights Reserved
Winch and Pier ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
Outside the Station ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved
Leaving ⓒ Cate McRae 2008; All Rights Reserved


I found these negatives, and quite a number more, back in March (see previous post here). It's taken me until now to find the space to look at them. They were taken on an Agfa Billy Record 4.5, (Prontor 11 shutter) a 6 x 9 art-deco folder (which was made c.1935) with FP4. At some stage the focus became, still is, stuck on 3 ft. It didn't seem to matter at the time (which was more than 25 years ago!). Not sure if I had a little more movement here with these (some of the first) before it finally seized up completely - but it never worked properly. No light meter either. I haven't used the camera in years, though looking at these negatives I'm going to give it a go again soon. These were amongst my first ever photos that were not taken on the little agfa instamatic my dad gave me when I was eleven or so. I did print some at the time at an evening class (not a very good one) - my first ever go at black and white printing - but not these. Then - no black and white photography and precious little other kind, only holiday snaps and first-child snaps, for nearly 15 years...

The first two are of someone who didn't much like having his photo taken. The third is my father, (who come to think of it never liked having his photo either so I'm lucky to have these) sorting through his summer harvest of apples - I cropped this one a little - which I will have to do when it comes to printing as my enlarger only goes up to 6 x7. The fourth is him too - the next are...well... the seaside (local, Suffolk coast). The railway station with car (and café) looks a bygone age - makes me feel pretty old. Not sure how long that car had been sitting there though, judging by the weeds!. The last is, I think, telling me where I came from (and it hasn't changed).

Anyway, I'm delighted to have them back.




All Images ⓒ All Rights Reserved