We don’t normally open our Gallery on a Sunday because it’s supposed to be our ‘Day Off’ but, of course, when it’s your own business, the rules fly out of the window on occasions. So this morning was mostly sunny and The Artist went out to complete a watercolour painting he’d been working on. Apart from a brief shower of heavy rainspots, he was OK and returned at lunchtime feeling reasonably satisfied with the result. Anyone who knows an Artist will be aware that they are never fully satisfied … they always feel that they could have done this better or tackled that differently … you get the picture? (sorry, awful pun!)
After lunch it was heavily overcast but not raining so we decided to open the Gallery as there were quite a few people walking past along the beach path. The Artist was doing some framing and I was studying in the office. We were pleasantly surprised by a visit from a lady and gentleman who stayed with us in the final year of running the guest house (we’ve now got self-catering). In the meantime the rain set in, the walkers all hurried home to get dry and I made a big pot of tea so we could chat.
During the course of the chat, we got talking about photos and cameras because he said he’d forgotten to recharge the battery of his videocam so it had gone into a sulk half way through a boat trip to the Bishop Rock Lighthouse this morning. He then opened the rather nondescript carrier bag he’d put on the counter and produced a large, black, heavy ….. FILM camera! Not only was it a film camera but he was shooting using a BLACK AND WHITE film – sixteen shots to a film, he told me – and every one had to count. I was amazed! He had to buy his films from a specialist supplier and send them away to a specialist developer for processing.
He mentioned that he’d been a member of his local camera club since the late sixties and had thousands upon thousands of photographs and slides. He didn’t mind being called a ‘Dinosaur’ by other (presumably younger) members of the club as digital cameras became more popular and he still stuck to film. But, sadly, the atmosphere in the club soured towards the older members who still preferred film and he said he’d left, hinting at some quite unpleasant and hurtful exchanges.
I found that extremely sad because I’m sure almost everyone involved in T189 would be fascinated to browse his collection – a rare treasure in these days of instant digicam results. He bemoaned the fact that he’d gone into Jessops and asked the young male sales assistant for empty cases to transfer some of his slide transparencies into (I can’t remember the exact term he used) but he drew a complete blank – the assistant had no idea what he was talking about. So he just shook his head and left the shop.
I felt privileged to have been able to talk to him and wished they could have spent longer with us, but they had to walk back to their hotel when there was a lull in the rain. However they said they planned to visit again in a couple of years time and I hope to be able to chat to him for longer then.
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You know, I still have the old Agfamatic 126 cartridge film camera that I took to Canada in 1973 when I was only a teenager …
AgfaPhoto – Wikipedia
Mine is the middle one in the panel of three images on the right – the Agfa Agfamatic 300 Sensor. I have about 500 photos taken with that over the nine weeks that I was in Canada. Unfortunately they’ve changed colour and faded quite significantly over the past thirty four years despite being kept in photo albums in a dark cupboard.
Kodak’s 126 film cartridge
Although the photos have faded, I still have all the original film negatives. Maybe one day I’ll choose the best and get them printed properly … if that is still an option.
