In the last issue, I remarked on how quickly the summer had gone, now I find that the winter has flown by too. I did manage to cut my hedge before winter set in, but Ihave not had time to have a haircut!
In the south of England the weather has been favourable for taking photographs -not much rain, plenty of sun and temperatures hovering about freezing. Although, on the coast, a brisk wind finds its way into the warmest of jackets.
I have continued my project of photographing Bosham Harbour and have taken to wandering about with waders, now not having to worry about my wellington boots filling up with water when a wave catches me unawares. My tripod has sealed legs so water ingress is not a concern - just a rinse in fresh water after an outing. David Morgan has mentioned Kodak Ektachrome on the next page. I was surprised to also read about it in the Daily Mail national daily newspaper. "It is a modern contradiction that more photographs than ever are taken on smartphones and digital cameras, yet no one ever prints them out.".
This is a point about which I have been fully aware, not only from my family's point of view, but from a number of friends who happily snap away but only show a few images on the screen to close friends.
The nostalgia of film is not the only product that is seeing a resurgence – vinyl records are selling well, apparently a 53% rise in sales in 2016, and in another paragraph in the same article it was reported that a luxury hotel plans to rip out its electronic locks and replace them with traditional key locks. Although that is not from the nostalgic point of view but because their key card system had been hacked and the hackers had locked all the hotel bedrooms and were blackmailing the hotel. I think it is a certainty that no one would be able to hack a twin lens Rolleiflex, so that is one area that will not give us concern.
We have had a slowly diminishing number of readers attending our spring meeting and so David and I have decided that this year the two of us will possibly arrange to meet sometime in May, possibly around Chester or Liverpool. If anyone is interested, let me know and we can firm up some details. Suggestions for a venue welcome.
I am confidently looking forward to the next few months having photo productive weather; but I will not rely on the forecasters.
