THE DYNASTY
Having now dealt with the Theatrette period, the hut period
and the beginning of The Griffin Centre period, it is opportune
to talk about the Dynasty which spanned all three periods.
Over the years, there have been some very influential members
of the Society. I've identified and tagged three of these members
as The Dynasty, because they joined and left the Society at different
times over about 25 years as if they succeeded one another and
because they had a common interest in raising photographic standards
within the Society. They also had a common background in their
association with the CSIRO Land Research and Regional Survey Laboratory
on Black Mountain which was established because the Government
realized during the war that it knew nothing about the land forms
in Northern Australia.
Chris (Clifford) Christian, an inaugural member of the Society,
and the first member of my Dynasty, actually founded the laboratory
on the slopes of Black Mountain and broke new scientific ground
with a partnership of aerial photography and ground surveys of
geographic regions in Northern Australia. Eventually the laboratory
was named the C.S. Christian Laboratory and stands there today
for all to see, housing the CSIRO Land and Water Division.
Chris therefore brought some scientific photography expertise
to the Society. For his personal photography he often used a Leica
camera with either Kodachrome or black and white film. Early on
Chris had some trouble with judges, duly reported in the news
bulletin, but went on to become very influential over the Theatrette
and early hut periods. He had 50 prints in the first exhibition
of members' work in 1948 and was the only Canberran on the judging
panel for the 1951 Jubilee International Salon. In reaching these
standards of achievement, Chris had to contend with lengthy field
trips to Northern Australia and other travel, which interrupted
his endeavours at the Society. Nevertheless, he was always an
influential member.
The second member of my Dynasty, is Len Leslie. Len joined
the Society during the hut period. He was a school teacher, living
in Queanbeyan with his mother in a heritage coach house, in which
he had a darkroom. Len loved to try out new darkroom processes
and often did this together with Alf Redpath and Keith Bogg into
the late hours. In this process a bottle or two of Porphyry Pearl
would be consumed.
Keith Bogg looked on Len Leslie as his mentor within the Society
and so it was no surprise to Keith when the Land Research Laboratory
advertised for a Photographic Services Manager, and Len Leslie
got the job.
I first met Len in 1969 when he was a visiting judge and I
remember that he always had a clear idea of what photographic
standards should prevail in the Society and did not mind an opportunity
to pass those ideas on. I also remember that if you wanted Len's
imprimatur on your work, you should not submit a red sunset
only a golden one would do.
While not as high profile as Chris Christian, Len certainly had
a long-standing influence on the Society.
Len, in his turn, recruited Jack Cavanagh as the laboratory
photographer, and Jack became the last member of the Dynasty,
as well as its only photographic professional.
As the anecdotal story goes, it was suggested to Jack in no
uncertain terms, it was part of his duty as the laboratory photographer
to join the Society, attend its meetings and help keep up the
standards.
As a person, Jack had an underlying quietness of manner, bordering
on shyness, but I remember him as a talented photographer and
a worthy competitor in colour slide photography..
Jack's ambition was to achieve photographic honours before
he retired and he went on to achieve
Royal Photographic Society Honours with a slide set of Lake Burley
Griffin shorelines in fog. To my knowledge, Jack is the only member
to achieve a Royal Photographic Society Honour in the Society's
61 years.
Jack left the Society in the early 70s and thus ended the Dynasty.
An archive of Jack's photographs is still maintained at the Black
Mountain Laboratory.
ENERGY STEP UP
In the late seventies, there was a revitalization of the membership
and the Society moved to three meetings a month to accommodate
separate Club and Guest Speaker nights, in addition to the traditional
competition night meetings.
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THE THEATRE GROUP
In addition to the step up in meeting frequency, a theatre
group emerged from within the Society operating extra curricular
according to what shows were staged and when access to photograph
could be arranged.
The theatre group established connections with Canberra Opera,
The Philharmonic Society, Canberra Repertory Theatre, Canberra
Dance and The National Capital Ballet School, giving access to
photograph productions put on by these organizations, often at
dress rehearsal. In return, prints were provided for front-of-house
display, publicity purposes and other uses.
In 1981 the theatre group staged the first of three print
exhibitions in the Link Gallery at The Canberra Theatre complex.
Leading members of the group staging the 1981 Exhibition were
Maurice Weidemann, Ross Gould and Graeme Watson. Keith Bogg saw
this exhibition and rejoined the Society on the strength of it
to get back into theatre photography.
About 20 years previously, Keith had anticipated the theatre
group activities by photographing stage productions such as "The
Merchant of Venice", prior to his marriage in 1959, and
later, Philharmonic Society productions of "Iolanthe"
in 1962 in which his wife, Lois, was a leading cast member, and
"Gypsy Baron" in 1963. These productions were at the
Albert Hall and Keith's practice was to photograph them from
the top of a step ladder placed in the centre aisle. Keith even
photographed one production in 400 ISO, 2-1/4" square Ansco
colour slide film.
There is little doubt that theatre photographers enjoy a somewhat
masochistic experience, fraught with hurdles such as long exposure
times, the extreme brightness range of stage lighting, restrictions
on camera location and the need to anticipate action on stage.
But they seem to come back for more and the group is still active
today.
Photo onRight : Near the Photographic Society's Hut was
the Canberra Repertory Society hut. Keith Bogg was an early pioneer
of theatre photography. This is a photo by Keith Bogg of John
Ullman who had his own Shakespear company. He is playing Shilok
in the Merchant of Venice being performed at the Albert Hall.
The makeup is typical for the 1950's. Ullman was lobbying the
Prime Minister for money for his company but didn't get any.
At least some things haven't changed.
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Max Blyton (Above left) hosting a visit by the Wollongong
Society. A highlight was a visit to the Mosque at Yarralumla
(below right.) |
COLOUR PRINTING
In 1982, a Colour Print competition was launched. Preceding
the launch the practicality of having a colour print competition
was tested by running a Cibachrome workshop where several members
made their first colour prints. At that time, the Cibachrome process
was seen as a relatively easy means of making high-quality colour
prints from colour slides in the home darkroom, and the wherewithal
to make the prints, in the form of wet processing kits, were becoming
readily available for purchase in photographic stores in Canberra.
At the start only four members competed, all with Cibachrome
process prints. A period of slow growth and consolidation of the
competition followed and now colour printing is the most popular
competition category.
In the meantime digital technology became popular, bringing
into vogue scanning and computer manipulation of images, as well
as the inkjet printing process. This was at the expense of Cibachrome
darkroom printing which lost most of its practitioners.
| Taken on field trip 1980's. L to R Peter Dawson,
Brian Rope, Murray Foote, Peter Paseka(has since changed name
to Orlando Luminare) and Jim Mason. Peter Jim and Murray started
the colour print competition in 1982. |
EXHIBITIONS
Going all the way back to 1945, the Society has consistently
aspired to exhibit work both internally and in public, for audiences
ranging from practitioners at the monthly competitions to the
general public at events such as this 60th Anniversary Exhibition.
The internal exhibitions, which include the more recently introduced
print and projected image portfolio competitions attracting external
sponsorship, develop the photographic skills of members and provide
training to recognize and achieve the standards required for public
exhibition of work. On the other hand, the public exhibitions
over 60 years, in tents, showground pavilion, galleries, theatres
and locations such as the High Court and CMAG, confirm the place
of the Society in the community.
| Dave Pfizter supervises an exhibition at the
Canberra Showgrounds. The photos behind Dave's head were taken
by Maurie Weidemann and Graeme Watson. The two on the top left
of the right hand board were taken by Murray Foote. The original
display boards were pine frames painted drab brown with hessian
covered canite. These were refurbished to their current form
for the 50th anniversary exhibition. The refurbishment involved
repairing the frames, replacing the canite and covering the front
surface with carpet. This renovation cost more than $2000 in
materials alone. Work was done by a large group of members working
in two teams at different locations. |
| One of the many tent displays put on by the Society
at "ACT Alive" The Society took part in these annual
ACT club expo's for about 15 years until 2001 when the cost of
participating for 6 hours exceeded the cost of renting a small
gallery for a week. The Australian Public Liability Insurance
industry was in turmoil and a suitable insurance policy was impossible
to obtain. The committee decided to cease the Society's participation
in ACT Alive and concentrating its efforts on more professional
type gallery exhibits. |
