Regional Group Calendar of Events 

View through a historic lens

Dr Alan Tulley, formerly of Kodak Ltd, gave a splendid illustrated lecture 'A History of Photography and the Famous'.

He started with the Camera Obscura in the 1700s and then spoke about the two processes developed in the early 1800s. The first was the Dageurreotype method of photography - mercury vapour development of silver iodide on a copper plate. This was a positive process. The second method by Fox Talbot - using silver salts on paper, was a negative process. The developed negative was then waxed to give a positive result. The name 'photography' was coined by the Astronomer, and photographic pioneer, Sir William Herschel.

He continued from 1851 with the Wet Collodion era - cellulose nitrates in alcohol and ether - and on to the 'Dry Plate' method - a dried emulsion of gelatine with silver bromide. In 1879 George Eastman, at Rochester, New York State, invented and experimented with a roller machine, with which he started a Print Out Service for photographers. By 1888 he set up the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company selling a small box camera able to take 100 exposures, which he named The Kodak Camera. The roll of film was returned for developing and printing. When celluloid film was produced this became the basis of 'snaps'.

The next move forward was the cine-camera, taking moving photographs and in the 1920s and 1930s John Logie Baird invented mechanical Television.

Colour photography, first introduced by James Clerk Maxwell in 1866, used the Primary colours, Red, Green and Blue. This was additive colour photography. Today the process uses the subtractive colours, Yellow, Cyan and Magenta. Kodachrome slide film became available from 1935 and Colour prints from 1940. The Instant photography system arrived in 1963 and Compact cameras in 1990.

In 1970 The Bell Telephone Company produced the first Digital camera. This method of capturing an image is now de rigueur and the quality is ever improving.

Throughout his history of photography, Alan Tulley also showed photographs of famous scientists and spoke about their work. Among these were Fox Talbot, Herschel, Hurter, Carruthers, Frank Whittle and even Sir Edward Elgar! This fascinating, and highly recommended, talk led to a lively Question and Answer session.