Memories are made of this

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 14

Memories are made of this

Collecting with

Myrtle Duff

Brighton pier recalled

Whenever you collect anything, a little bit of history is preserved and if you are a keen photographer of the passing scene you are certainly recording history as it happens! There has surely never been a more convenient and reliable way of freezing a moment in time forever, or at least for as long aS the negative is preserved.

So do take good care of those precious photographs and sort very carefully before discarding any when called on to dispose of the personal possessions of a friend or relative. Just a glance at a photograph of a familiar place only a short time ago will reveal a change usually dramatic enough to convince you of the value of conserving old photographs. If you are already a collector you will certainly enjoy a visit to an exhibition of historical photographs from the 1920 s and 30s at present displayed in the visitors’ lounge at Canterbury Museum. Selected by the museum’s curator of pictorial history, Mrs Joan Woodward, the photographs are from a collection of over 10,000 negatives made by William Anderson Taylor and presented to the museum by his daughter in 1968. A keen cyclist, Taylor pedalled his way through the streets of Christchurch and the roads and by-ways of the surrounding countryside, always with his camera at the ready. The result is. a remarkably comprehensive pictorial history of Canterbury at that time. Many have been printed and used in a number of exhibitions such as the. present one. Copies may be ordered from the. museum library. One particularly striking photograph shows men loading coal baskets at Timaru. I do not' know> for certain whether this still happens but the picture appears to belong to a past age. Another shows children enjoying the antics of squirrels in the

Botanic Gardens in Christchurch and the one illustrated with this article depicts the famous pier at New Brighton — scene which must have been familiar to at least thr.ee generations of citizens who probably did not envisage it ever disappearing as it has, regrettably, today. In another print a rather empty Cashel Street contrasts strongly with that area today and even more so, I should imagine, with its appearance when the new Cashel Street mall comes into being. Nobody seems to know the exact date of the first photograph but I suppose it is generally considered that' modern photography began with the dageufrotype. It is said that the French painter, Paul Delaroche, in 1826 on seeing his first daguerrotype, exlaimed “From today painting is dead.” A' British writer, David Benedictus, disagrees; he believes that it was-not the art of painting that died that day, but privacy. This is probably true only for the rich and famous — world figures; famous artists, politicians; whose features, through the medium of photography, are as familiar to us today as our own in the mirror. No doubt they suffer from loss of privacy but they also enjoy in large measure the advantages of world-wide recognition.

The photograph which caused Delaroche prematurely to mourn the demise of the art of painting led to the publication of daguerrotypes in. the late 1830 s, and the age .of the camera had begun. In- 1851 Frederick' 'Scott Archeri/ihvented the weti.collodian processin vol ving 'the glass, plate negative and this process was used by Canterbury’s pioneer photographer, Dr Alfred Charles Barker.

i Arriving in the Charlotte Jane, the first of the ‘‘First Four” immigrant . ships to reach Lyttelton, Dr Barker seemed to spend little time practising his profession but

a great deal in pursuit of his hobby. He photographed his family, friends and home and consistently recorded the rapidly changing scene of the infant town of Christchurch! Because the method- he used required instant developing he travelled about with ■a horse harnessed to a-port-able darkroom mounted on a four-wheel buggy frame, and was so obsessed with his hobby that he was known at times to use the family silver for photographic purposes and to cut pieces of glass

from his windows when short of glass. His enthusiasm and energy has left Christchurch an unusually detailed pictorial record of the early growth of the city. Copies of Barker prints may also be obtained from the Museum’s library. Their quality is seldom equalled today and never surpassed. New Zealand historians are fortunate that the European settlement of this country coincided with the invention arid development of

photography. All the early versions were made here, Ambrotypes, daguerrotypes and even tintypes — the latter, probably because of their durability compared with the more glamorous but fragile types, were popular and some still survive, though little is known of their makers or places of origin. One thing is certain though, photography flourished in the early days of New Zealand's settlement

and has continued to do so. In addition to the keen amateurs many excellent professional photographers set up business and large numbers of albums of selected tourist attractions and beauty spots still exist as well as hundreds of photographic postcards. Many of these may be found in the local secondhand and antique shops, sometimes quite unusual items. I discovered a most attractive photographic portrait on glass at a Manches ;

ter Street gallery which had been made in the 1900 s. I have never seen another quite like it, though I am sure there are others about. All types of old photographs are keenly sought today. I heard recently of one collector who had previously focused his attention on cameras but had now become so interested in acquiring their products that he is even prepared to sacrifice some of his precious cameras for rare old prints.