LETTER OF THE WEEK
Write to the Editor at ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk and include your full postal address. Please don’t send letters in the post as there is no one in the office to receive them. Replies are from the Editor unless otherwise stated
Imperfect is perfect for me
Over past decades I have been fortunate enough to have had some photographs published in AP. Of these, one was taken with a Kodak Junior 2 (anyone remember that?) and another with an Olympus XA1 35mm compact.
The late Edward Steichen – who had one of the world’s longest and most successful careers in art and applied photography – said that no photographer is as good as the simplest camera. For many years, AP has supported this view. I have been looking through some issues from the early 1940s. The excellent photographs featured were produced with equipment (including Box Brownies) that would be considered primitive today. By the end of the war most of the more advanced types (Leica, Ikonta) had been donated to the armed forces. Presumably the Brownies kept photography going on the home front.
Coincidentally Steichen and an early editor of AP, Alfred Horsley Hinton, contributed to The Photographic Art Journal in the early 1900s. Even that far back, Horsley Hinton was critical of photographers who were over-obsessed with lens performance. Over a century later, the message seems to be getting through, with Voigtländer introducing a lens which deliberately retains some optical aberrations!
Keeping kit dry
Having spent quite a wad of hard-earned cash on some mirrorless equipment and noting that most of it hates getting wet/damp or dirty, I wondered if there were secret ways the old hands and professionals overcome inclement conditions both while shooting and after. I have a few camera bags that will shield equipment while getting to venues, but when shooting it becomes inevitable that wet stuff will come into contact sooner or later. Most sports don’t stop for mere rainfall, while flora and fauna start to shine or glisten when washed down and blown off making it sometimes prime time to press the button.
I have recently found you can get photographic dehumidifiers and wondered if these are of any benefit. Alternatively, silica sachets and airtight boxes may be an answer, though I have heard this method can damage rubber mouldings. Advice or even a future article of guidance may save your readers some hefty bills.
Well deserved
I really e
