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
96 years young
May I join the AP Readers Geriatric Club? I was born in June 1927, so I’m probably not the eldest member. It seems that I was a slow learner because it took me until I was 11 years old to develop my first film. The film was photographs of model aircraft that I’d made and were contact printed on printing out paper. My interest in aircraft led to a career in the aerospace industry.
You are correct in your reply to Mike Rignall’s letter (AP 16 May); we all have our own particular photographic interests. As a compulsive DIY enthusiast, the first AP that I read, passed to me by a family friend, was a happy source of things to make. When I was a little bit older, I spent sixpence of my pocket money to purchase my own copy, and I have been a reader for the past 85 years, and an occasional contributor to the magazine since 1965.
The content has changed over the years, but then, as today, I have my ‘go-to pages’ that grab my attention. Nowadays, Inbox, Reader Portfolio, Tony Kemplen, and John Wade are always of prime interest. But in an attempt to declutter I have disposed of my camera collection, which can now be seen online at www.guyjbrown.com. I miss the late Dr Stewart Bell and Roger Hicks, but unlike Mike, I often enjoy Final Analysis, especially when authored by Damien Demolder.
My photography is now restricted to close-ups, tabletop, and pinhole photography. I have managed to contribute to the Worldwide Pinhole Day for the past ten years.
What of the future? Artificial intelligence, which I have been playing with recently, will undoubtedly have an impact on photographers, both professional and amateurs. The astonishing growth of AI should not be ignored, even by the AP. I asked DALL-E2 to create a macro shot of a hornet on my fingertip. The attached is the result!
Clifford, you’re an inspiration. I’m in awe of your energy and how engaged you are with the world, and with embracing new experiences. I hope that I’m like you at your age. I’m not sure if we have any readers who have been reading AP for longer than you, but if there are I’d love to hear from them. In the meantime I hope you can put your prize of a memory card to good use.
Regressing
It seems the more the photography world embraces the inarguable capabilities of phones, the more I regress. Maybe it’s an age thing. Anyway I can’t stop, I have a roll of long-expired Jessops Pan 400s stand developing in Rodinal, and it’s nearly done! Aaaa
