article by a learner from Lanark

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One of my Happiest  Memories. 

One of my happiest memories is of the time spent with my Dad.   He was a friend as well as my Dad.   He and I looked like each other and it seemed as if there was a sixth sense between us.

When I was small, we used to go out to the racecourse on a Sunday morning.   I was his model.   I would sit on the grass and smile.   My claim to fame was that many of the photographs were entered in The Camera Club competitions.   Sometimes Dad would win or be placed.

Dad always helped me with my homework, especially when it came to exams.   Unfortunately I did not always remember everything we had revised.   Dad always   looked over the exam papers when I came home.   “Well that is okay,” he would say.   I would just stand there and give him a look which more or less told him everything was not okay.   I would say almost apologetically, “I cannot remember everything.”

So my growing up continued.   Dad was a chemist and I started to work in the shop.   I was in the back of the shop filling budgie seed.   That went on for some time.

I always went to my Aunt and Uncle’s in Kilmarnock during the holidays.   Once, when I was there, I thought it was about time that my working in the shop progressed to the next stage, namely serving customers.   I wrote to Dad and made this suggestion.

Barbara decided she would really be one of the girls.   Chrissie gave me a white overall.   That was how I began “working” in the shop. 

Dad wanted me to understand that you do not always get paid for what you do in life. 

Dad was off ill, so one of the partners in the firm was taking his place.   Imagine my excitement when I was handed a ten pound note.   I ran upstairs to tell Dad.   “Look what I have got!” I said to him.   He just gave a smile and said he knew I was going to be paid.   One of the partners had asked him if it was not about time he started to pay me for working.

The money, although I was pleased, did not really matter to me.   I enjoyed being in the shop and working with Dad.   I learned, among other things, how to relate to people. 

Life continued – school and the shop.   My dream of being a chemist with the two certificates hanging side by side was still alive.   The dream was shattered when Dad was taken from us. I was 17 years old.

I have his certificate as a reminder of the good times we had together.

Lanark Learner

and

Photography

I maybe looked like my Dad but I definitely did not take after him with regard to taking photographs.

Dad was a founder member of Lanark Camera Club.   During the war he was a photographer with the Royal Air Force.   He developed the films brought back by the airmen.   Mum gave the Camera Club a silver salver to be presented annually for colour photography in his memory.

We used to go down to the dispensary which he used as a darkroom.   The window was blackened out and I had strict instructions not to open the door.   If I did, it would spell disaster. 

The developing solution was put in a square container.   It was fascinating watching the photographs suddenly appear.   I had made it by coming into print.   Quite a lot of the photographs developed he entered into the Camera Club competitions.

My first camera was a box Brownie, very simple and easy to use.   That’s what I was told.   Sometimes what you are told and what happens are two different things. Thus was my introduction to photography.

Dad had two cameras.   One was a Leica and one was a Zeiss.   To me the Leica seemed complicated.   Dad measured the distance from the photograph to be taken by the number of steps he took.   The distance was then set on the camera.   There was also a light meter to be used.   Nowadays this is included in the camera.

The Zeiss camera was different again.   The front came out like a concertina.   He had a tripod to sit the camera on.   He followed his usual routine of measuring distance and checking the light.   I never did master these techniques.

Paul was out one weekend and he had his camera with him.   I never paid much attention to it until Archie asked if I had looked at it.

I wondered what was so special about it.   When I opened it the memories came flooding back.   The camera was similar to the kind his grandad had.  

I asked him if he measured his distance before taking photographs.   Then began a conversation about his grandad and his Leica.   We went through the various parts of the camera and it felt as if I was going back in time.  

It’s strange how the past can suddenly confront you when you least expect it to.   It was a strange feeling, although it was good to think he had something in common with the granddad he never knew.

Learner, Lanark.

Webmaster replies

I love the opening paragraph of your first article.   It makes you want to read on.  And that second sentence...

The second article reminds me of the enjoyable time I had at the same Camera Club. I didn't know your dad as I joined a lot later.

And you're right, it's made me think of friends (members of the same club) whom I used to share some good times with.   Sadly, no longer.

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