News of the
Camera Club of Richmond

DECEMBER 2009

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COMING UP...

We'll be starting the new year with the first regular membership meeting on January 13, 2010. This will be an Evaluation Night; if you're unclear on what that entails, click on the "Evaluations" tab of this website for details. Please make every effort to attend!

JANUARY PHOTOSHOOT

GREAT GIFT IDEA!

Do you have friends, relatives or colleagues who are camera buffs or photo freaks and whom you care enough about to give them Christmas presents? Or Hanukah gifts? Or for any other seasonal observance that would warrant a remembrance from you? Can't come up with something suitable? How about a year's membership in the Camera Club of Richmond? Unlike the chance of winning the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes, gift certificates for CCR membership are real, available, and reasonably priced. What a great idea!
E:mail Publications Director for more information.
 

YOU ASK, WE PROVIDE: "BEGINNER" WORKSHOP SCHEDULED!

Please plan to attend a free educational workshop on January 23, 2010, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Tuckahoe Branch of the Henrico County Library.  The workshop will be geared towards novice photographers who shoot digitally with either a point-and-shoot or a digital SLR and towards "not-so-novice" photographers who have been hesitant to shoot outside of the "auto zone."  Several of the CCR's more experienced members will share their knowledge about basic (and a bit more than basic) camera operation and photographic technique, and time will be allotted for some hands-on practice.  Space is limited--preference will be given to CCR members until December 26, 2010, when we open registration to the public.  So, if you haven't already signed up, please email Karen Molzhon at kgmatetr@gmail.com to reserve your spot.
 

ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET

The End-of-Year Banquet was a huge success; many thanks to John Boatright for his efforts in securing Byram's Lobster House for this celebration.
The venue and the food were excellent, and a total of forty-seven attendees mixed and mingled for a very enjoyable evening.

END OF YEAR AWARD WINNERS

I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE... Anybody? Hello?

Have you attended any of the many classes, seminars, photo-trips or outings posted in each issue of Southern Exposure? Or any others? The opportunities to learn and practice our favorite hobby are practically endless. We’d like to get some feedback from you and share it with the rest of the membership. It's always nice to hear rave reviews, but it's also important to know which (if any) you felt were rip-offs or not worth the time or money. If you'll submit a brief write-up of your experience(s), we’ll see about putting it in “the next issue” of Southern Exposure. E:mail it to publications@cameraclubofrichmond.com -- and thank you!
 

WE'VE COME A LONG WAY...

The tintype was produced on metallic sheet (not, actually, tin) instead of glass. The plate was coated with collodion and sensitized just before use, as in the wet plate process. It was introduced by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in 1853, and became instantly popular, particularly in the United States, though it was also widely used by street photographers in Great Britain. The process was simple enough to enable one to set up business without much capital;

It was much faster than other processes of the time -- first, the base did not need drying, and secondly, no negative was needed, so it was a one-stage process. Cheap to produce, a typical price for a tintype was 6d (2 1/2p) and 1 shilling (5p); the material could easily be cut up and therefore fitted into lockets, brooches, etc.

The most common size was about the same as the carte-de-visite, 2 1/4'' x 3 1/2'', but both larger and smaller tintypes were made. The smallest were "Little Gem" tintypes, about the size of a postage-stamp, made simultaneously on a single plate in a camera with 12 or 16 lenses.

Compared with other processes the tintype tones seem uninteresting. They were often made by unskilled photographers, and their quality was very variable. They do have some significance, however, in that they made photography available to working classes, not just to the more well-to-do. Whereas up till then the taking of a portrait had been more of a special "event," from the introduction of tintypes we see more relaxed, spontaneous poses.

The original name for Tintype was "Melainotype." It is perhaps worth adding that there was no tin in them. Some have suggested that they were named after the tin shears used to separate the images from the whole plate, others that it was just a way of saying "cheap metal" (ie, non-silver).

The print would come out laterally reversed (as one sees oneself in a mirror); either people did not worry about this, or just possibly they did not discover it until after the photographer had disappeared!

Being quite rugged, tintypes could be sent by post, and many astute tintypists did quite a trade in America during the Civil War, visiting the encampments. Later, some even had their shop on river-boats.

Tintypes were eventually superseded by gelatin emulsion dry plates in the 1880s, though street photographers in various parts of the world continued with this process until the 1950s. Eventually, of course, 35mm and Polaroid photography were to replace these entirely.

From A History of Photography from its beginnings till the 1920s by Robert Leggat, MA M.Ed Ph.D.
 

WORKSHOPS, CLASSES, SEMINARS, CONTESTS AND WHAT-HAVE-YOU

Victoria Dye Photography

Offerings by Joseph Rossbach Photography

Please visit our workshop website for more details and to sign up for our workshops. In order to get hotel and transportation reservations as well as a spot on the workshop/tour before they book up, it is advised to make reservations as soon as possible. Many of our workshops fill up 3 to 4 months in advance.

A LITTLE HUMOR

PLEASE COME BY TO VISIT!

HOW TO FIND US

The Science Museum of Virginia is located at 2500 West Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, in the historic Broad Street Station
designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope. It is easily reached via Interstate 95 and Interstate 64.

Driving directions

From the north or west
Take I-95 South or I-64 East to Richmond (I-95 and I-64 run together through Richmond). From I-95, take the Boulevard exit (#78), bear right onto Boulevard. Take Boulevard to West Broad Street (US 250) (4th traffic light). Turn left onto West Broad Street and go two blocks. The Science Museum is on your left.

From the south or east
Take I-95 North or I-64 West to Richmond (I-95 and I-64 run together through Richmond). From I-95, take the Boulevard exit (#78) and bear left onto Hermitage Rd. Take Hermitage south for 1.3 miles to West Broad Street (US 250). Turn right onto West Broad St. and go one-half mile. The Science Museum is on your right.

We’ll be looking for you Wednesday night!