- Joined
- Sep 22, 2017
- Messages
- 302
It actually started on 23rd December 1950 when Helmut had to fill last envelopes with 18x24 leaves in the afternoon.
The year has been long and he had only little time for his girlfriend and his family.
However, he wanted to make up for it all over Christmas and take time for everything. His NSU Max also needed some care since he needs it every day for the 2 x 35 km to work.
He also has planned to go out again in the mountains to make photographs of snowy landscapes.
He liked his job at Agfa Leverkusen, he still had the glow in his eyes when he had to do the routine tests. He loved the rich warm black and the glorious appearance of the air-dried surface.
A pack of 10 leaves, he always enjoyed for himself and then he was proud as Prince Charles if he could show his self-made prints in the circle of friends.
Ursula was his favorite subject. They had been a pair since the end of the war. Too young for military service, he was lucky enough to survive.
And then things went up with business.
Coming year they wanted to get married and found a family, preparations were already running.
Ursula and his landscapes, sometimes also an episode from an everyday life.
The spoon from his grandparents’ house before it burnt down and the AGFA Clack had survived.
His pride, however, was the Rollei, the two-eyed one, with whom he could conjure, said Ursula whenever she saw the squares. He had an eye for the details and the light. Light and the shadows have been his.
And then the Brovira paper, only this one was able to show its deepest shadows and to shine in the lights.
Once he had caught a moment when Ursula blinked into the morning sun, there was the radiance of the eyes under the deep brown eyelashes.
He still had the whole afternoon for work and enough time for the orders. There was no need to hurry for what he had to do.
He was responsible for cutting small formats out of the big bows. They had to be exact and right-angled, and there should not come a single fingerprint on this special paper.
It was more than just a duty, it was an almost holy act, he wanted to get the maximum which is possible in those packages. Not only because he has loved it for himself, he knew how much it means to those who take it out of the package for the special moment and then let the light filtered through the negative kissing the surface.
Tenderly touching the light on the paper, best dimmed for half an eternity.
If possible, he wanted to get three to four sheets, which he could get at half the price. Thus a small supply always accumulated.
But today it was a mess. Test exposures on the first two sheets showed as usual what he had imagined and the batch could go to be cut.
This vintage had all it in itself, it was particularly successful and could be stored well.
But then everything was cut, all 500 packages could be stocked, not a single sheet was left. And now, shortly before Christmas, no more orders could be expected.
So it was, end and end. If not now, then there was no more chance. He was sure packages who are dispatch to the trade are sold at the latest mid-January.
Well, there were again new packs and papers, he thought this last batch from 1950 was so particularly successful and who knows, perhaps this could not be repeated next year.
Although he had already spent his savings on Christmas presents to Ursula and his family, he gave his heart a jerk and put the last pack aside to buy it on factory outlet.
It was a week's wages he had to pay for it, but he was so enchanted by this last pack that he preferred to lose the festive dinner than to lose the package.
And the more he thought about it, the clearer it became to him, these ten sheets he will take only for very special photos.
Each negative would be tested before on smaller format, before it exposes it to 18x24.
In spring 1951 he and Ursula got married, then a flat was rented, first child was born. Then the apartment was too small and the terraced house was built.
For darkroom work and photography was less and less time. A few times he stole some hours and tried his luck in the darkened bathroom. But he was not satisfied with it anyway and he knew why, his head was full of other things like family stuff and children.
He then packed his treasures in boxes and stored them cool and dry in the cellar for later when he once again would have get enough time for.
When his children cleared the house to sell it the treasures popped up again. But no one really knew what to do with it and so it came to a flea market.
The last package from 1950 with remaining 5 18x24 sheets and the deepest black of all photographic papers was then sold together with all sorts of criminals for € 25.
I was the happy one who got it. For me it was the greatest treasure I ever could lift.
Although I did not know it at that time, there was such a certain idea. I guarded the paper for another 15 years, Helmut died a long time ago and the world forgot what was poured on Baryt.
Only the paper patiently waited for the day when it was allowed to light again.
My first attempts at 4x5 "ended miserably, it took several attempts and some precipitation until I was ready for that.
Ian inspired me with spoon and egg.
On a small flea market not far from home, I found a soup spoon, just like Helmut back then, and then the light in late summer.
At the same time I had learned how to properly illuminate and focus and dared the subject on 4x5 ".
Sure, digital made this could be faster and easier, but where is the spell?
Worksheets looked good and a rainy Sunday gave me enough time and leisure to deal more intensely with the picture. Now I was sure to expose it on Baryt and so I remembered this package AGFA Brovira again. I still had three and a half sheet. Enough to measure exposure time it and then make prints.
After three test exposures it happens, 2017 mid-August the 1950 poured paper shone again in daylight. Egg and Spoon No. 3. 3 Deductions / unicates which are no longer to be produced
The year has been long and he had only little time for his girlfriend and his family.
However, he wanted to make up for it all over Christmas and take time for everything. His NSU Max also needed some care since he needs it every day for the 2 x 35 km to work.
He also has planned to go out again in the mountains to make photographs of snowy landscapes.
He liked his job at Agfa Leverkusen, he still had the glow in his eyes when he had to do the routine tests. He loved the rich warm black and the glorious appearance of the air-dried surface.
A pack of 10 leaves, he always enjoyed for himself and then he was proud as Prince Charles if he could show his self-made prints in the circle of friends.
Ursula was his favorite subject. They had been a pair since the end of the war. Too young for military service, he was lucky enough to survive.
And then things went up with business.
Coming year they wanted to get married and found a family, preparations were already running.
Ursula and his landscapes, sometimes also an episode from an everyday life.
The spoon from his grandparents’ house before it burnt down and the AGFA Clack had survived.
His pride, however, was the Rollei, the two-eyed one, with whom he could conjure, said Ursula whenever she saw the squares. He had an eye for the details and the light. Light and the shadows have been his.
And then the Brovira paper, only this one was able to show its deepest shadows and to shine in the lights.
Once he had caught a moment when Ursula blinked into the morning sun, there was the radiance of the eyes under the deep brown eyelashes.
He still had the whole afternoon for work and enough time for the orders. There was no need to hurry for what he had to do.
He was responsible for cutting small formats out of the big bows. They had to be exact and right-angled, and there should not come a single fingerprint on this special paper.
It was more than just a duty, it was an almost holy act, he wanted to get the maximum which is possible in those packages. Not only because he has loved it for himself, he knew how much it means to those who take it out of the package for the special moment and then let the light filtered through the negative kissing the surface.
Tenderly touching the light on the paper, best dimmed for half an eternity.
If possible, he wanted to get three to four sheets, which he could get at half the price. Thus a small supply always accumulated.
But today it was a mess. Test exposures on the first two sheets showed as usual what he had imagined and the batch could go to be cut.
This vintage had all it in itself, it was particularly successful and could be stored well.
But then everything was cut, all 500 packages could be stocked, not a single sheet was left. And now, shortly before Christmas, no more orders could be expected.
So it was, end and end. If not now, then there was no more chance. He was sure packages who are dispatch to the trade are sold at the latest mid-January.
Well, there were again new packs and papers, he thought this last batch from 1950 was so particularly successful and who knows, perhaps this could not be repeated next year.
Although he had already spent his savings on Christmas presents to Ursula and his family, he gave his heart a jerk and put the last pack aside to buy it on factory outlet.
It was a week's wages he had to pay for it, but he was so enchanted by this last pack that he preferred to lose the festive dinner than to lose the package.
And the more he thought about it, the clearer it became to him, these ten sheets he will take only for very special photos.
Each negative would be tested before on smaller format, before it exposes it to 18x24.
In spring 1951 he and Ursula got married, then a flat was rented, first child was born. Then the apartment was too small and the terraced house was built.
For darkroom work and photography was less and less time. A few times he stole some hours and tried his luck in the darkened bathroom. But he was not satisfied with it anyway and he knew why, his head was full of other things like family stuff and children.
He then packed his treasures in boxes and stored them cool and dry in the cellar for later when he once again would have get enough time for.
When his children cleared the house to sell it the treasures popped up again. But no one really knew what to do with it and so it came to a flea market.
The last package from 1950 with remaining 5 18x24 sheets and the deepest black of all photographic papers was then sold together with all sorts of criminals for € 25.
I was the happy one who got it. For me it was the greatest treasure I ever could lift.
Although I did not know it at that time, there was such a certain idea. I guarded the paper for another 15 years, Helmut died a long time ago and the world forgot what was poured on Baryt.
Only the paper patiently waited for the day when it was allowed to light again.
My first attempts at 4x5 "ended miserably, it took several attempts and some precipitation until I was ready for that.
Ian inspired me with spoon and egg.
On a small flea market not far from home, I found a soup spoon, just like Helmut back then, and then the light in late summer.
At the same time I had learned how to properly illuminate and focus and dared the subject on 4x5 ".
Sure, digital made this could be faster and easier, but where is the spell?
Worksheets looked good and a rainy Sunday gave me enough time and leisure to deal more intensely with the picture. Now I was sure to expose it on Baryt and so I remembered this package AGFA Brovira again. I still had three and a half sheet. Enough to measure exposure time it and then make prints.
After three test exposures it happens, 2017 mid-August the 1950 poured paper shone again in daylight. Egg and Spoon No. 3. 3 Deductions / unicates which are no longer to be produced
