Following the AGM of the Society the members at the January meeting welcomed the return of Geoff Caulton who was his usual enthusiastic self about his favourite subjects. This evening, he explained with the use of slides to date the years from old photographs and post cards. Even by looking on the back of some of the postcards he could tell what decade they were produced.
With several illustrations he began by pointing out the clothes, hair styles, hats, uniforms, glasses and in some cases even swim wear that the subjects were wearing. By this method he was able to date the years. This was not confined to ladies only. Men went through the same kind of fashions.
He explained how pan chromatic photos were never in colour but of a hue that was not even black and white. It wasn’t until 1972 that colour photos took over from black and white in popularity. Cameras were also changing becoming more sophisticated as the years went on. By today’s standard of sophistication the cameras in those days were very simple to use.
People only had their photo taken for a reason, society weddings etc. Soldiers had theirs taken often or not as they went off to war as a memory for those they were leaving behind. It was quite expensive to have a photo taken and was only available by a professional photographer in a studio setting.
Lots of photos were taken when on holiday at the seaside as itinerant photographers would waylay the holiday makers and the photo would be of poor quality that would fade with time. Following this very interesting talk the members gave a rousing applause after what was an entertaining as well as informative evening.
Barry Leggett