Images through a Traveller's Lense - In the Beginning

I was given my first camera the year I left school. This was a little Agfa ISO-Rapid IF - one of the first point-and-shoot instamatics that revolutionised picture-taking. Until then the only camera my family had had was the ubiquitous Kodak Box Brownie which took fuzzy black and white snaps. With the relatively high development costs this camera was only used sparingly, at holiday time and on special occasions. My new little Agfa opened a new world for me and after the first tentative, and mainly blurry black and white photos, I soon began to take an interest in colour slide photography which seemed to provide better results and although these little square photos were basic, they did have a sharpness not seen in the printed black & white images.

                     In late 1966 I was fortunate enough to be sent out to  Little Barrier Island,
                     a wildlife sanctuary in the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland, New Zealand and I
                     took this black & white photo of the rocky South Landing with my little Agfa.

 After about 18 months I purchased my first 35mm camera, a Minolta Hi-Matic F, and although I was happy with these early results, I had my heart set on purchasing a single lense reflex camera.

                       The cliffs of Fisherman's Rock, Whangaparaoa, New Zealand taken with
                        the Minolta Hi-Matic 7 in mid-1967

I used the Minolta for about 6 months until my cousin and I travelled by ship to Fiji and when we arrived in Suva I purchased my first SLR, a Ricoh Singlex TLS which was to give me good service through my early travels in Asia, Europe and Africa. The basic lense was 55mm - no zoom in those days - and I bought a 300mm lense a couple of years later. The most common slide film I used in these early days was Kodachrome ASA25, by today's standard a very slow film, but results were good, although camera-shake was not uncommon. This slide film included pre-paid development & mounting by Kodak so I never saw the results until a couple of weeks later - even longer when I was on a long trip.

                      A tropical pool near Apia, Samoa in January 1968. This was one of the
                      first photos taken with the Ricoh SLR. that I purchased in Suva.

I saw  the camera as a means of recording not just events in my life, but also places as I saw them. I had set my heart on travelling and have been fortunate to have visited many parts of the world which have changed considerably due to political upheavals, war and the forces of nature. But these photos are indicative of how I saw the world over the years.

                 The 'banana-boat' Tofua off the island of Niue in January 1968. Passengers
                  & goods had to be transferred ashore on small barges.

                    Formula One drivers of yesteryear, Graham Hill, killed in a plane crash
                    in 1975 & Piers Courage killed during the Dutch Grand Prix in 1970, at
                    the New Zealand Grand Prix, January 1969. Incidentally I have the
                    programme for this race & the first prize money for an overseas-based
                   driver was just NZ$400 - won in 1969 by Chris Amon. The prize for 1st
                   local NZ driver home was NZ$1200!!

I have owned several good  film cameras over the years  but I have always had a soft spot for the hardy little Ricoh which I still have - looking a little bit the worse for wear!
The digital age has. of course, dramatically transformed  the way photographs are taken. No longer do we have to wait and see if photos are blurred or out of focus or if the lense-cap was left on. No longer is the cost of development a consideration and we can now experiment with impunity. 'Film' speeds are now above ASA6400, a far cry from the extremely slow ASA25 transparency film I used to use. Camera shake is now no longer such a big issue and photos can be taken successfully in low light.
 In successive articles I will be highlight photos I have taken over the years & relate some of the stories attached to them.    See my photographic website - www.antipodeanneil.com

© Neil Rawlins  text & photography

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