Club History - 1960s
In 1960 Horsham Photographic Society changed its competition rules with separate groups for advanced and beginners for monochrome, both sepia and black and white prints as well as a new colour group for transparencies. The use of transparencies became popular as these gave greater depth of colour. The disadvantage was the need for a projector and screen, which the society purchased in 1961.
In the early sixties some members had ciné-cameras and they created short movies writing their own stories, with fellow members taking acting roles. Titles included “The Music is Murder ” and “Migraine’s Elusive Case” which they showed to the public in the Co-operative Hall.
By 1964 the Society had 48 members and an annual subscription of 25 shillings (£1.25) and it was agreed that, to encourage lady members, they should only pay 12 shillings and sixpence (62½p).
During this decade many outings were organised including visits to Chessington Zoo, the London Docks, Southend, the Battersea Park Pleasure Grounds, Canterbury, the Isle of Wight and Bosham as well as country walks.
The Society held an annual competition with the Horsham Rotarians and took part in the Regnum Crouch competitions organised for West Sussex clubs, winning both the print and slide events and being named the top photographic society in West Sussex in 1963 by the West Sussex County Times.
The club had a strong interest in studio portraiture both clothed and “glamour”! Other events recorded in the local newspaper were the thefts of nude images from the Festival Week Exhibitions held in 1964 and 1968. Now the club no longer holds portrait sessions and would not even display “glamour” portraits!.
The 60s saw the introduction of some automation in cameras with speed and aperture settings, giving options such as sunny or cloudy, portrait or landscape, and also automatic wind-on of the film in the camera to prevent taking two images on one frame. However ‘close up’ could mean as far as 8 feet away without a special lens.
In 1968 the club protested to the Horsham M.P. and the Chancellor of the Exchequer about a 50% purchase tax being levied on all photographic equipment and materials.
The same year saw a few members beginning to work with colour prints, which was a more expensive process and gave less reliable results than colour transparencies. Home processing of colour prints from negatives was difficult and even more expensive than commercial prints. In the fifties colour processing cost more than thirty-five times the price of black and white, so was only for the extremely wealthy – even the total cost of black and white prints was almost one week’s wages for a labourer. It is unsurprising that black and white remained popular!
In the early sixties some members had ciné-cameras and they created short movies writing their own stories, with fellow members taking acting roles. Titles included “The Music is Murder ” and “Migraine’s Elusive Case” which they showed to the public in the Co-operative Hall.
By 1964 the Society had 48 members and an annual subscription of 25 shillings (£1.25) and it was agreed that, to encourage lady members, they should only pay 12 shillings and sixpence (62½p).
During this decade many outings were organised including visits to Chessington Zoo, the London Docks, Southend, the Battersea Park Pleasure Grounds, Canterbury, the Isle of Wight and Bosham as well as country walks.
The Society held an annual competition with the Horsham Rotarians and took part in the Regnum Crouch competitions organised for West Sussex clubs, winning both the print and slide events and being named the top photographic society in West Sussex in 1963 by the West Sussex County Times.
The club had a strong interest in studio portraiture both clothed and “glamour”! Other events recorded in the local newspaper were the thefts of nude images from the Festival Week Exhibitions held in 1964 and 1968. Now the club no longer holds portrait sessions and would not even display “glamour” portraits!.
The 60s saw the introduction of some automation in cameras with speed and aperture settings, giving options such as sunny or cloudy, portrait or landscape, and also automatic wind-on of the film in the camera to prevent taking two images on one frame. However ‘close up’ could mean as far as 8 feet away without a special lens.
In 1968 the club protested to the Horsham M.P. and the Chancellor of the Exchequer about a 50% purchase tax being levied on all photographic equipment and materials.
The same year saw a few members beginning to work with colour prints, which was a more expensive process and gave less reliable results than colour transparencies. Home processing of colour prints from negatives was difficult and even more expensive than commercial prints. In the fifties colour processing cost more than thirty-five times the price of black and white, so was only for the extremely wealthy – even the total cost of black and white prints was almost one week’s wages for a labourer. It is unsurprising that black and white remained popular!
