JACK BAMFORD (Published Sept 2005)
Jack became aware of photography in his early teens when his father used to transform their living room into a portraits studio, and along with other members of Rochdale Camera Club, they used to take pictures from still life to portraiture.
Eventually he was allowed to use his father's equipment which increased Jack's interest in photography, the cameras at that time were Voigtlanders, mainly the Vito B Model. Jack used to be very interested in motor sport in particular Rallying from a spectator's point of view and photography was a means of recording this pastime.
Jack did not become serious about photography until moving to Cumbria from Rochdale, Lancashire in 1974. After deciding to take up Fell Walking, photography was a natural follow on, not only to record the walks but also to capture the marvellous landscapes of the Lake District. Jack mainly used slide film in his camera.
It was at this time in his life about 1976, that he decided to join Egremont Camera Club. Jack stayed with Egremont until the club decided to move to the Beacon Centre in Whitehaven and was then re-named Copeland with help from members of the old Whitehaven Camera Club. The new club thrived with membership topping 40-plus for a few seasons. Jack has also been a member of Dumfries Camera Club for a number of seasons until last year when a back problem curtailed the 150 mile round trip to the club. More recently being a founder member of the West Cumbria Photo Group has really instilled a lot of enthusiasm back into his photography. One of the main functions of the group is to provide pictures for the local hospitals. The group also enters as a group both national and international competitions, so the emphasis really is on producing pictures and discussing pictures. There does not appear to be any time for discussing rules of any description because they do not have any.
During his membership at Egremont and Copeland he held the positions of Competition Secretary, Club Secretary, and Chairman, Jack also held the position of Secretary of the NCPF Western Area for a good number of years.
From the early days of just using slide film he then progressed to Monochrome and having attended several workshops run by Les McLean at his home in Wooler, his interest in Monochrome grew. The problem at that time was his darkroom space so it was transformation time for the loft which cost a fortune, equipped with two enlargers a Durst 605 with Colour Head and a Lines and Jones Cold Cathode head, sink and running water he was in business, however a decision to move house ruined all that. So it was back to the drawing board and he equipped the new house with a purpose made shed out in the garden to house the second new darkroom. Alas came the digital scene (the darkroom is now a storage shed and only used for mounting prints). Now, and three computers later, he is firmly into digital.
With respect to equipment he used a Voigtlander and Rollieflex SLR's with a good range of fixed focal length lenses, this equipment was superb, unfortunately it was all stolen during an RAC Rally. So it was at this point Jack moved over to Nikon buying a couple of FE2 with Nikon fixed focal length lenses. He has tried most formats using the Mamiya 330's and even up to 5 x 4 using an old MPP camera, all of which have long since gone.
Although now fully digital, Jack still likes to use his tried and trusted Nikon F100 film camera with the odd slide film, he still thinks a good well exposed slide takes some beating.
Because of living in the Lake District, Jack's main interest subject wise is landscape, although he does like taking the odd candid picture and he really likes taking abstract images. Jack likes most aspects of photography but does have difficulty in doing portraiture.
Nowadays competitions are not important to Jack but during his early days in photography, like many others in camera clubs the need to win club competitions was paramount and you could sense the tension building at each competition night, sometimes it was nice to win but is it that important? perhaps not.
The one competition that gave him some personnel satisfaction was in 2003, having sent some prints to Buenos Aires and totally forgetting about the competition.
Jack received a phone call from Tony Potter his club chairman, saying that he had nearly broken his toe, whilst opening an envelope carrying the results from the afore mentioned competition when a Gold Medal dropped out narrowly missing his foot. It was not the fact that it nearly caught Tony's foot that gave Jack the satisfaction, but receiving a Gold Medal.
The event which gave Jack his most pleasure was in November 1999 when he applied to the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain for a DPAGB distinction. Other members of Dumfries Camera Club had applied and all of them achieved their chosen distinctions, it was some party that Saturday Night in Wales!
Jack is working on two particular projects at the moment. At present he is working on a project to record the abstract colours in old Lake District slate quarries. The other project is to transform his slide A/V shows into the digital format, which is as Jack says, an endless task. Jack's other interest apart from Fell Walking is travel, in particular to the USA. He finds the American landscape so dramatic and diverse that he feels that it would be impossible to run short of subject matter. He also like exploring old Ghost Towns.
Jack's main aim in life is to keep taking pictures and enjoy his hobby. His long term objective this year is working towards and hoping to apply for a FIAP distinction.
Long may he enjoy his photography.
Editor