Personal Profile

        Ed's interest in photography probably first started when he was in the Royal Air Force. He met and became friendly with a Royal Air Force photographer who was from Newcastle upon Tyne. They were stationed at RAF Leuchars and they always seemed to be on the same watch during their National Service.

        Ed thinks that it must have been the money which first caused him to become interested in photography! Being on the same watch as his photographer friend, they started photographing servicemen in a Kilt for the airmen to send the photographs home to their families. They used RAF materials and usually did the printing during quiet periods whilst on the long night watch. The darkrooms were part of the control tower where Ed was a wireless operator. Ed and his friend eventually had to stop when they were asked to get involved with wedding photography.

        After leaving the RAF Ed started dabbling at home with various cheap cameras, which was all he could afford at the time. He also visited photographic exhibitions in South Wales, the largest being the display in the Cardiff Club in what was the YMCA building in Cardiff.

        Ed's interest steadily grew but he only started to take it seriously after he got married to Val and with a lot of encouragement from her. His first serious camera was a 35mm Agfa Silett. Unfortunately Ed could only afford, at that time, to do contact strips from 35mm in monochrome. A most important item was the large magnifying glass needed to read the contacts and negatives. During 1957 and 1958 he attended Cardiff College of Art at evening classes and came away with their Diplomas in Photography. During this time Ed endured a bit of a culture shock in having to use their Large Plate Cameras and Large Photofloods even having to coat their own plates...many were dropped on the floor!

        It was many years later that Ed became involved with club photography at Whickham. His working career was such that he travelled extensively around the country and did not really have the time to spend on the hobby. However some of his business friends were interested in photography and he was able at times to plan his schedules to be in a certain place on a certain day and visit quite a number of clubs as a guest. A number of exhibitions were also visited on his travels, by obtaining the venue information from the Photographic Press.

        Ed has been involved with Whickham, for about twenty years with a short break in service, this is the only club has been involved with. He has been involved with club committee work and has served as Club Secretary. Ed was responsible for originating the "Wednesday Group" activities in its early days. He has also been the NCPF South Tyne Area Representative.

        Ed believes that he has become more patient in his approach to photography (he thinks that this may be old age?) Now he gets more involved in competitions, both club and others. In the past he got very serious in his approach to competitions and would not press the shutter unless he thought it was a competition winner - as a result of which he virtually stopped taking photographs - which as he says - is not the object of the exercise. Now he shoots first and looks afterwards.

        Ed once had a "Gun" Camera in the shape of a pistol using miniature film. This was more gimmicky than practical. In today's environment it would probably not be permissible.

        Ed is interested in both prints and slides, depending on the subject matter. He used to develop and print his own monochrome but stopped about four years ago as he felt that he could not compete with digital at the time. Colour print film is used for family record shots and holidays so that he has print film in one camera and slide film in the other. The slide film is usually Velvia 100F (Velvia 50 prior to the introduction of 100). Ed would like to do more printing, probably via the digital route but as yet he has not had the "operation"!. There is no space now at his home for a darkroom.

        Ed has no particular main interest in photography but if he had to choose one it would be landscape/pictorial as these subjects tend to be static. He believes that he does not have the patience required for natural history.

        Ed has a total dislike of the amount of manipulation sometimes seen to be done with some digital work. In his view in the early days of digital this practice had a deterrent affect on a lot of photographers before the offenders saw the error in their ways.

        Ed believes that competitions are important in as much as the photographers generally work harder in producing the finished product when they know others are going to see their work, in particular the Judge. It is important that any adverse comments are not taken too seriously which could act as a deterrent to future competition entry.

        The competition result which gives Ed the most personal satisfaction is any good comments from the Judge. This gives him a good feeling at his club. As Ed says if his picture is a Highly Commended he will probably tell his wife. The Club Certificates are his favourite. In Ed's opinion maybe the best feeling is to be accepted in a major competition.

        One of the highlights of Ed's photographic career is probably the formation and success of the "Wednesday Group" in his own club, Whickham. This is a group of retired members who go out together once a month, winter and summer to all parts of the North of England taking photographs. They now laugh at some of their "bad hair days" - one member shot for hours with no film in his camera! More than once members have fallen in the lake. On one occasion the group discovered a body in a lake and this resulted with considerable involvement with the police. Yes, the body was photographed for the police but did not find its way into a still life competition - the group drew the line there. As the group are not working they have all the time in the world. By going out mid-week they do not often encounter many people. Breakfast at 7.00 am at the Little Chef outside of Penrith is quite something on a cold frosty morning. They have visited many places for the first time and broadened their interest.

        Ed uses photography in conjunction with his hobby of walking, in fact he is never without a camera. This is more often than not an Olympus Compact as it goes in his pocket. One of his cameras is constantly loaded with print film especially for photographing his lovely granddaughter, but who does not enjoy recording their family growing up.

        Ed's main interest other than photography is living a happy and healthy life and caring for his family which is number one to him. Ed and his wife Val tend their garden and friendly competition between their plots. Val looks after the front of the house and he looks after the rear. After Ed retired from work he took up music and started playing a Yamaha organ but now he has changed to a Yamaha electronic keyboard. This interest takes Val and Ed to an organ club and to many organ concerts that are held around the North East. Now they have the time they enjoy embarking on more travelling. Their favourites destinations being the Italian Lakes and in particular Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda where they enjoy traversing the lakes by boat.

        Ed is exceptionally proud to have been elected to the position of President of the NCPF and hopes through this channel to be able to put something back into the hobby and to ensure that people can enjoy this wonderful interest. He loves meeting the members of competing clubs in the Inter Club Competitions that they have and looks forward to meeting even more during his term of office. There are he believes some really nice people still out there in the big wide world.

        Ed has a humorous story from his past. Ed was only 18 years of age when he met his new friend in the photography department at RAF Leuchars and what a friend he turned out to be. His friend was from Newcastle and used to take Ed home with him for weekends, as reaching Cardiff for a weekend was out of the question. Some years later Ed's son was at a function and started to talk to some of the guests. Having introduced himself, a person remarked that he had known someone in his service days called Ed Martin. As the party was close to his house he quickly produced an old photograph. Yes, the photograph was of Ed in a Kilt! The chap who got Ed involved with photography was at this party and what is more he is living within 400 yards of Ed in Whickham.... what a coincidence.