Gavin Maitland's Page

You need to cite but also get permission from the photographer or owner. For Education it is less complex but for publication outside education there are a lot of copyright issues. Each country is different.

Hello Gavin

I was in London at the fair on sunday , but not selling - possibly there a bit earlier than you ! The portrait is wet collodion - a modern ambrotype on black glass we were on holiday in Normandy last september and came across a photographer in Bayeux , near the cathedral who is apparently the only commercial photographer in France to do wet collodion portraits - if you are ever anywhere near there i would recommend calling in and having a portrait done - apparently he doesn' t get too much call for this skill .

John,

The Magic Box is certainly worth reading. It's about 150 pages in length and published in 1954. There is very little about the technical aspects of ferrotype photography but it does give a good account of how Pendrigh earned his living on the streets in his own words. In 1954 the sums of money he made were huge but today these amounts do not seem at all large. He talks about earning £97 in one day as if it's a fortune. He mentions a famous Old Bailey case of the 1950s where a beach photographer had made £47,000 in six years but omitted to pay income tax. Today this seems a small sum for six years work.

The story is mainly about his methods of earning a living. Discovering the Aptus ferrotype camera and trading illegally on the streets of south coast seaside towns. Being moved on by the police etc. to becoming a licensed photographer in Trafalgar Square. He also was a photographer at the 1951 Festival of Britain taking photographs of people on donkeys, but not using ferrotype methods by then.

I bought my copy of the book on a recommendation from an email corespondent through Amazon but I see today that there is one copy for sale at a pretty high price. I did not buy my copy for anything like this amount. There appears to have been one for sale on Ebay earlier this year that did not sell So keep your eye out for a copy at a reasonable price. One is bound to turn up.

Best wishes
Paul.

Hello Gavin

Sent a message by email to gavinmaitland80@hotmail.com  is tis the address to use ?

Graham

Hello Gavin

You seem to have changed a bit - looking a bit dog- like , hope i will still be able to recognise you on sunday .

Graham