Ensign Glass Plate 10x12 Camera

[Rory_3813]

Ernest,

I'm not in Nova Scotia, although I've spent time there, most recently after the hurricane that hit Halifax this past fall. I bought the Bluenose print on the Isle of Wight. Apart from liking the print, I'm interested in how it got made. It surprised me that the Bluenose was in the English Channel in 1934, and I'd like to know why.

Ernest and John,

I didn't realize that Kodak's film and glass plate emulsions were the same. This suggests that a print from glass plate or film should look the same, all other things being equal. That said, I think that Beken's prints from glass plate, including those made in the 1970s, just don't look the same as prints made from film. I don't know what emulsion(s) he used, but I think that I can find out.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth buying this camera, assuming that I can get it for the right price, and making my own emulsion and maybe experimenting with different concoctions. John, thanks for the reference to the silverprint book. As for the cost of plates when Kodak stopped making them, it sounds like they cost about the same (well, maybe a bit more) as Readyloads and Polaroids.

[Ernest Purdum]

I think you probably do have a pretty good chance of finding out Beken's preferencess. Either the Royal Photographic Society, www.rps.org, or www.beken.co.uk should be good possibilities.



I found a reference to Bluenose being in English waters in 1935 as part of the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of George V and Queen Mary. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/flinn/bluenose/bluenose.html and go to major events. Don't try the Isle of Wight link, though, I wound up in some german website and had a hard time getting out.

[Rory_3532]

Ernest,

Thanks for your comments. I re-checked and the photograph was indeed taken in 1935. The Jubilee fits perfectly. Now that I know why the Bluenose was in Cowes, I'm curious about who the people are on the deck. They are clearly guests rather than crew. It amazes me that Beken was able to make a half-plate photograph on a schooner that was under sail and heeling. He made other photographs on the decks of yachts, but in the others that I have seen, the vessel is stationary or nearly so.

[Ernest Purdum]

Had I been Beken, (and it would, I think have been rather wonderful to have been) I suppose I would have had a "Soho" or a "Minex" SLR made up in the 1/2-plate size for use on heeled yachts. That wouldn't have been the largest SLR size offered. Folmer listed the original Graflex in up to 8" X 10", though whether any were actually made is perhaps questionable.

[Rory_3813]

Ernest,

Frank Beken is still going strong and, as I understand it, goes into the office once a week. I go to Cowes fairly regularly (I have close friends there who live about three blocks from Beken) and will probably be there this spring. I have this idea about meeting him, and maybe doing a taped interview.

As you may know, he made a purpose-built camera for this kind of work. It is on display in the store.

When I was last there, I saw the archives. They have tens of thousands of glass plates wrapped in newspaper. I believe that some of those photographs are of considerable historical significance. I also think that there has never been a full cataloguing process and that they don't actually know the full extent of what they have.

Their printer, who came from London a few years ago, told me that it is the best job that he's had in his life. These days, they do the prints from copies of the plates. However, they also do some directly from the originals, which how my print of the Bluenose was done. I'm satisfied that making prints from the originals is a time-consuming process that also involves retouching, partly because some of the plates have been around a long time and have not necessarily been treated with loving care over the years.

[Ernest Purdum]

My very best wishes for your visit to Cowes and your plate coating.