It was this particular exposure which warned me of the degradation of the 35mm wide angle lens on my Leica. When I saw the slide it was clear the colours were not an accurate representation of those I had seen on the day. The lens was growing old. Inside the barrel internal reflections competed with the light and colours coming in from outside. It was time to take stock. Time to consider trading in the 'pre-used' equipment accumulating in the gadget bag and to look towards the brand new M1 model that was about to take over from the very compact Leicas so prominent in photography for more than three decades.
How come I was taking pictures of fishing boats at Greetsiel?
This was August 1967. The company of Deutsche Grammophon had engaged me to attend at Westerheusen where there was a delightful one-manual organ dating from early in the 1600s. There I played a selection of the keyboard works of Mr Dr John Bull which John Steele and I had transcribed from the manuscript sources in the British Museum and elsewhere.
I am so glad I had decided in advance to work from the printed copy and not to play from memory. So long as I did that, the sound in my ears appeared to correspond to the musical notation. It was only when, during an interval, Theresa played the first Melodie from Schumann's Albumn for the Young, I perceived the instrument to be a semitone higher than mid-20th century standard pitch.
And Greetsiel? Yes. This was on the homeward journey. I drove my mother's Rover 2000 along the Autobahnen and then via Maastricht to the ferry which carried us back across the Channel.
francis cameron, oxford, 13 february 2011 Posted via email from franciscameron's posterous
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