VISION ON: A Life in Sharp Focus
I grew up in a family where the camera was never far from the action of daily life.
My Grandad
My Grandad, Joe Wilkinson, with camera - far right (Image: Wilkinson Family Archives - curator Kieran Wilkinson)
My grandad was a keen photographer with a passion for capturing English churches and architecture, countless slides capturing stained glass windows, architraves, cloisters and domes around the far-flung backwaters of England and beyond.
All lovingly and painstakingly curated into files with indexes inscribed with fountain pen annotations.
He kept the creation of monochrome photographs in-house, utilising a Yashica SLR and a dedicated darkroom, though the local camera shop was still called upon for the more challenging and complex colour and slide developing.
The fruits of his labour of love were scattered around my grandparents’ house - staircases adorned with family photographs, the darkroom in the cellar, cases and boxes in the attic crammed full of slides and hundreds of photographs, some in frames, others loose, awaiting display or storage.
All of this helped sow the seed of photography for me.
Dad
The photography fixation was perpetuated by my own Dad, albeit with less emphasis on the darkroom side and more focus on capturing the output.
In the 70’s and early 80‘s, “Point and Shoot” cameras were very much in vogue, especially with the emergence of the smaller 110 film format. Not to forget those vision-impairing single use cube flash bulbs that perched on top of the slim, oblong camera.
Accordingly, Dad trudged his way through a number of fairly low quality Kodak, Agfa and even Boots own-brand 110 models, in documenting family life back then.
However, following my Grandad’s passing in 1984, my Dad proudly kept the flash bulb firing, inheriting his beloved Yashica SLR, which he used for many years thereafter.
My Dad, Peter, with the family heirloom Yashica SLR (Image: Wilkinson Family Archives - curator Kieran Wilkinson
The Uncle
My Uncle (my Mum’s brother) also had a strong love of photography and documenting events around the locality, again with an 35mm SLR and a gadget bag packed full of lenses and filters.
The aftermath of the Bradford City fire (which he attended) and various projects to rebuild Valley Parade in the decades after was one of the subjects he captured with some passion.
Valley Parade, Bradford 1996 (Image: Kevin Rylatt c/o Kieran Wilkinson)
Developing Life in the 80’s and 90’s
I remember the 1980’s and 1990’s being a time when the camera shop was King. Living in Bradford, frequent visits to both Bradford Camera Exchange shops (on North Parade and Market Street) were a source of much joy, together with other local outposts (Jenny’s Camera Shop in Shipley springs to mind).
So, in the mid eighties, and spurred on after joining the lunchtime photography club at school, this culminated in the purchase of my very own SLR 35mm camera. After some considerable research I chose a Cosina CT-1G and off I went into a magical world of Ilford B&W 35mm film, Hoya filters, Pentax K bayonet mounts and tripods!
The Cosina CT-1G SLR (Image: Ebay seller dub0804-55)
Remember, this was the era where you didn’t get that instant affirmation that the resulting photograph was what you actually thought you had captured! No immediate re-takes or digital enhancing, but instead a patient, and frequently lengthy, wait for your treasured folder of prints (glossy or matte, border or no border) and negatives to arrive from the likes of Boots, WH Smiths or mail order outfits, Truprint, BonusPrint and SupaSnaps.
The Legendary Truprint Envelope (Image: Internet images)
Many disappointments of blurry, underdeveloped images, or an envelope containing 24 prints of photographic white noise replacing now un-captured memories, often ensued!
Me, aged 15 with the trusty Cosina CT-1G SLR (Image: Wilkinson Family Archives - curator Kieran Wilkinson
The Fading Light of Analogue Photography
As I got older my photography passion peaked and troughed like a light meter.
Just before the onslaught of digital photography I had a nostalgic yearning for the old-school past, visiting Bradford Camera Exchange, and buying myself a vintage Minolta 35mm film SLR with lenses and the kit and caboodle of an enlarger, developing tanks, chemicals and other darkroom kit, which I dabbled around with in the cellar of the house.
To be honest it kept me occupied for a while but soon dwindled, particularly given the game-changing emergence of digital format and camcorders around the turn of the century.
A Re-Kindled Love… For A While
More recently I rekindled my photography love affair digitally, indulging myself with a succession of Panasonic Lumix travel compact cameras (TZ70 and TZ200). I then invested a bit more on the hobby, acquiring the iconic and truly excellent Fujifilm X-100S mirrorless camera. This definitely reanimated matters and stimulated an interest in visiting places and capturing high quality images along the way.
Around this time my eldest daughter entered into the family camera tradition, swerving the digital trends and giving a go to a vintage Olympus Trip camera; we had the ‘delights’ of 35mm film all over again!
Whilst remaining firmly in the digital camp, I swapped my X-100S for a smaller and more portable (and now much sought after, given its discontinuance) Fujifilm X-70 and propelled this voyage.
That was until a couple of years ago, when I took a detour.
Given the leap in phone technology, I took a deep breath, sold the X-70, and relied on my iPhone 15 Pro for convenience as well as the impressive images and features the phone was now capable of. Whilst I turned a reasonable profit on the sale, there was an underlying feeling of Wilkinson camera-heritage betrayal!
Back In Sharp Focus
I knew deep down I’d be back. though.
I’m now starting a new quest, and I firmly believe I need a 'proper' visionary companion as a trusty side-kick.
Enter, the Fujifilm X-T30 III
With a slight detour involving a Ricoh GR III Street Edition (to be covered in a future article!) I re-joined the Fuji X-community with the purchase of the Fujifilm X-T30 III APS-C, compact mirrorless camera.
The Fujifilm X-T30 III (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
It’s a beautifully retro, SLR-style camera albeit with modern day enhancements (AI-powered subject detection, 6.2k video and 20 film simulations to name but a few).
With the accompaniment of a range of lenses, lots of other gadgets and gizmos I don’t really need, this will underpin my burgeoning writing career with it’s striking imagery and creativity options.
The Fujifilm X-T30 III (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
