Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/09

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Subject: [Leica] Initial spark
From: "Oliver Bryk" <oliverbryk@home.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 15:14:10 -0800

When I was about 7 or 8 (before the Nazis annexed Austria) I used to watch
my father make contact prints (probably 4.5x6 or 6x9cm) from glass negatives
developed by the neighborhood druggist (pharmacy). My father used a wooden
frame with a glass front and a hinged back, held in place by spring clamps,
with green felt backing. He would put the negative into the frame against
the glass, then a piece of paper, close the back, secure the clamps, and
place the frame (negative up) on a table where the sun shone. After some
time he would remove the paper and fix the print. I guess that was
developing-out paper; the finished print had a reddish-brown cast. I think
my father's camera was a folder that used glass negatives; I don't remember
how they were packed and loaded. I was soon allowed to help with the
printing and occasionally use his camera; and soon thereafter I received
Agfa's equivalent of a Box Brownie as a birthday present. Ever since, except
for some difficult times during the Nazi era, I was hardly ever without a
camera.
Oliver Bryk



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