It’s been all go the last few weeks. I managed to get my day in London to take my photos there, but not sure I’ll use them though as they joined the other unnamed museum who want stupid money for three photos I needed and basically I can manage without them! But I had a nice 6Km walk through London, as it was sunny, so I made the most of it. I’ve also done my Southern tour, so to all intents, photography for the book is complete, but I’m not holding my breath and it would not surprise me one bit that some jobsworth tells me I have to go back, pay £X and take new photos. But for the minute, I’m waiting to hear what they’re going to charge me for what I already have, as their reserve store is so full, because they’re re-gigging the main museum, that there’s insufficient space to walk round and take photos. That it’s taken them 2 months or so to realise this or for someone to tell someone in another office that this is the case is another matter; all I can do is sit and wait.
Another little trip this week was to the publishers and a couple of hours spent sifting through the archive photos they’ve pulled out for me, so I can get some period shots of things that were either scrapped, crashed or basically won’t be flying again. Consequently, I’ve a selection of B&W images that I’ve certainly not seen in any book, though one or two have, simply because they’re the only ones that exist.
The publishers also have a job big enough to keep me gainfully employed for years and one that I’d love to do; digitise the image library! Some have already been done, but being a combination of photographer and aeroplane buff, I stand a better chance than most of knowing what I’m looking at. Sadly, I doubt moving house to Stamford for the job would be popular.
Finally and in typical fashion, after getting rid of all the 35mm SLR kit, mainly because the lenses had started growing fungus in them (you wouldn’t believe that’s possible, but it is) I had the urge to use film and shoot with a manual focus camera, so after a bit of the usual eBay shenanigans, deft use of Go Gone and a wooden chisel to remove disintegrating light seals and replacement with nice new stuff, I now have… I’ll show all next time. I also got round to having a pair of 35mm films developed that had been in a drawer for years, only to find they’d never been used, but that’s another story…..
