Fix this text
JOURNAL
Fix this textOF THE ROYAL VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS
Fix this textVol. XXXIII
Fix this textMelbourne, September, 1935
Fix this textNo. 4
Fix this textNEW PREMISES
Fix this textFOR KODAK (AUSTRALASIA) PTY. LTD.
Fix this text252 COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE
Fix this textN these enlightened days, so much is taken for granted,
Fix this textthat it is small wonder that we have no time to
Fix this textpause and examine the more interesting products of
Fix this textour civilization. A little thought will convince us
Fix this textthat inventions are being introduced every day, that to
Fix this textthe eyes of our grand-parents, would have appeared
Fix this textastonishing indeed. They would have seemed miracles!
Fix this textThe story of the romance of photography —a twentieth
Fix this textcentury marvel—reads like a fairy tale. Little more;
Fix this textthan half a century ago, many landscape photographers
Fix this texthad to use vehicles to transport their outfits. Those
Fix this textwho practised the art professionally, had, usually, cum-
Fix this textbersome cameras which were set up on tripods; light-
Fix this textproof tents and complete outfits of chemicals and uten-
Fix this textsils for the conducting of the necessary operations. Many
Fix this textof the enthusiastic amateurs of those times had also to
Fix this textcarry an alarming array of appliances. Now-a-days,
Fix this textwhen almost every family includes at least one photo-
Fix this textgrapher, and when many miles of photographic material
Fix this textare exposed in Victoria during every holiday season, the
Fix this textcomplete outfit is so portable as to be capable of being
Fix this textcarried in one’s pocket or in a woman’s vanity case!
Fix this textThe magic wand which has made this phenomenal
Fix this textchange possible, was the introduction of "emulsion
Fix this textphotography.’’ In the earliest years of the photographic
Fix this textart, the "daguerreotype” and "talbotype” processes (the
Fix this textformer of which utilised a silver-plated sheet of copper,
Fix this textand the latter, a piece of paper coated with iodide of
Fix this textsilver) were the recognised means used, but a revolu-
Fix this texttion was brought about by the introduction of the wet
Fix this textcolodion process which rendered it possible to greatly
Fix this textreduce the time necessary for the production of a photo-
Fix this textgraph; this was the sheet anchor of the professional
Fix this textphotographer for about 30 years. It was used practically
Fix this textexclusively by professional photographers.
Fix this textAmong amateurs, however, many substitutes were
Fix this textadopted. Nearly the whole of these consisted of an
Fix this textordinary wet collodion plate which, up to the point of
Fix this textusing it in the camera, was prepared exactly as before,
Fix this textbut at that stage, the free silver nitrate solution which
Fix this textremained upon it after withdrawal from the sensitising
Fix this textsolution, was washed off, the plate coated with a pre-
Fix this textservative (coffee, tea, tannin and other like materials),
Fix this textdried and used in the dry state. The sensitive plates
Fix this textprepared thus, were much less sensitive to light than
Fix this textwhen used in the original wet state but their great
Fix this textconvenience commended them to the amateur and much
Fix this textbeautiful work was done upon them. Another step
Fix this textforward was taken when in the year 1864 B. J. Sayce
Fix this textand W. B. Bolton, members of the Liverpool Amateur
Fix this textPhotographic Association, introduced at a meeting of
Fix this textthe Society, an entirely new system, They shewed work
Fix this textdone on plates which had been coated with collodio-
Fix this textbromide of silver emulsion, which were seen to be so
Fix this textgreat an improvement that the use of them became
Fix this textalmost general among amateurs and eventually, the
Fix this textgelatino-bromide of silver emulsion was evolved. That,
Fix this texthowever, was in the hands of only a few, until one
Fix this textday, at a photographic society meeting, Mr. Chas. Ben-
Fix this textnett, of London (an amateur), astonished everyone by
Fix this textthe exhibition of photographic negatives which had
Fix this textmanifestly received such brief exposures in the camera,
Fix this textthat those who were present hardly believed their eyes.
Fix this textMr. Bennett generously gave a full description of the
Fix this textmeans which he had adopted in order to produce these
Fix this textremarkable results, and gelatino-bromide of silver at
Fix this textonce leaped into prominence. For a few years (in the
Fix this textlate 70’s and early 80’s of last century) accomplished
Fix this textamateurs and technical chemists did an enormous
Fix this textamount of work in the development of the process and
Fix this textas the preparation of the material was gradually ren-
Fix this textdered fairly easy then, the professional chemist took
Fix this textthe place of the investigating amateur and the dry-plate
Fix this textfactory appeared. (It may be mentioned that there
Fix this textare, in Melbourne and in other parts of the world,
Fix this textto-day, practitioners who not only prepared the present-
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-405731761
Royal Institute of British Architects & Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. (1929). Journal of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Retrieved April 12, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-405731761
Royal Institute of British Architects and Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. Journal of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Melbourne: R.V.I.A, 1929. Web. 12 April 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-405731761>
Royal Institute of British Architects & Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. 1929, Journal of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects R.V.I.A, Melbourne viewed 12 April 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-405731761
{{Citation
| author1=Royal Institute of British Architects.
| author2=Royal Victorian Institute of Architects.
| title=Journal of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects.
| year=1929
| section=13 v. : ill. ; 28 cm.
| issue=Vol. 33, No. 4 (September 1935)
| location=Melbourne
| publisher=R.V.I.A
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-405731761
| id=nla.obj-405731761
| access-date=12 April 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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