Cool Photography

Thank you all for your appreciation of my memories of early years in photography, which reminded me of how quickly photography was advancing by the mid-20th century when I was active, and of an earlier photographer I had the pleasure of interviewing at his home in Kent in 1980 at the age of 92.

John Noel was the official photographer for the 1924 Everest expedition which failed to reach the summit and sadly cost the lives of two members of the team. His pictures were first published exclusively in The Times and then around the world, so I was able to use some prints from the archives to illustrate my article in that paper.

I also wrote in The British Journal of Photography, about his plate camera, built specially for use in those extreme conditions, and his account of developing the plates in a tent heated by a yak dung stove, which may sound fanciful but it was confirmed that the paper received the developed negatives in batches by overland courier, together with some 12,000 ft of cine film which was shown to excited London audiences. (There was no TV or Internet then, of course!)

I do believe we have it a little easier today, but it was perhaps also a little more exciting at times, way back then!