PCCGB
Many members of the PCCGB have their own websites – some are to dedicated to specific makers such as Nikon, some are on specific countries, eg UK camera makers, others are on images – eg cartes de visite, while others feature examples of photographs taken with old or obscure photographic processes – eg wet collodion.
If you have a website please get in touch and we will be happy to add you to this page along with a link to your site.
Ron Cosens (member No. 1)
www.cartedevisite.co.uk a family history site all about UK & Eire photographers, their studios and their customers 1840 – 1940….
Get information from the world’s largest collection of British and Irish carte de visite photographs and related data.
Was your ancestor a photographer? If so, find out more.
Want to date your old family photographs? Try our DIY Photo Dating Wizard – unique & guaranteed!
John Marriage (member 2474)
I am a photographer with an interest in experimentation and abstraction. Inspiration comes from shapes and colours often literally abstracted from the environment, and from looking sideways at the world. I use both digital and traditional methods, including home-made and large-format equipment taking pictures on film or paper.
I was for 16 years and 60 issues the Editor of Photographica World, the journal of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain. I also research historic cameras, writers on photography and photographers.
Visit www.refracted.net
David Gardner (member 796)
My website is dedicated to Great British Cameras. Not all of them are technically brilliant, not all are beautiful to look at, not all are expensive, few of them are rare, but they are all British-made and appeal to me because they are either well made, quirky, have interesting design or operational features, are pretty, are ugly or (usually) are a combination of some or all of these!
I don’t pretend to include all British cameras, there is a huge gap in the wood and brass department, I just include those I have in my own collection – a reasonably representative sample of some very interesting Great British Cameras!
If you can add anything to what I say about these cameras I’d be pleased to hear from you.
Nigel Richards (member 501)
I have been collecting cameras since the late 1960’s. The start of the collection was when, at the age of eight I was given a coloured Kodak folding camera that belonged to my Great Aunt Mable. This was no normal folding Kodak, it was a turquoise Vanity complete with case, box and even the inner wrapping paper. This got me interested in photography. Various cameras came and went, most bought from what became Vintage Cameras in South London. My first new camera was a Zenith 3m and I very quickly bought a 135mm telephoto lens for it and got into club photography. Initially the collection consisted of anything that clicked. Later when finances allowed it grew. I concentrated on Sub-miniature, Coloured Kodaks, Brass and Mahogany and Victorian Images.
The collection increased at an alarming pace when I joined the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain and discovered that there were others out there like me.
My main interest is Sub-miniature especially Minox. I will occasionally use the cameras but for serious photography I still find you can’t beat a big negative, and to try and apply my almost lost skills as a photographer. I am now a member of Sandbach Photographic Society in Cheshire
John Wade (member 30)
I am a sort of semi-retired freelance writer and photographer, which means that instead of writing and taking pictures for other people and earning a decent wage as I once did, I now spend my time writing and photographing only what I enjoy for a lot less money. This includes books on classic cameras and social history, plus regular pages in Amateur Photographer magazine, where I write some technique articles, but mostly about classic film cameras and early digital. My website is chiefly a showcase for my books – titles, what they cover and where to buy them – plus a look at some of the rarer cameras in my collection, which is fairly eclectic.
Find me at www.johnwade.org
‘Walkies’ Seaside Photography
‘Walking pictures’ or ‘walkie’ photographs were taken in towns and resorts from the early 1920s well into the 1970s.
The street photographers snapped people walking along the street or prom, which were displayed later in the day outside a kiosk to buy.
There is a lot of interest in ‘found’ photographs and snapshots, which often offer an interesting and revealing look at our social history, but even these are posed to some degree; it is only with walking pictures that we get beyond this and see people going about their everyday business.
The majority of walkies are unposed, the photograph had already been taken by the time the person knew what was going on (as shown in the example here top). So they really are a snapshot of the times, as well as a unique glimpse of the fashions and streetscapes of the day.
Walking pictures were popular across most countries, but my research concentrates on those taken in Great Britain.
The images and information are proving a help to collectors, and family history researchers. Other types of seaside holiday portraits are also being studied, such as the stuffed animals used by Sunbeam in Margate – including this camel!
For more information visit the Go Home On A Postcard website, author Simon Robinson will be publishing a book on the subject in the near future – full details on the website
Paul Cordes (member 3931)
I’m looking for anything relating to Newcastle/North East area . Cameras and images, ephemera etc.
If you have any information on Mawson and Swan, and Hurman cameras and also images by W&D Downey, Lyddell Sawyer, Edgar Lee etc please contact me.
Find me at:
www.classicphotographics.co.uk
Frederic Hoch ( member 3768 )
I am interested in early camera and optical items. I’m an author of books and articles on the subject and world famous expert.
I was thirteen years old when I discovered the magic of photography.
For over three decades, I went to all the main photographic auctions and exhibitions in Europe and UK. I also accumulated a large number of rare pieces as a collector.
In particular I look for : cameras from the first years of photography, equipment for the daguerreotype and collodion processes, multi-cameras with multiple lenses, miniature and spy cameras, all-wood tropical cameras, early cine cameras and magic lanterns and first daguerreotypes.
Find me at : www.appareilphotocollection.com
(CERTO KAMERAWERK Dresden, Germany)
For exposures on 6.5 x 9 cm. plates.
Shaped like a lyre, covered in crocodile leather and
decorated with golden metal and silver jewels.
Light green leather bellows.
This apparatus was mainly designed for wealthy female clients.
There exists less than 10 models known in the world today.
The one shown here is in excellent condition.
Collection-appareils
Reference site for collectors of vintage cameras
This French based website has a huge amount of information on vintage cameras, with easy to search functions to find makers, models, instruction manuals and much more. Although primarily in French it has many English language pages, and using google the pages can be translated easily enough.
Free to anyone, registering will allow you to join in the forums, which cover the repair, use and research of a vast number of cameras.
Use the links below to view the main parts of the site:
John Bunyan
WESTON: TOWARDS THE LIGHT
Weston Electrical Instruments, in its various guises, was responsible for the most innovative and iconic range of light and exposure meters made in the 20th Century. Their designs were memorable and examples of the later meters endure into the 21st century.
All of them are collectable.
Use the link below to view my collection.
Find me at : www.westonmeters.info
Joop Riemens – Camera Collection
I have been a camera collector for more than 40 years. It started with a box camera , a second and so it continued, until I had some 250 cameras with a few examples of most types of camera.
But I had no idea what to collect that could I afford, and what I could find on the market and fairs.So I started again after selling most of my “big” camera collection and started to collect subminiature and some rare cameras, along with a few Bolta size cameras that where not so popular and easy to find. I try to bring a lot of different things in my collection in shape and look of the cameras , like “spy” cameras, pen shaped cameras, lighter cameras etc.Just see my website to find them all.
Mike Butkus
THE Camera Instruction Manual Website
Originally launched in 1999 this incredible online resource has thousands of downloadable PDF files for a huge number of camera instruction manuals. The site has headings for the main camera manufacturers, broken down by model. Perfect for checking which model you have and for ensuring you know how to use them correctly!
The site is advert free, and is run for free by Mike – although you can make a gratuity donation by Paypal on the site.
Along with camera instruction manuals there are also many for accessories, flashguns, light meters and also a selection of early period sales brochures and catalogues – these are mostly , but not only, from the USA.
Find Mike at : www.butkus.org/chinon
Gallery of Photography of Ireland
Explore the richness of Ireland’s photographic heritage
This interactive digital timeline brings together for the first time a dazzling array of photos spanning more than 180 years
The goal is to situate the development of photography in Ireland within broader technical, historical and artistic movements
Visit: https://timeline.galleryofphotography.ie/
Andrew Gillett
Before Digital – Youtube channel
film cameras and how to use them
Long time PCCGB member Andrew Gillett has his own Youtube channel, dedicated to showcasing the almost limitless types of film camera that can still be used by enthusiasts, collectors and newcomers. Ranging from simple and common to more rare and ‘exotic’ cameras, each video focuses on one camera and Andy explains how to get the best from it.
New videos are added regularly, so be sure to subscribe, like, comment and share!
Visit : BeforeDigital
Foticoscollection (Zaragoza, Spain)
Foticoscollection is a large Spanish private collection specialised in stereoscopic photography with more than 40 years of experience. We have about 1,500 stereo viewers and over 800 stereoscopic cameras, ranging from the beginnings of the daguerreotype to some of the most modern cameras of the 21st century. We like to think that through our collection we can make a brief overview of the history of photography through the inventions of large and small manufacturers from all over the world (Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United States, China, Japan, Argentina….. and even North Korea). And this huge collection started 40 years ago with a toy stereo camera given by his wife to Jesús Fernández, owner of the collection.
Of course we also have interesting pieces from the pre-cinema era, from the Spanish photographic industry, a large bibliographic list of books and magazines, as well as a vast archive of cartes de visite and photographs.
Recently we have started a great informative work publishing in our Instagram account a daily video of one of the pieces of our collection, so that the community can get to know historical jewels or curious and original devices of the history of photography.
