ALL THOSE WHINGERS who complain that their digicams are not really foolproof after all should spare a thought for Alfred Gregory.
Greg (as his friends know him), was the official photographer on the triumphant 1953 conquest of Everest. The photographs of Hilary and Tenzing that we know so well were all taken by him, using two 35mm and one 120 roll film cameras.
Greg�s 35mm cameras � the ones that he carried to the highest altitude � were a Kodak Retina IIa and a Contax III, loaded with 10ASA Kodachrome film. There was no auto focus, no automatic metering and, most important, no batteries.
Penguin has published a magnificent book of Alfred Gregory�s photographs, including the Everest pictures, together with a stunning collection from his travels in Africa and a selection of his photos taken in the English resort town of Blackpool. And right now, until the end of February, there is an exhibition of new prints from the Gregory collection at the Monash Gallery of Art in Wheeler�s Hill.
We mention batteries in this context because even as we speak our pal PJ is somewhere on Everest with a new fangled auto-everything battery powered camera. And when he was deciding which camera to buy for the trip batteries figured large in his calculations. He dismissed our suggestion that he take a Retina IIa from our collection as frivolous.
more : dpexpert
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