Mike Meurisse
I bought my first camera in 1951, a simple folding Kodak 8 exposures on 620 film.
I improvised a darkroom under the stairs and my father taught me contact printing.
My first attempts at taking landscapes resulted in flat boring views of Scottish mountains. During National Service I spent over a year in both Korea and Japan. Japan was a photographers' paradise, not only for the scenery but also shops full of well-specified cameras at affordable prices, at a time when Japanese cameras were unknown in Europe and America.
I soon changed my folding Kodak 620 for a succession of second hand 35 mm Retinas and became the Hon Secretary of my army unit photographic club organising local trips to places such as Hiroshima.and Etajima. We had our own darkroom in the camp with an enlarger and I was often busy developing or printing in the evenings. Film was either Kodak Plus X or Fuji Neopan. Fuji colour transparency was slow at12 ISO! Fine grain developer was short so we bought basic chemicals and mixed our own using Kodak formulae for D23 and D25. I exchanged the Retina for a Canon range finder camera (similar to a Leica III), which I still have. I became the unit photographer undertaking assignments both in Japan and Korea. Back in civilian life later, I sometimes needed to take photographs in connection with my work for use in publications and for advertising. For this I used either our company cameras that were a Nikon and a Rollieflex, or alternatively I hired a Nikon or Topcon from Pelling and Cross
In 1982 I bought my first SLR, a Nikon FE to which I later added an F3. John Tanqueray introduced me to the Dorking Camera Club in 1988 for which I shall always be grateful. My photography until then had been largely documentary and family, and club activity helped me develop into other subject areas including architecture. A little later I started using a 5 X 4 camera and became Hon Secretary of the MPP Users Club, a large format society. About ten years ago I became a member of the RPS and in 2004 gained my LRPS. Four years ago I started to use digital, but still use some film. I have served a total of 13 years on the DCC Committee first as Competition Secretary, and later as Chairman. Afterwards I was privileged to serve the Club as President.
I improvised a darkroom under the stairs and my father taught me contact printing.
My first attempts at taking landscapes resulted in flat boring views of Scottish mountains. During National Service I spent over a year in both Korea and Japan. Japan was a photographers' paradise, not only for the scenery but also shops full of well-specified cameras at affordable prices, at a time when Japanese cameras were unknown in Europe and America.
I soon changed my folding Kodak 620 for a succession of second hand 35 mm Retinas and became the Hon Secretary of my army unit photographic club organising local trips to places such as Hiroshima.and Etajima. We had our own darkroom in the camp with an enlarger and I was often busy developing or printing in the evenings. Film was either Kodak Plus X or Fuji Neopan. Fuji colour transparency was slow at12 ISO! Fine grain developer was short so we bought basic chemicals and mixed our own using Kodak formulae for D23 and D25. I exchanged the Retina for a Canon range finder camera (similar to a Leica III), which I still have. I became the unit photographer undertaking assignments both in Japan and Korea. Back in civilian life later, I sometimes needed to take photographs in connection with my work for use in publications and for advertising. For this I used either our company cameras that were a Nikon and a Rollieflex, or alternatively I hired a Nikon or Topcon from Pelling and Cross
In 1982 I bought my first SLR, a Nikon FE to which I later added an F3. John Tanqueray introduced me to the Dorking Camera Club in 1988 for which I shall always be grateful. My photography until then had been largely documentary and family, and club activity helped me develop into other subject areas including architecture. A little later I started using a 5 X 4 camera and became Hon Secretary of the MPP Users Club, a large format society. About ten years ago I became a member of the RPS and in 2004 gained my LRPS. Four years ago I started to use digital, but still use some film. I have served a total of 13 years on the DCC Committee first as Competition Secretary, and later as Chairman. Afterwards I was privileged to serve the Club as President.
