Last week I saved a little box of 5 transparencies from the bin. They have no value apart from memory. I grew up in the 70’s and can remember if one ever visited a zoo, museum, cathedral or other such tourist attraction, there was always a visitors guide available, often printed by a company called “Woodmansterne”, who are still going strong. There was also often a little, back lit box displaying transparencies. In my day they were most often sold in a plastic strip of 4. Often cleverly crafted so that you needed to buy two strips to get the shots you wanted. They were often shots that one couldn’t take. The cathedral at night, an exhibit perfectly lit without the glass in front, something or other from the air, you get the idea. They allowed the visitor to augment a slide show with those views. They often had a “Title” slide and a “The End” available too! They were most often from a company called Walton, the set above would have predated what I remember and I’d guess date from late 50’s early 60’s.
As I got into super 8 film a few years later, I remember getting a catalogue from a local camera store who sold “Walton Films”. I believe that I am correct in saying that the “movie” side of things led to the start of the Walton business rather than the slides but I might be wrong in that! I always wanted the 200 foot “Red Arrows” in colour with sound!!
I’ve recently purchased yet another scanner, mainly so I can scan 120 to a decent quality. Unlike the other film scanner I own, this one has a “colour restoration” tab. I thought just for fun I’d give it a challenge – here is one of the slides from the set….
Although technology marches on, some of it is actually useful, and in this case, I didn’t need a degree in engineering to get it to work!
S.H.O.U.T. 