June 1999
President's
Message
Annual Picnic
Portrait of ...
Portrait Of ...
Al Webber, Sr.
I was born in Maine, and commuted by trolley to Bates College, graduated in 1928 just in time for the depression. Because I was preceded by a Bates man, I was fortunate to get a teaching job in a small public school. My first year I taught three sciences, conducted the orchestra and band. There were no pay raises for six years and no pay at all for 1932 until July. I went to a much better job in 1934 and to the DuPont Plastics Department in 1942 and retired in 1972 after 30 happy years.
Photography has been an important part of my life for 82 years. I got my first camera in 1918, earned by selling packets of seeds. It was a PREMO box camera, two speeds - Instantaneous (1/25) and Time. It had a fixed opening (ca.f/11) and used a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 film pack, operating mechanically much like a Polaroid. I took many photos with it and still have it. Sometime before 1925, I acquired a Kodak 2A, roll film, about 2.5 by 4 inches. But my first real purchase was in 1929, a Kodak 3A, 118 film, f/5.6 and it took many good photos, until the size was no longer offered.
About 1932, a friend inherited the camera and supplies of a professional photographer, which she promptly donated to me. The 5x7 view camera (Zeiss Tessar lens) got a lot of use in the 30's. I had sole use of the science department darkroom, made 30x40 prints for instructional purposes, and documented many of the school activities. When fire destroyed the original wing of the school, one of my photos made the rotogravure section of the Boston paper. With a 24 inch lens, I used it to photograph the 1932 solar eclipse. Included with the supplies were unexposed Lumiere Autochrome plates and Dufaycolor film, which gave me my first experience with color photography.
My first 35mm camera was a classic Argus C-3. I did my own b&w processing and used a lot of the early Anscochrome - slides now essentially monochrome. I also acquired an Exakta, with its lock-up mirror, which was convenient for use with my telescope. Both were ultimately stolen.
In Berlin in 1956, I bought my Leica M-3, which game me much pleasure for many years. With the Visoflex it became my first SLR, and I put a lot of Kodachrome through it. In 1971, Al Jr. met DCC members at WIEP, who talked to him into joining. He got an acceptance at his first meeting, made with his Nikkormat. He promptly talked me into joining. I made it a point to enter my four slide quota regularly, made it to Salon class, got a few ribbons and eight Wilmington International acceptance.
In 1973, I decided to go from RF to SLR, and bought a Minolta XE-7 that I still use as a second camera. By 1991, autofocus tempted me. Before I could make up my mind which to choose, my daughter gave me a Minolta Maxxum 7XI. With a convenient assortment of lenses and adapters, it is now my everyday camera, supporting my other hobbies with stereo photography.