The current schism in the traditional photographic world due to the digital onslaught may seem as if it has no precedent, but to those of us who were printing in the 1970’s it is revisiting old ground. At that time traditional materials were under great threat - resin coated paper technology had arrived quickly, and by the mid ‘70’s RC paper was viewed by many users and suppliers as the logical replacement for the ‘old fashioned’ fibre-base paper. In 1974 Agfa took the extreme step of discontinuing all black and white materials in the UK, and it seemed the door was closing.
Enter an unlikely set of Don Quixote style characters to champion the cause for the traditional. Paul Hill, one of the prime movers and shakers at the forefront of UK photography, was at the time making many connections through his intense series of workshops at ‘The Photographers Place’ in Derbyshire. One of the early workshop participants was Peter Goldfield, a North London based pharmacist, who had been bitten by the bug badly. Possession of a existing retail front offered possibilities, so Paul and Peter worked on the idea of re-importing Agfa paper into the UK by the back door. Peter enlisted the help of Martin Reed (that’s me), and the first shipment arrived from a Hamburg based wholesaler in November 1977.
Most new retail businesses experience that wonderful, terrifying feeling of sitting in a barren room with a pile of newly acquired stock, and wondering how on earth to sell it. In our case we had a list to start with of about thirty people throughout the UK who had expressed interest in getting supplies. We stuck pins of their locations in a map of the UK, in the ‘operations room’ above the shop, and wondered if there would be more than thirty, or was that it? We thought maybe some real prints as samples would help, and sacrificed some stock to make a stack of 5x7” prints on Record Rapid and Brovira.
We also started putting together a little book to get the message over, calling it ‘The Goldfinger Craftbook for Creative Photography’’ and which still changes hands for a few pence at collectors fairs. Photographers and printers who had been brought up on a basic diet suddenly came face to face with the richness possible from the fantastic range of materials Agfa were still producing in unadulterated form. We started to bring in Kodak selenium toner, then unknown in the UK, and explore new territory in archival washing and drying, as well as the problems of archival storage. Nick Hayden, freelance photographer and teacher became part of the team, joined part time by his college friend Richard Ball. Peter Benson came in from the photo. lab industry, joined by young enthusiast Ben Haxworth. A small gallery was established.
To cut a long story short, it was all successful. So successful that in 1981 Agfa UK decided to themselves take over distribution of black and white into the UK. Sudden removal of carpets.
Que sera sera.
What became of the Brovira Boys? Peter Goldfield followed his artistic star and set up ‘Photographers at Duckspool’ in 1985, which for many years worked in tandem with ‘The Photographers Place’, and is still operating now, although Peter is starting to take life a bit easier. Take a look at what he is up to at www.duckspool.com
Nick Hayden died in unfortunate circumstances in the mid-90’s. Richard Ball and Peter Benson became commercial photographers. I set up Silverprint in 1984, initially majoring in Oriental Seagull paper. In trying to broaden the supplier base we started stocking an increasingly wide range of materials, and now that traditional photography and printing is a niche interest this approach still seems to be valid.
Number 329 Muswell Hill Broadway became, and is still, a hairdressers called ‘Goldilocks’ (no connection).
For those that want an even closer inspection of the gravel on memory lane try the downloadable PDF copy of the ‘Goldfinger Craftbook’ opposite.