|
Frank Martin stands behind his Aptus Ferrotype ''while you wait''
camera, with his big brother George looking on.
This picture was probably taken in 1945 whilst they perfected their technique,
before hitting fairs and attractions (the Tower of London, Hampton Court, Nottingham Goose Fair, etc.) all over the UK to tout their photography.
Ferrotype (known in the USA as Tintype) plates were not available in the UK after WW2. So Frank started cutting up normal photographic paper on a power guillotine to fit the Aptus camera in the printing workshop he had set up before the war. He then repacked the paper and sold it to other "smudge" photographers. As this picked up he also began making card frames to display the pictures.
Photographic paper was also in very short supply after the war, prompting the entrepreneurial Frank Martin to buy photographic paper at government surplus sales. This was the beginning of Frank's move from street photographer to photographic supplier.
|