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| L-R: Annie, Nerida, Janet and Ray with vintage photos and negatives at the Tony Foley Centre |
On Saturday, 3rd December 2016, Ray McJannett conducted a seminar on the works of the Gunning photographer Augustus Jones. At the end of the seminar, participants had the opportunity to ask Ray about their own family photographs, including two early daguerreotype plates dating from at least the 1880s.
Augustus "Gus" Jones lived near Lade Vale and worked as a photographer in the Gunning, Lade Vale, Greenvale, Dalton and Jerrawa areas. Gus spent some twenty years as a photographer, beginning around 1890 until his early death at the age of forty, in about 1912.
Gus focused exclusively on portraiture, and unlike many Victorian photographers, his photos were taken exclusively outdoors. Ray presented digitised versions of Gus' work on a large screen television, and spent some time explaining the techniques of vintage photography.
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| Augustus Jones, Self Portrait. Image courtesy of Ray McJannett. |
Gus used gelatin dry plates to produce portraits that were cropped and presented on black card (roughly the size of a typical playing card) with the photographer's name printed across the bottom of the card. Gus continued to use dry plates throughout his career, despite the invention of celluloid film in 1889.
Gus left a significant collection of works taken in the Gunning region. Ray suggested that Gus' work had a Gothic appearance, and was superb in its use of light. Many of the photographs reveal the personality and character of the people and the fashion and living standards and styles of the day.
Interesting items brought along to the seminar included vintage photographs of relatives wearing unusual formal regalia, a young family member on horseback, a picture of the main street of Gunning from the early 1900s, and two very early daguerreotype plates or negatives.
French artist Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype - an image recorded on a silvered copper plate. Ray referred to the daguerreotype as a "mirror with a memory". To view the daguerreotype image, Ray used a black card to apparently "reflect" the black on to the plate. This early photographic technique was a one-off event - if you wanted another copy, you had to resit the photograph!
Members and guests were most grateful for Ray's enthusiast introduction to vintage photography. In Ray's words: "It's great. I love it!"
An article about Ray's work and the 360-strong collection appeared in The Canberra Times earlier in 2016.
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