Profile - David Thorpe
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His involvement in these posts on behalf of the society is not surprising, as he worked in accounting jobs, and for many years as Payrolls Officer for London Country Bus Services, based in Reigate. However, it is for the quality of his photography that those who knew him best will recall. In order to put this in context it is interesting to explore how David first got the photography ‘bug’, which was well before he joined the society.
Like many of his age, David served two years National Service. In his case this was with the RAF (between 1949 and 1951). Needless to say, he spent his time in the Payrolls section as an Acting Corporal (Paid, of course!). On return to civilian life he kept in touch with one of his friends who lived in Torquay. On a holiday there in 1956 his friend (a keen photographer) introduced David to the mysteries of his darkroom. David was immediately hooked, and early the following year he acquired an Ilford Sportsman 35mm camera for the princely sum of £11/19/6. He then added a Weston Master II exposure meter. David used B&W films as well as Kodachrome 1 (a speedy 10ASA in those days!). In 1962 he acquired a second-hand Gnome enlarger and other darkroom kit, and it was this equipment which he used to produce the superb B&W enlargements which were so admired in later years. In the same year he also purchased a second-hand Rolleiflex 3.5E, as desirable in its time as the Hasselblad is today.
In 1963 Reigate borough celebrated its centenary, and many society members became involved in a photojournalistic style project to record the people and places of the borough. It was as a result of seeing the superb work shown in the Society’s exhibition that David decided to join.
In 1966 David purchased a new Pentax SV 35mm SLR camera. He adopted a systematic approach to his photography, standardising on the use of Kodak Tri-X film (uprated from ASA400 to 800) and Ilford FP3 (uprated from ASA125 to 250), both developed in May & Baker Promicrol. It was also in this year that he joined the photojournalistic group within the society, which had been set up by John Morris. This was to influence his choice of photographic subjects in the coming years.
Between 1970 and 1972 he added to his Pentax armoury by purchasing two Spotmatic bodies. Although he retained these until quite recently, he found them quite heavy to carry around, and in 1976 he bought an Olympus OM1. Some time in the mid-80s he added an Olympus OM2.
David’s best-remembered images are likely to be the ‘punchy’ and gritty monochrome pictures that he produced in the late 70s and early 80s. He often visited the Derby and bigger race meetings at Epsom. There he photographed people – the bookies, punters, jockeys and all the other characters who make up the race-day crowds. His also visited many of the towns in Yorkshire and around – including Bradford, Leeds and Hebden Bridge. Here he found the dereliction resulting from the downturn in historic manufacturing activities, and a new mix of ethnic cultures. Many photographs showed the grimy stone buildings and streets of these areas, but people were never far away. The high-contrast style of David’s printing added emphasis to the appearance of dereliction and poverty that were a feature of towns which had once been such dynamic and thriving communities. His photography did take in other areas of interest, but there was a distinctive style to his prints that made them both memorable and easy to recognise as his.
New interests emerged in 1986, when David started attending West Surrey Big Band events at Woking. Following this, he discovered Abinger Big Band & Jazz Club, of which he has been a long-time member. Next year David and his wife acquired a holiday home in Ferring, which they visited regularly. Along with this came an interest in live music, which featured at a local venue. In more recent times, from 1994 onwards, they have been members of the Watermill Jazz club, Dorking (which now meets at the Friends Provident buildings). Sadly, for us, this meant that David’s involvement with the society lessened in recent times.
However, his interests in photography still remain. He has kept many of his favourite cameras, but in 2001 he traded in his Pentax equipment for a Sony Digital camera. Together with this, his PC and imaging software, he is making a partial transition into the ‘lightroom’ process. Despite this he remains, at heart, an enthusiast for ‘conventional’ photography. Having enjoyed the quality of work that he produced this way I fully understand his feelings. Perhaps one day he will be able to achieve the same quality through the digital process, and e-mail the results (perhaps even a panoramic view from the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge!) from Australia?