Ok, another blast from the past. Today we have an image taken by my grandfather in 1930 which was awarded the ‘Picture of the Year’ by the Royal Academy of Professional Photographers. The image depicts the Master, Treasurer and Assistants of the Company of Merchants.

Any ideas how it was taken?

Came across this image recently and thought it may be of interest. It shows my grandfather undertaking a panoramic group photograph, could be an Edinburgh University Medical Graduation or perhaps one of the Merchant Company Schools. When I joined the business in 1969 we were still using the camera and I remember vividly processing the, up to 6″+ lengths of film followed by printing hundreds of prints in a giant lightbox contraption and processing up to 50 exposed lengths at one time! This was also in the days before ready build staging so it was, on the ground, sitting, standing, standing on benches, standing on chairs and then standing on tables, at times chairs on tables. No H+S in those days! The best were Edinburgh University College of Art who took great pleasure in running round the back of the group once the camera had passed them thus appearing twice in the one panorama.