Ray Hooley sent me a load of stuff to put on his web site over Xmas, but some of it is very old and maked, so a lot of digital retouching has been needed to get the pictures and text back to what they should be.
One of the pictures I am working on is a bit of history, showing the two Hornsby-Akroyd oil engines at Fenny Stratford pumping station, engines 101 and
102.I don't know how old the actual photograph is, but it has 1892 on the back and looks old enough to have been taken from a glass negative at some time. It is nearly A3 sized and I've had to scan it in two halves and join it together as the scanner is only A4.
The detail is very good indeed, and shows a dirt floor in the gloomy pumping house with the two engines driving a common two-throw pump through a gearing system made by "Geo Waller & Co Engineers London".
The retouching of a colour advert over the weekend took about 10 hours of time, but the results have been very goo. I have ordered an A1 and A2 print from the file to see how good the definition is, and will probably do the same with this picture.
Which raises the question: is anyone interested in getting a print as well as me? I'll have to check with Ray Hooley first, but if I have enough positive enquiries I will get a short run done of the colour advert and the pumping house picture.
I should add that both have been suitably modified so that any attempts at copying would be instantly detectable, and I will not be releasing the files, only a professionally printed out picture on 178gsm satin paper.
I'll put both pictures on Ray's website as soon as I have finished the Fenny Stratford photograph retouching.
Peter