Negative and Slide Scanner: Dalbeattie, Galloway Documentary Photography from 1982

My early Christmas present to myself was a top of the range negative scanner, so I can catalogue the thousands of photos I’ve taken in my work as a north east press and commercial photographer over the last three decades.

Mum x                                                                   Dad x

It seems like a long time ago when I first joined a camera club aged 13, in my home town of Dalbeattie in Galloway. I took to carrying my Practica MTL3 camera everywhere, using a documentary style of photography, everything from people and places as I got a feel for the camera, processing films and developing an eye for a shot.

My first SLR: Practica MTL3 with the original receipt 

In the early days of learning my trade as a photographer I used black and white film. Colour film was way too expensive in the days when you had to develop the film before you could see the results, and it was a while before I had built up enough confidence in my skill as a photographer to graduate to it.

I’ve spent 30 years as a press and commercial photographer in the North East, Yorkshire and South West Scotland, and my negative image archive numbers around 80,000 pictures. It was a chance remark from someone I know through a personal group on Facebook that got me thinking about a negative scanner, and how good it would be to revisit some of my old shots, particularly the black and whites, which is a favourite medium of mine.

Although I bought the scanner a couple of months ago I’ve had so many North East press and commercial photography bookings I’ve hardly had chance to use it. The scanner works by digitalising negatives and 35mm slides to create high quality scans, and over Christmas I plan to spent nearly 2 days playing around with it and seeing what it can do. 

The reviews from professional photographer forums were all good, so I’ve been able to scan the depth of colour and quality of the original negatives, the only main issue was cheap lenses on the camera. 

I’m really looking forward to taking a walk down memory lane and looking back at how my career as a press photographer started back in my home region of Dumfries and Galloway, where I worked for the Solway Press Services, John Donnelly Photographic, then freelancing over Dumfries & Galloway.

All my old images have been put away in cupboards for years, including the time I spent working on a kibbutz in Israel and cycling back across Europe to the UK,  I’m expecting the memories to come flooding back.

Depending on how time-consuming it is I may consider offering it as a service to commercial companies and organisations with image archives dating back to pre-digital years. 

There must be so many old photographs of buildings, products and people that need to see the light of day again and could be really effective when used in press, PR and marketing campaigns.

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography