95 year old photography amateur, Fred - Londoner #254
Fred Whisker is 95 years old and a born Londoner. We meet Fred in and around The Camera Club near Vauxhall, one of the longest running photographic societies in the world, where Fred is a member. Fred tells about growing up in North London and wanting to break away from home, about how World War II was an adventure and about his passion for photography.
This Film was made on a Chocolate Films Workshop with 6th form students at Graveney School, Tooting in partnership with Wimbledon Bookfest funded by the Wimbledon Foundation.
1000 LONDONERS
This film is part of 1000 Londoners, a ten-year digital project which aims to create a digital portrait of a city through 1000 of the people who identify themselves with it. The profile contains a 3 minute film that gives an insight into the life of the Londoner, as well as their personal photos of London and some answers to crucial questions about their views on London life. Over the course of the project we aim to reveal as many facets of the capital as possible, seeing city life from 1000 points of view.
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1000 Londoners is produced by South London based film production company and social enterprise, Chocolate Films. The filmmakers from Chocolate Films will be both producing the films and providing opportunities to young people and community groups to make their own short documentaries, which will contribute to the 1000 films. Visit www.chocolatefilms.com
TRANSCRIPT
My mum was a lodger and my dad was the son of the house. And the inevitable happened, you know. So, there was this pregnancy and living in a respectable street, the family could not be seen with a pregnancy walking up and down the road. So we got ejected I think, and moved up to Hornsey Road.
I was not very happy with domesticity. It is too strong a word, but I say I despise the way of life of my father. He was concerned with the, he would come home on a Friday and put the money and coins on the table. "That's the gas, that's the insurance, that's the housekeeping and so on." Oh what a boring bloody way of life you know, so, I had that background of wanting to be free.
The war came along and it started as you well know, September 1939. I was in the army for five and a half years. When you are living in discomfort, you know you're wet at night and all that sort of thing, and irregular food. But, those are the times of life that are satisfying in some way, at least I certainly felt. So, when I got into the commandos, I had earned myself an adventure holiday and I really enjoyed that, you get right away from the rest of life and there you are sleeping in dirt, do what you like you know.
When I came back from the army, one of the first things I did was to spend £70 on a Context camera with an F.2 lens. I would go to The Prince of Wales Theatre, where they had what they called 'review' in those days. It was pretty gentle and semi-intellectual, upper class entertainment. So I had these two branches coming along together without being realised at the time photography and theatre. No more wars, everybody is happy, there's unity throughout the world. I did photography as a hobby, and it's not much of a hobby if you don't entirely engage your attention and your ingenuity and your critical faculties to get it right. So, this is the element. I do things as a hobby, and I like to make it hard, or to be fussy in my own way.