42
B+W
READER OFFER
Isabella Bird – A Photographic Journal
of Travels Through China 1894-1896
by Deborah Ireland is published on 17 March
by Ammonite Press, price £25.
B+W Photography readers (UK only) can buy
a copy of the book at the special offer price of
£17.50 plus P&P. Please note: P&P is £2.95 for the first item and
£1.95 for each additional item. To order please call 01273 488005
and quote code: R4763. Closing date: 19 June 2015.
This offer is only available over the phone.celluloid films emitted sparks
when they were separated.
Here she describes how she
passed her time in the evenings
after a full day’s travelling:
‘...above all, there were
photographic negatives to develop
and print, and prints to tone, and
the difficulties enhanced the zest
of these processes and made me
think, with a feeling of
complacent superiority, of the
amateurs who need ‘dark rooms’,
sinks, water ‘laid on’, tables and
other luxuries. Night supplied me
with a dark room; the majestic
Yangtze was ‘laid on’; a box served
for a table; all else can be
dispensed with.’She went on: ‘I found that the
most successful method of
washing out ‘‘hypo’’ was to lean
over the gunwale and hold the
negative in the wash of the Great
River, rapid even at the mooring
place, and give it some final
washes in the filtered water. This
chilly arrangement was only
possible when the trackers were
ashore or smoking opium at the
stem. Printing was a great
difficulty, and I only overcame it
by hanging the printing-frames
over the side. When all these
rough arrangements were
successful, each print was a joy
and a triumph, nor was there
disgrace in failure.’Bottle seller and hospital patient.Gala headdress.40-42_ISABELLA_BIRD_175 ER/MB.indd 4240-42_ISABELLA_BIRD_175 ER/MB.indd 42 02/03/2015 12:1902/03/2015 12:19