Dear family and friends, attached is the latest installment of the Ralph Family Photo Album, one of my "shelter at home projects" and an opportunity to share family photos and stories. Enjoy! (text and photo files)
Embedded Files
1940’s “Selfie”
We grew up in a home with a darkroom where dad would supplement
his postwar income by photographing kids, sports teams, youth
groups, dance classes and an occasional commercial assignment as
well as take hundreds of family photos. There were no smart phones
or digital cameras in those days and dads photos were taken on 4” x
5” sheet film on his Speed Graphic camera or on rolls of black and
white film with his smaller cameras. Film developing was done in
complete darkness usually taking an entire evening. The process
began with removal of the exposed film from his camera and transfer
into a light tight containers with alternating baths of chemicals and
water rinses creating negatives. He then printed the images by
exposing photographic paper to the projected negatives on his
“enlarger” and then repeating the chemical process in trays. I can still
recall standing with my dad in the subdued red light and watching him
poke and prod the sensitized paper with plastic tongs and watching
as the images slowly and magically appeared. The prints were then
removed at the perfect moment, dipped into a final solution to halt the
chemical process and hung on strings with clothes pins around the
darkroom to dry. In later years he was able to purchase an electric
drum dryer speeding up the process. Home color film processing was
extremely complicated and expensive so he would enlist mom to
carefully hand “colorize” selected black and white photographs using
tubes of pigment, brushes and tissue.
Dads life long photography hobby also included movie making. He
was a member of the Hayward Movie Club that met at Jack Hobson’s
house or downtown at Bill Bowman’s camera store on upper B Street.
Dad, along with 8 or 10 like minded club members met monthly to
critique the short 3 minute 8mm films that they shot during the prior
month and would hold an annual contest for the best movie and best
color slides taken during the year. Home movie making was
expensive and difficult in those days. Dad had a basic Bell and
Howell movie camera and it could take 8 or more rolls of film to
produce a 20 minute movie. Film processing was done by specialized
photo labs requiring 2-4 weeks of processing and mailing time. Dad
was able to produce dozens of films through the years of family, trips,
parades and experimental subjects including a stop motion “Invisible
Man” film.
I’m sure that he would be pleased to know that many members of our
family have embraced photography as a hobby and enjoy taking
photos of their own families, friends and places. Many of dad’s
photos, negatives, slides and movies are stored in bins and albums
awaiting organization, conversion, and availability to future
generations as well as a resource for these little family history
vignettes. -Bill
Photo: William H. Ralph with sons James Barton Ralph (left) and William Charles
Ralph (right) approx.1948
Google: “Castro Valley History” and click on the Youtube Castro Valley History
Video highlighting some of dads early films.
Dads movies of early Castro Valley and Hayward are part of a continuous loop of
old films that are in the collection of the Hayward Area Historical Museum.
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