By Kirsty Ross
FOR Lance Pritchard, this is the end of an era.
The Werribee photographer has prolonged the change until this year, but plans to bite the bullet and update his tools with a digital SLR.
To mark the occasion, the amateur snapper thought it would be a good time to hold his first exhibition and bid farewell to the good old days.
Lance’s black and white works spanning the past 30 years will be on display at The Gallery in Werribee South every weekend in July.
“I have named the exhibition End of an Era,” the 58-year-old said.
“All prints have been developed and printed in the darkroom and as everyone, including myself, is going digital I thought it may be a good time to hold an exhibition.”
Well-known around town for his role as vice-president and secretary of the Werribee Historical Society, Lance has also been president with Werribee Camera Club for 20 years.
The group gets together to have little competitions, nothing too serious, he said.
Lance said that although the collection is mainly of relatively recent photographs of local and statewide subjects, there is one photograph to take special notice of, if you’re a bit of a jet spotter.
“Taken in late afternoon light, it shows the total RAAF fleet of seven Hercules Transports lined up at the Laverton air force base around 1978,” he said.
Lance took his first photo at age 10, developed his first film when he was 12 years old and enthusiastically bought his first camera when he was 14, after working at Coles Supermarket in Footscray during the school Christmas holidays.
“I saved and saved, then blew it all on a 35mm,” he said.
Since then it’s been a succession of Canon 35mm’s and large blow-ups in black and white.
The exhibition of Lance’s work is on at The Gallery in Werribee South every weekend in July 12 and is open until 5pm.
