George Tinker Photographer Elland Yorkshire
In 1965 I was a little disillusioned about my prospects at Jewson's, Ron Wood was far from retirement and I thought I had no medium term prospects. I saw an advertisment in the Halifax Courier for a photographers assistance at George Tinkers of Elland.
I applied and was interviewed by George Tinker who offered me the job on the spot which I accepted.
My bosses at Jewson's and Nicholl & Brown tried hard to keep me but I had made up my mind I wanted a change, so I took the job.
Tinkers of Elland also owned a studio named Vernons in Halifax, photography was a trendy businss in the 60's and it fitted well with my rock'n'roll musical scene. I had grand ideas of being a top ranked David Bailey type photographer.
In the Elland branch we had a studio on the first floor, ground floor a retail shop and in the basement a thriving film proccessing business.
The staff included, Mr Tinker, his son Christopher, Mrs Tinker and a lady called Dorothy, all nice people who worked well as a team.
From day one they had planned my job in detail, I started on the film proccessing side washing and finishing prints.
This involved washing rolls of prints that were numbered on the back with the customers reference. I then had to put them through a glazing roller, this dried the prints and at the same time a large chromed roller would gloss them if placed face up on the rotating canvas belt, if the customer wanted matt finish you would place them face down. Finally you would sort the rolls cut them into singles and add them to the appropriate envelope along with the negatives.
One of the Tinkers would collect and deliver the D&P ( develop and print) work to various retailers in the area, this included Timothy Whites our largest customer. What work came in by lunchtime would be delivered the next day, the films would be developed and dried overnight for us to print and complete the next day.
Having prefected the print dry section I was allowed to work on D&P in a darkroom using what we called an EN printer.
You would thread the negatives into a mask to view them and decide what exposure to give them, press a foot switch and off you go.
The paper prints would be placed in a develping chemical, then fixed in another chemical and held in water ready to go to the print washing process. The chemicals used in photography are not user friendly one had to wear rubber shoes because it rotted leather and the fixing chemical made your nails go a horrible yellow colour.
Mr Tinker allowed me to take passport photo's only in the studio and he would take me on wedding bookings to help him gather people together and also use a second camera for non formal shots, some of which he used which pleased me.
During busy summer periods they employed a girl called Jenifer a family friend of the Tinkers, posh girl who went to a private school and to me she was a lazy snob. She flirted with me but I could not imagine starting any kind of friendship with her.
One day Mr Tinker called me into the office and I was greeted by Mrs Tinker who was tearful and white faced.
Gosh, I thought what are they about to say to me as I was confident that I was well liked and doing a good job.
Mrs Tinker simply said " Jim have you taken money from my purse" I instantly replied " no Mrs Tinker".
Mrs Tinker then said " please Jim tell me the truth it is not the first time this has happened. Mrs Tinker was a nervous lady and I could see how upset she was and with head down she went silent. Mr Tinker then told me to go back to work.
Later that day I was called to the office again by Mr and Mrs Tinker, I felt sure I was going to be sacked. Mrs Tinker burst into tears then said " Jim, I am so sorry I have make a terrible mistake and I am so hurt by what has happened, please forgive me"
Our Elland shop was two doors away from the newsagent shop, Mrs Tinker had called in and asked the manager if Jim had been in and changed a £5 note if and when making a purchase that day. Believe me £5 was a lot of money in 1965 almost a weeks wage for my age group. The manager made it clear he had not seen me in the shop that day but Jenifer ( snobby rich bitch) had been in and paid with a £5 note. Mrs Tinker then put two and two together and realised money had only gone missing when Jenifer was working, secondly I never went into the office unless invited. Now Mrs Tinker was 100% sure it was Jenifer although Jenifer denied it she was told to leave right away.
I have never stolen from my employers and I was really hurt that the Tinkers originally thought it was me.
After that incident Mr Tinker was extra nice to me so it was an idea time for me to tell him I wanted to do more photography rather than process work, this was difficult for George as his son was in place in the Elland Studio. In order to compromise he suggested I worked in Vernons Studio, Halifax on a Saturday as they only did studio photography.
I jumped at the chance as the work was more rewarding and it introduced me to the art of studio work.
Vernon Studio was on the first floor in Crown Street, Halifax and I was working there the day Donavan came to Halifax and visited the night club opposite known as Big Daddies owned by Shirley Crabtree the famous westler.
Being in a perfect position on the first floor I opened the window and was able to take lots of photographs of the Donavan visit as you will see below.
I applied and was interviewed by George Tinker who offered me the job on the spot which I accepted.
My bosses at Jewson's and Nicholl & Brown tried hard to keep me but I had made up my mind I wanted a change, so I took the job.
Tinkers of Elland also owned a studio named Vernons in Halifax, photography was a trendy businss in the 60's and it fitted well with my rock'n'roll musical scene. I had grand ideas of being a top ranked David Bailey type photographer.
In the Elland branch we had a studio on the first floor, ground floor a retail shop and in the basement a thriving film proccessing business.
The staff included, Mr Tinker, his son Christopher, Mrs Tinker and a lady called Dorothy, all nice people who worked well as a team.
From day one they had planned my job in detail, I started on the film proccessing side washing and finishing prints.
This involved washing rolls of prints that were numbered on the back with the customers reference. I then had to put them through a glazing roller, this dried the prints and at the same time a large chromed roller would gloss them if placed face up on the rotating canvas belt, if the customer wanted matt finish you would place them face down. Finally you would sort the rolls cut them into singles and add them to the appropriate envelope along with the negatives.
One of the Tinkers would collect and deliver the D&P ( develop and print) work to various retailers in the area, this included Timothy Whites our largest customer. What work came in by lunchtime would be delivered the next day, the films would be developed and dried overnight for us to print and complete the next day.
Having prefected the print dry section I was allowed to work on D&P in a darkroom using what we called an EN printer.
You would thread the negatives into a mask to view them and decide what exposure to give them, press a foot switch and off you go.
The paper prints would be placed in a develping chemical, then fixed in another chemical and held in water ready to go to the print washing process. The chemicals used in photography are not user friendly one had to wear rubber shoes because it rotted leather and the fixing chemical made your nails go a horrible yellow colour.
Mr Tinker allowed me to take passport photo's only in the studio and he would take me on wedding bookings to help him gather people together and also use a second camera for non formal shots, some of which he used which pleased me.
During busy summer periods they employed a girl called Jenifer a family friend of the Tinkers, posh girl who went to a private school and to me she was a lazy snob. She flirted with me but I could not imagine starting any kind of friendship with her.
One day Mr Tinker called me into the office and I was greeted by Mrs Tinker who was tearful and white faced.
Gosh, I thought what are they about to say to me as I was confident that I was well liked and doing a good job.
Mrs Tinker simply said " Jim have you taken money from my purse" I instantly replied " no Mrs Tinker".
Mrs Tinker then said " please Jim tell me the truth it is not the first time this has happened. Mrs Tinker was a nervous lady and I could see how upset she was and with head down she went silent. Mr Tinker then told me to go back to work.
Later that day I was called to the office again by Mr and Mrs Tinker, I felt sure I was going to be sacked. Mrs Tinker burst into tears then said " Jim, I am so sorry I have make a terrible mistake and I am so hurt by what has happened, please forgive me"
Our Elland shop was two doors away from the newsagent shop, Mrs Tinker had called in and asked the manager if Jim had been in and changed a £5 note if and when making a purchase that day. Believe me £5 was a lot of money in 1965 almost a weeks wage for my age group. The manager made it clear he had not seen me in the shop that day but Jenifer ( snobby rich bitch) had been in and paid with a £5 note. Mrs Tinker then put two and two together and realised money had only gone missing when Jenifer was working, secondly I never went into the office unless invited. Now Mrs Tinker was 100% sure it was Jenifer although Jenifer denied it she was told to leave right away.
I have never stolen from my employers and I was really hurt that the Tinkers originally thought it was me.
After that incident Mr Tinker was extra nice to me so it was an idea time for me to tell him I wanted to do more photography rather than process work, this was difficult for George as his son was in place in the Elland Studio. In order to compromise he suggested I worked in Vernons Studio, Halifax on a Saturday as they only did studio photography.
I jumped at the chance as the work was more rewarding and it introduced me to the art of studio work.
Vernon Studio was on the first floor in Crown Street, Halifax and I was working there the day Donavan came to Halifax and visited the night club opposite known as Big Daddies owned by Shirley Crabtree the famous westler.
Being in a perfect position on the first floor I opened the window and was able to take lots of photographs of the Donavan visit as you will see below.
Not long after the missing £5 incident, Frank Lloyd the owner of Jewsons and Nicholl & Brown phone me to see how things were going.
I told him I was unsettled due to the problem I had about the missing money. Frank made it clear by asking me to return to Jewsons on the understanding he would find a way to further my prospects in the retail word. Mr Lloyd was an honest man who I respected and admired so it was fairly easy for me to say yes. In addition I had also received a letter from the manager of Jewsons, as below, with a hidden message of do you want to come back.
So by the end of 1965 I was back at Jewsons and it was like I had never been away.
Photo shows Me and Dorothy in the print washroom, I am sure her name was Dorothy but I want to call her Betty.
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Donavan comes to Big Daddies Halifax When working at the Vernon Studio one Saturday in 1965 I could see the crowds gathering in the street below waiting for the Donavan visit. I took full advantage on his arrival by reaching over the window ledge to take photographs. These are the photographs are unique as they have never been published before. The top left below shows Donavan next to Shirley Crabtree and the policeman I knew him and honest his name was Sgt. Pepper |
