Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Following on from roll #7 (Banff-prequel) posted in this thread.
First of all some of the interesting information I’ve managed to gather since the last roll was posted:
The photographer was Bettina Mendl … an Austrian heiress who was born in 1909 in Vienna and died in Queensland, Australia in 1999.
She’s had a book written about her by her daughter Phyllis McDuff called ‘A Story Dreamt Long Ago.’ I read the book and now have a greater understanding of the person who took most of these photographs.
She fled from Austria in the late thirties to escape from Hitler’s SS and lived in the outback of Australia where she married a sheep station manager by the name of Joe McDuff to whom she had two daughters … Phyllis and Dawn.
In 1950 she returned to her homeland to organise her very large inheritance and re-establish a future life in Austria for herself, her husband and her two children. In the following years they travelled back and forth between the two countries depending on her business commitments and the desire to partly educate her girls in Austria.
Very little mention is made in the book of her extensive world travels in the mid thirties and from what I can see none of the photographs in the book have anything in common with the photographs I’m posting here. The only real information given is about New Zealand where she visited her sister Lucie who emigrated there with her husband in the early thirties … Lucie is the woman sitting on the small horse in the NZ thread. The woman we see now and then, who takes the occasional photo of Bettina, is a long time companion and friend from her youth called Maria … her nickname was ‘Baby.’ She was a countess apparently and almost always travelled with Bettina on her adventures.
As a child she was formally and privately tutored in the arts by a well-known classical Austrian painter.
She was an expert horsewoman and was selected for the Austrian dressage team to compete at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin but refused to go based on her political beliefs … this was one of many public actions that put her firmly out of favour with the Nazi regime and led to her subsequent last minute escape from the SS who were apparently pursuing her at the time she left Austria. There is an inference in the final chapter of the book that she was possibly involved in some form of espionage during this period. She refused to discuss the events surrounding this sudden ‘flight’ from Austria with her family or any one else for that matter and took this information with her to her end in 1999. She was cremated and her ashes returned to her beloved homeland by her daughter in 2002.
Phyllis’s final paragraph in the book reads …
The next day I am on my way home to Australia somewhere suspended in the sky between two worlds – between waking and sleeping. Somewhere in the dark, having lost all sense of time, I say ‘thank you’ to my mother. Thank you for laying out the treasure hunt. Thank you for secrets and for revelations. Thank you for hiding the things I need not know.
Most importantly to me, she was a talented photographer and I feel very lucky to have crossed paths with these stored rolls of film.
I really like these ‘India’ photos and have posted twenty of the thirty four that were on the roll … the film by the way is Perutz Perpantic.
I hope you’re enjoying this trip back in time as much as I am.
First of all some of the interesting information I’ve managed to gather since the last roll was posted:
The photographer was Bettina Mendl … an Austrian heiress who was born in 1909 in Vienna and died in Queensland, Australia in 1999.
She’s had a book written about her by her daughter Phyllis McDuff called ‘A Story Dreamt Long Ago.’ I read the book and now have a greater understanding of the person who took most of these photographs.
She fled from Austria in the late thirties to escape from Hitler’s SS and lived in the outback of Australia where she married a sheep station manager by the name of Joe McDuff to whom she had two daughters … Phyllis and Dawn.
In 1950 she returned to her homeland to organise her very large inheritance and re-establish a future life in Austria for herself, her husband and her two children. In the following years they travelled back and forth between the two countries depending on her business commitments and the desire to partly educate her girls in Austria.
Very little mention is made in the book of her extensive world travels in the mid thirties and from what I can see none of the photographs in the book have anything in common with the photographs I’m posting here. The only real information given is about New Zealand where she visited her sister Lucie who emigrated there with her husband in the early thirties … Lucie is the woman sitting on the small horse in the NZ thread. The woman we see now and then, who takes the occasional photo of Bettina, is a long time companion and friend from her youth called Maria … her nickname was ‘Baby.’ She was a countess apparently and almost always travelled with Bettina on her adventures.
As a child she was formally and privately tutored in the arts by a well-known classical Austrian painter.
She was an expert horsewoman and was selected for the Austrian dressage team to compete at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin but refused to go based on her political beliefs … this was one of many public actions that put her firmly out of favour with the Nazi regime and led to her subsequent last minute escape from the SS who were apparently pursuing her at the time she left Austria. There is an inference in the final chapter of the book that she was possibly involved in some form of espionage during this period. She refused to discuss the events surrounding this sudden ‘flight’ from Austria with her family or any one else for that matter and took this information with her to her end in 1999. She was cremated and her ashes returned to her beloved homeland by her daughter in 2002.
Phyllis’s final paragraph in the book reads …
The next day I am on my way home to Australia somewhere suspended in the sky between two worlds – between waking and sleeping. Somewhere in the dark, having lost all sense of time, I say ‘thank you’ to my mother. Thank you for laying out the treasure hunt. Thank you for secrets and for revelations. Thank you for hiding the things I need not know.
Most importantly to me, she was a talented photographer and I feel very lucky to have crossed paths with these stored rolls of film.
I really like these ‘India’ photos and have posted twenty of the thirty four that were on the roll … the film by the way is Perutz Perpantic.
I hope you’re enjoying this trip back in time as much as I am.
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Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Vobluda
Well-known
Those pictures are getting better and better!
Keep them coming please.
Keep them coming please.
mgd711
Medium Format Baby!!
It just gets better and better Keith, your doing an amazing job.
surfer dude
Well-known
That first shot looks to me like Victoria Station in Mumbai. A really interesting set, Keith - thanks for sharing, and for the bio notes. Fascinating lady!
robur
Established
Amazing Keith. Thanks very much for saring.
Cheers
Cesar
Cheers
Cesar
naruto
GASitis.. finally cured?
fantastic Keith. very nice story.
The shots are definitely Mumbai/Bombay, since that was a most important port of call.
The mosque most likely is the Haji ali Dargah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Dargah)
The shots are definitely Mumbai/Bombay, since that was a most important port of call.
The mosque most likely is the Haji ali Dargah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Dargah)
maddoc
... likes film again.
Amazing, Keith !! The photos, the story behind and the way you solve the puzzle (and develop and scan the films !). 
tj01
Well-known
Magnificent
Arjay
Time Traveller
Amazing pictures & nice scans Keith.
I recall we had a discussion on how to treat nitro films. Could you please give us some details about the way you treated them? I have some 50-odd nitro films waiting to be scanned, and maybe you have some advice from your experience for me...
BTW, what type of scanner did you use?
I recall we had a discussion on how to treat nitro films. Could you please give us some details about the way you treated them? I have some 50-odd nitro films waiting to be scanned, and maybe you have some advice from your experience for me...
BTW, what type of scanner did you use?
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
These films have given me very few problems aside from the severe curl from being stored rolled for so long. They're not at all fragile which allowed me to reverse roll the lot onto a long cardboard tube about 5cm in daimeter where I left them taped in place with 3M magic tape for several weeks before unraveling and cutting and sleeving them. They still have a fair curl in them but not much bow and once they are reatained in the Epson V700's film holder they sit fairly flat and seem to scan very well. The whole process has caused very little trouble aside from the extrodinary amount of time I have to spend cloning and healing each roll ... some are worse than others. One roll took me close to six hours to scan and repair ... some only a couple!
As for the volatility of the film I can't say ... it hasn't exploded on me yet and aside from a little shrinkage of the Panatomic it's all held up very well IMO.
I have to confess to taking one of the small (about 10cm long) off cuts from a roll of Panatomic out into a clear space in the yard and putting a match to it ... it was spectacular to say the least!
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surfer dude
Well-known
I read a quote from Imogene Cunningham's son that, as children, his brother or sister and he used to get to throw mum's unwanted negs into the fire to watch them explode. These days, he wishes they hadn't!
oftheherd
Veteran
Keith - I can't believe you didn't video the test of the Panatomic and put it on Youtube.
Like everyone else, I continue to be intrigued and fascinated by all these photos. I think the family would be well served to produce a book with the photos just so they are less likely to be lost to posterity. They are a treasure. Thanks and keep them coming.
Like everyone else, I continue to be intrigued and fascinated by all these photos. I think the family would be well served to produce a book with the photos just so they are less likely to be lost to posterity. They are a treasure. Thanks and keep them coming.
Chris C
Established
I think the most interesting thing here for me is the power lines. Indian power lines with order and without tangle.
Still not sure I believe it!
Still not sure I believe it!
naruto
GASitis.. finally cured?
I am really interested in knowing a date on the photos. This might give an idea of the place.
Keith, any clues on the roll as to where it was shot?
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Allan Reade
Established
Great work Keith, I've enjoyed every roll so far.
bigeye
Well-known
It's probably summer (northern hemisphere) of '36-'39. The war began in September 1939 and the car in NZ (Morris 8 MkI) was built '35-'37. The latest cars in the Chicago/Vancouver shots seem to be 1934-35ish.
I'd guess summer 1936 or 1937...
.
I'd guess summer 1936 or 1937...
.
Florian1234
it's just hide and seek
Amazing - thanks for sharing with us, Keith! These clothes are fantastic. It almost feels like Tintin is right around the corner (pardon me, I'm kind of a fan of that)
It almost feels like Tintin is right around the corner (pardon me, I'm kind of a fan of that)
gho
Well-known
Amazing how -after so many decades- the pictures are becoming alive. Great work, Keith! And thanks for sharing the backround information.