My Dad's Lake District

My dad, Andrew Downes - or Andy, I suspect, to many of his friends, died when I was in my late teens, over 45 years ago. After my mum died two years ago I brought home boxes of family slides taken throughout my childhood. Amongst them were many photographs of his beloved Lake District. I felt something should be done to preserve this record and the quality images he produced with his early Exakta SLR. Kentmere in January 1965 I'm on the left with the bins, my mum is in the mddle and brother Tony on the right - as it says, taken in 1964 - at Kentmere.

Within the website is a gallery called 'Dad's Lake District'.  Most slides, but not all unfortunately, were clearly labelled and this information has been added to every image in the gallery where there was info available. The order is random both by geography and by date. The majority of the later pictures from 1965-1966 were shot on Kodachrome slide film. Ektachrome [which gives colours I really like] and Ferraniacolor [too red!] were used too alongside others such as Perutz and Agfa. Dad did a lot of his own processing on filmstock like Ferraniacolor. In fact, throughout his life he was rarely without his camera, as evidenced by this photo of the great fire at Preston engine shed. He came home and gleefully told us he drove through a gate calling 'Press!' to policemen as he went by!

Preston engine shed fire 1960 However, the gallery to which I wish to draw attention is about the Lake District. We had a caravan near Newby Bridge and dad loved to head up there to walk the hills, one of the Wainwright books he loved so much as his guide. Below are a few samples. Many were dirty or even suffering from damage to the emulsions so I have cleaned them up as best as I can whilst allowing evidence of their age to remain.

Here are just a few samples...

Haweswater, Ektachrome 1963 - 49 years ago!

Haweswater 1963 Longsleddale

Road to the top, Longsleddale Sept 66 Small Water & Haweswater from Nan Bield

Small Water & Haweswater from Nan Bield Oct 64

I intend to put this posting online once there are at least one hundred photos to enjoy. The gallery will continue to expand when bad weather forces the persistent birder to remain indoors!

Just to give an idea of what I mean by 'cleaning up' I have added below an image of Patterdale and Ullswater showing a 'before and after' look. I did some minor cropping to remove the worst of the 'fungus'.

Patterdale & ullswater from Thornthwaite Crag Patterdale & Ullswater from Thornthwaite Crag

Please have a look. Go to the gallery section, select Dad's Lake District and, perhaps, go to slideshow. I hope you enjoy these vintage images.

Chris Downes November 2012