Over the last few months, I have been writing and researching my first local history book – Bishop’s Stortford Through Time for Amberley Publishing.  My book is a pictorial history of this Hertfordshire town, and uses vintage postcards from the early 1900s and compares them to modern day photographs of the same area.

Yesterday my husband, son and myself spent a beautiful sunny day walking the river banks of The Stort – taking the “now” photos of Victorian and Edwardian postcards.  All was going very well – we managed to locate all the spots where our predecessors – such as Edwardian photographers Arthur Maxwell and Harry Mardon – stood over a hundred years ago to take their photographs.  So, we lined up the shots, and my husband being the keen long-time photographer, took the photographs.

All went very well…  Until we returned home.

Then, I discovered to my horror that half the photos have a slightly bluey tinge to them. Somehow, my husband had accidentally “flipped a switch” on his supa-dupa modern digital camera, and subsequent photos now have a weird tinge.  Half are fine and really good shots.  And half are not.  Fortunately the shots where my son was hanging onto a tree perilously close to the water’s edge survived – as did the shots which could only be taken after my husband had, with the elegance of a ballerina, shimmied over a very high metal fence.

I thought I’d share my blue shots with you.  They would have been good, wouldn’t they!

River Stort, at Trout Bridge, Gipsy Lane – on the very borders between Hertfordshire and Essex

The River Stort, Twyford Lock

The River Stort, Twyford Mill (through the trees on the left)

And this is the colour the photos should have been! The glorious colours of early summer at South Mill Lock

Oh well – back to the drawing board!  I wonder what photographic problems my Edwardian predecessors had? At least hiking along the banks of the picturesque River Stort is a beautiful walk.

PS: If you are out in Bishop’s Stortford and see us intrepid three, please do come and say hi to us – we’re very easy to spot!

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You may also be interested in the following
– The Tudor rat-catcher of Bishop’s Stortford
– Bishop’s Stortford Through Time – A Progress Report

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