STILL MISSING – CLASSIC PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS
One of the officers I ‘clerked’ for I shall just refer to as Capt.
H, for reasons that will become clear. Capt. H,
a Scot, was a keen photographer and, on learning of my interest in photography
offered to lend me his copies of ‘Amateur Photographer’ magazine,
he even once entrusted me with the job of going to Geneifa to purchase some
photographic printing paper for him.
One morning Capt. H turned up for work minus his specs. He had gone swimming the previous afternoon and had dived in while still wearing them. The rest of us had a quiet laugh about that.
For some reason Capt. H decided to lend me his copy of the classic photographic text book ‘Mortenson on Lighting’, not that I had any opportunity to even attempt any serious photography while in SCZ, particularly as all I had at the time was a simple camera and no other equipment. This book was liberally illustrated with photographs of the unclad female form to demonstrate the subtleties of various lighting arrangements. Capt. H then went on 15 days leave. Before he returned I found that someone had found his book in my tent and had removed all the illustrations. Panic! I reported the theft to the Orderly Sergeant, but it was not easy explaining the loss of photographs of naked ladies, or that the book belonged to an officer!
On Capt. H’s return from leave I had the difficult task of trying to
explain the missing illustrations which, no doubt were by then adorning someone’s
walls. Whether those of another squaddie or of some Egyptian’s home I
had no idea. To say the least I felt awful, and I have to say that Capt. H was
none too pleased either!! Still, our camp was virtually open house during the
working day with little security in each tent. It could have been anyone who
had found the book amongst my possessions and removed the illustrations. Sometime
later I lost a decent pair of hopsack worsted slacks to some ‘clifty wallah’.
I am sure that from that time on Capt. H took a much more military attitude
towards me and my work