Harold Hems
My father got in the way of a snipers bullet during the 1st World War and lost most of his right leg. As a result, born in 1921, I spent my childhood just above the poverty line, but managed to spend 6 years in grammar school, from where I entered the Civil Service; not my choice, but beggars could not be choosers in those times.
Early in 1941 I was conscripted into the army and trained in the mysteries of Enigma messages. I never found out why. I never went to Bletchley Park, it was all so much hush, hush I never ever knew of its existence. I signed the Official Secrets Act twice. I spent much of the war in a small unit (seldom mentioned in all the books that have been written about it), which operated in battle areas. I crossed the Mediterranean Sea three times, once in a troopship to Algiers and twice in tank landing crafts to Eastern Sicily and the Salerno landing under American control. I slept on very rare occasions in Italian mansions, but mostly in tents or even holes dug in the ground. The day after the war ended we rushed into Austria. There I managed to get a promise of a place in University on my return home. In 1946 I was sent back to Italy to find out what the Jugoslavs, who were it appears up to no good, were doing and there in Venice I bought the latest Leica cameras.
In the spring of 1947 I went onto the high moors above Sheffield with bird photography in mind, but not knowing the first thing about how it was done. Purely by chance I met a man who knew a bit about it and he introduced me to Alan Faulkner-Taylor who knew quite a lot and he suggested that the Leica was just a toy and I sold it and bought a quarter plate camera, which all workers of the time used. With his help and companionship my progress was meteoric. I was an ARPS by 1951, FRPS by 1953 and was awarded the very prestigious Exhibition Medal in 1956. Early in the 1960's I was invited to join the Associateship and Fellowship Award Panel of the Royal Photographic Society and I served there for a quarter of a century. In this time I have seen vast changes in nature photography and have tried to keep abreast of them, only recently have I admitted that for various reasons I can no longer keep pace with the progress of modern workers, many of whom spend large sums of money on travel and equipment. I retired from work as a senior teacher of mathematics 21 years ago.
Early in 1941 I was conscripted into the army and trained in the mysteries of Enigma messages. I never found out why. I never went to Bletchley Park, it was all so much hush, hush I never ever knew of its existence. I signed the Official Secrets Act twice. I spent much of the war in a small unit (seldom mentioned in all the books that have been written about it), which operated in battle areas. I crossed the Mediterranean Sea three times, once in a troopship to Algiers and twice in tank landing crafts to Eastern Sicily and the Salerno landing under American control. I slept on very rare occasions in Italian mansions, but mostly in tents or even holes dug in the ground. The day after the war ended we rushed into Austria. There I managed to get a promise of a place in University on my return home. In 1946 I was sent back to Italy to find out what the Jugoslavs, who were it appears up to no good, were doing and there in Venice I bought the latest Leica cameras.
In the spring of 1947 I went onto the high moors above Sheffield with bird photography in mind, but not knowing the first thing about how it was done. Purely by chance I met a man who knew a bit about it and he introduced me to Alan Faulkner-Taylor who knew quite a lot and he suggested that the Leica was just a toy and I sold it and bought a quarter plate camera, which all workers of the time used. With his help and companionship my progress was meteoric. I was an ARPS by 1951, FRPS by 1953 and was awarded the very prestigious Exhibition Medal in 1956. Early in the 1960's I was invited to join the Associateship and Fellowship Award Panel of the Royal Photographic Society and I served there for a quarter of a century. In this time I have seen vast changes in nature photography and have tried to keep abreast of them, only recently have I admitted that for various reasons I can no longer keep pace with the progress of modern workers, many of whom spend large sums of money on travel and equipment. I retired from work as a senior teacher of mathematics 21 years ago.
Barn owl taken in 1950
