History Webs
For the Drakenstein Valley
References
* Drakenstein Heemkring documents on the Gribble
Collection;
* Photography
as I remember it, The Cape Argus, Saturday,
November 30, 1929.
Other photographers
Read about Paarl's other photographers such as James Goch, GA Decker and Geo Bell ... more
James Gribble
James Gribble moved to Paarl in 1882 to set up
a studio on the corner of Reservoir and Main Streets. Later he moved his studio to Market Square, see photograph on the left.
heading
under construction
The Gribble Studio on Market Square, Paarl
The
studio is on the
north side of the parking lot between La Rochelle Primary and Main
Street. Today the building is occupied by a fruit and vegetable shop
and the Protea Cinema. The photograph is from the Heemkring's Gribble Collection.
James Gribble's father, also called James Gribble emigrated to South Africa from Cornwall, England in 1859 and opened a photographic studio in Hanover Street in Cape Town's District Six. His son, also called James, followed in his father's footsteps and also took up photography, completing his apprenticeship with Samuel Bayliss Barnard in Adderley Street, Cape Town. By this time Paarl was a prosperous town with a thriving wagon building industry, attracting hundreds of immigrants and traders. In 1882 James Gribble (jnr) moved to Paarl and opened a photographic studio on the corner of Reservoir and Main Streets.
James Gribble later opened a much larger studio on Market Square (approximately where the fruit and vegetable shop is today, next to La Rochelle Primary School's grounds). His son Harold joined the studio in 1919.
In 1929 James Gribble published an article in the Cape Argus' Satuday edition. His article "Photography as I remember it" gives a fascinating insight into the skill and physical demands of "glass plate" photography.
On preparing the glass negatives: "the photographer's work had to be thorough. Take the cleaning of glasses for the day's work. If the film of an important negative cracked and started pealing the learner received a few lessons in golf language".
On developing the glass plates:"developing went on after each exposure before the surface dried. It was left to the learner to attend to the fixing ... we had to use that deadly poison cyanide of potassium. The least carelessness would result in lockjaw ... our developer was a saturated solution of sulphate or iron ... next morning the learner had to varnish the previous day's negatives over a spirit lamp to protect the soft film".
On logistics: "If we were taking pictures at the docks, as soon as the plate - one plate - was ready we would rush away and back (to the studio) in a hansom. Many a sigh floated through the dark room when we took a successful negative out of the cyanide bath ... One day after our arrival in Wynberg, we found that the "silver" bath had met with an accident in the guard's van ... There were no trains from Cape Town to Wynberg ... and no bus ... the Cape cart would take at least an hour. The work would require the best part of a day, and our appointment book was full up for the next ten days! You don't have such fun nowadays!"
Reference: Drakenstein Heemkring documents on the Gribble Collection; "Photography as I remember it," The Cape Argus, Saturday, November 30, 1929.