It was October 1948 when my interest in serious amateur photography was born. At the time an exhibition was held in the local Swansea Club which I visited and saw what I thought were the most wonderful photographs. I made it my business to join the club. Picked everybody's brains. Bought a second hand Voigtlander Bessa camera. Built a rather "Heath Robinson" enlarger, but it worked. My main interest was Tabletop photography. The reason being that I found I had more control over the final results.

I was introduced to the Bromoil process by the late Evan Evans, who gave a demonstration at the club. I immediately saw the vast control of the final image available by the process and became completely sold on it. From then on I had very little interest in any other method of producing prints.

In 1971 I gained my Royal Photographic Society's Associate distinction in the process. I was then invited to join the Bromoil Circle, a band of about a dozen dedicated bromoil workers determined to keep the process alive. In 1981 I was granted Fellowship by the RPS. I consider that one of my greatest achievements is that I was awarded the Ronald Jonas Landscape trophy by the UPP with a bromoil print.

My interest in the Bromoil process lies in the fact that it offers so much control in the making of a picture. The camera allows to Take, but the process allows to Make pictures.

(An abridged extract from an article Gilbert Hooper had submitted to the RPS Pictorial Group magazine "Visual Art" in 1997)

Samples of Gilbert's work can be found in the Bromoil Centenary Book.