What did you do about film?
Well I used to send home for film there and tell them I wanted cigarrettes. I never used to smoke, I was kind'a moral young fella there and that meant cigarettes, or film.
Where did you do the first developing?
After I had come back from England I took back powders and developers and I used to develop in old cellars or any dark place you could get.
Did you have the idea when you were taking the pictures that you were making history?
No it never crossed my mind as to the future of those pictures, I was just taking to suit myself.
You had to be careful with cameras and not expose them too much. There's rules that come in every once in a while to turn in all cameras.
What did you do when you got an order like that (to turn in all cameras)?
Well I just didn't bother with it.
But they must have known all through your battery that you were taking pictures.
Oh yeah, but the battery boys would all know ya they wouldn't bother you. Taking it outside you had to be careful.
Did the soldiers you served with, would they get you to take pictures of them to send home to their parents?
I never sent very few home. It might lead to confiscation.
So you actually carried all these pictures that you took with you during most of the war?
Well I carried all those films around there and after I got to England I left them over where some friends that I had there and looked after the others when I come back.
Did any officer ever try to take your camera away from you?
No, some of our officers had cameras.
...what is it you remember?
Well the worst battle we was in was Passchendaele. It was in the fall of the year, November, the rainy season was on and the ground was saturated with water. Every shell hole around, and there was dozens, hundreds full to the brim with water. If you fell in there you would never get out.
What do you remember when you look back...?
Well I don't know, I wouldn't have missed it for a good bit. Every night I don't get to sleep, I go over the whole thing.
Did you ever think after the war of becoming a professional photographer?
No, I always wanted to go farming... I farmed for 30 some years and never touched a camera.
You are working as a professional (now)?
Oh, they call me a photographer, I don't know if they mean it or not... I happenned to take first place in that (the Centennial phototgraphy contest). First prize was $150. That just put me on me feet.
Do you think that young people today have the same attitude toward serving their country in the Armed Forces as you had in the First World War?
Oh I think that if it came to a case of war we would have just as good of stock as at the present time. I know that when I was a young fella there they said that the young generation that was coming up ain't worth the flowers that bloom to Halifax.
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Jack Turner Biography
