We settled down to watch this video, which was quite interesting, except when they interviewed Stephanie Klein Davis who they claim was a photo journalist, freelance photographer and photography teacher, but who didn’t seem to have a great deal of knowledge about “old fashioned” photography.
The madness starts…
The camera is a Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic
“It looks like a little black box” - that’s because it is a little black box, as are all cameras.
The bellows determine the focal length??? Or is it the distance from the subject? Come on, which is it? In any case it is the lens that determines the focal length and the bellows adjusts the focus. Where you stand in front of the subject determines the distance from the subject.
Its maximum shutter speed of anything up to 1/000 sec, not limited as they say.
The shutter speed is not operated from the back of the camera, it is operated on the shutter/lens assembly and it certainly doesn’t have a mirror to “flip the image”. The image is projected directly on a ground glass screen and appears upside down - that is how it is meant to be.
Since when does the aperture determine how sharp things are “into the distance”? That is, if that made sense.
Then there’s the darkroom…
Apparently, you can do a preview of the the image on the paper by turning the enlarger on and then you will see the positive on the paper??? Of course, that would have turned the paper totally black by the time you’d done that. And what happened to developing and fixing the paper?
Come on PBS.
Ah well, at least it gave us a few moments of amusement.
I quickly skimmed the video to get a general idea and wondered why the fellow didn’t work for the film industry instead of so elaborately staging his pictures (didn’t listen to the annoying comment).
Passion? And the sheer joy of producing such astounding masterpieces whilst recording the last days of steam and leaving such a rich photographic legacy.
There’s another short video, which is a “slideshow” of some of his greatest images.
I was going to watch just a little of the video links, but listened intently until the end, including everything that was being said. The lady obviously didn’t know much about printing from negatives, but one thing she said reminded me of my own past - I forget the brand, but printing paper was available for “more” or “less” contrast.
The description of the camera was, well, interesting, if not accurate. But I wonder what percentage of photographers in this forum have ever used a camera like that, loading the film holders, adjusting an upside down and reversed image on the ground glass, and going to so much effort to capture just a single photo. I did it, and found it fascinating, but I enjoyed using my M2 a lot more.
I wonder how O Winston Link was able to afford the time and the cost to do what he did. So, so, so many things in those photos are ancient memories of a past that most of us never participated in.
Did you watch the complete video from the very beginning? The early part explains that he was a well respected commercial photographer before he started the project.
I just watched the beginning of the video, the parts I missed. Amazing guy.
In so, so, so many ways.
I’m sad that I missed all that, but living in New York City, and still being a kid, I never got any opportunities to see steam locomotives. Now I go on steam excursions every so often.
What a fascinating, amazing guy!!! And he left SO MUCH for the rest of us to appreciate.
Where did you live in New York? I was born and raised in New York City and lived in every borough except for Staten Island. Now I’m across the river in New Jersey.
Brooklyn > Flatbush > Beverly Road and East 4th Street.
From what I hear, nobody can afford to live in NYC any longer, especially Manhattan.
Between the trolleys, and the subways, I felt right at home. Willoughby’s and Peerless Camera shops were so convenient, and for a while I worked at Olden Camera. With my summer earnings, I bought a new Leica M2. Loved that camera, even more than my Nikon SP, and my old Contax rangefinders.
I was born at Kings County Hospital. During the '40s, we lived in an apartment on East 21st Street, a few blocks from Erasmus High School on Flatbush Avenue.
I was only four when we moved to a private house in Queens so I don’t remember the exact address or cross street of the apartment in Brooklyn. In fact I don’t remember much of living in Brooklyn at all and most of my information about it was provided by my parents and older brother.
Beverly Rd. was only a few blocks away. I am guessing that your apartment was probably less than a mile from mine. I checked the 1940 census for an exact address, but that was prior to my parents moving to East 21st Street.
Edit, I just checked with my brother who is 4 years older than me, Our address was 175 East 21st Street at Church Avenue, around a block or so from Erasmus High School on Flatbush Avenue.
