THE GOOD OLD DAYS

In the days of the 4 x 5 Speed Graphics that were known as the news photographer's workhorse in the 40's through the 60's, the cameras were boxy looking affairs. There was a drop front bed upon which a lensboard fitted at the end of a leather bellows rode upon moveable rails for focusing. A film holder, which held a sheet of 4 x 5 cut film on either side was inserted into a spring loaded apparatus at the other (rear) end of the camera. Once inserted, a slide was removed from the film holder, which had protected the film from being exposed but now allowed the film to be open inside the back of the camera. Pay attention. It gets interesting.

Now, there were two methods of allowing the light passing through the lens to reach the film to create the exposure. At the lens, these was a compur or leaf shutter into which the lens was mounted. This was a spring operated device that had to be cocked and when released, the leaves of the shutter would spring open allowing light from the lens to reach the film.

There was also a shutter known as a focal plane shutter because it stood in the focal plane of the camera, right in front of the film at the rear of the camera. This was a roll of heavy, flexible material with various sized slits cut out of it. This roll, or curtain, as it was called, was rolled up on a spring loaded roller. You could determine the shutter speed by choosing the size of the cut out slit and the spring tension that you could apply to it. A small slit at high tension would, when released, whiz across the film plane at high speed, giving you the effect of a high shutter speed. A larger slit at a lower spring tension would give you longer exposure. This shutter was capable of speeds up to a 1,000th of a second, whereas the front Compur shutter would only go as high as a 1/200th of a second.

Whichever shutter you decided to use, required that the unused shutter be set in an open position. The front shutter was much easier and convenient to use for news work, so the rear shutter was always left open.

This is the good part. Back in those good old days, the competition amongst the various newspapers was very, very intense. Most of the old news photographers got along, for the most part. But if there was a major story breaking, it was not uncommon for a competitive photographer to try to get an exclusive photo by whatever means possible. In New York City alone, in those days, there were about one dozen daily newspapers. On a big story, that meant a dozen news photographers trying to beat out their competition. And, oh yeah, let's not forget the 3 or 4 photo agencies that were around, then, too.

Just as it is today, there was often a lot of standing around and waiting for the story to break. Standing in front of a police precinct, waiting for a suspect to be brought out. Or in front of a court house waiting for a verdict. It was during such times, that our colorful brethren would resort to skullduggery and would sabotage the other photographers so that he (and yes, it was an all male fraternity in those days) would be the only one to get the photo. At an opportune moment, this photographer would settle down next to the spot where the others had lined up their cameras until the moment came when they would be put to use. When he was certain that no one was looking, our friend would touch the lever that released the rear shutter curtain which would then block the light from reaching the film when the front shutter was tripped. These weren't today's single lens reflexes which would show the problem as soon as you held it up to your eye. These photographers had to sight their picture through an auxiliary viewfinder and there was no way to see that the focal plane shutter had been tripped unless you looked closely at the tiny dial on the side of the camera.

If the villain was lucky, he might have been able to get to all the other cameras and he would get the only shot. Of course, his name was mud for a long time to come, in that tight knit, albeit competitive industry. And, if it ever happened to you, it usually only happened once. After that, you never let your camera out of your sight. And even then, when the action started, the first thing you did, was check to make sure that your focal plane shutter curtain hadn't been tampered with.

But, that didn't stop the fun. A smear of ear wax on the lens would put a camera out of business until the hapless victim developed his film and saw the smeary result.

Oh, my young friends. It was truly a colorful era.

Pre-Anniversary Speed Graphic camera, photo courtesy of the Graflex web site

http://www.graflex.org

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
http://www.digitalstoryteller.com/YITL
This site is protected by United States Copyright Laws
Website Design Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 F.R."Fritz" Nordengren Digital Storyteller