Graflex.org

[Baker]

The Grafmatic I recently bought on ebay once belonged to semi-famous White House photographer John Rous, if the initials scratched into the outside and the name written on the inside are to the believed. Unfortunately, the Tri-X that was in it when I got it was unexposed.

I also had a fairly complete kit that originally belonged to a newpaper photographer in Georgia named Bryce. The camera was in pretty bad shape from hard use and long storage -- the Graflite that came with it had a hole in the side from battery leakage -- so I kept the case (the main reaon I bought it) and some small parts mine needed (FocusSpot, 135mm focusing scale, set of filters, swapped the leather strap for the cloth one my "good" Graphic came with) and resold the camera and accessories I didn't need.

Anybody else have Graflex equipment that can be traced to the original owner? Check the back of the lensboard; that seems to be a popular place to write one's name on one's camera.

[45PSS]

Grafmatic with WB 29, bad condition. Well used.(Warner Brothers)

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The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.

[JoePhoto]

My Anniversary Speed Graphic belonged to my great, great uncle Leslie Jones who shot for the Boston Herald Traveler. It was given to me by his daughter around 1982. She let me borrow 12 negatives, some glass and some film, of Sacco & Vanzetti, people swimming in a pond on Boston Common, Sally Rand, and a photo of a Moxie horse (horse statue built onto a model T body to advertise Moxie soda). Someone still sells reprints of his photos on eBay the most notable are some of Babe Ruth. The Boston Public Library got most of his things and it's possible that the person selling the photos on eBay got the four drawer file cabinet full of negatives that I borrowed from. The BPL has a page on him. Use "Jones" in the search box rather than looking for a particular subject.

Boston Public Library
Leslie Jones Collection

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If the best can't be had let the worst continue....

[ This Message was edited by: JoePhoto on 2003-12-06 13:11 ]

[JoePhoto]

The Boston Public Library has digitized a large portion of the Leslie Jones Collection and now has a new webpage with a lot of nice photos including many famous people, sports figures and events. I think the image tags that appear on the right side of the page have font sizes that get bigger with a larger amount of images with that tag.

http://www.lesliejonesphotography.com/

Stephen Puleo ,author of a book titled "Dark Tide, with a new afterword", recently gave a talk at a local library. The book is about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. In his book many of the photos credited to the Boston Fire Department Archives were in fact taken by Leslie Jones and many of those appear on the website. The book is a great read and is interesting because it involves the lives of some of the people who experienced it firsthand. It also describes in words and photos the damage caused by a 15 foot tall wave of 2.3 million gallons of molasses travelling up to 35 miles per hour at the start. It's currently the most complete source of information on this little known event.



http://www.lesliejonesphotography.com/
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If the best can't be had let the worst continue....

[aklens135]

My Graflex C-6 was owned by the 'US Government-Alaska Railroad' (when it was the only federaly owned railroad in the US) It has a brass plate on the box and camera noting this. The railroad police used it. When I bought it ,it came with everything and was very well taken care of. I'm only it's second owner and I use it all the time.
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R. O. Originals Premium Photography- Eagle River, Alaska

[willysmb]

I bought in 2K1 a 2x3 miniature speed trought ebay.
After the sale, I received an email from the saler,

""Hello
Glad to the camera arrived in good order and that it pleases you.
That camera was gotten from my friend Peter Caroll of Boston, Massachusetts about 1964. He was an Associated Press news photographer for many years. As a photo editor, Peter got me my first real job with the A.P. back in 1965 as a darkroom technician and then wire service news photographer.

Peter was assigned to the Associated Press office with SHAEF in Europe during WWII. He took the famous photo of a ranks of American Soldiers marching with the Arc de Triomhe in the background in Paris. The picture made the cover of LIFE ( I never found this Life Number, since it was a mistake) Recall Peter telling me that he climbed up on the back of a U.S. Army deuces n'half truck and made the photo from that vantage point.........
........... I am reasonably sure that it was the camera that you now own that A.P. photog Peter Caroll used to make the famous "Liberation of Paris" by the U.S. 29th Division photo in August of 1944.

For me, a child of after war and an enthusiast of period June 6th at the Paris Liberationand a collector of Military Graflex it is an immense honor of own this device.

[willysmb]

The famous photo:


The Miniature Speed:



Laurent

[Springback]

My first LF camera, an Anny Speed Graphic, was owned by noteworthy photo instructor at the local university, but her name escapes me.

I've got a couple of Riteway film holders marked "Boeing Aircraft Company" but I think the markings have worn off by now.

My Deardorff camera case has "Mason-Rust Photo Dept." stenciled on the side.

My changing bag came from Panavision and used to load film for Panavision movie cameras. Who knows what productions that bag was used for?

I do have a 159mm Wollensak EWA I purchased from Butch Welch, a pretty famous West Coast fine art photographer.
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"