Shooting with the Speed Graphic
Speed Graphic by Folmer and Schwing Div. of Eastman Kodak
By Richard Majewski
7 April 2007
I think it all started when my friends were discussing what we were going to do on Halloween night. Being into photography and really old things, I thought, "Why don't I be a 1950's press photographer, kind of like Weegee." Weegee became the icon of the old press photographers. He took pictures with a flash, while chewing on a cigar. Racing the cops to crime scenes in New York City during the 1930's. I wore an old suit with the press card sticking out of the fedora and, of course, used a Speed Graphic camera. The hunt began on eBay, looking for an old classic Speed Graphic. It was a few months until I eventually got one that came with the works: the camera case, 120 film back, Polaroid back, a dozen 4x5 film holders and parts of a flash, with a few other small doohickeys.
First thing I noticed about the Speed Graphic: it wasn't your average camera. First it weighs around 9 ½ pounds and with its boxy looks and cumbersome size it definitely sticks out in a crowd, but works great as an icebreaker and conversation piece. It took a while to get used to shooting with it, just because of where everything is located on it, but man, is it a sturdy camera. When Robert Boyd, an old National Press Photographer President, was asked why the Speed Graphic was so special, he just sat on the camera to show off its durability. Because I wanted to shoot at night and in low light situations and shoot a ton of film I decided to use an external electric flash. The old magnesium one time use flash bulbs are hard to come by nowadays. Just trying to use a modern flash on a camera that only has a bi-post male connection to a PC can take a while. Eventually I had to use two separate sync cords just so that the camera and flash would work properly together. Since I never used any camera remotely like this one, learning how to frame a shot with the Speed Graphic was another challenge.
Once I had the film loaded, I was ready to start shooting. I had picked out a scene to photograph. I slid the dark slide out of the film holder, cocked the lense, raised the camera, and rested part of it on my shoulder, focusing with my left hand as I looked through the tiny viewer on the range finder. Once I thought it was in focus, I had to frame the shoot, then trip the shutter with my right hand. If I got fed up trying to use the range finder, I just guessed what the distance was and just fired away.
Anytime I use this classic, people stare and have to hold it. Most of the time, they have no idea what to do with it then. My dad refers to it as the King Kong camera after it was used at the end of Peter Jackson's film. It's just a great old school camera. I even sold my first photograph (a whole $2 bucks) using this camera. It's a great piece to have in a collection and while using it, it makes you feel like a press photographer from the golden days of the newspaper.
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