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How was film returned to base in War Zones?

 
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Graflex Sid



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 221
Location: London,England

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is food for thought:If you are a Pressman in War,let's take the last (World War 2)how did you get your 5x4's from your Graphic back to base,from the front line?

Were they processed on the base camp and shipped home by flying boat?

Did all war photographers have to be military personal them,unlike today where they go 'up front'from your newspaper?

It still puzzling how you got your materials into the front line and out again...
We always hear about the poor photographer,rightly so,but taking the pictures (manual exposure etc)and carrying the materials,plus your own rations etc must have been hell...

Many must have fallen by the wayside and been a casualty of war.

Has their ever been a memorial erected to such brave men with his trusted Graphic?

Without him,the news would never have got back to the mainland.

Three Cheers...
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Les



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 2682
Location: Detroit, MI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2003 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few years back there was a show about the Signal Corp. Unfortunately it was on ABC instead of the History Channel (all wars, all the time) so I've only seen it once and couldn't tape it...

In there they said, during D-day the Signal Cormen relayed their film to somebody who got it to a high ranking officer-Capt or higher who then took it on an LVT back to the battle ship to be processed and wired back to the US. The Capt had ALL of the Signal Corp film in one bag when he slipped and the contents spilled into the English channel. The only still photographs from the Signal Corp was from one guy who got wounded and was able to transport his film with him, the rest of the photos were taken by the Marines.

whatever the relay system, the film would have been processed on a ship or a rear post and been wired in. There's a relatively famous photograph of the ships heading for D-day with barrage balloons sailing high. This was supposed to be the first D-day photograph wired back to the US.
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alecj



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 853
Location: Alabama

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rosenthal's Flag Raising on Suribachi, shot on film pack, was flown out on a PBY back to Hawaii, I believe, where it was processed. It was days before he saw any prints. I sense that very little was processed "on the run".
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45PSS



Joined: 28 Sep 2001
Posts: 4081
Location: Mid Peninsula, Ca.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 5:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My father, who landed on Ohama, said they were briefed to watch out for cameramen as they were unarmed.

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JoePhoto



Joined: 13 Oct 2001
Posts: 75
Location: New England

PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2003 9:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From a more modern time: There was recently a show on TV (I forgot where) of a company that offers whitewater rafting tours. They have a photographer at some rapids. They shoot a group with 35mm film and have carrier pigeons take the film back to the base camp where it's developed and printed by the time the tour group gets there. Kind of a neat idea.

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alecj



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 853
Location: Alabama

PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2003 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the interests of accuracy, I want to correct my statement above. The filmpack was flown from Iwo Jima to Guam where it was processed. The printed image was then transmitted back to the states by radio transmission, a new technology which was first used in this war in Europe. The first images shown were the complete negative, but the famous view came from a cropped print.
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