Skip to main content

I spotted this on a  photography forum, thought some of you might enjoy seeing this:

 

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/ufiles/62/647162.jpg

 

This is from a camera museum in Staunton Va. The camera is supposed to be the one used to take the famous drive-in photo.

 

I know we love Link's photos of trains. But after owning the two books of his works, I think his photos of the

people who maintained, operated and the folks who rode and his stories about them was teriffic.

 

Ed Mullan

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

That is an Empire State No. 2, 8x10 view camera with all the tilts and swings of a professional camera of that era. The ability to tilt and swing the back was how Winston kept everything in focus from the odometer in the Pontiac to the train in the distance.

 

One of my most prized railroad possessions is a signed Link print which hangs in my Den. I had sent him a copy of my 611 video entitled Queen of the Fleet. He sent me a thank you note by writing the note on a print and signing it. 

 

I met Winston when I was shooting the 611 and 1218 videos back in the early 80's. He was quite a character and one of the most talented photographers I ever knew.

From what I see in the photo, the camera is mounted with a Compur shutter and most likely a Busch Rapid Lens. 

 

As my first camera, I learned basics of photography using a very similar camera. 

Nothing can really touch those large format film cameras as they had the ability to modify the photo in multipule ways.  You could take a photo from 6 in to infinity and keep it all in focus by tilting the front and back panels along with extending the bellows.

 

They were a real pain to set-up to take a single shot at a time, but well worth the investment of time to acquire an excellent photograph.

I don't know about that particular camera, but I do know that if you want to see the full array of cameras and lighting gear that O Winston Link used in his many years of railroad photography, including an exhibit of just about every photo he ever took, you'll want to visit the O Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia.

 

I got my own start in photography with a 4x5 Speed Graphic.

Originally Posted by Allegheny:

From what I see in the photo, the camera is mounted with a Compur shutter and most likely a Busch Rapid Lens. 

 

 

This is something I've researched pretty heavily.  Link really liked the Goerz DAGOR lenses (Doppel Anastigmat Georz.)  They were the first successful wide angle lenses, from about 1900.  They had six elements using the new Zeiss glass.  The shutter is a Compound shutter by Deckel, not the Compur.  Compur shutters are spring/clockwork mechanisms and the lens in your photo is very clearly a pneumatic/spring Compound.  I own a 1906 copy of the 90mm DAGOR and use it a lot, and also a 1914 150mm Tessar in Compound shutter.   Link was first and foremost a commercial NYC photographer, and 8x10 was the standard.  Link also used at least one Kodak Ektar lens, and probably more than one.  I was told by his former assistant, Plowden, that he shot ISO 100 Kodak film at rated speed.  As for cameras, he typically shot two or three at once, triggering and flash similtaneously them with a device he designed and made (he was an electrical engineer.)  It was Link that got me heavily into night photography six years ago. 

 

Link actually wasn't into the trains so much, at first.  What he wanted to do was photo small town life, which he saw as rapidly disappearing in Post War America.  This is why most of his shots are of everyday scenes in a town with the train in the background.  This is what got me into photography as well--photo'ing life on the Northern Plains, of which railroads are a part.

 

I've been shooting night trains with a 4x5 camera and usually ISO 400 film for the past several months.  It takes a lot of flash power!  Link was shooting ISO 100 and f8 or f11 (an 8x10 camera has very shallow DoF.)  He had roughly FOUR more stops of light than I have!  For me to match the output of his lighting system I'd have to spend at least $18,000.  I do like the lens movements of large format, but mostly you only use rise/fall and swing when shooting trains and not tilt/shift as Rich was talking about. 

 

The main thing I credit Link for is his ambition.  No one had used massive flash on this scale before.  He was also a master at staging scenes and pulling them off.  This is where his pro vision came in.

 

Now, off to my meeting in Chicago!

 

 

Kent in SD

This is from a camera museum in Staunton Va. The camera is supposed to be the one used to take the famous drive-in photo.

 

Link may have owned the camera in your photo (I wouldn't bet much money on it), but he didn't use it to shoot the N&W.

 

His camera setup was pretty thoroughly itemized in a 1975 or 1976 article in Railfan magazine.  He also made several self-portraits with his equipment, which are in his books and on display at the Link Museum.  He used three Graflex 4x5 'Graphic View' cameras for his N&W night work - you can see one of them in the photo at the bottom of this page:

 

http://linkmuseum.org/collection.html

 

And you can learn more about the Graphic View here:

 

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/graphic-view/

 

He also occasionally used a 120 roll film camera (a Rollei, I think) for daytime work (chasing the Abingdon branch, or riding freight trains).

 

There are three main categories of large format equipment.  The camera in your photo would be termed a 'field camera,' and were used mostly for outdoor scenic views.  The Speed Graphic and Crown Graphic were known as 'press cameras,' used in news photography.  

 

'View cameras' like the Graphic View were used mostly by commercial photographers, usually in the studio, because they were often contorted into depth-of-field defying configurations that required long exposures.

Gentlefolk, may I humbly offer a suggestion? Perhaps it would be wise to directly contact the museum in

question, as their veracity seems to be in question. Perhaps asking for the provenance of the camera

in question would elicit the answers to your questions. If it turns out that the camera in question is, in fact

a Link and was, in fact, used to shoot the drive in picture, we have all learned something. If it is not, then

the museum can update its records. I am sure that that the museum folks would appreciate your input

and assistance. And perchance, you might find something of interest at the museum.

 

I know this is asking a great deal of you, as it is much easier to sit in front of your computer and speculate

on various subjects, but, otherwise not contributing to the sharing of useful information.

Originally Posted by OGR Webmaster:

That is an Empire State No. 2, 8x10 view camera with all the tilts and swings of a professional camera of that era. The ability to tilt and swing the back was how Winston kept everything in focus from the odometer in the Pontiac to the train in the distance.

 

One of my most prized railroad possessions is a signed Link print which hangs in my Den. I had sent him a copy of my 611 video entitled Queen of the Fleet. He sent me a thank you note by writing the note on a print and signing it. 

 

I met Winston when I was shooting the 611 and 1218 videos back in the early 80's. He was quite a character and one of the most talented photographers I ever knew.

As if we didn't already envy you enough Rich!

Originally Posted by paperboys:

Gentlefolk, may I humbly offer a suggestion? Perhaps it would be wise to directly contact the museum in question, as their veracity seems to be in question. Perhaps asking for the provenance of the camera in question would elicit the answers to your questions. 

That, of course, is the proper approach if someone doubts the account (I have no reason to doubt it) AND has evidence or strong support of some sort that might dispute the account.  Link used a number of cameras over the years, generally matching the camera equipment used to the situational requirement, as most all photographers do, and changing or upgrading gear on a fairly regular basis.

 

A lot of his gear, but almost certainly not all, is in the Link Museum.  There is absolutely nothing unusual about that.  Documented provenance matters; nothing else really does.

Last edited by Allan Miller

A lot of his gear, but almost certainly not all, is in the Link Museum.  There is absolutely nothing unusual about that.  Documented provenance matters; nothing else really does.
 


Allan Miller, Editor-In-Chief O Gauge Railroading magazine


Allan, if you will recall, OWL took his 1st, and I believe if memory serves me, his 76th N & W picture just 12 miles from the location of museum in question. A great many of OWL's N & W pictures were shot within 100 miles of said museum.

Originally Posted by paperboys:

Gentlefolk, may I humbly offer a suggestion? Perhaps it would be wise to directly contact the museum inquestion, as their veracity seems to be in question.


I did something just as good yesterday.  I was in a meeting in Chicago and sat next to David Plowden all day.  We chatted often.  (Plowden worked as one of Link's assistants.)  Plowden recalled that Link was very secretive and did not talk much about what he had and did.  Plowden said he did recall Link mostly used 4x5 though, but also used a 1950s vintage Rollieflex.  A lot of pro photographers used a Rollieflex in that era, including Plowden.  While you do get incredible detail from an 8x10 neg, one thing you might not know is that there is far less DoF with one compared to 4x5.  That means you have to shoot at f11 or more.  The problem with shooting f11 & ISO 100 at night is it takes tons of light, and that's expensive.  A 4x5 makes a LOT more sense.  Plowden also recalled that Link seemed to be fond of Kodak Commercial Ektar lenses.

 

By the way, the camera in the photo first shown is a 4x5 field camera.  The camera shown in the photo at the Link museum is a monorail camera.  While they are a bit clunkier to use in the field (I have a Cambo NX monorail,) they do give you a lot more movement than a field camera.  No doubt Link brought a number of cameras with him, as he liked redundant back up.

 

 

Kent in SD

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×