I thought I’d show off my bad boy…. both of them… I was able to slow Ry down enough to get a few images. I love the way the paper negative renders the skin texture. Its hard to see on the web but it has an incredible old time feel. I guess it goes with the old time camera and old-time process.
Now for my other bad boy. I’ve been showing a number of images I have taken with the Deardorff but I am sure some may not know what I’m referring too. The camera below is an 8×10 Deardorff view camera manufactured right here in Chicago back, I believe, in the late 50’s. I came about this camera while helping to take apart a very old studio that was located in a building just to the north of the Merchandise Mart. They were in the same building as Quantity Photo, for those whose memories go back that far. The studio was an absolute museum, complete with an 11×14 copy camera and a darkroom that had an 8×10 enlarger that looked like Robby the Robot. There were old used up cameras stuck up top of cabinets and even a Ascor flash system, one of the first flash systems that were notorious for arching with its operator. This camera was the last of the usable cameras in the studio and I used it much time for work before the digital revolution took hold. I was also lucky to have been introduced to Jack Deardorff, the last member of the camera making family, who refurbished the camera and gave my big baby new bellows.
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