Sorry to bore you with another 1940s collage, but it is a bit different today - it’s all about cameras!
The gentleman in the uniform of a US Army cameraman was doing what all GIs did when they came to England in those perilous years . . . taking a shot of a quaint old pub with his 16mm Mitchell newsreel camera to show the folks back home . . . and when I asked him if I could have a look at his Argus 35mm still camera he shot me with it and then let me hold it to explain why this camera, a favourite with American troops, was popularly called “The Brick”. It was very heavy by today’s standards but was at the cutting edge of technology at the time, with a coupled rangefinder, like the German Leica, the ancestor of all 35mm cameras, but this was home-grown.
His female compatriot was carrying a Zeiss Ikonta, a famous German roll-film camera of the period, which she allowed me to play with and reminisce.
@swilde . . . Thank you Sue, but which part do you find difficult to accept? Please do tell and I would welcome correction if you feel that it is historically inaccurate.
@wordpixman It's not the history that I'm having problems with Arthur. It's the idea that people are actually dressed up and carrying historically accurate cameras. I love it
@swilde . . . You'd better believe it, Sue; the re-enactors are really serious about it and their outfits are well researched. Hundreds of them were so accurately dressed for the period that I felt right at home there and regretted that I was in 21st century attire. I hope to attend another annual favourite next month, on a fully operating steam railway in Norfolk, where there will also be a good mix of 1940s unforms - British, Commonwealth and American, because the county was saturated with US air bases at the time. Watch this space!
What a wonderful collage! I do WW2 re-enactment (homefront living history and ETO American Red Cross) in Ohio, and so I really appreciate getting to see such great pictures of people and events elsewhere in the country. Hopefully, I'll be able to post my pictures from this coming weekend's D-Day Ohio event as it's going on... :-) Well done!
