a little something from smh

I have a mate from my schooldays. His name is Bob. We rarely see each other but it is always a joy to catch up every few years. Bob is one of those joyous people who makes you feel good about life; he refers to everything material as "landfill". It always brings me back to earth. If I tell him about my new house/car/camera his response is always the same: "Bowsey, it's all landfill eventually."

This got me thinking during some recent discussions about cameras and which are "the best". I have a Speedgraphic camera from the '40s in my office. It sits on a beautiful wooden tripod. I always marvel at the thought of the photographer approaching a job with only five to 10 sheets of 4 X 5 inch cut-sheet film, no ability to look "through the lens" for framing and completely manual exposure on camera and flash. Not to mention having to wrangle both a focal plane and between the lens shutter at the same time. I marvel at how they actually got "the shot".

George Bell was the Herald's first photographer. Here he sits astride his horse cradling a bulky Ross twin-lens reflex camera.