Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc James Small wrote: >>> Damn, Ted, but you are letting us down. I thought you invented the fine > art of pounding in railroad spikes with a Leica M3. Or was that a IIIa? > Back in the days when the Crown wouldn't allow the use of a hammer west > of Halifax, due to the unreliability of those folks on the West Coast?<<< Well Marc, not to disappoint you old chap but just west of Halifax is where I drove the first spike with a IIIa. I had a newly minted Leica opal lens, one of a kind Oskar special 135mm's attached. Acted as a damn fine handle for the over hand swing necessary to drive the spike solidly into the tie on the first stroke. Which in later years became known as the double stroke. ;-) As many of you know. :-) Later as a photojournalist with several pre entry Leica's, a previous unknown model to the "O", an "OO I hope it works version." Oskar hand made three of them for me as test machines. So I went further west by horse and buggy with the first 35mm film, emulsion was hand applied, and processed in "Axtol" developer. Rather difficult as no one had thought to make reels at that point, so that attributed to my rather long arms which were stretched to their limit while swishing the roll through any old container I could find. On one occasion it was an old pot I found under the bed of the shanty hotel I stayed in. Must say the developer took on a rather strange yellow colour by morning. Exhausted I suppose. ;-) My assignment was to record the last of the frontier before it was taken over by the white man and his "Iron Horse." The cameras and self managed to survive several Indian attacks aided by Metis, who were becoming restless and tired of tourists invading the place with their soul grabbing picture machines of the devil. Unfortunately many of the rolls were lost one evening while I was asked to test a new single malt liquid of questionable colour, smell and taste. As one of the old Scots who ran the distillery tried to aid by making a little more light, he dropped a burning ember into a barrel of liquid to give more light for the "Notsofastlux," which wasn't as fast as it's name sake of today the Noctolux. When the place blew up! So in what one might call, a blinding flash of light, one might say far more than a twinkie-light, all my film was vaporized in a single malt swoosh. :-( And it's been my good fortune since that long time ago to appreciate the swoosh of a good flashing single malt scotch. ;-) The OO test cameras? Well they became the O and the rest is history! So there you go eh? ;-) ted Ted Grant Photography Limited www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html