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Flat Top Johnny's

Here are my first two OK shots "out in the field" with my old Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic from the late 1940s or early 1950s. Graphics come in all sizes but mine is the 4x5" (large format). I've had it for a while but I got around to getting it fixed up by the nice folks at SK Grimes down in Woonsocket, RI. Thanks Adam, Lauren and Joel!

 

The location is Flat Top Johnny's in Kendall Square in Cambridge, where the Tabblo Meetups happen. Here is Dan-from-Tabblo's Tabblo of me taking these pictures for this Tabblo. Sorry, just click on the link, OK?

 

The film is Polaroid Type 57 which is 3000 ISO (high speed, excellent for low-light). The film makes an instant print which is 4x5 inches. It's old film, expired in 1992. Notice the patchiness? This is typical of "fogged" film. Lower speed film (800 ISO and less) can keep longer usually, but because high speed film is so sensitive, even simple cosmic rays which are everywhere will affect the film over 15 years. I don't mind it because it adds a bit to the noir look of these shots. Too bad the guy wasn't wearing a hat and leaning sideways and smoking. That might have nailed the shot. :)

 

The lens is a Wollensak-made Graphex made for Graflex, max aperture f4.7 which is what this shot was set at. It gives a very nice, classic, somewhat-shallow depth of field. I really like what this camera does and I'll fiddle around with it more as I get time.
COMMENTS
Leeuwjan said at 12:48 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
Nostalgia for one's youth. Jeff, we become old.
Mashpee_Paula said at 12:57 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
I like this Jeff! Well done~
Bonnie_B said at 2:05 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
Wow, congrats on getting it all together to make pics!! I like these; I like the fogging, it adds instant nostalgia to the photos... it's almost like Weegee took them -- except there are no dead bodies or alive-but-grotesque characters (grotesque in the Flannery O'Connor sense) in the frames ;-)
HunterProductions said at 2:35 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
Nice....I like the look and feel of the shots. Is it even possible to get film for that camera and more?
JackHolmes said at 5:37 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
super work. it really looks like the old days. jh
Chempilot said at 6:21 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
really cool stuff. is that smoke in the pics or just old film artifacts? looks like you have to have travis come up and model for you in his top hat...

yay for woosocket!! spent a lot of time there as a kid visiting my dad's side of the family....
LatentE said at 8:02 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
Nice shots. Nice effect. Pre-antiqued.
Engelgrafik said at 11:12 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
HUNTERPRODUCTIONS, yes there are many types of Polaroid film available, and in multiple sizes. For 4x5, there is 54 iso 100, 55 positive/negative (you get a print and negative both!), 56 sepia, 57 3000 iso b/w, 59 color, 72 pro iso 400 b/w, 79 pro iso 100 color. These sheet films fit inside of the Polaroid 545 holder which you attach to the back of your 4x5 view/field camera. For the smaller older "Land" cameras (you can find them for $5 for auto cameras and about $200+ for manual ones like my 195), you have plenty of packfilm to choose from: 664 iso 100 b/w, 665 pos/neg (discontinued... still plenty around), 667 3000 iso b/w, 669 iso 80 color, 672 pro 100 iso b/w, 679/689/690 pro or "vivid" 100 iso color. Now, these are just the pro films and they require you to manually time the development and then separate. Then there's all the consumer grade stuff like Spectra, 600, etc. which you can find at just about any convenience store. If you hear people tell you Polaroid film is dead, tell them it's hearsay caused by the discontinuation of a few CERTAIN products like 665 and SX-70 / Time Zero film.
Engelgrafik said at 11:16 p.m. on Jan 21, 2007:
NIMESH, this style is somewhat modified because a) Tabblo crops photos and b) most Tabblo styles that have white backgrounds have shadows underneath the photos. So, here's what I do. I choose rectangle, BLACK modern. Black modern has no shadows under photos. I change the background color to white and all the text to a dark grey. I then change the layout to GRID format and resize the photos until the entire thing fits within the box. Now I'm done!
Bxrgirl27 said at 10:14 a.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
I like!
Pkeener said at 2:10 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
now you really are my hero! Great Tabblo on your efforat and thanks for the cute link to Dunsters. I have always been facinated by these cameras! Is this the model all the press photographers used? Popping the flash bulbs in and out? By the way you should look up William Gottlieb, if you are not familiar with him...he was a press photographer and then did work for Doanbeat and photographed jazz muscians, etc. Many of his photos were made famous, including the well known shot of Billie Holliday.. His work is archived in the Library of Congress. PS I would love to go to Flat Top Johnny's..
Jillcdunn said at 7:35 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
These are dang cool. Seriously.
DVP said at 7:43 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
Great effect. I love that first shot. Wow, I can see this turning into some serious art photography for you.
Sigve said at 9:05 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
The photos turned out really well! Thanks for the good time at the last tabblo meetup.
Mthorne said at 9:26 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
you have quite the vision. what you do is truly art.
Engelgrafik said at 11:04 p.m. on Jan 22, 2007:
PKEENER, yep, these are the most famous of those old press cameras. I have a Speed Graphic and then there are the Crown Graphics which are lighter because they don't have a rear focal shutter. The rear focal shutter is literally a curtain with different sized slits in it that is held at various tension levels depending on what speed you want to shoot at. You can buy Speed Graphics for about $200 to $250, and Crown Graphics for even less. A box of expired Polaroid sheet film is about $40 and a Polaroid 545 film holder is about $25. Large format on the cheap... and instant prints! Ansel Adams himself used lots of Polaroid... he helped develop it even. Interesting tidbit: I believe that except for one year, every Pulitzer prize winning photo taken between the 1930s and 1960s was taken with a Graflex Speed or Crown Craphic. We're talking Hindenburg explosion... Lee Harvey Oswald assassination... the Speed Graphic was everywhere. The last model was made in 1973. Some people say that this was the last great American camera because after that that it was all Japanese cameras.
Siagian said at 10:19 a.m. on Jan 23, 2007:
i love the classic feel of this. nice work!
Pkeener said at 10:23 p.m. on Jan 23, 2007:
JEFF this is the same camera that Margaret Bourke-White (my hero) used for many of her great photographs. by the way Have you seen "The Public Eye" Joe Pesci portrays the "Great Bernzini" and i think the camera is actually the real star of the movie :-)
Engelgrafik said at 8:56 a.m. on Jan 24, 2007:
PKEENER, I didn't know about Margaret Bourke-White but just looked at some of her pictures. Nice! Yeah, she used an older pre-anniversary model I think from the '30s. I will check out William Gottlieb. As for the "Great Bernzini", yeah I heard about that movie. It's based on truth actually... Pesci is playing Arthur Fellig, who was also known as "Weegee", one of the greatest press photographers ever. Weegee was famous for arriving on crime scenes before the cops did. He carried a police-band radio in his car and even developed his film in his trunk so he could show up at the New York Daily News and they could run the story with his photos within hours and beat everyone else. If you do a google search for "weegee" you'll see all his famous photos... the accidents and crime stuff, but also notable people and speakers, and kids kissing in the movie theater.
Pkeener said at 12:03 a.m. on Jan 27, 2007:
Yes JEFF you should rent the movie. I think you'd get a kick out of it. The set design is just awesome and of couse the story is irresistable. Don't now how they rated the movie, but I don't care because it was fun to watch. I still haven't gotten around to the Holga and now you are showing me great stuff! I am anxious to see what you think of Gottlieb!
Jeffhaynes said at 10:03 a.m. on Jan 27, 2007:
These really look great, Jeff. Excellent work. The top one should be in a gallery -- in fact, set it aside for the group B&W show at Dolce in May!
Banafsheh said at 2:11 p.m. on Jan 28, 2007:
yes,i like!
Memotions said at 5:16 a.m. on Jan 31, 2007:
The camera brings its nostalgic '40's stlye and mood to these pics. Very nice.
Beankozak said at 5:41 p.m. on Jan 31, 2007:
these are amazing!
Eduardo.affonso said at 5:59 p.m. on Jan 31, 2007:
Excellent photos. Wish i could take some classes with you!
Katerina said at 8:48 p.m. on Jan 31, 2007:
These look like your kind of classy shot!
GeorgePL said at 4:35 p.m. on Mar 24, 2007:
You can't see but I'm showing this Tabblo to other people because it's so cool.
DSkok said at 5:05 p.m. on Apr 18, 2007:
These are exceptionally good! You have created a mood and atmosphere that comes across very powerfully. Quite some artistic talent!
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