AGFA – CHIEF
c.1940
There’s nothing special about the Agfa Chief. They’re very common metal box cameras. They make 6×9 images on 620 film.
This camera had a roll of Kodacolor – x in it. The red window showed the number “8 .” I rolled it up and put it on the shelf .
I stuck the roll, along with another roll of Kodacolor and a roll of T-Max 400 in my tank and poured in some Accutol at 1:10 for about 10 minutes. The T-Max was my “January Fog” post. One Kodacolor produced black frames and the other, from the Chief produced three printable frames.
I scanned the frames in an Epson Perfection 3200 as color negatives and tweaked the contrast a bit.
Even ashore this sailor is at attention. He’s got the face too. He’s got his arm around his girl in a polite, military way.
That’s something like a 1967 Ford next to the lady with the semi-beehive. No doubt that’s the sailor’s mom. She doesn’t look too happy and I think I know why. There was a nasty little police action going on in Southeast Asia at the time.
Dad is taking the picture. The young woman is happy. Her man is in The U.S. Navy and they’re young and full of promise. Even her right foot is happy.
Years ago photographs meant special occasions. We didn’t snap away like idiots, photographs cost money. I wonder if it’s a coming home or going away.
Herco “Imperial”
The Herco Imperial is the perfect camera for use on a sucky vacation. It’s bland and boring despite the weak attempt at an Art Deco face. You know it’s pedestrian.
If you’re an old like me, your family dragged you along on some sucky vacations when you were a kid. Educational stuff. Yuck. You wanted swimming pools and vomit-inducing amusement rides. Instead you got some Civil War battlefield site or something.
There was a roll of Kodacolor 620 in this boring little Herco. I put it in some HC-110 (dil. b) for a while.
Dad always took photos of statues and similar things. No one wanted to see them, but they had to be taken I guess. Not a bad framing job though.
Modern photo of the site.
