| News
agency photography involves covering a story for client deadlines. In
the past, using film, a photographer away on assignment needed a light-tight
space, water, electricity, and a telephone line to transmit his production.
Toilets were transformed into makeshift darkrooms, ideal spaces for developing
film and making prints. Photographers converted hotel bathrooms, referee's
changing rooms, or the odd broom closet into temporary wet labs. Exposed
film was processed, dried, and edited and a first frame was placed in
the enlarger to make a print. A manual typewriter was used to write a
simple caption, the 'Who, What, When, Where, Why' of journalism. This
done, the captioned print was placed on a drum transmitter like that shown
below which was hooked up to wires inside a telephone mouthpiece and moved
over the phone line to an editing desk. Move mouse over images. |
