Edison NHP

Thomas Edison National Historical Park (NHP), located in West Orange NJ, is home to Thomas Edison’s laboratory complex and nearby residence. While I didn’t get to see the house on my first visit as they don’t offer tours in the winter, I plan on taking a trip back sometime this summer when things start to open up again. There are a few different things to see at the NHP: Edison’s machine shop, the laboratory where he attempted to synthesize synthetic rubber, a mockup of the “Black Maria” built as a moving film stage for motion pictures, and his private office/library. The weekend I visited actually had a presentation from an archivist with the Library of Congress who worked to restore nitrate film held by the library and sound recordings obtained from Edison NHP.

It’s actually interesting how the film and sound recordings became separated in the first place – but first a little history. Edison NHP was created shortly after WWII when Edison’s descendants shut down the laboratories and donated the property to the federal government. They had left everything as it was when Thomas Edison died, including his personal office and library. The National Parks Service sent the unstable nitrate film negatives they found to the National Archives for safekeeping but neglected to send the associated wax cylinder recordings. Many years later the curator of Edison NHP found they wax cylinders and worked to restore the complete films. 

One of the major drawbacks to Edison’s phonograph was the recording technique required to produce master cylinders that could be copied for commercial distribution. The technology required actors or musicians to practically shout at the recording horn if a usable master cylinder was to be obtained. In fact, you can sometimes see these recording horns used to produce the sound for Edison’s motion pictures dip into shot as the phonograph operator tried to pick up their voice. The end result produced very uneven audio, and the quality of the audio-motion picture sync was almost entirely dependent on the operator projecting the completed product. The projector and phonograph would be connected together by an extremely long string that was meant to sync sound and picture together. The projector operator had to manually adjust the wax cylinder when the picture and film went out of sync. Sometimes the very long string which connected the projector and phonograph would break, sending the two wildly out of sync. Edison built the “Black Maria”, a revolving sound stage, to produce his motion pictures. The entire building spun to follow the sun, which produced the intense light needed to expose the film negatives.

Stepping into Edison’s office and private library, you can’t help but marvel at the four stories of book shelves and belongings strewn about the room. This building was home to a heavy machine shop for prototyping, a recording studio above Edison’s office to produce the master cylinders for his phonograph business, a photography studio, and drafting rooms. I always joke that fixer smells good, but I find it funny that 100 years later you can still smell the fixer in the darkroom that occupies the top floor of the building. The large 8x10 Eastman View camera still sits in the studio, ready to make some glass plate negatives.

Empire State Plaza

Sometimes you just get the urge to get out there and photograph something without having a particular subject in mind. It was a frigid Saturday morning and I was sick of sitting inside, so I grabbed my shoulder bag and stuffed my Mamiya C22 and 65/80/180 mm lenses inside with a roll of T-Max from my film fridge. I didn’t have a destination in mind but I knew I needed to photograph something. After doing a bit of digging online, I settled on Empire State Plaza up in Albany NY. It’s a few hours’ drive for me but the trip reminded me of Ohio where an hour’s drive minimum separated you from the next biggest town. There wasn’t snow on the ground when I left, but about an hour north flurries dashed across my windshield. I was lucky because by the time I reached Albany the snow had subsided and I was in the clear to shoot.

Empire State Plaza is the home of various NY state government agencies and is reminiscent of Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The capital building, pictured above, is quite beautiful. I lucked out by grabbing an ISO 400 film because it was freezing and hand holding the camera was tricky given just how much my hands were shaking. I ended up lapping the plaza to finish off the roll of film, though I had one more exposure left by the time I was finished. I want to make a return trip in the summer months but there’s many interesting buildings in the plaza: a bowl-shaped auditorium, a small plaza cafe, matching “Agency Buildings” which loom over the concourse, a seasonal skating rink, and the NY State Archives opposite the capitol building.

I didn’t do much research ahead of time since this was a spur of the moment trip. I had no idea the ice rink or cafe would be there, but I was thankful for the large hot chocolate I bought to warm up my hands. I tried to focus on the architecture and chasing the available light which was fleeting due to the storm front passing through. Satisfied with the pictures I took and with one shot left on the roll, I ended up dropping by the Martin Van Buren NHP on my way back downstate. The house was closed, and I’ll need to make a return trip when it opens for the season, but I thought the house really stood out amongst the snowy backdrop. I was quite happy with the negatives once I developed them and for an impromptu trip, I couldn’t ask for more.

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Kodak PH-324

As a collector of historical objects, especially WWII era, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up this Kodak PH-324 on eBay. Despite the camera being billed as “operational” it took a ton of work to get it back in near-perfect order. I was hoping the camera would be accurate out of the box but instead I ended up with a shutter stuck at the fastest setting. I would've just returned the camera but the glass was in perfect condition - something that’s hard to find with an old camera such as this. I was able to completely disassemble the body, clean out the leaf shutter, and refocus the elements so the focus scale was (mostly) accurate by using a piece of ground glass off an old Canon F-1n focusing screen.

The PH-324 was issued throughout WWII to US Army Signal Photographic units as the standard 35mm camera. Included with this camera was an enlarger, photo paper, film, and chemicals needed to develop both in the field. Kodak produced the camera, a standard Kodak 35, in OD green exclusively for the federal government during the war. The camera used a leaf shutter and basic three element design to produce images on either Kodak Mircrofile or Kodak Super-XX film. A +2 Portra lens was included for copying documents with the accompanying stand in Photographic Set PH-261. The viewfinder and lens are decoupled so you can only get a general idea of what the final picture will look like. The images in this post are from the test roll after I completed the restoration.

WWII Weekend

I’d first heard of the annual WWII weekend event at Gettysburg while visiting the Eisenhower farm back in 2017. Part of the Gettysburg National Historic Park, Eisenhower’s former home sits on acres of farmland just beyond the many granite monuments erected to honor the fallen soldiers of the Revolutionary War. As a photographer and WWII history fan I knew I’d have to make a return trip to see the reenactment for myself. There was no way I could pass up the chance to shoot some film and find such unique subjects to photograph. I planned everything out and expected to visit the next year in 2018 but unfortunately it was rained out. When the fields become too wet the various vehicles and foot traffic tear up the turf around the Eisenhower home, which caused the NPS to call the event off.

I fell down a rabbit hole of message boards and training manuals as WWII weekend got closer, eventually picking up a PH-324 (basically a Kodak 35 in OD green paint) to shoot some 35mm film of the encampment. While I wasn’t able to get it functional in time for the trip, I’ve managed to fix the shutter mechanism (still need to readjust the focus). With my main camera out of action, I settled on my Mamiya C33 and a Canon A-1. Film-wise I grabbed a roll of Tri-X 400 for the C33 and some Ektachrome for the A-1, but more on the film below.

WWII weekend was full of great photo opportunities and interesting people. There was no shortage of vintage equipment and expansive displays, including the Sherman tank below. The reenactors themselves were incredibly friendly and willing to talk with just about anybody who would listen. My favorite shot from the weekend is the first in this post, showing an independent war correspondent reading a LIFE magazine with a Leica rangefinder around his neck. He was actually an Army photographer during the Korea/Vietnam timeframe but didn’t continue with a career in photography after he came back stateside. He mainly shot a 2x3 Graflex during his time in the service, and even had an example with some old film packs to show me.

The drive from NY to PA was long but so worth it. There was a great USO style dance Saturday night which was a blast, though I’m planning to come in more period appropriate attire next year. I had a chance to talk with some of the guys from the 167thPhotographic Unit who were set up at the encampment and did they have lots of information to share. The truck in the above set of photos was restored by a few of the guys and painstakingly replicated to match multiple reference photos they had of a similar truck in use by the 167th during WWII. Don, who rebuilt the unit’s canvas tent himself, was especially helpful in explaining their setup to me and what life was like during the war for someone taking photos in the Signal Core.

While I’m not a big fan of color film, I brought one of the two launch day rolls of Ektachrome I had sitting in my film fridge just to play around with. I had the film developed at Bleeker Digital Solutions in NYC and I’d highly recommend them to anybody who needs E6 film developed. This was also my first time shooting slide film so I was amazed to see the results when I picked up the positives from Bleeker. Below are some of the scans from that role, and I have to say I’m impressed with the film Kodak has resurrected from the dead. Now we just need it in 120 rolls… 

U-505

When I found out that I’d have the chance to spend a few days in Chicago I immediately knew where I was going - to see one of the most unique museum ships in the US. U-505, now part of the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, is a submarine with an interesting service history and an even more interesting capture story. I try to visit any museum ships I can find when I’m traveling so there was no way I could pass up the chance to explore the only WWII German U-Boat in the United States.

U-505 is a German Type IXC U-Boat built during WWII by Nazi Germany, commissioned in August 1941. One of only 6 U-Boats captured by the allies during the war, U-505 had a generally unlucky career at sea. She only managed to sink a total of 8 ships over 12 patrols though most of her misfortune was a direct result of time spent in port. Based out of Lorient in occupied France, she suffered from sabotage attacks and shoddy repair jobs at the hands of the French Resistance. Most patrols ended just days after launch as the “repairs” caught up with the ship forcing a return to port.

The most notable event to occur onboard U-505 was the suicide of her captain, Peter Zschech. On the boat’s 10th war patrol, British destroyers spotted U-505 and forced her to dive. Zschech shot himself in the control room before the other officers as depth charges rained down around the submerged ship. First Watch Officer Paul Meyer took command and was able to return the submarine to port. This was the only recorded case of a submarine commander committing suicide while underwater during the war.

The captain’s bunk is pictured here. While he did not have an entire room to himself, accommodations were the most spacious aboard. Most crew slept in the forward or aft torpedo rooms and shared bunks between shifts in a practice known as “hot bunking”. The submarine was incredibly cramped, but even more so when loaded down with provisions for a war patrol.

The story of U-505’s capture dates back to 1944 when an American hunter killer task force intercepted the boat. Depth charges were dropped and an oil slick appeared in the waves as the damaged U-505 surfaced. The American forces started firing upon the submarine while the order was given to abandon ship. Sailors abandoned the ship so quickly that the scuttling process was not completed and the engines were left running. The earlier depth charge attacks jammed the rudder which left the boat spinning in a circle as American forces assembled a boarding party.

In the event of capture, German U-Boat crews were to scuttle the submarine and destroy all sensitive material. Because there was such a rush to abandon the submarine, these procedures weren’t followed and evidence crucial to breaking the Enigma code was left untouched. The crew of U-505 were taken prisoner as the submarine was towed to to Bermuda in secret with an American crew. After careful study the ship was released in 1945 to raise war bonds at ports across the US. The navy planned to use U-505 for target practice after the tour but thankfully the citizens of Chicago were able to preserve her for future generations..

What stuck with me the most about U-505 was how unique it was compared to most American ships I’ve visited and how much wood was used in the construction. I’m glad I had the chance to visit while I was in Chicago and encourage others to do the same. It’s the only U-Boat in the United States and a unique piece of WWII history.

Van Slyke Castle

A short but very steep hike into the hills of New Jersey lands you at the site of Van Slyke Castle, or at least what’s left of it. The castle started life as the retreat of a wealthy NYC stockbroker who began construction on the property around the turn of the 20th century. After his untimely death in 1911, the expansive estate was left to his wife Ruth. She married Warren Van Slyke, an attorney, who gave the property its current namesake. The couple continued to use the castle as a vacation home until Mr. Van Slyke’s death, at which point Mrs. Van Slyke moved in permanently until her death in 1940.

The castle sat vacant after the death of both Mr. & Mrs. Van Slyke as a buyer for the property was not readily available. In 1949 another couple bought the property but put it back on the market one year later. Purchased in 1950 then abandoned, the house sat empty among the Ramapo Mountains until vandals broke in and burned it to the ground. The castle ruins and land were acquired by the state of New Jersey and turned into Ramapo Mountain State Park, leaving them open for all to explore.

The castle’s exterior is still clearly visible, as are the pool, water tower, and out building. A cast iron furnace rusts in what was once the basement. The pool, located a short distance from the castle ruins, is still accessible by a set of stairs that lead down into it. You can even see remains of the blue paint which once coated the concrete surfaces. These photos were from my third and most recent trip to the castle. If you live in NJ and enjoy hiking, this is definitely a location worth checking out.