August 1973 ~ The "New" 4X5 View Camera

I never really thought of myself as a large format photographer but I ran into a great deal on a Graphic View II with a 203mm f/7.7 Ektar and a 100mm Wide Field Ektar. I bought it. Al Olme was using my darkroom and his 4X5 Omega D-2V enlarger was in it. I was sure that I could use the camera on enough jobs to justify the investment, and I did.

First I had to get up to speed on using the thing, though. Browne's Photo was stocking some off brand 4X5 film at a very reasonable price. I bought a 100 sheet box.

Elena had just turned two, the woman on the lower right was my wife Stephanie. The other woman was Carlene Wagner. I'd met her through Jane Ross and Shirley Rigby. The three of them were copy editors at the Miami News, close friends, and lived near one another in Coconut Grove. When the Miami News folded Shirley got a job with Time Magazine in New York. I met up with Shirley a few times when I was in New York, but within a couple of years I'd lost touch with the three of them. I heard that Shirley had moved back to England where she was from.

About a year later I concluded that I really wasn't a large format kind of photographer and sold the Graphic View camera outfit at a modest profit.