Unsung heroes are the war cameramen. Officially not soldiers so not armed and no protection but often at the front line of battle. There is a very excellent doco called 'Shooting War' that covers this topic really well. I have in my collection a Vinten 35mm news camera named The Normandy as it was the model used in the infamous invasion in WW2. It is extremely heavy built out of solid iron and virtually indestructible. Only holds about 100 feet of film and couldn't imagine how difficult running around loading films all the time, clockwork winding to keep it running, changing focus, turret lenses, and aperture manually while dodging bullets, grenades and bombs. Keeping films from getting wet and getting them sent back to HQ somehow to be processed, edited, narrated, printed, and out to theatres and news reel theatres, often within a very short time.
Unsung heroes are the war cameramen. Officially not soldiers so not armed and no protection but often at the front line of battle.
There is a very excellent doco called 'Shooting War' that covers this topic really well.
I have in my collection a Vinten 35mm news camera named The Normandy as it was the model used in the infamous invasion in WW2. It is extremely heavy built out of solid iron and virtually indestructible. Only holds about 100 feet of film and couldn't imagine how difficult running around loading films all the time, clockwork winding to keep it running, changing focus, turret lenses, and aperture manually while dodging bullets, grenades and bombs.
Keeping films from getting wet and getting them sent back to HQ somehow to be processed, edited, narrated, printed, and out to theatres and news reel theatres, often within a very short time.