Equipment packing - Margaret Bourke-White

[gib]

for amusement and information:

 

In 1941, Margaret Bourke-White returned to the Soviet Union

accompanied by her husband, writer Erskine Caldwell. Bourke-White

describes what she decided to take along on the trip.

 

�I spent the entire month before departure planning my equipment and

taking lessons in elementary mechanics so as to repair cameras when I

was beyond hope of assistance. � My quota of supplies included three

thousand flash bulbs, peanut variety, a large supply of film packs,

five cameras, twenty-two lenses, four portable developing tanks,

bottle of Dk21 fine grain developer, several papers of dressmaker

pins, duplicates of every screw found in all the minute parts of my

lens mounts and synchronizing magnets, a synchroscope, and a jeweler�s

screw driver and pliers. In addition, I carried twenty-eight

paper-bound detective stories.

My husband packed one small suitcase with his old corduroy jacket and

a few shoes and got an extra ribbon for his portable typewriter. His

professional equipment weighted seventeen pounds. My equipment

weighted six hundred pounds. �

 

In Hong Kong on the way to the USSR, she had a shoemaker make custom

leather cases with zippers for cameras, flash guns, reflectors and

filters.

 

shortly after they arrived in the USSR, Nazi Germany attacked.

 

from The Taste of War, Margaret Bourke-White

 

great book by a great LIFE photographer

[michael s.]

Saw an exhibit of her photos in DC a couple years ago. Superb photography. <p>

 

And if you've seen <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bourke-white.jpg>her photo</a>, you'll note she wasn't exactly a shrinking violet. She looked strong and healthy.

[william_hahn1]

Also apparently not terrified of heights - <a href="http://www.ncf.ca/~ek867/bwhitechrysler.jpg">here she is</a> about to photograph the top of the Chrysler building.

 

There was an article in 1972 in "The Atlantic" - unfortunately no longer viewable at their website - where a person who worked for the Life-Time complex noted that people were terrified of traveling with MBW - they were afraid of becoming just another pack mule for her equipment...

[leicaglow]

So did she take her husband, or just what he packed?<g>

[mark_wilson4]

What an interesting thread. I love the photo of her high up on the building. Dirt cool.

 

M

[vidom]

I just wonder what effect the twenty-eight paper-bound detective stories had on her photography - maybe the lack of enough detective stories is what's wrong with my photographic efforts!