JFK, Dealey Plaza, RF camera. 11/22/63

[xayraa33]

Well it will be 43 years tomorrow , that the dirty deed was done.
my question to RFF members is if you had to be in Dealey plaza on that sad day , as the president's limo was turning left to Elm street, what RF camera made up to or before 1963 would you use.

I would leave out any motorized cams like the Nikon S2, S3 or SP or expermental Leica.
also:
which lens.
what film.
where to be positioned in the plaza.
which direction would you be looking at.

 

[xayraa33]

the camera has to be a STILL camera, not a motion picture camera.

 

[lmd91343]

xayraa33,

How old are you?

I was in elementary school and still remember how deeply that event shook the country, my community, and my family. I can't respond to your question. It is impossible to look at it in a detached manner.

 

[kaiyen]

I wasn't born for another 15 years but even I can't answer that.

allan

 

[Al Patterson]

I was in first grade. Had I been there I would have watched my father taking pictures with an Argus C3.

On;y, we were in New Jersey at the time...

 

[dll927]

That happened early in my first year of teaching at a junior high school in East Los Angeles. It was a Friday, and it happened to be payday. One of the teachers took her check to the bank during her prep period, and first heard the news on her car radio. During the afternoon another teacher who was something of a trumpetist went up in the 'steeple' that was part of the main building and played "Taps" at 2:00 PM. Not an easy day to forget.

I retired from the same school 32 years later.

 

[Bill58]

I was in Dallas in high school then and could have afforded maybe a third-hand Kodak Brownie ($5).

I still can' believe Oswald (not an expert marksman) was able to get off 3 (?) accurate shots as fast as he did at that range downhill w/ that piece of s___ bolt action rifle/ scope.

 

[aad]

I was in 3rd grade, and I think I cried. If I were transprted back, I'd say the hell with a camera and run up to the book depot to stop it.

Oddly, though, I think JFK was not a great president.

 

[ddimaria]

Not to be rude, but I think you've asked a really horrible question. I know you didn't mean it to be that way, but it seems awful to me.

 

[barrykawa]

When I lived in Dallas a few years ago, I used to go to the 6th Floor Museum quite a lot, the floor where Oswald shot Kennedy from. A great and touching museum, they even have a display of all the rangefinder and movie cameras that people were using that day in Dealey Plaza, and later donated to the museum. I wasn't into photography at that time so I don't remember any of the models used. But it is an interesting piece of history at that museum.

 

[dostacos]

Well it will be 43 years tomorrow , that the dirty deed was done.
my question to RFF members is if you had to be in Dealey plaza on that sad day , as the president's limo was turning left to Elm street, what RF camera made up to or before 1963 would you use.

I would leave out any motorized cams like the Nikon S2, S3 or SP or expermental Leica.
also:
which lens.
what film.
where to be positioned in the plaza.
which direction would you be looking at.

the sixth floor of the book depository, camera a minox taped to the slide of my colt government model 45 ACP loaded with hollow points😱

 

[Terao]

Behind the fence on the grassy knoll standing on a box smoking a cigarette with an Agfa Ambi Silette and a 130mm f/4 Color-Telinear, shooting ultra-slow Agfa color slide film 😉

 

[Bill58]

I still can't believe Oswald (not an expert marksman) was able to get off 3(?) accurate shots as fast as he did at that range and downhill w/ that piece of s___ bolt action rifle/ scope and poor quality, military ammo.

 

[David Murphy]

I was in Dallas in high school then and could have afforded maybe a third-hand Kodak Brownie ($5).

I still can' believe Oswald (not an expert marksman) was able to get off 3 (?) accurate shots as fast as he did at that range downhill w/ that piece of s___ bolt action rifle/ scope.

Well I am from the Dallas area (I was in Handley on that day) and I was there when Kennedy was killed (I was in my second grade class). I've been to Dealy Plaza and I'll tell you how he got off the shots: he was pretty damned close -- a lot closer than most people who've never been there realize. There was plenty of time too. And he was also a decent shot -- US Marine Core trained. The rifle he used was perfectly capable of doing what it did.

As far as the Grassy Knoll and all of that, there are many eye witnesses to the actual shooting who observed Oswald in the window, with the gun, (before and after the killing), preparing to fire, and then aiming and firing. He did it and he got caught too.

The Dallas Police did a good job apprehending him also, but in those days no one ever dreamed that a wacko like Ruby would enter the fray. We are used to sociopathic nuts like these two now, but back then they were novel and had the upper hand unfortunately.

 

[dll927]

Certainly that was a case in which the "wheels of justice" dropped into a deep rut. Somewhat like Gerald Ford pardoning RMN, except that everybody involved used guns. We may be "used to" the "wackos" nowadays, if such a thing can be true, but they still don't gain any favor from me.

As to JFK's place in history, let's leave that to the historians. It's true that he didn't get an awful lot past Congress (LBJ did better) , and his memory will forever be twisted by what happened to him. But it remains one of the sadder days those of us who were around have been through.

I still remember the headlines on the front page of the L. A. Examiner (now defunct) -- KENNEDY DEAD -- Assassinated in Dallas -- Johnson is President.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I don't know which camera I'd use, but I sure would look for that rip in the fabric of the Universe which gave ubernatural powers to The Magic Bullet.

 

[gb hill]

I was only 4 yrs old when that happend, but I do remember seeing the TV and the funeral, my moms tears...But to answer your question I can't say what kind of camera i'd have used, but I certainly know what camera I wouldn't have wanted to have been caught with, and thats my 1958 Zorki 2c. Sure enough with my luck, I would have been seen with that camera, called a comminunist,thrown down and beaten, arrested for murder,later to be shot and killed by Jack Ruby. Oswald only to get away scot free. Sound far fetched? I don't think so!

 

[thawkins]

Kodak Retina 2a!

Tom

 

[kbg32]

I was in Dallas working for a handful of months some years ago. I visited Dealy Plaza many times. I was most surprised to see how small Dealy Plaza is. When I remember back to where I was, I was six and watching the President's visit on TV. To me Dealy Plaza seemed vast.

Rangefinders? Most family pictures were taken back then with Kodak Brownies or some derivitive. Film was developed and processed through the local drugstore and one got small black and white prints back with deckle edges.

 

[trph_2000]

Well, it is said that Oswald had a Minox and some books have shown
police receipts for it etc. Some say that later it was repeatedly referred
to as a"light meter" to avoid speculation as to why he would have such a
camera and how he could afford it. I believe that eventually it was admitted that he did own one and in fact the film in it was developed, but only
contained a few nonspecific beach scenes.