Okay, so I posted a picture in an ad for a REALLY nice black Nikon S2 in the classifieds here, just hoping to ad a little historical context to a great camera. Well, little did I know what posting that picture would result in. It just showed what I thought was a 1960s photojournalist covering an event with a black Nikon S2 and wide angle lens.
More to come!
Anyone remember an American tv show called "The Naked City" (1958)? It was a crime drama about New York City detectives. At the end of each episode it was announced, "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."
And this is one of millions of stories happening daily on the Rangefinderforum. :~)
Yesterday morning at about 6am, I was looking through the forum and noticed a new listing for a black Nikon S2. I am interested in the black Nikons as much as the next guy, so I took a look, saw the price and decided to sell my car and my two cats and anything else around here to acquire the camera. Just kidding. Scrolling down I saw the photo of the photographer using a black Nikon S2 in 1964. I almost fell out of my chair I was so amazed to see myself in the photo! I knew exactly where the photo must have been taken. I put a quick note up on the forum, then sent a pm to the poster of the photo, burninfilm.
I was off to an estate sale looking for a rare Nikon item as usual or any kind of old photo item. I returned home, ate lunch, fed the cats, who sorta acted like this might be their last meal, I had told them earlier they might have to donate themselves to the purchase of a shiny black Nikon.
I checked e-mail and there was a reply from burninfilm. Sure enough, he verified the photo was made in Kansas City, Mo. on Sept 17, 1964. He was as amazed as I was that he had received an e-mail from the guy in the photo. He then told me the photo was made by his grandfather, a photographer, who was John Lyman. And, did I know him, he asked.
I thought this is amazing, and yes I did know him. I replied to burninfilm, telling him I knew his grandfather, and I even had some photos of him at work. John covered a lot of events around Kansas City, some commercial photography and also shot events and games for the Kansas City Chiefs. It just so happened the photo I had of John was him setting up a team photo for the Chiefs. As John was pretty short he used his heavy duty camera box to stand on. I caught him unaware and called to him, and shot the photo as he turned around, surprised at the camera pointing at him.
It turns out burninfilm, already had a print of the photo. He had acquired some of his grandfathers negatives, prints and camera gear when he died in the mid 1990's. In fact the print was still in the UPI Newspictures envelope that I had used to send the print to John way back in 1974 when the photo was made.
Have you figured out the event yet? It was one of the biggest things happening in Kansas City back then. Yes it was the press conference in downtown Kansas City for the Beatles who were in town for a un-scheduled concert. Charlie Finley who owned the Kansas City Athletics baseball team, was good at doing wacky promotions for his team. He decided to offer the Beatles a lot of money to come to KC and play at the ball park. The Beatles resisted at first but did come around to accepting the offer from Finley. I heard that he originally offered $50,000, but finally the Beatles accepted when the offer got to $150,000. I found this quote by Steve Crum at the press conference: “Ringo,” I asked, “what are you going to do if it rains tonight and you get tonsillitis?”
He didn’t know, but for $150 thousand [what The Beatles were getting for this gig], what’s tonsillitis?"
Back to the story of the black S2 I am using at the press conference in the photo. UPI gave it's staffer a couple of cameras, at the time two Nikon F's and 3 or 4 lenses to use. Many of the UPI photo staff liked carrying at least one range-finder also, usually with a wide lens. As UPI didn't pay us a whole lot of money, I at least, opted for used gear of my own. I worked in Little Rock, Arkansas for one year for UPI. While there one of the staff photographers at the Arkansas Gazette was selling some equipment. I liked the Nikon S2, and 35mm/1.8 lens he had. The asking price was $150.00 as I recall. It seemed like a good deal at the time. Keep the story in perspective, no one knew back then that a black Nikon body was rare, it was just another tool. I owned that camera from 1962 until I sold it in the early 1980's as I recall. I sold it along with some other Nikon items at a Kansas City Camera show. If the guy who bought it is reading this, let me know if the camera is still around. I know, it was a great camera and I shot thousands of photos with it.
Long story, but fantastic that burninfilm and I know each other because of his grandfather. Hopefully a few additional photos of me and my Nikon and the shot of John Lyman uploaded correctly. One of the shots of me was by another UPI photographer as we covered James Meredith entering the Univ. of Missisppi in 1962. The second one is me covering a football game, with a 105mm/2.5 lens on the Nikon S2. Yes I had an F with motor-drive and a longer lens that day also. :~) I will add a funny shot of Chalie Finley in a Beatles wig later.
Dale
