Arbutus camera makes its way home after 53 years
Today’s students might not know how to use it, but a Graflex Crown Graphic camera from the 1960s has made its way back home to the Arbutus yearbook after 53 years.
While downsizing a couple years ago, Richard Horwitz, BA’63, found the camera he used as an IU student and photographer for the Indiana Daily Student and Arbutus. He returned the camera to The Media School — specifically, associate professor Jim Kelly, who teaches photojournalism. The former Associated Press photography editor and manager said he hopes current and future students will appreciate the work that went into printing before the technology they use now came to be.
“In those days, the Daily Student was printed in the basement of Ernie Pyle,” said Horwitz. “Photographers saw everything from writing the story, to editing, to printing and sloshing around the dark room. We normally stayed until 1 a.m. when the printers started rolling.”
In 1962, the IDS was a lab course for credit. It had a darkroom and some 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ Graphics and Rolleicords, but most of the staff used their own cameras. Photographers were typically assigned head shots to help the reporters. At the beginning of his time at the IDS, the students took their prints to the local weekly paper every night to get them engraved for the letterpress. Eventually, the newsroom got a Scan-A-Graver to help with that process. Meanwhile, the Arbutus was independent and volunteer-based, but used similar technologies.
Now students apply to be employed by the IDS and get paid for the work they put out, instead of earning course credit. The Arbutus is a different branch of the same tree. Both student media organizations rely on computers to design layouts and edit photographs. The printing press days of the publications are long gone, especially now that the IDS cut back to publishing two days a week to focus more on its digital platform.
When the 1962 Arbutus staff decided to get a new camera for group yearbook shots, Horwitz asked what would happen to the old one.
“I said, ‘If nobody wants this, I’ll take it,’” Horwitz laughed, “Oh, I was so excited.”
The camera stayed with him for years, until he contacted The Media School to return it home.
Horwitz graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1963, and followed that with a master’s degree in education from IU in 1964.
“Teachers were the ones who wanted to work with projectors and graphics then, so many photojournalists studied education,” Horwitz said.
He went on to be an editor and manager in the Associated Press photo service and was ultimately named the European network director. He worked for the AP in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago and London before retiring in 1993. Despite his impressive photojournalism resume, he still credits IU for allowing him to learn in the field.
“I learned photography in high school, but I really came to college to do things out of the classroom,” Horwitz said. “Most of our courses were how to process film, the basics. Now the camera does that for you, and students can focus on the actual picture composition.”
Horwitz urges today’s students to keep up with evolving journalism technology and appreciate the basics of how things used to be done.
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