Life's Little Adventures

I Love New York

So imagine my joy when I stumbled across this website: www.nyc-architecture.com! Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos, dating from the 19th century right up until today, all images of the buildings and street scenes of this beloved metropolis. A feast for the eyes, and one not to be missed. An especially good recent page on the site is: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/SPEC/GAL-BW.htm.

Another interesting site is www.nycsubway.org, all about subways. 

My love for this town began in the late 1930s when my dad marched my little legs off all over downtown, and was solidified at the 1939 World's Fair. Our family visited relatives there several times after the war, and in the summer of 1948 I and a buddy, both 14 tears old, spent nearly a week there alone, sleeping at my mother's aunt's apartment in Queens and exploring the whole city on foot and by subway. Being strapped for cash, we lived off Nedick's hot dogs with an occasional splurge at the Automat. The next year my dad and I went to Game 5 of the World Series at Ebbets Field to watch the Yankees beat the Dodgers — the Brooklyn Dodgers — 10-6. 

In 1952, fresh out of high school, I realized my dreams and moved there, becoming an assistant to the great photographer Richard Avedon. Except for time out for military service, I remained there until 1989, forming my own studio in 1965. Although I now live near Philadelphia, I can't get New York out of my mind, and go there whenever the creative juices need refreshing.

CLICK HERE to find out why our studio HAD to be in New York.

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The Avedon Years, Part XXXVI

Why 8x10?

Image quality, while important, is not the only reason that Richard Avedon chose to use an 8"x10" camera for so much of his great fashion, advertising, and portait photography — there are several other significant advantages to that large format.

Surprisingly, one of these is that it allowed a more intimate connection with the person being photographed. With smaller cameras such as a Rolleiflex or a 35mm SLR, the photographer is kept busy (and partly distracted) holding and looking into the camera. A camera as large as the 8x10 Deardorff was mostly operated by his assistant, while he was free to roam around and engage with the sitter, connected to the shutter by a remote release.

In the photo above, he is holding a small rubber bulb connected by long tubing to a pneumatic release on the camera, while I am feeding film holders into it and cocking the shutter. This was taken at San Francisco's original hungry i nightclub in 1955 — today a more modern 8x10 camera such as a Sinar with an automatic shutter and a radio remote release would be used.

Another advantage, at least in portraiture, is that an 8x10 camera is intimidating. It shows the sitter that you really mean business.

The shallow depth of field associated with the necessarily long focal-length lenses (at least 12" or 300mm) can also work in your favor. Once in focus, the sitter is forced to stay put unless a very small aperture (f/22 or higher) is being used. Having all distracting elements well out of focus makes the in-focus subject really "pop."

Avedon used 8x10 Deardorff cameras since very early in his career, and continued to use them for location jobs right up until his death in 2004. For studio work, however, in the early 1960s I convinced him to purchase a very expensive Swiss-made Sinar Norma 8x10 camera (photo, left). This was quite heavy, extremely rugged, and had a behind-the-lens shutter that automatically closed and set the f/stop every time a film holder was inserted. Removing the holder also opened the shutter and lens for a focus check. Speed settings could be made from the rear of the camera, a convenience for the assistant. The whole arrangement made sittings go more smoothly by reducing the time interval between exposures. Nothing was as upsetting as the camera not being ready to shoot when that magic moment struck. Despite his aversion to shiny technical things, Avedon must have loved this camera because he continued to use it for decades after I left in 1965.

Wouldn't a 4x5 camera offer most of these same advantages? No, emphatically NO. 4x5s are fine for product, landscape, and architectural shots, but not for serious fashion or portrait photography. Although much less expensive to operate and lighter to carry, they are just as cumbersome to use and do not produce the same results. To my knowledge, Avedon never used a 4x5. I bought one (a Calumet monorail with a 150mm f/5.6 Symmar lens) in 1966 for our studio, but quickly changed to an 8x10. 

One of the great advantages of a large-format view camera, be it a 4x5, an 8x10, or even larger, is the range of swings and tilts to correct (or introduce) perspective distortion and selective focus. The Sinar was especially versatile in this respect, the Deardorff not as much. Avedon, however, as far as I know never used these features. His cameras were always set up straight, by eyeballing in the case of the Deardorff and by exact measurements on the Sinar — that masterpiece of Swiss precision.

Whether 8x10 or 4x5, sheet film has to be loaded into lightproof holders for insertion into the camera. This requires a darkroom, a changing bag, or — if pressed — a closet that can be made dark. Avedon took many exposures for every picture, meaning that dozens of film holders had to be pre-loaded for every job. Carrying them to a location could be back-breaking work. That's what assistants are for.

In the end, it was (and still is) well worth the extra expense and work because the 8x10 format has a look about it that just can't be duplicated with smaller cameras. And certainly not with digitals.

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Herculaneum and Vesuvius, Italy

Here's another free sample chapter from my guidebook Daytrips Italy Fifth Edition (2005), updated to 2009. 

Trip 37

Herculaneum

and Vesuvius

(Ercolano e Vesuvio)

A Daytrip from Naples or Sorrento

When Mount Vesuvius blew its top in AD 79 it destroyed more than just Pompeii. The residential and resort town of Herculaneum was also buried under as much as 80 feet of muddly effluent that hardened into a form of tufa stone, preserving its buildings to a truly remarkable degree. Although it is much smaller and less famous than Pompeuii, Herculaneum is in some ways more interesting — and a lot less crowded. The surrounding modern town of Ercolano is also the departure point for trips to the top of the volcano, so it is easily possible to combine visits to both the victim and the perpetrator in the same day.

Herculaneum began as the Greek settlement of Herakleion, founded, according to legend, by Hercules. Later occupied by Oscans and Samnites, it fell into Roman hands in 89 BC. Possibly used as a retirement colony for veterans, the town became a resort for wealthy Romans, who built splendid villas there. At the time of its destruction it had a population of about 5,000. 

There is a certain thrill about going to the top of Mount Vesusvius — after all, it is an active volcano, the only one on the European mainland. Since the last major eruption in 1944 it had lost its distinctive plume of smoke that often colored the Neapolitan skies, and today emits only scattered vapors. This can be deceptive, however, as the beast is only sleeping and certainly not dead.

GETTING THERE:

Commuter trains operated by the private Circumvesuviana Railway in the direction of Sorrento depart frequently from their own station underneath the Centrale station in Naples. These same trains leave a few minutes earlier from the Circumvesuviana station on Corso Garibaldi. Take one of these as far as the Ercolano stop, about 15 minutes from Naples. Return service operates until mid-evening. Railpasses are not accepted on this line, but fares are very low. Those coming from Sorrento should take the same line in the direction of Naples. Online information: W: vesuviana.it.

By Car, take the A-3 Autostrada southeast to the Ercolano exit, about 11 km (7 miles) from Naples. From here follow signs a short distance to Scavi di Ercolano for Herculaneum, and signs for Vesuvio to visit Mount Vesuvius.

PRACTICALITIES:

The excavations at Herculaneum are open daily except New Year's Day, May 1, and Christmas. Clear weather is absolutely essential for an enjoyable ascent of Mount Vesuvius, for which a light jacket or sweater may be welcome — along with suitable shoes and sunglasses.

Your best source of information is the provincial Tourist Office in Naple's Centrale train station, T: 081-206-666. In Ercolano there is a small local tourist office, T: 081-788-1243, at Via IV Novembre 84, between the train station and the excavations.

FOOD AND DRINK:

The local wine of Mount Vesuvius is the golden white Lacrima Christi, grown right on the slopes of the volcano. There are a few ordinary pizzerias and bars between the train station and the excavations in Ercolano, and some snack bars at the parking lot of Mount Vesuvius.

SUGGESTED TOUR:

Numbers in parentheses correspond to numbers on the map.

Begin your tour at the Ercolana train station (1). If you intend to visit Mount Vesuvius (12) by bus you should start with that first as their schedule is limited. The bus (and taxis) to Vesuvius leave from directly opposite the train station. If you have any questions about this, stop at the local tourist office. 

Continue straight ahead along the main street for about three blocks to the entrance of:

*HERCULANEUM EXCAVATIONS (Scavi di Ercolano) (2), T: 081-857-5331, W: pompeiisites.org. Open April-Oct., daily 8:30-7:30; Nov.-March, daily 8:30-5. Closed Jan. 1, May 1, Dec. 25. €€. Free for EU citizens under 18, over 65. Combined ticket with Pompeii available. 

Once inside you will see several authorized guides who will offer to take you around, expecting a tip in reward. This is by far the best way to see Herculaneum since the guides are knowledgeable and have the keys to those houses that are locked. Attempting to identify the ruined structures by yourself is very difficult, even using the best guide books available. After the guided tour is finished you can retrace your steps — the site is quite small — and spend more time at those spots of greatest interest. The short descriptions given below are only a rough guide to the most important highlights.

Herculaneum was discovered in 1709 when a local prince came across ruins while digging a well. Further excavations were made with the support of the king of Naples after 1738 but, as was common in those days, the only interest was in recovering valuable artifacts. Real systematic archaeological work began in 1927 and is still underway. Digging is especially painstaking as everything is literally encased in stone. To date, only a small portion of Herculaneum has been uncovered since most of it lies under the modern town of Ercolano, once known as Resina.

From the bottom of the long entrance ramp turn right to the *House of the Mosaic Atrium (Atrio a Mosaico) (3), which has some very fine mosaic floor and a lovely garden. Some of its wooden window frames are preserved, a feature of Herculaneum that is missing in Pompeii, where the hot ashes ignited the wood. Just up the street is the House of the Wooden Trellis (Graticcio) (4), a plebian dwelling using cheap wood-and-plaster construction and incorporating a shop. Not all of the wood here is orginal, of course. Next to this is the House of the Wooden Partition (Tramezzo di Legno), a multi-storied private house where parts of a wooden wall are still well preserved. Bits of furniture and even some ancient food are displayed in glass cases. The shop on the corner has a wooden clothes press in excellent condition.

On the opposite corner stands the Samnite House (Sannitica) (5) which, although modified, has interesting pre-Roman origins. Its interior atrium is especially noteworthy. The large *Baths (Thermae) (6) have survived much as they were when first built during the reign of Augustus. Not as luxurious as those at Pompeii, they are nonetheless quite well planned and have separate entrances for men and women.

Cross the street to the House of the Charred Furniture (Mobilio Carbonizzato) (7), a charming middle-class home with some orginal furniture. Standing next to it is the House of the Neptune Mosaic (Nettuno e di Anfitrite) with a siperbly well-preserved shop on the street, complete with merchandise that was for sale at the moment of destruction. Step into the courtyard to view the besutiful mosaics of Neptune and Anfitrite.

Continue up the street to the House of the Beautiful Courtyard (Bel Cortile) (8), an unusual structure in which objects of everyday life are displayed. Now turn right onto the main street, the Decumanus Maximus, where there is a public fountain.The Forum, not yet excavated, lies buried beyond this.

The House of the Bicentenario (9) was so named because it was unearthed 200 years after the first serious digs began. Curiously, the outline of a cross on a wall of an upstairs room seems to suggest that a Christian lived here, although the crucifix symbol was not known to have been used as early as AD 79.

Turn right onto the Cardo V street and follow it past many interesting sights, including the partially excavated Palestra, to the House of the Deer (Cervi) (10). This is the most luxurious villa yet unearthed at Herculaneum, and is filled with remarkable art and sculpture. A ramp from here leads down to the former port, now far away from the sea. The Suburban Baths (Thermae) (11) were constructed shortly before the disaster and are in exceptionally fine condition.

You have now seen the major attractions of Herculaneum. Return to the entrance and walk up the street to the train station (1).

Buses to Mount Vesuvius (Vesuvio) depart from the corner diagonally opposite the station. Otherwise, you can take a cab (but negotiate a price first!), or if you have a car drive there following the signs. The road takes you most of the way up and ends at a parking lot. From there it's an easy climb of about 30 minutes over loose gravel. At the *Summit (12) you are required to use the services of a guide, who will take you around the crater. The view from the top, 4,189 feet above the sea, is simply fantastic. Transporti Vesuviani buses depart more-or-less hourly, about 9-1:30, with returns from about 11 tp 4. Roundtrip €, purchase on bus. Entrance and guide €€. W: vesuvioinrete.it for information.

Text and map copyright © 2005 Earl Steinbicker

OTHER ITALIAN DAYTRIPS on the site include:

Ostia Antica, A daytrip from Rome.

Lucca, a daytrip from Florence.

San Gimignano, a daytrip from Florence.

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About the ASA

Over two dozen posts, and many, many comments, on this blog pertain to the former Army Security Agency and especially to its units in Japan during the 1950s. I was a very small part of this, as were hundreds (possibly thousands) of other guys. These postings get scores of visitors every day, mostly from veterans who were in or associated with the ASA and have at least some idea of what it was all about. Others may wonder just what was this highly secretive and mysterious branch of the U.S. Army, what did it do, why does it no longer exist, and why so little has been written about it.

First of all, why did so many draftees choose three years in the ASA instead of the required two years of regular army service? It was promoted as a rather exclusive group culled from only those scoring in the top ten percent on aptitude tests, having a high IQ, and qualifying for both Top Secret and Crypto security clearances. There was the implied promise (in our case largely kept) of an easier, more interesting, and more comfortable life than the regular army provided. The ASA did not fall under the normal "chain of command," for the most part freeing us from the nuisance of inspections, formations, parades, barracks life, and other irksome military traditions. There was also that "cloak-and-dagger" image of being involved in clandestine espionage activities — not quite at the James Bond level but still a wee bit glamorous even though most of the work was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

IN REALITY, what the ASA really did was to provide cheap labor for the largely civilian-run National Security Agency (NSA). In those days before widespread computer usage the mission of the NSA needed a massive amount of manpower to intercept and sift through mountains of accumulated communications and electronic intelligence data gathered by listening in on enemies, potential enemies, and friendly nations as well. This would have been hugely expensive were it not for the draft. At that time, all fit young males in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 were required to serve in the military for a minimum of two years. There were, of course, ways around this, but most guys did wind up serving their nation. For those who qualified, signing up for the ASA was a no-brainer.

The work of the ASA along with its sister outfits the Air Force Security Service, the Naval Security Group, and of course the NSA itself were vital to the defense of the nation, especially during the Cold War years. When the draft ended in 1973 the days of NSA's "Rent a Trooper" were numbered as the enlistment times of the last to join ran out. As you would expect, the ASA had a notoriously low re-enlistment rate, so by 1976 the free ride was over and the ASA was disbanded. Its functions were melded into a new organization called INSCOM (Intelligence and Security Command), made up of professional career soldiers. By then, computers had taken over most of the routine work formerly done by the ASA draftees who were no longer needed.

Cryptography was what the ASA was all about. Although formed in 1945, its heritage dates back to the code crackers of World War I at the Cipher Bureau of Military Intelligence of the War Department. Surviving demobilization in 1920, the Bureau continued on as a covert agency funded jointly by the War and State Departments. In 1929 the new Secretary of State decided that listening in on other countries' communications was not a gentlemanly thing to do, and so their support was terminated. At that time the Bureau's activities was transferred to the Signal Corps, where it remained until the forming of the Army Signal Security Agency at the height of World War II in 1943. Two years later, in 1945, all signal intelligence and communications security matters were assigned to the newly-formed Army Security Agency (ASA), an independent agency within the army but outside the normal chain of command. There it remained throughout the rest of World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and Vietnam. 

The ASA had listening posts, often called field stations, scattered around the globe. Their massive antenna fields picked up weak signals originating deep in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, East Germany, and even in friendly, allied countries. Within the fortress-like walls of its communications centers sat the "ditty boppers," who listened in and recorded the coded messages, which were then sent to cryptographers for cracking. This information was forwarded through channels to the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland, where it was analyzed for the Defense Department.

The two ASA units that I served in back in the 1950s were Headquarters ASAPAC at Camp Oji in Tokyo, Japan (July 1957 to May 1958) and JCRC-J at North Camp Drake, just outside of Tokyo (May 1958-October 1959). Click on their names to learn more.

The same sort of communications intelligence was done by the British and Americans during World War II at Bletchley Park, just outside of London. Click here to read about it. 

Links: ASA Lives, 

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Some interesting reading: Click on book titles in the boxes below to check them out, or on the Buy buttons to purchase.

Web Tech & Blogs Index

The number of posts about blogging and web tech have increased to the point where an index is needed, so here it is. Click on the ones that interest you. Most recent postings are at the top.

• I Love Chrome. 9/9/09. Google's Chrome web browser and why I use it.
• Why Amazon? 8/23/09. My experiences in dealing with the world's largest online store.
• Avedon's Large Format Photography, 11/28/08. How this one posting brought in thousands of hits after getting a link from a forum site.  
• A Little Problem With The Blog, 9/30/08.  Problems caused by composing the blog in Google Chrome and viewing it in Internet Explorer.
• Google To The Rescue, 9/06/08. TypePad's new Compose Editor was sluggish using I.E., but worked beautifully in Google Chrome. 
• Why Blog? 12/07/07. How I got started in blogging back in May 2006.  
• Looking For Something? 11/06/07. Using Google Search inside the blog. 
• Cell Phones And Me, 10/19/07. My experiences with mobile phones since the 1960s. 
• The Fun Of Blogging 10/09/07. How Blogging has changed my life. 
• Featured Weblog 8/29/07. Being chosen as TypePad's Featured Blog for 9/1/07. 
• Blogging Has Its Rewards 1/24/07, How blogging has reunited me with my past. 
• Amazon Connect 6/28/06, Amazon.com creates a link between authors and their readers. 
• Desktop Publishing 6/17/06, How computers and the Internet have totally changed publishing.

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