They were just trying to protect their hair and eyebrows from the flash. The camera had already been focussed and the picture composed. A slight over-dump of flash powder could leave the photographer himself smokin' unless he was careful. I don't know this first hand, but a teacher I had as a young lad gave me this explanation. He ignited just a bit of flash powder for a demonstration, too. After seeing that, the explanation seemed pretty reasonable.
Len --- > > - like the old time photographers with head under the > > largeformat focusing hood of their 5x7" or larger camera, holding > > with one hand above the camera a bracket with flashpowder... > > Smile! > > I have seen pictures depicting this. But since there is no way you can see > through a view camera once the film holder is inserted, it is not very > realistic. > > --graywolf > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
