Customer Reviews

Armed with Cameras

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Maslowski, in this book, has turned the journalist's eye back on itself, with remarkable results. He's brought the photojournalists of the Second World War to life with humor, affection, and detail - it's a story that's interesting, well-written, and well worth looking into.

My father, quoted in this book, was not killed in the war, but the war damaged him permanently, as it did so many others. I wish I had known him as he had once been. Thank you, Mr. Maslowski for your thorough research and straightforward writing. These cameramen were one helluva bunch.

As I have mentioned before, I like books about the"what", "how" and "why" rather than the "who" and "when". I also prefer books that cover subjects that are off the beaten track of popular military history. So I was delighted to come across this book. Maslowski writes about the photographers and cameramen of the United States armed services, their duties and equipment. He also related stories of their activities both at the front and also behind the lines. Military photographers often went in harm's way to get the stills and movies that civilians saw in their newspapers, magazines and in the newsreels, but rarely were personally identified or credited. Maslowski describes the subject of documentaries like San Pietro that stirred controversy for their frank depictions of the realisms of battle. He also touches on the more technical aspects of the profession, such as film quality and the development of lighter, better cameras as the war progressed.

This book is a narrative history and is rather anecdotal at times, but is an easy read for those who wish to learn more about the subject.

This book details the work of the Army's combat photographers, Signal Corps- not the Public Affairs fake journalists that are paid spin meisters who handle 'Command Information'.
When I served years later in the Cold War era, this job was MOS 84B & 84C Still Photographer and Motion Picture Photographer, so I was naturally interested.

These men went into the combat zones as both soldiers and documentation photographers and worked the battlefields and Theaters of War and produced some amazing work under some pretty difficult conditions. Imagine trying to document a battle without getting shot yourself. How do you photograph an enemy that is trying not to be seen and will kill you on sight. How do you convey the dynamic and fluid chaos of war in a single still image or short burst of Motion Picture film? How do you keep your equipment clean and operational in extreme weather and under harsh battlefield conditions? How do you serve in the Army and honestly document the activities of the Army without self filtering/censoring?

Read it and find out.

This is the best work done on Photographers IN the WW2 military. It does not cover the civillian photographers of news agencies, but just the men who served in uniform. It does that job very well, and has yet to be bettered. I'm not sure it really ever could.

This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in WW2 era military photogrpahy.

I ordered the book because my father Robert B. Spafford jr. was mentioned in it and discovered a few details about his life that I'd ignored (he was proud, but shy about his war experiences).

I have not seen or read this book,but hopefully it mentions Allan Arbus,the husband of Diane Arbus,because he served in the American army as a photographer during World War Two.