Basic Photography, Technical Manual No. 1-219; TM 1-219

Washington, DC: United States, War Department, 1941. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. Good. 342, [2] pages. Illustrations. Forumulary. List of Chemicals. Glossary. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Creases on the back page. This manual superseders TM 2170-5, March 1, 1939. Prepared under the direction of the Chief of the Air Corps. This manual serves as a reference to basic photographic principles and to the technique of military photography. It includes elementary photography, chemistry, sensitized materials, optics, filters, photographic sensitometry, ground camera photography, negative making, printing, copying, lantern slides, color photography, and laboratory operations. Operation and methods incident to the making of aerial photographs and aerial photographic products and their application to various purposes are described in TM 1-220. This is the standard of practice in place when the United States entered into World War II. The Air Corps was charged with the responsibility for performing all photographic and cinematographic work from aircraft. At stations where Air Corps troops predominated, the Air Corps was responsible for performing the essential ground camera photography that was normally done for the War Department by the Signal Corps. A specially trained technician known as a photo officer was a member of the special staff of the commander of each unit having photographic responsibilities. The photo officer acts as an adviser to the commander on all technical and tactical applications of photography. War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war arena. The first official attempts at war photography were made by the British government at the start of the Crimean War. In March 1854, Gilbert Elliott was commissioned to photograph views of the Russian fortifications along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer and the first to attempt a systematic coverage of war for the benefit of the public. Like all soldiers, Army photographers get trained on basic combat skills and learn how to operate weapons, expertly engage in hand-to-hand combat and administer basic first-aid. Being an Army photographer requires dedication and resilience.