World War I Cameramen Behind The Lens

While researching our book American Cinematographers in the Great War, we came across an interesting collection of pictures from the collection of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. These are all from the records of the U.S. Signal Corps that was assigned to film and photograph America's involvement in the Great War.

U.S. Signal Corps crew filming American troops arriving in a village in Lorraine, France (1918). Colorized picture.

Link to original high res image

Quite a number of these photographs show the U.S. Signal Corps cameramen at work on the Western Front in 1918. Thanks to research by Harry Kidd at the National Archives these pictures have been scanned and uploaded on the internet. Finally, after almost one hundred years, we can see how these official war pictures were made.

A team of U.S. Signal Corps photographers train on an early 35mm film camera in preparation of being shipped overseas in 1918. Both men are wearing standard U.S. uniforms and both are armed with their Model 1911 revolver.  Source: National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

Link to low res image

For a sample of these photographs here is a weblog showing the activities of these World War I photographers.

Weblog: Behind the Camera Lens - World War I Photographers