Proto-Selfie: A Letter to the Editor from Bill Royce

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Bill,

Attached is my selfie. I took this with Kodachrome 64. I was flying an F-4E Phantom in cruise back from a bombing mission (in Hawaii, believe it or not!). I set the camera on the gun camera housing on top of the glare shield in the front seat. I had my two wingmen fly tighter than normal formation, one on each wingtip. I was not sure the angle of view of the lens would work to get both win men into the image. I took a half dozen shots and this one was the best, with the wingmen nearly symmetrical.

I attach another shot taken on the same deployment to Hawaii, just after completing a formation low approach to Hickham Air Base in Honolulu. I guess you could say lucky framing, clouds, etc., especially since I was also flying the jet, and the canopy is 1/2” thick through which I took the picture.

Regards,

Bill Royce

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Paul Wolff's Leica Photo Exhibitions in Japan

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Telyt Optical Viewfinder (Circa 1952)