speeding bullet head on
Toronto. Years ago, Dr Edgerton of MIT revolutionized the art of photography by using high speed flash to record mundane events in a fraction of a split second. In the late 1950s, I bought a used Ultrablitz Reporter IIL. The speed of its light flash was more in the range of camera shutter speeds with its 1/800th and 1/400th second bursts. Before then I always thought of electronic flash as super fast.
On pp14 and 15 of the August 27th, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine, a regular column called “Speaking of Pictures” features the remarkable work of Lawrence Faeth in the New Haven Conn. labs of Winchester-Western – the rifle makers of Winchester fame. The column shows how Faeth recorded a speeding bullet head on. His photo is amazing even today, over six decades later.
N.B. Be sure to scroll through the pages of LIFE magazine above. With rare exception colour is reserved for advertisements by those with the money – most photos in the articles are in black and white even if colour would be more suitable for them. And the products are sometimes long forgotten or viewed today in a far darker light (e.g. Marlboros are touted even though years later the poor old Marlboro Man died of lung cancer and cigarette ads have long been banned).
