Demon Photographer: Adrian C. Duff

112 years ago this month a pioneering Aviator took on a challenge to take photographs of New York City from the air his answer was to strap pontoons to his right flyer and take along a photographer from the American Press Association just 21 years old that photographer Adrien C do became known as the camera kid but his explo over the years would lead to a more colorful moniker Adrien C Duff was the demon photographer Adrian C Duff was a New York City boy born in the ninth ward the New York Tribune wrote in 1920 in 1912 when he was only 21 years old he had become well enough known as a photographer to be drawing big assignments from New York newspapers the specific assignment that were referring to was something many of us have done today but few had at the time to fly in an airplane over New York City the story actually begins with Frank coffen who had been a flyer with the right exhibition team the website bowy boys history explains these weren't the first flights over the city or even the most daring or most publicized these flights which took place in February and March of 1912 were important not only due to The Bravery in bread doio of the pilot Daring Do Frank coffen but because his companion American Press Association photographer Adrien C Duff is responsible for the very first photograph of New York City from overhead taken by an airplane the flight the New York unnoted gave Duff the distinction of being the first passenger who has ever navigated above the Waters of this neighborhood in an aircraft yes there is some irony that an early Aviator had the name coffin flying was not exactly safe in 1912 bowry boy history continues this was a tricky task to be sure in 1912 man flights had only been invited by his former employers a few years pre previous ples had to be very light and until that moment could carry only the pilot and necessary equipment it was in fact a tight fit for Duff on the right flyer to bowry boy history notes that Duff was actually strapped onto the lower wing with his legs dangling off the side of the plane the sun writes that with the added weight the plane made The Descent this time rather slowly Duff told a reporter later when I went up with Frank coffin and sat with him he gave me hardly room to press the button he was so busy running the machine while Duff the sun reports got a fine look at the features of the bronze girl meaning of course the Statue of Liberty coffin said it was very cold a loft and that he had been made partly deaf because the Gale the ship created in the frigidity of the upper air the Tampa Bay Times reported that when Duff took the pictures it was cold very cold the motion of the machine in the air helped to make the atmospheric conditions unpleasant for the pictures were taken when the two men were going against the wind at a rate of 40 or 50 mil mil an hour B boy history writes both coffin and Duff were frozen to the Bone by the time they landed the Oklahoma state Register wrote after the flight with Duff as a passenger coffen made a flight over New York Harbor they were in the air less than 12 minutes during which Duff made nine exposures and got five Splendid pictures it was Duff's first trip in the air and his success is more remarkable from the fact that he had to aim his snapshot cameras downward and click the shutter while speeding at 40 mph he told a reporter you don't know the machine is moving until you look down then you see the landscape and the water slipping past you and you know you are moving and moving fast you use a guess focus camera and you point at it about an angle of 45° asked by reporters about his trip Duff was somewhat matter of fact about his fet of photography I was new at it or I could have produced much better results than I got I had only a small hand camera and the great difficulty was in steadying it there is consider able vibration to an airplane and some Swang and the fact that some of my plates did not come out well was due merely to the unsteadiness of the camera as I held it the only bracing I could do was to hold it against my chest yet the negatives were impressive an editorial in the New York World wrote that there should have been any results at all is surprising that the actual result should be photographs of unsurpassed clearness and Fidelity to detail is wonderful Duff himself was impressed by the quality of the photos I'll admits I was a little surprised to see what was on my plates in the rush of the machine and the sting of the air in my eyes I saw only about half of what the camera clearly observed and reproduced the Tribune noted his feet in obtaining for the American Press Association the first photographs of their kind won him a decoration in the form of a gold stopwatch it was an exciting time to be a photographer having earned Fame from his flying photos Duff was then off to a new adventure the Tribune wrote that in 1914 he was sent to Vera Cruz with the United States Marines and stayed with them during the American occupation of the Mexican Port the United States occupation of Vera Cruz in 1914 came amid poor relations between the United States and Mexico and followed the tampo affair in which some US Navy sailors were arrested in the port of tampo the public clamored for news and it was a ripe opportunity for a daring photographer the matun Illinois Journal Gazette wrote in July 1914 when it seemed almost certain that the United States intended to send troops into ver Cruz the most enterprising newspapers and news associations made Hasty but complete plans to send photographers to the scene the American Press Association which applies photographs to most of the leading newspapers in the United States arranged to send Adrien C Duff and James wear experts in their line into the troubled country Duff went on the battleship Michigan Duff was not long making good his picture showing the incidents attending the attack on ver Cruz teamed with human interest in ear PR PR from Publishers all over the country the Tribune wrote that frequent sorties into the Open Country with a contemptuous disregard for snipers got him some good pictures and more Fame just 23 years old Duff had already built a reputation the Journal Gazette wrote Duff has been called the most daring and resourceful of American photographers he was one of the first cameramen to take a picture from an airplane and is always ready to take a chance at some new stunt his judgment as to what makes a good picture cannot be improved upon but a new opportunity for a Fearless photojournalist soon arose the European powers were going to war on August 3rd 1914 Germany declared war on France and invaded through Belgium and the Netherlands the American Press Association sent Duff to report on the situation I left New York August 15th on the saxonia of the Canard line from Liverpool I went to London to Austin to antp Duff was in the middle of the growing conflict the Springville New York Journal wrote as his well known newspaper Photography in these days in Europe is a strenuous undertaking filled with hardships and danger Duff was in ANP when it faced one of the dreaded bombing attacks by a German Zeppelin was in the hotel but a few nights when I was awakened by a terrific konting the fort guns were booming and the musketry was rattling in the streets A zeppelin had been discovered on the outskirts of the city and immediately every gun in arm in the city was trained at the sky there was a perfect rain of shot the danger was real one of the bombs fell within 100 yards of the wireless station he reported he was too busy however taking pictures to take cover everybody in the hotel I learned in the morning made for the Sellar when he heard the shooting trying to follow the battles he ran into one of the many things that made Photography in Europe a strenuous undertaking near swasan I was arrested as a spy and held for 4 days by the French I was marched back to the rear of the line there I was told that if I was caught marching with the French army I would be imprisoned until the end of the war sever several news correspondents and photographers now were held as prisoners with no hope of release until the end of the war he returned to London but then he tried to make it back to ANP as it was about to fall to the Germans I tried hard to get into ANP before its fall he reported I tried six different times and was held up each time I was told I would be shot if I persisted he was eventually allowed into Anor but by the German Army after the city was taken after a dozen refusals the officers in charge gave me permission providing that I would submit all my pictures to them the journal wrote of his time in Belgium he has a penchant for making good in the face of danger but having taken photographs behind both antant and Central Powers lines for more than a year and seeing the devastation of War Duff was called back to the United States the Tribune writes when the world war started Duff was shifted to Europe with the Allied in German armies but he was hastily recalled when persing launched his expedition into Mexico so he could accompany the American Commander the punitive expedition was like the occupation of Vera Cruz related to the ongoing Mexican Revolution in which the United States seemed unable to keep from medling in this new crisis revolutionary leader Poncho via whom the US had once supported in the conflict before deciding to back arrival raided into the United States killing 10 civilians in the town of Columbus New Mexico General John J persing was sent with a force to capture and punish via the wo Texas Times Herald reported Adrian C do who has gone to Mexico for the American Press Association to make news photographs of the pursuit of via is one of America's Best Known men of the camera he is now with Ping's troops persing never caught up to Via and the Mexican Government resisted the incursion war was eventually avoided via diplomatic means and Duff took pictures the time Harold wrote he is daring resourceful cool in an emergency and a thorough Master of the camera it is certain that his War pictures are not excelled by those of any other man of his craft and then Duff was on to his next adventure the Tribune wrote when the United States entered the world war Duff took his camera and enlisted in the signal Corps by which he was assigned to Duty with the American expeditionary Force serving with the signal Corp Duff continued his reputation for fearlessness the Kansas City Star wrote in 1934 the demon photographer Adrien C Duff a newspaper photographer in New York enlisted as a sergeant in the United States signal Corps when America entered the world War he soon became known as the camera kid or the demon photographer for his intrepidity in taking pictures in the midst of battles and shellfire the New York daily news wrote of his exploits Duff became famous at the Battle of Chateau tier where he stood on the ruins of a bridge over the m and filmed the battle while Germans and Americans Rake The Bridge with rifle and machine gun fire after using all his film Dolph cley placed the movie camera on his back and stroll back to American lines and while he kept earning credit for his photography in the war in Europe he gained the attention of the public for a different reason the Albuquerque New Mexico Journal reported Adrien do a former news photographer of New York is the hero of a recent raid into the German lines he returned with six Prisoners the story of how a photographer captured a German Machine Gun Nest is described in different ways in newspapers from the period the Tribune writes that it was during the American advances at Chateau tier that Duff wrote his name into the heroic records of the a he was busy taking official photog as usual disdaining cover and advancing with the doughbys over the Enemy Lines when he saw a German Machine Gun Nest that he believed was unoccupied when he leveled his camera to snap a picture he caught a fleeting glimpse of a great uniform and called upon the Huns to surrender when they hesitated the photographer pulled an empty revolver from his holster and bluffed the Germans into surrendering he marched them back to the lines and rejoined his command but the Daily News made the event rather more Grand reporting that during the S mahel offensive Duff captured 50 Germans who surrendered to him thinking his movie camera was a new type of machine gun in fact his army record described the actual details Sergeant Adrien Cornelius Duff of New York who was with Lieutenant Jack Cooper both of the US Signal Corps Came Upon a camouflage German Machine Gun Nest in the recent fighting around chatau tier and captured six armed Germans with an empty automatic gun both were on the lookout for a good snap of the battle when they spied the enemy Cooper leveled an empty automatic that he had found on the road at them while Duff promptly disarmed them for his part in capturing a German machine gun Nas carrying nothing but a camera Duff was commissioned a lieutenant by the time he returned from the war Adrien Duff was one of the most celebrated photojournalists in the nation the Tribune wrote wherever news photography is discussed the name of Adrien C Duff was heard he had Brave death on the battlefields in the air and even under sea and his disregard for danger became a byword among his associates on March 7th 1920 Adrien Duff was riding in a taxi cab with two friends The Daily News reported the next day Adrien C Duff one of the best known newspaper photographers in the United States died yesterday as the result of injuries suffered when a taxi cab in which he was riding upset at nans and Livingston the cab slid on Ice h a trolley pole the others in the cab received minor injuries but Duff was trapped under the vehicle his skull fractured he died in the hospital The Daily News noted the irony he went through the war unscathed the Reading Pennsylvania Times wrote as the camera kid or the demon phog Adrien Duff a sturdy smiling little fellow has been known to the illustrating profession in New York and elsewhere since his teens his daring and the Excellence of his work caused him to be given the most difficult assignments both in the air and on the ground the New York Tribune wrote after his death that a detailed story of Duff's career would recite a thousand Thrills although some of those Thrills seem not to have been written down or at least no one seems to have written that detailed story of them all perhaps because he had such an untimely death so young all we really have are the stories that he covered and because the credit was often just given to the American Press Association it's not always even easy to tell which photographs are his but what is clear is that in all two brief a career he covered some of the most dramatic events of a most dramatic time the Tribune concluded when there was a difficult job to be done he was called I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guy with your friends and if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube a supporter on our community at locals or as a patron on Patron in you can also check out our great merchandise shop for book a special message from the history guy on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] cameo [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 63,343

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: SkUGcjfD04Y

Length: 15min 33sec (933 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024