Posted 12 years ago
oilman514
(107 items)
LE ROY ROSELIEVE original photographs, also marked on back Columbus Photo Supply, New York City. Have looked but haven't been able to find any info on the photographer or the pictures. Any info is appreciated.
Thanks,
Robert
Hi oilman514!
Went looking and came up with a few things. But can they be related to the photos, I suppose?
Leroy Roselieve maybe has a French connection.
Born there in 1902 but died in New York in 1965?
Andes?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/4383113993/in/pool-1618922@N23/
Captain in the US Air Force? Purple Heart, Presidential citation, served in South Pacific etc.
Wrote an article " COMPOUNDING A FINE GRAIN DEVELOPER" for a magazine March 1938 LEICA Photography Vol. VII No. 3.
One of his photos appears in LA REVUE PHOTO N° 4 1937 "Forte Brise".
The name Roselieve is the second part of Fink-Roselieve, or after 1945 simply FR, was a US manufacturer of photo products, mostly known for developing tanks and photo-chemistry products. A small spotlight, an accessory rangefinder, and other items were also sold. Around 1942, they briefly offered a press camera in 2¼×3¼" size, the FR Reporter. Apparently some Reporters were actually manufactured; but it is a rarely-seen model (not even rating an entry in McKeown's). By 1943, advertisements for Fink-Roselieve instead announced the company's manufacture of chemistry for WWII aerial reconnaissance.
FR became the US importer of Adox films. Around 1961 FR offered the Auto-Eye II 35mm camera, a rebranding of a model manufactured by Adox.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Fink-Roselieve
Check out this camera made by FR. It's iconic!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/4383113993/in/pool-1618922@N23/
As the SON of Le Roy Roselieve, I am frankly both surprised and also, flattered that my father's photos (a minute part of them) were posted here.
My father invented all of fR's photochems and Fink sold or marketed them. He, my dad, was a chemical engineer, helped create 'modern day' aerial recon or modernized during WW2 by inventing fast developers and fixers so that films of bombing runs could be analyzed on board returning aircraft to find out which targets were hit or missed so that the next wave could strike the missed targets.
In point of fact, he passed away in 1965 in Englewood NJ, not NY.
His favorite camera? Not the Leica but Zeiss Contax!
He is interred at Long Island Military Cemetery. He was a Ret. Bird Colonel when he passed away.
More via request.
Thanks, J Roselieve
My father's favorite film? Not Kodak, but Agfa, which his photography/camera store in Englewood NJ sold.
Also, fR MARKETED a camera with the fR label on it but never 'made' any cameras.
JRoselieve, LeRoy's son.
I managed a camera store in Colorado for 8 years and am an expert on all camera makes dating back to early 30's. fR did not manufacture any cameras. Their expertise was photo-chemicals and developing/printing equipment.
And, yes! Roselieve IS a French name.
JRoselieve
It was fR Photochemicals or just fR. My father was the man bent over a twin-lens Reflex (a Rolleiflex, in fact) on the fR label for years and years. The hat is the giveaway on that and his posture when using a camera.
The fR roll-film developing tank was THE BEST in the business, easiest to use, too. It could be used for all sizes of FILM from 120 to 35 mm. Black and White, of course. Black and White was the art form film for years over color.
He was born in Lille France, grew up and was educated in Strasbourg (Alsace Loraine) in Eastern France.
The cameras sold with the fR label were in fact made (manufactured by) VOIGTLAANDER of Germany. In 1938, Germany still traded with the USA.
Hi, I have a very nice FR FINK ROSELIEVE EXPOSURE METER and LIGHT MAGNIFIER MODEL EM-1 IN ORIGINAL BOX! THIS IS PROOF THAT they did some production! can post photo if desired!
JAke
I found a collection of LeRoy's photos in an old house I bought. They seem to be taken in tropical island settings near the equator. Very cool pictures.