Cecil Stoughton Options

[John Simkin]

Cecil Stoughton died earlier this month. He took the photograph below.

Jack Valenti is left rear. Also in the picture is Lady Bird, LBJ and Jackie. Does anyone know who the others are in the photograph?

Stoughton actually cropped the photograph to avoid something from being seen. Does anyone know what it was?

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[Jack White]

Cecil Stoughton died earlier this month. He took the photograph below.

Jack Valenti is left rear. Also in the picture is Lady Bird, LBJ and Jackie. Does anyone know who the others are in the photograph?

Stoughton actually cropped the photograph to avoid something from being seen. Does anyone know what it was?

Cropped out are the bloodstains on Jackie's skirt and legs.

Jack

[John Simkin]

Cecil Stoughton died earlier this month. He took the photograph below.

Jack Valenti is left rear. Also in the picture is Lady Bird, LBJ and Jackie. Does anyone know who the others are in the photograph?

Stoughton actually cropped the photograph to avoid something from being seen. Does anyone know what it was?

Message from Gary Mack:

None of the pictures are cropped. Here they are, easily available online from the LBJ Library from the original negatives, all uncropped and with the ID of everyone in them: http://redbud.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/ke.../oathphotos.htm

[Robert Walker]

The image provided, is a cropped version (primarily the top of the frame) of image #1A-15-WH63 in the Johnson library, and is the first of eight "swearing in" photographs that Stoughton shot in the stateroom with with his Hasselblad (he shot two cameras in the stateroom, a 35mm Alpha and a Hasselblad shooting 120 film).

The image as presented here has been cropped to suggest the aspect ratio of the shots he took with his 35mm camera (item # 1A-15-WH63 is the closest 35mm shot to the #1A-15-WH63 Hasselblad shot). The Hasselblad shots are essentially square, the 35 mm shots rectangular.

Stoughton recalls the circumstances of these photographs (and all taken that day) in great detail in "That Day in Dallas" by Richard Trask. Page 47 shows the 35mm negatives including sprocket holes, and the 35mm shot labeled "15" with white marker is identical to the 1A-15-WH63 image in the online collection. As one can plainly see, the 35mm shots don't cover as large an area as the 120 shots.

Those thinking along sinister lines may notice that the 35mm shots have a "lit" ceiling and the Hasselblad shots appear not to (and thus perhaps why someone may have cropped the image), but Stoughton shot with flash on the Hasselblad and with available light with the 35mm, so mystery solved.

One may notice that there are only seven Hasselblad shots in the collection, though Stoughton shot eight. The flash did not work on the first Hasselblad shot and was not usable - again no mystery.

What is interesting is that the "wink" photograph (#1A-20-WH63) between Albert Thomas and Johnson was not present in the physical collection at the Johnson library in 1998 (at the time "That Day in Dallas" was published).

As for blood stains on Jackie's coat, they can be seen on her left arm in the Hasselblad shots, but due to the framing of the 35mm shots, are not as immediately apparent. Jackie's legs are not visible in any frame, and thus no need to crop them out.

I recommend "That Day in Dallas" to all interested in the photographs of Stoughton, Altgens and Murray. There is an article that was a precursor to the book here: Stoughton Article

Rob Walker
SMU

[Robert Walker]

A careful eye may notice that images 1A-4-WH63 and 1A-20-WH63 of the online collection are the wrong aspect ratios for their formats. The original negatives for these two images are not preserved within the LBJ library, and the images online are derivatives of scanned prints, hence the discrepancy.

5 Kennedy assassination researcher points if you noticed it, though!

[John Simkin]

The image provided, is a cropped version (primarily the top of the frame) of image #1A-15-WH63 in the Johnson library, and is the first of eight "swearing in" photographs that Stoughton shot in the stateroom with with his Hasselblad (he shot two cameras in the stateroom, a 35mm Alpha and a Hasselblad shooting 120 film).

The image as presented here has been cropped to suggest the aspect ratio of the shots he took with his 35mm camera (item # 1A-15-WH63 is the closest 35mm shot to the #1A-15-WH63 Hasselblad shot). The Hasselblad shots are essentially square, the 35 mm shots rectangular.

Stoughton recalls the circumstances of these photographs (and all taken that day) in great detail in "That Day in Dallas" by Richard Trask. Page 47 shows the 35mm negatives including sprocket holes, and the 35mm shot labeled "15" with white marker is identical to the 1A-15-WH63 image in the online collection. As one can plainly see, the 35mm shots don't cover as large an area as the 120 shots.

Those thinking along sinister lines may notice that the 35mm shots have a "lit" ceiling and the Hasselblad shots appear not to (and thus perhaps why someone may have cropped the image), but Stoughton shot with flash on the Hasselblad and with available light with the 35mm, so mystery solved.

One may notice that there are only seven Hasselblad shots in the collection, though Stoughton shot eight. The flash did not work on the first Hasselblad shot and was not usable - again no mystery.

What is interesting is that the "wink" photograph (#1A-20-WH63) between Albert Thomas and Johnson was not present in the physical collection at the Johnson library in 1998 (at the time "That Day in Dallas" was published).

As for blood stains on Jackie's coat, they can be seen on her left arm in the Hasselblad shots, but due to the framing of the 35mm shots, are not as immediately apparent. Jackie's legs are not visible in any frame, and thus no need to crop them out.

I recommend "That Day in Dallas" to all interested in the photographs of Stoughton, Altgens and Murray. There is an article that was a precursor to the book here: Stoughton Article

Rob Walker
SMU

According to Stoughton's obituary in the Guardian newspaper Rob is right and Gary is wrong.

Stoughton took more than 8,000 such images in the three-year period that ended so dramatically on November 22 1963.

On that day, he was travelling in the presidential motorcade through Dallas. Once the shots were fired, he directed his driver to the Parkland hospital, where he waited outside the operating theatre for news. The answer came when he asked an official where Vice-President Johnson, being escorted from the hospital with Lady Bird, was going. The reply was unequivocal: "The president is going to Washington." The instant comeback was: "So am I."

He was the only photographer on board Air Force One, swiftly reloading to black-and-white film, then struck with horror as the shutter jammed. After much jiggling, he obtained 20 shots of the swearing-in ceremony, carefully cropped to cut out the bloodstains still showing on Jackie Kennedy's skirt and stockings. The one that achieved iconic status as it was immediately relayed around the world shows the line-up inside the crowded cabin. The official stands with her back to camera, holding out the Bible, facing Johnson, who has one hand on the book, the other raised to take the oath. On his right stands Lady Bird. On his left is Jackie, a wing of dark hair partially obscuring her eyes. Everyone in the picture looks serious, shocked and somehow too brightly dressed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/2...cecil-stoughton

[Jack White]

John said: "obtained 20 shots of the swearing-in ceremony, carefully cropped to cut out the bloodstains still showing on Jackie Kennedy's skirt and stockings."

A lesson in photo terminology is required here. It should say CAREFULLY FRAMED, not carefully "cropped."

FRAMING takes place in the camera viewfinder. CROPPING takes place when unwanted areas in the
completed image are ELIMINATED in the darkroom or on a finished print. Of course nowadays
the cropping is done with the computer mouse doing the trimming.

Jack

[Robert Walker]

Actually, Gary is correct as well, since the online collection does represent uncropped images, for the most part. The two images that are inconsistent are simply due to the fact that they don't have the original materials and are high quality scans of what they have.

In "That Day in Dallas" Stoughton goes into great detail about how he was able to get into position, arrange the participants (with Pres. Johnson) and frame the shots. Again, it is an excellent book with lots of fabulous photographs.

Jack is correct on the cropping/framing terminology.